A taste of what I have been up to at work...

Here's the video that I helped develop, script, shoot (as in I was picking out and interviewing the kids - not filming), and produce for DuPage Chidren's Museum annual gala that was on Saturday night. As some of you might know I've been working pretty hard over the past couple of months along with a great team at the Museum to make this event come together and be a success. I'm proud to say that everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, and that we raised a great deal in much needed donations to support the Museum.

Also should say a thanks to Jini of Clare Communications and Greg of Jaffe films who were a pleasure to work with and had a lot to do with this video being so successful. Greg also helped me get things up and rolling and made sure everything played smoothly for the event so that was very much appreciated.

It was a LOT of hard work, but also a really fun and rewarding experience to be a part of. I was lucky to have wonderful coworkers, volunteers, and several helpful committee members that assisted in making the event such a success. Also, Ashley took almost the entire day to come help out doing everything from raffles, to modeling a necklace, to cleaning up at the end of the night. It was really sweet of her to do that and I REALLY appreciated it. At some point soon we'll probably have pictures up on the Museum website.

If you'd like to make a donation to the Museum, just click here!

You'll be missed Uncle Wes!

My Uncle Wes (my mom's oldest brother) passed away last Saturday from a sudden and unexpected heart attack. We are traveling up to Minneapolis today for a memorial service. He was a good person and I'll miss having him in my life. He was EXTREMELY good to my grandmother who depended on him for many things on a regular basis as well - so please send out a prayer or good wish to my family (especially my grandma and parents who are taking on the lion's share of responsibilities following his death while still grieving losing their son and brother). Here's something I wrote for the service tomorrow:

As we were driving home Thursday night, my Fiance Ashley asked what Uncle Wes was like. That was a harder question to answer than I had anticipated. Uncle Wes was an interesting character. That was for sure. And I found that to describe him and what I remembered about Uncle Wes to someone who’d never met him was difficult. Then it just came to me – his voice in my head, and that’s really how I remember him most. I think I almost scared Ashley to death when I just jumped right into my best Uncle Wes impression…

“WELL T.J…. LET ME TELL YOU HOW IT WORKS…”

He had a big booming voice that carried across the room or the dinner table, ensuring everyone heard what he had to say, whether they wanted to or not. I still wonder about the authenticity of some of his grandest tales, but whether what he was telling us all was true or not was probably not as important as some of the things he taught me:

Uncle Wes taught me that sometimes you SHOULD be loud and brash, even when it’s not the most popular statement or seems a bit odd to everyone else. If you have something that you truly feel needs to be expressed, say it.

He taught me that even as a tiny kid, if I did it just right (and I’m not sure I ever did), I had the power to make a big, black, doberman get in the back of a car.

Finally, Uncle Wes taught me not to worry so much. Just after moving from Colorado to Iowa a few years ago, I was struggling to find my way in life and went into a deep, dark depression that I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Eventually, with help from my family, friends, doctors, and medication I was able to slowly crawl my way out of the black hole I’d buried myself in and get my life going in a more positive direction. At the same time, Uncle Wes was in the hospital and not doing well as an infection had put his life in serious jeopardy. I called him a few times to let him know I was thinking of him and to wish him a speedy recovery. On about the third call he asked how I was doing. I was honest, and told him “Better, but not great – it’s still hard to get up in the morning sometimes and I feel pretty lost.” “Ahhh.. I see,” said Wes, “Well I know your mom and grandma have been very worried about you, it’s all they talk about.” Then he went on to the part that I still remember. “Me, I’m not worried about you. Sure, you may need a little help here and there, but you’re NORMAL. You’re TWENTY-FOUR YEARS OLD. You’re not supposed to have any idea what the hell to do with your life. Just quit worrying so much and do your best – you’re just as messed up as the next kid trying to make their way in the world – no more, no less.”

I still remember that phone call and think of it often. Uncle Wes didn’t care that the doctors had diagnosed me as depressed or put any stock into the stigma that often surrounds mental illness. He let me know I was just another person in this world dealing with some problems, and made it clear that he believed I’d figure things out when I was good and ready, and that there was absolutely nothing wrong with that. It made me feel better; it made me feel normal again. And while it’s been a long road, things have been pretty darn good since then.

Thanks Uncle Wes.

Checking in with the ol' blog world!

Hey everyone - It's been awhile since a post, huh? Well there is good reason (I think) for that. I've been SUPER busy planning for both the wedding AND the big gala we are putting on at work. Since switching into my new Corporate Relations and Event Planning role at the Children's Museum it's been crazy as our biggest fund raiser of the year is quickly approaching on April 26 - followed a week later by my wedding.

I'm having lots of fun in the new position but feel like there is something to do just about every minute of the day regarding the gala, not to mention some of the Corporate Relations stuff. The good news is that it all seems to be going well and I'm excited about the event. Want to hear more about the event and see me on TV? I thought you'd never ask. Click here (then on my face where it says DuPage Children's Museum):

http://www.nctv17.com/nctv17-son.html

OK - so hopefully I didn't sound too cheesy!! The new marketing person at the Museum was giving me a hard time for not wearing a tie - but hey, that's me and that's just how I roll. It was fun to be on TV (it was live the first time they showed it) - but not something I think I'd want to do on a regular basis. Ashley actually used to do that at the Animal Rescue League in Iowa each week with a new adoptable pet - she was much better than I am!

Speaking of my beautiful fiance, we traveled back to Des Moines last weekend along w/ her mom for the big bridal shower and bachelorette party. They apparently had a very good time. I had a great time too as I got to do many fun things including eating at my all time favorite restaurant, El Rodeo (where of course I ran into someone from my past as always!). On Saturday while the girls were out partying we had a very nice "Pre-Marital Male Bonding Conference." Muchos Gracias to my dad and brother who took care of dinner and hockey tickets for 7 of us guys - that was extremely generous and much appreciated by everyone, including me. After the game we hit up a local smoke free bar and ran into an old friend I knew from high school who was waitressing. She was super nice and hooked me up with free drinks for the rest of the time we were there.

Really enjoyed seeing my parents and catching up with them all weekend as well. My dad has built a gorgeous box to use for cards, etc. at our wedding. It was a great gift and we really appreciate it because he made it especially for us. In fact, for my parents wedding gift to us, my dad has generously offered to make us a table and chairs - any good ideas?? We tend to like very simple, more modern designs - send em my way if you see anything cool! Here's a picture of the box he made us - a special sneak peak before the wedding for you blog readers:



Well that's about all for now. Picked up a new remote for the bedroom TV and I'm LOVING it as I was actually able to program the TV, dish, and DVD player on that one remote. Might get the same one for the living room it works so good! OH - in other news I'm doing a little free-lance writing for the local magazine that featured Ashley and our pets awhile back. I'm hoping the article I'm working on comes out well and that they like what I've done. I'll keep you posted and link to the magazine's website if it's published.

I highly doubt there will be many more posts for about the next month - but I'll see what I can do. Hope everyone is doing good and that it is sunnier where you are than it has been in Illinois lately!!

Part Two: Last 7.5 Minutes of Fame

Check out the St. John Sun Times wrap up of 8 Tuff Miles. A great article on the race and a bunch of good photos, including one smack dab in the middle of the page spread featuring yours truly with running buddies Brian and Brett (took this at the awards ceremony the afternoon after the race took place). As you can see we are proudly sporting our baby blue "Urbandale All Stars" t-shirts I labored away on leading up to our trip. Big thanks to Ella and Gina at the Sun Times for taking the time to email me an electronic version of the story! You can click on the pictures to see a bigger version.

So we just got back from an interesting evening out. We went up to Elgin to see Sarah Vowell speak. She is an author who has written several books on American history, and she's also pretty damn funny and played the voice of the daughter, Violet, in the move "The Incredibles." I haven't read her books but know her from her frequent contributions to "This American Life" the Chicago Public Radio show that is now one of the most popular on NPR and I have become nerd-ily addicted to. I listen to the old

podcasts most days on my commute. If you haven't checked it out,you should, I'd highly recommend it (check out the link to their website over to the right, I'm tired and don't feel like adding it again here!) Anyway, she was very good and although tickets were a little pricey ($20.00), I'm glad we went and look forward to reading some of her books, such as Assassination Vacation.

After that headed out to a small Italian place on the way home and had a fairly good meal served by what Ashley swears were waiters with fake Italian accents. I made the unfortunate decision to make a comment at dinner along the lines of "Too bad we can't keep the house more clean, both of us are very messy people." Well of course this isn't entirely true, and it's me that tends to put off the cleaning, but I seem to have made Ashley feel as if I felt she was a real mess maker too which is not true. Anyway, it's almost 11:45 p.m. and she's in the bathroom cleaning out the drawers!! On the bright side, her bronchitis seems to be much better and she's not coughing nearly as much.

So I hope to get that big trip report done.. eventually.

My 15 Minutes of Fame... St. John Style

So one of the coolest things about the whole St. John trip and the 8 Tuff Miles experience was having an opportunity to be interviewed and featured in one of the St. John Newspapers - The Sun Times.

The morning after we arrived, I went to check in officially at the campground while Brian and Brett got us a cab to go into town and pick up the rental jeep. While I was waiting I saw a copy of the Sun Times sitting on a shelf, picked it up, paged through and saw a picture of me and my dog!! They had used the picture I sent along w/ the entire email interview I had done. It was so crazy to arrive on a tiny island in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, and wake up in the morning to find my picture in the paper.

Anyway, the editor and publisher of the paper, Ella, was really fun to talk to and I had a chance to meet her leading up to race day and then right after the race as well (she was the first to greet me and congratulate me at the finish line actually!). She is a really cool person and looks to be doing a great job w/ the Sun Times. So click on the picture of the article and you can read for yourself!!

Got some pictures up!

Well - still haven't had a chance to write about the trip in detail - but you CAN now see all my photos on Flickr. You'll notice there aren't too many from the race day. We had our friend Heidi who we met in St. John take a bunch that day so hopefully I can post them before long. Anyway, for now, enjoy:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tjhicks/sets/72157604127628531/

Updates on the way....

Sorry for no big updates yet. The new position at work and wedding stuff has been keeping me busy (not to mention watching the resurging Blackhawks and sleeping!). Anyway, check out this article from the Chicago Tribune that popped up in my VI news stories below:

Click Here

Does it mean I'm becoming a "St. John snob" when in reading this all I did was pick out some small inaccuracies?? Oh well. Started uploaded all the photos from our trip last night to Flickr so I should be able to post a link to them soon.

A day of mourning...

Just Kidding... But I am sitting here in my office reading though about 100 emails, looking at the snow and gray outside. So going from a white sand beach w/ the sun shining and enjoying the 80 degree afternoon temps is a bit difficult.

Anyway - I need to get back to work so am going to keep this short. But COME BACK soon. I anticipate doing a full trip report w/ pics, stories, everything hopefully by this weekend but definitely in the next week or so. AND.. I think I'm going to keep the blog going just writing about random stuff in my every day life.

I already miss the island - would I do the race again? I would have answered yes 5 seconds after I finished, the entire experience is amazing and I hope to do it again in the future. OK - check back soon for more!

We did it!

A very quick note - writing from the Quiet Mon pub overlooking the street in Cruz Bay w/ a cold drink in hand. We all finished strong today!

Brett finished 38!! Brian did really good too. And I ALMOST got my goal of 90 minutes that I had just kinda guessed on. I finished 168 of like 330 some men (I think..) with a time of 1:30:41. I'll do a full trip and race report when we return.

So far the trip is GREAT. Sun, perfect water, lots to explore and all kinds of fun stuff so far. Couldn't be much better and I feel like I finished the race just about as strong as I possibly could have.

OK, back to the bar to watch the Drake game and enjoy my beverage. By the way, it's gotta be right around 75 and i'm sitting on a deck w/ sandals, shorts, and a tshirt.

Ashley - are you ready to move down here???

Thanks EVERYONE for all of your support!!! Stay tuned for more next week!

One More Day!!!

Only one more day until we leave!! I can't wait. Fortunately, there is at least a little time though as I'm not packed completely yet. Have everything I need (I think) for the week laid out, now just need to finish up some laundry and get it all packed up.

Just got home from the gym. I was pretty tired from running quite a long time yesterday and actually ended up just walking almost my whole work out. I did do it at a pretty good incline the entire time though. Ran a mile to start, then a little bit more before getting into the inclined walk for about 45 minutes. All in all I did over 4 miles and spent over an hour on the treadmill. Ashely continues to do really good at the gym lately too - she's gonna look SUPER HOT in that wedding dress in a few months.

I think I'm going to keep it short tonight as I'm going to work on my ipod playlists for the trip and the race, and get some movies downloaded to my phone for the plane ride. I'll *try* to do a final update tomorrow before we take off, and I anticipate being able to post some short updates from my phone during the trip and following the race. And of course I'll do a complete wrap up and trip report, with pictures and everything, upon our return and successful completion of the race!!

p.s. - Boompa's doing better and looks like he will be headed home before long. HUZZAH!

A good solid workout

Headed over to the gym w/ Ashley in the early afternoon on this miserable gray rainy day. We each ended up having really good workouts. I'm proud of her, she is getting into the swing of working out and ran a 5K on the eliptical, did weights, and rode the bike for 10 miles - not bad! As for me, you can see my run data above (sorry haven't been posting these as much). Did a solid four miles of straight running at 9:13 a mile. Walked a little bit before to warm up and for quite a while after. Felt pretty good the entire time and probably could have kept going but didn't want to push it and exhaust myself as I want to get one more longer run in tomorrow night.

Watched the hockey movie "Youngblood" for the entire run and really enjoyed it. I had seen the end several times but never the beginning - it's cheesy but actually pretty funny. Guess I really should have tried to make it to play junior hockey. That kid experiences more in about 2 weeks at 17 than I did all through college, AND ends up w/ the young hottie at the end!

After that, we went to eat at a really good Mexican restaurant in Batavia called El Taco Grande. We had heard good things but it was my first time. It was very good but no El Rodeo! Then went to pick up some supplies for a project I'm working on for my fellow racers, and over to Dick's Sporting Goods to pick up some stuff.

Since then just been hanging out at home, doing laundry and watching TV in front of the fire. Got to talk to Boompa a bit earlier today and he seemed to be in good spirits so that is really good. I'm hoping he has a full recovery and is back to his old self in no time. We really hope my grandparents can all make it to our wedding but if not we'll try to get out to visit them all soon.

In 72 hours we'll be setting up our tent next to the beach at Cinnamon Bay on St. John!!!!!!!

Getting Ready...

Short note this morning - we're headed out to the gym in a little bit so I'll try to update tonight on that run. Also need to pick up some final supplies for the trip and start packing everything up so I don't have to worry about it Tuesday.

Found on late Friday night that my grandpa, who we call "Boompa," was transported to the hospital via life flight helicopter after having chest pains. Fortunately, I talked to him just a few minutes ago and he seems to be doing pretty well. The are doing tests and should know more about what actually happened on Monday. So I've been thinking about him and my grandma a lot Sent out any good thoughts and prayers for him if you have time.

OK - stuff to do! Come back tonight for the workout report!

Sick of Winter? This should warm you up!

So looks like this year's Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue spent some time at Caneel Bay on St. John... Click here to check out pics, videos, etc. I'm sure Ashley won't be too disappointed they did their shooting last October (don't think we'll be running into any famous swimsuit models next week!)

Thursday night update

First just want to take a quick minute to remind everyone to send their thoughts and prayers out to the community at Northern Illinois University in Dekalb. I was born in Dekalb, and have actually applied to go back to grad school at NIU (about 30 min from our house), so hearing the news about today's shooting was quite a shock. It's crazy to think these kinds of things can happen anytime, anywhere. Anyway, thinking about the victims and their families tonight and will be into the future.

Sorry I missed last night's update, although since I didn't run last night and worked instead on a website for our wedding and some other stuff - there wasn't much to report. There IS stuff to report from Tuesday night and today however. Tuesday night went to work out w/ Ashley right after work and had a really great run. I ran four straight miles on the treadmill at just over 9 minutes a mile. If I didn't have to go to the bathroom from about mile 2 on I think I could have done a couple more! The hockey game was on TV to watch so that always helps. Ashley says I'll be in trouble w/ no TV to watch as I run 8 Tuff Miles - but I figure with my ipod and all there is to see along the course, I'll be able to keep my brain busy w/o just focusing on the pain and suffering of it all.

Went to run today on my lunch break and had another good workout. Only 30 minutes but I set it to the hills program and ran almost the whole time (one 5 minute walk in the middle). The hills are definitely hard and I ran slower, only doing about 2.75 miles total. Still, I worked up a real good sweat and although I struggled, was able to keep running at the same pace on the steepest incline setting. To think the entire first 6 miles of the race will be like this!!! Well I only have about 3 or 4 more hard workouts to go before we are down there and just trying to stay loose before the race.

Both Brett and Brian seem to be getting really pumped about the trip. Brett says he can't concentrate on anything else and Brian called tonight. Also, Brian and his wife are apparently going to buy a house this weekend - so that is exciting!!

Tonight we headed out to go wedding ring shopping (really the only thing we did for Valentine's day other than give each other cards). This went OK - we aren't quite seeing the whole "ring" experience in the same way so we have some figuring out to do before the big day (will we buy each other's rings?, our own rings?, simple?, diamond band?, etc., etc.) Then went to Kohl's and Ashley got me a cool t-shirt for the trip that has palm trees on it. Then we went out to eat and I bought Ashley dinner while we met w/ our wedding photographer at Colonial restaurant by our house. She is VERY nice and we both like her a lot. She was very down to earth and very chatty - we think she'll do a great job and will be very comfortable to work with on our wedding day.

That's about it for right now - gonna run again tomorrow at lunch and hopefully both days this weekend. Meeting tomorrow night w/ Maria who will marry us, so I'm making lasagna for dinner. Only 5 DAYS UNTIL WE TAKE OFF FOR ST. JOHN!!!!

Pray for those Huskies tonight...

Don't worry I'm still here!

Hey everyone. Sorry for the brief delay in the day to day updates. I've had a LOT going on lately! First let me say it's like 12 degrees or something and I'm looking out the window and more falling snow. I am SO ready for next week's trip. Only a week from tonight Brett and Brian will be arriving and we'll be taking off for St. John the next morning. But to recap what's been going on:

At lunch Friday I had the best run I've had in a long time. I ran 3 straight miles at a pretty high speed on the treadmill - no stopping to walk or anything and I felt like I could have even gone a bit longer if I wanted to (had to get back to work!). Now I know you are probably saying that's not 8 miles you fool and there was no hills. Well, that is true. I'll admit I'm not at the level I hoped to be by now. But I'm going to do the best I can, train all this coming week hard, and do my best and finish the race.

Friday, I got home from work and Ashley and I immediately jumped into our home improvement project - laying new laminate hardwood floors in our kitchen. It ended up taking us about 6 hours, but we finished it all in one night (not counting molding). Ashley was awesome and figured out how to cut out all the pieces to fit around doors and weird spots - including the completely rounded bottom of one of our cabinets. Although it took awhile and was killer on my thighs and knees (it was actually a good workout), it was really pretty simple to install the floor. Just locks into place and you go one row after another. We used my circular saw and miniature band saw to get the boards cut just right. Overall, we really like how it came out - check it out (one before and 2 after pictures):




Saturday we got up and went to Menard's to pick up molding for the kitchen and some other stuff we needed. We were able to almost finish the kitchen but still had to put a little more molding in and paint over some nail holes and stuff. At 2:00 p.m. we headed over to Petco for the Valentine's Day Pet Party with Pim and Essie. I know this sounds ridiculous, and it was, but hey, it's fun. AND, Pim beat out lots of other dogs and was a finalist in the "best kiss contest" so we won a free bag of pet food - not bad!! We went to Target after that to work on our wedding registery with Ashley's parents. This mostly involved Ashley and her mom walking around w/ a scanner gun picking out kitchen stuff while me and her dad sat on boxes of kitty litter and talked. When the gun finally died, we went over to Portillo's and picked up hotdogs to take back to our house. Ashley's parents were really surprised and happy with how the new floor looked. We were proud.

Sunday did chores around the house, finished the molding in the kitchen, went to the library, cleaned, and did other random stuff that kept us busy. It's been freezing cold and snowing and just crappy out so it was good to stay in the house. Our heating bills have been huge so we put up some of that window film on some windows. Hopefully that will help! Also, I spent a long time paying all my bills which is never fun at all...

Yesterday I was into work bright and early for a training on some new software. This is my final full week in my current position so there is a lot to get done and I'll be pretty busy. It's fun looking forward to my new role though and I'm already started on a few small things. It was coming down pretty hard and cold outside when I got home so instead of going to work out at the fitness center Ashley and I did a bunch of exercises at home in the house. I'll have to get back into 8 minute abs this week and leading up to the wedding so I am looking good!

Tonight after work, I'm going to go home to pick up my shoes and then go directly over to the fitness center to run - so I'll report on that tomorrow. Hmm... other stuff going on. Sent some pics down to Ella with the St. John Sun Times so it will be fun to see if she uses any for her article on the race. Also, Spencer from St. Thomas has visited and posted some good motivational comments for me on this blog, he has started something similar, and has information on his rental home as well as his boat, the Happy Hour. They both look great, and you can check out his blog here:

www.spencerusvi.blogspot.com

I also saw on the 8 tuff miles site he placed first in his age for the last "tuff tune up" on St. John. Way to go Spencer!! Other than ALL THAT, not much else going on. Got some wedding stuff to take care of later this week, and then next week is the trip! I can't wait. Hope everyone's doing well.

Hilarious...

I'll try to get that big update in tonight.. but to tide you over - here's a funny little VI story:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jAdXN7cF0YmitDB3FDy55XB8bn5gD8UMFGTG0

quick update - more tomorrow

I'm exhausted... We just spent 6.5 hours laying a new engineered hardwood laminate floor in our kitchen - it looks amazing! I'll post pictures tomorrow and a training update. I had a GREAT run on my lunch break today and the knee feels perfect - feeling good! OK my eyes are literally shutting on me so I'm off to bed.

The Craziest Week of My Life? Probably....

But in a good way.. I think! Sorry no post for almost a week - things have been craaazzzy around here lately. First let me say that I haven't done much training the past few days - although I think the knee is pretty much completely better now so in the exactly 2 weeks I have until we leave for the islands I will hopefully get in 10-12 runs/workouts of some kind. No, I won't be ironman when I board the plane (even my mom was making fun of me, saying "have fun walking the whole race!"), but yes I'll be healthier than I have been and I'll be off an an adventure w/ my two best friends. I hope to get back going on the nightly or so posts, even if they are short, leading up to the big day.

So to recap the craziness. First, Ashley has been gone so taking care of our zoo of animals in itself has been a bit crazy but not a big deal. Anyway, last Friday I interviewed for a new position at the Children's Museum where I work. The interview went great and I'm happy to announce officially that I got the new job! It's a great promotion for me for a lot of reasons and I'm now the Museum's Corporate Relations and Special Events Manager. This basically means I'll be forming relationships with current and potential donors and sponsors to hopefully garner large donations to the Museum (sorry I am capitalizing Museum but we always do that in our communication so it's habit!). Also I'll be in charge of planning special events that raise funds for the Museum, including the big annual gala event. It should be a big challenge, hopefully fun, and exciting. Most of all I'm excited to have a bit more ownership of my projects and make a bigger impact to help the institution.

Also, I found out another big project I had been working on turned out the way I wanted it to, and that is good news too! Stay tuned for more on that as info becomes available in the future...

Then... yesterday my boss (well my old boss as I'm moving into a new department w/ my promotion) announced she is leaving. This leaves the Museum in an interesting predicament and it remains to be seen how everything will shake out in the next month or so. Anyway, I'll be finishing up some of my current projects and starting the new position right after we get back from the race.

And speaking of the race, I had fun corresponding with the editor and publisher of the St. John Sun Times Eloise Ham over the last couple of days. I contacted her to wish her well in 8 Tuff Miles after reading about her here, on the News of St. John website (Also an update from Peter in there, scroll down a few entries to see more about Eloise) She emailed me back w/ a bunch of questions regarding the race so I did my best to answer them. It will be fun to see if she uses some of my responses in her coverage of the race for the Sun Times (if so I'll have to scan a copy and post it up here after the race or something). She also gave me lots of great advice about some stuff to check out when we are down on St. John. Sounds like she is doing a great job after taking over the newspaper less than a year ago! Pick up the Sun Times (it's free!) when you are on St. John people!

Another weird/cool St. John connection I noticed this week. Well more just a coincidence I guess but I picked up our local suburban newspaper yesterday and the cover story of the Life section was on a guy that was apparently born and raised on St. John who now lives in the Chicago area (read it here). He is going to be competing on the new Survivor, which I believe starts tomorrow. I just thought that was weird. My grandma told me once that if you learn a new word, you'll hear it in the next 3 days (or something like that) and it is TOTALLY TRUE. Seriously, next time you learn a word for the first time, you'll hear it for sure within the next week. Maybe it's like that for me because I'm so focused on heading down to St. John for this trip and the race that now I just keep noticing or finding St. John stuff randomly! That for some reason reminds me of my brother Ben's story of how his Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket magically represented the spirit of a well-known Jewish holiday. It's too hard to explain - just ask him about it.

On a final note, I've been busy updating and doing some stuff to our kitchen while Ashley is away as a sorta surprise/valentine's day gift for her. I created a chalkboard message center, got a new stainless steel trash can for recycling stuff, mounted under cabinet lights and a new stereo/ipod system, and build a new shelf for Pims dog crate and a new feeding station for him. See, you all thought, "T.J. is sooo lazy lately, why isn't he working out more!?" but really I have been busy! Now I just gotta convince Ashley to help me put down a new floor in there and it will actually be pleasant to cook and eat in our kitchen!

Look for a run report tomorrow.

St. John is looking mighty good tonight!

So it just took me an hour and a half to drive home - and I live 16 MILES FROM WORK!! A classic mid-winter midwestern blizzard is blowing through Chicagoland and it's making quite a mess of the roads. There was a ton of traffic too and it was pretty annoying driving so slow but at least I made it home safe and to my surprise all the dogs had made it w/o any accidents! Way to go dog bladders! I let Pim out off leash into the front yard and he made a mad dash for the cornfield, popped a squat, disappeared behind the house for about 30 seconds, and then sprinted like a bat out of hell to the front door almost knocking me over in his attempt to get out of the wind and snow as soon as possible. I try not to let him off leash to much as he has absolutely zero concern for his own safety and well-being, but I knew he couldn't last more than a minute out there tonight! According to NPR on the way home it'll be up to 7 inches tonight and a couple more tomorrow - even a chance work may not be open but I hope it is as I have some important stuff going on tomorrow.

Anyway, to report on the training. Last night I didn't want to (it was even colder and windy as well) but forced myself to make it over to the gym. Stretched like usual and started walking on the treadmill but as soon as I started jogging I knew I wasn't feeling it. My back hurt like crazy, and on top of that my left knee was hurting and almost feeling like it wanted to bend backwards (which hurt!) every time I landed. This is not good, I thought to myself. So I walked for a mile or so and then tried the running again - same thing, I couldn't even go a quarter mile just felt completely stiff and the knee was hurting. Not wanting things to get worse, I flipped on American Idol on the treadmill TV and walked for over an hour watching the entire show. Luckily walking didn't bother me, and I did some hills and kept a pretty steady pace. Better something than nothing I figure, right?? (sorry no ipod graph - I did record my workout but left my stuff in the car again) It ended up being just over five miles I think. Mostly walking, mind you...

Well today as I get to work the stairs were killer and my knee hurt - this sucks!!! I thought about running at lunch but decided to pass and will also take a break tonight. I know this is lazy, but I think it's a combination of laziness/recovery time as I'm really hoping this knee thing is not a big deal and will feel better by tomorrow. I will keep you posted.

So tonight it's just me and the dogs - maybe I'll start a fire or something in our gargantuan fireplace. I have plenty of other projects to keep me busy as well these days. OH, and I heard back from the library they have that book I talked about last time, "Red Helmet," in for me and on hold so I'll have to pick it up this weekend.

I can not WAIT for our trip - especially on a day like today. I'm gonna sign off tonight but stay tuned for updates tomorrow and through the weekend. I miss you Ashley!

A video to watch, a new book to read, and only like 3 weeks to go!

Sorry for the missed update last night. Do you just ever have one of those days? I don't know why but yesterday was like that for me - just sucked for some reason. Work was OK but just got home and didn't feel good. Not sick or anything, just tired and grumpy and all I wanted to do was go to bed. So I did. I didn't run, didn't blog, didn't do much of anything except lay in bed, watch a couple shows on TV. An all out no excuses lazy night.

Good thing I worked out on Sunday then huh? You can see my run/walk in the graph above. Ran and walked a couple miles, then spent a bunch of time walking at a steep incline at a pretty high speed which was a good workout for the muscles that I'm sure I'll be using quite a bit on St. John. I'm glad Ashley went with me on Sunday because she really convinced me to go and although it wasn't a super great run or anything I was on the treadmill for just about an hour. The whole time I was watching "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives" on the Food Network and just watching all of these amazing (yet almost disgusting in their greasiness and size) burgers, ribs, and other great fattening yet delicious food. I guess this motivated me - but surprisingly got home and didn't end up eating too much. Otherwise we had a good weekend, got a LOT done around the house (still lots to do!), and went to the Batavia Chamber of Commerce awards dinner where Ashley's company (Batavia Enterprises, her family run business) won one of the big awards - so that was nice. Also, Ashley's dad bought both a heart monitor w/ watch and Bulls tickets in the silent auction and promptly gave them to me which was extremely nice!! Thanks Mr. D! I'll have to try out the heart monitor this week and let you all know how it works.

So like I said yesterday was a "nothing" day which I really can't have too many more of considering how soon the race is! Today I decided to get my workout in over lunch, and decided I'd swim instead of run. I headed over the the Y and was pretty much the only one in the pool. Swimming is hard! I mean I have always been an OK swimmer and everything but I've always just swam around for fun. When you are just in there doing laps you get tired really fast! I would do 2 pool lengths and then have to rest for a long time. I used this time to do some stretching and other exercises though, and overall think I got a pretty good workout in. Probably ruined it w/ some pizza for dinner though (damn food!!!! you are my arch nemisis!). I'll get back to the treadmill tomorrow night and will be sure to update. Was looking like I could run outside until about 7 p.m. tonight. Currently I'm looking out the window in our office at an all out winter blizzard w/ crazy winds. So crazy in fact that there is a pile of snow in our garage just from a tiny crack that is in the door.

So I logged on to www.on-stjohn.com today to find a great interview with Homer Hickam. He is a really good writer and a really interesting guy that lives on St. John much of the time. He wrote the very good book "Rocket Boys," based on his life growing up in a small coal-mining town. He and his friends started experimenting with rocketry and he became so knowledgeable and educated in the field that he went on to work for NASA, building rockets, training astronauts and the like. The movie October Sky was based on "Rocket Boys" and is also very good. Anyway, this also interested me because my parents at one point had struck up some email correspondence with Mr. Hickam and had really enjoyed his responses. They even took my grandparents down to the annual "October Sky Festival" in West Virginia (I think), and had a chance to meet Homer, who shares a remarkable amount in common with my own grandfather (both science writers, familiar with space travel and astronauts, etc.). They apparently had a great time and found Mr. Hickam to be a very friendly and interesting man. Anyway, after hearing all this from my parents and reading "Rocket Boys" it was fun to see the interview posted - check it out. He's got a new book out, "Red Helmet," which apparently begins and ends on St. John! I just logged on to the local library website and placed a hold on one of the first copies that comes in. Hopefully I'll get it in time to take down on our trip! Must be pretty good as the reviews so far on Amazon are all 5-star.

One more thing for you all to check out tonight. I got this in an email today (yes, I know sounds sketchy!), but apparently the band/guy known as Five For Fighting (a great musician AND good hockey name) is helping to raise some money for autism research, etc. All you need to do is visit this link, and check out the video to help:

http://whatkindofworlddoyouwant.com/

Hey, if you're reading this you're not doing something else - take a second to help out this cause by watching a video - now THAT is easy.

Well.. only like 3 weeks left now and I can barely wait to take off for St. John. Brett called today and said he talked to a nice lady down at Low Key Watersports in Cruz Bay and is setting things up for us to go on a beginner dive Monday after the race so that should be lots of fun. He said after talking to her he can't wait to get to St. John. Ashley takes off EARLY tomorrow morning for San Diego with her dad. She'll be gone for a WHOLE WEEK! What am I gonna do w/ myself?? Well I guess that will mean lots of extra workouts, housework, and hanging out w/ the pets who will also be missing her like crazy. I LOVE YOU ASHLEY - travel safe and have a great time, I can't wait for you to get home (and you're not even gone yet!).

Weekend wrap up...

Check in tomorrow night for a DOUBLE update on the weekend and today's workout along with tomorrow's work out as well. Hope everyone had a great weekend and have a good start to your week - Only 5 days till FRIDAY!! :)

This is Freaking Cool!

OK, I know dolphins tend to be rare visitors around St. John, but this video was on the front page of youtube and was really awesome. How cool would it be to be out snorkeling and have one of these guys swim up next to you? I know my dad had an opportunity to swim with wild dolphins in the open ocean when he was younger - hopefully I'll have a chance to do that some day! Anyway, take a minute to watch this:



No training report today :(. Didn't make it to the gym at lunch and decided to come straight home after work as it was snowing like crazy. Tomorrow Ashley and I will go to River West Fitness for a good long workout session. I'll probably try to spend 45 minutes to an hour on the treadmill and run/walk at least 5-7 miles along w/ doing some other stuff.

Apparently my headache transferred over to Ashley's entire body as she wasn't feeling good tonight and headed to bed early. I jumped online and posted links to the blog on a few Virgin Islands message boards appealing to folks to give me some encouraging words for the upcoming big race. If you're visiting the blog for the first time, welcome!! Check back every day or so for new updates.

Also, here's a mystery - got a very interesting comment a few posts back. Quite inspirational in fact. Posted anonymously though - who could this ghostwriter be?? I think I have a few ideas, but am not completely sure. Will they make another appearance with more words of wisdom and perspective before the big race? We can only wait to find out. Here's a copy of their original comment:

Two dozen and five days from now, you will exit this continent and be brought forth to a new nation, located in the sub-tropics, believing in the proposition that anyone, so long as they possess enough resolve, can accomplish something miraculous. Soon you will be engaged in an eight tough miles race, testing that notion, and whether you, or anyone, can finish such a race, having chronically procrastinated and inadequately trained. You will come to a great beach, and then climb a vast mountain, which may or may not become the final resting place of your dream. And it is altogether fitting and proper for you to remember this:

The world will little note, nor remember, whether or not you finish the race, or even that you were ever there in the first place. But you must not forget what you do there. It is, therefore, for you, and you alone, to be dedicated to the great task before you, to complete your unfinished work and thereby consecrate the jungle with the smashed remains of your fears and self doubt. And like the will of the brave people who have run and struggled there before you, with that kind of mettle, your dream will not die in vain, but shall survive, and with it, at the finish line, a new birth of self confidence.

OK - off to bed for the night!

Thursday on Friday

Sorry no post yesterday. I did go for a run but when I got home from work got hit by a HUGE headache. You ever get one of those headaches right behind one of your eyes at like one particular spot in your head? This is exactly what I had become afflicted w/ by the time I got home. I laid down and waited for Ashley to get home from her hair appointment, then pretty much whimpered like a little puppy for about an hour complaining about my headache before I headed straight to bed. Thanks for taking care of me Ash - I love you.

Anyway, to report on my workout. It was short because I couldn't go after work so had to go on my lunch break (I'm not a morning person, remember - although for the race I will have to be!). I ran two good hard miles on the treadmill. Then I walked for five minutes or so and ran another half a mile before I had to hit the shower and get back to the office.

Some of you are probably thinking - he's not going to make it! Well I hope to prove you wrong. I will say this - with the race less than 30 days from now I won't be sprinting the whole thing and will probably be really struggling up the hills. My original goal was to finish and run the entire thing. I'd still like to do this - and will definitely try as hard as I can, but as long as I finish I'll be happy. I'll probably write more on this after I have a chance to reflect a bit in the final days leading up to the race, but I know I'm not going to be in "top peak physical shape" when we board the plane next month. I definitely could have trained harder early on, and made some mistakes along the way. But the good thing - I'm running and working out almost daily. I'm feeling better w/ more energy. I've lost (some) weight. And most importantly I'm no doubt healthier and in better shape than I was last year at this time and than I was when I decided I wanted to do the race. So those are all good things.

Not even a month left now... I've still got time to get in even better shape! Stay tuned.

So this guy has me beat!!

OK, so I thought a little pond hockey was soooo original when it comes to doing some cross-training for 8 Tuff Miles. Boy was I wrong!! Just check out this picture. Race Director Peter sent this to me. It is his friend Bill Rielly of Brownfield, Maine. Here he is doing some "hill training" on some beaver huts! Bill has apparently finished the race 6 or 7 times, is 60 years old, and is in the "under an hour club." Wow!! He even finished 21st overall last year. Anyway, just wanted to share this cool picture - way to go Bill!

Doing an early post tonight and still haven't gotten my workout in. Looks like it will be doing some 8 minute abs and seeing if Ashley is up for that and some other exercise in the house. Would go skating or running but it's still snowing out there and there is a good 5 inches or so right now! OK - yes I could probably run in that, but no I don't feel like it when I can do some stuff in the nice cozy house to keep the workouts going.

Just got back from Ashley's brother's house and had fun playing w/ the soon to be nephews (1 and 3). They are a lot of fun and were in good moods tonight so we had a great time playing and then looking up train crashes online for the 3 year old to look at. He LOVES trains - his big thing now is train crashes apparently. Perhaps he'll grow up to be like my brother Ben, who is a true "foamer." If you don't know what a "foamer" is ask Ben or check out his website here: Ben's Train Travel Web Page.

All right, gonna have something small for dinner and then get some exercise in. Hope to get a nice long run in tomorrow after work at the gym so I'll report on that tomorrow night. Need a beach break? Go here and check out Little Maho - this was actually the first beach on St. John I ever set foot on. I was completely alone and it was about 11:00 p.m. - stars were completely filling the entire sky and it was one of the most surreal experiences of my life at the time. I'm becoming a big fan of these "On-StJohn.com guys!"

Quick Update tonight...

Need to get to bed soon so gonna keep it quick tonight. Made it to the Y today during lunch and ran a few miles, working up a good sweat. Not as good as last night but I was happy I got a run in.

I have some fun stuff to post tomorrow and promise a better recap of what's been going on lately. In the meantime, check out this gorgeous picture of St. John taken from the air (or at least part of St. John, it's hard to tell) that adorns the cover of the inaugural "St. John Magazine." Gives you a good idea of those hills...

Another fun thing to do that will get you excited for the big race. Check out some awesome photos from last year taken by Steve Simonsen (I have his St. John Calendar up at work w/ Cinnamon Bay calling my name) at last years 8 Tuff Miles. I hadn't actually looked at these yet - found them on the guestbook at www.8tuffmiles.com. It's a bit scary to me though - these people are all in very good shape and STILL are looking beat at the end of the race!! Anyway, have fun and I'll update more tomorrow.

Here's the link to the photos.

I'd bet good money I'm the only one cross-training for 8 Tuff Miles like this!!

Ahhhh... pond (or in this case river) hockey. There is simply no better sport in the entire world. Even when you're alone! So w/ the cold temperatures the ice is finally thick and some of the rinks at local parks have been flooded. Not only that, but the Fox River is finally safe to skate on and I decided it couldn't hurt to get a little extra workout in today using the old hockey muscles. I had the day off work today and headed over to the laundromat in Batavia to get all my laundry done at once late in the afternoon. While stuff was in the dryer I made the short trip over to the "Depot Pond" on the Batavia Riverwalk, a man-made eddy that is perfect for skating. I laced up the skates (thanks for these awesome new ones Ashley!), threw on my hockey gloves and took off across the river. Was pretty darn cold and I had forgot my stocking cap, so didn't last too long - but it was FUN! A little bit of snow on the ice so it wasn't ideal but still kicked the puck around a bit and took some shots against the brick retaining wall that surrounds this portion of the "pond." That was fun till I fired my puck into the nearby playground - oops! Well, as my old teammates can attest to, I'm much more of a player than a practicer, so after a few more loops around the ice and some hard sprints (see I did get some good exercise!!) back and forth across the river my ears were freezing and I decided to call it a day after 15 or 20 minutes. Even so, I was beat! Just take a look at the picture to the left, skating is a GREAT workout. Bet no one on the islands has thought of this training technique!

Headed back to the laundromat and finished things up, meeting Ashley after she got off work to head over the the nearby fitness center to try it out. Looks like everyone at Batavia Enterprises (Ashley's work) and family will be getting free memberships as they are working this out in a business deal (they own the building the fitness center is in). Anyway, tonight we paid the $6 guest pass to check things out. Ashley had been here to work out before a lot but I hadn't ever been inside. This place is awesome!! It's in an old building w/ lots of character. Hardwood floors, exposed brick walls and the like. It doesn't have a gym or a pool and is really small but has everything else you could want. Ashley got on the eliptical machine and I jumped on the treadmill thinking I'd be beat after skating. Exactly the opposite! I had probably my best run since well before Christmas. I'm not sure if it was that I was warmed up, that I was with Ashley, or that I could watch my very own TV w/ sound (EVERY treadmill has a TV w/ DVD player and a headphone hookup, it's awesome and I watched a cool show on the History Channel about Bigfoot). One thing that really may have helped was a slowed down a bit to a 6.5 on the treadmill which is about a 9:10 minute mile. Slow, yes - but I think this will really help my endurance. Anyway, I was running and two miles were over just like that and I felt great! I ended up doing a 5K, walked for a little bit, then ran another half mile at a high speed. I probably could have run even further but didn't want to push it and be dead tomorrow (I'm sore now! But a good sore). Anyway, this is where we went and will be going all the time starting soon hopefully:

River West Family Fitness



As you can see from the graph, stayed completely consistent so that was really good. Headed out after the workout and split a Chinese dinner which was a good idea cuz it turned out to be HUGE! We have about half of it left over for lunch tomorrow and although I probably ate one crab rangoon to many it didn't completely ruin what I'd accomplished on the treadmill.

All right, it's getting late and I need to get to bed. OHH, but I wanted to say Peter's been posting lots of great updates so check out the latest at:

www.8tuffmiles.com

Seemed like there as something else I was gonna talk about, but it's slipping my mind and the mattress is calling. Later!

I feel like a crochety old man today :(

Well it will be a bit of a short update tonight as we have company in from out of town (Michelle, our maid of honor), and this is her room I'm writing from! You may have noticed no run update yesterday. That's because I never got a run in. Was too busy at work to take lunch off, then had our engagement photos (very fun with the craziest Polish Photographer I've ever met. Well I guess I haven't met any other crazy Polish photographers, but he was great). Then headed to get some dinner and had a long talk and by the time we got home it was already 10 pm and 0 degrees out so going for a quick run around the block was out.

Not wanting to lose training time, I hit the gym today after work for a run that just didn't feel good. I tried different speeds, walking intervals, but I just couldn't get into it (no graph tonight, ipod's still out in the freezing car!). Spent about half an hour on the treadmill and did burn some calories and exercise the muscles but hoping to have a much better workout tomorrow night after I work representing the Museum at a local chocolate festival. I have such a long way to go to where I'll be ready for the race. And truth be told I know I won't TRULY by ready in the way I should had I been more disciplined w/ my training over a longer period of time. I was feeling kinda crappy about this tonight on the way home. But hey, there is still a month to go, I've been eating better and have more energy it seems, and even if I end up finishing at a turtle pace, I'm still going to finish and I'll still be with my two best friends in St. John. Couldn't ask for much more than that! And don't hesitate to comment if you are reading this! It helps me stay motivated.

I'll report tomorrow on what I hope will be a much better feeling workout. Should be fun as I think Ashley and Michelle are going to join me at the Y following my work event. I had a deep thought today while listening to some Jimmy Buffett on the treadmill (I don't really think you're supposed to have deep thoughts when listening to Jimmy B.) Maybe I'll report on that and write more tomorrow. I'm out for now.

Check this out!

OK, so I've only actually mountain bike a few times and didn't find it all that great (tiring!!) Had I been on this course it might have been a bit more fun. This is cool!



Stay tuned for an update tonight. Didn't run at lunch today so will have to brave the cold again tonight when I get home!

Brrrr... and Books

Just got back from a COLD run outside. I wasn't able to get to the Y today as I was in downtown Chicago for a meeting w/ radio Disney (no I didn't meet Hannah Montana), and had to get home early after work to let the dogs out as Ashley had some stuff to take care of. Anyway, I decided to combine two things that needed doing - going to the library and running. The library isn't too far away (just over a mile) but it is kinda hilly to get there and I had a LOT of books and CDs to return. So I put everything into my messenger bag and started off. As you can see we now have running stats back! So I didn't go fast - not fast at all!! BUT I was probably carrying about 15 pounds on my back if not more so it was definitely a good workout and got me sweating quite a bit even though it was like around 30 degrees out (I wore shorts!). It felt great to finally get to the library and unload that bag! But I didn't stay long, just long enough to pick up some CDs I had on hold, find another CD for my grandma, and check out. Then back to the pavement feeling much lighter for the run home which went pretty well. No speed records but I was just happy to make it home in the cold! And I ran (well I guess jogged considering my speed)the entire way which is good.

Got some good new CD's to listen to - soundtracks to "Across the Universe," "Into the Wild," and "Once." I considered buying some of these on itunes but why buy when you can borrow. I DID try out the new itunes rentals and rented the Simpsons movie but haven't started watching it yet.

Well tonight we are having a conference call to sort out the trip details so we can all be excited and set to go in just over a month. I can't wait to show those guys around St. John - hopefully they will like it as much as I do. I'm craving a Virgin Islands Pale Ale and some of that Caribbean lobster pasta I had last time I was down there. Well it'll have to wait til after the race! All right Ashley talked me into making her some dinner so I better get started. I'll update w/ tomorrow's workout AND a report on our engagement photo session - I need to wash some nice clothes!

Healthy food is expensive!

Just got back from the grocery store after a really good workout. Bought a bunch of groceries, with just about everything being either healthy or at least not junk food. Didn't seem like I had much it my cart but it ended up being over $100.00!!! OH well, mostly I got stuff for sack lunches and that'll be good not only because I'm eating better but also because I'll save money in the long run. Also picked up some one a day vitamins. I ALMOST bought the Flinstones chewables just because they were so fun when I was a kid - but bought an "adult version" that was on sale.

I'm SOOOO tired! Tonight's workout was kickass in a good way - and to be honest last night was weak. I pushed myself a lot harder tonight and was really sweating and maxing out at the end. "But T.J., where is your cool little ipod/nike graph?" I remembered the ipod but forgot the running sensor "DOH!" Anyway, I ran two miles straight, then walked a bit, then ran half a mile at a slower speed on a treadmill incline of 2.5. In total I only did 3.5 miles, but I was on the machine for over 40 minutes and burned 626 calories. So that is not bad. I know it's not 8 miles w/ severe hills (at work today a friend that is following this blog said she's "worried about me" in the race). All I can do is keep pushing and working and eating better and see how things go. Hey, even if I don't sprint the course in some amazing time, finising will be a great accomplishment and I'll be in that much better shape, hopefully to continue after our trip and will be in great shape by the wedding in May.

Anyway, had a good day and ate good. Nutrigrain for breakfast, salad for lunch, and just finished a bowl of chili for dinner. W/ all my new groceries I'll have quite the selection in packing lunches for the rest of the week. Tomorrow morning I head down to Chicago to do a 30 minute spotlight show on the Museum with Radio Disney, so that should be fun and interesting (gotta get up early though!).

OK, I'm off to play w/ my iphone and check out all the new updates that came out today (movie rentals!!) Did you see the new Apple laptop?? Wow - head over to apple.com to check it out. Have a great day and stay tuned for tomorrow's update.

A New Week Begins....

**NOTE: I just wanted to let those reading this know that I'm really not as bad at writing and spelling as it probably appears when reading this blog (OK, yes, I am not the greatest typist when it comes to accuracy!!) - I tend to be editing things all day at work, so I usually just write what I'm thinking, rarely go back to look it over, insert any hyperlinks, and hit post!**

You probably wondered where I've been again!? Well this weekend we took a trip to Galena (see us having fun and freezing at left), IL w/ Ashley's entire family which was a lot of fun but unfortunately I didn't get much running in. Did get some exercise though as we walked up and down to all the little shops in town and spent some time in the swimming pool. Also, had my first ever professional massage (although I doubt this is something I'd pay for on a regular basis, I highly recommend it!), so that's gotta be good for my muscles right?!?

I made it to the Y first thing after work tonight and hit the treadmill for half an hour. Ran just a mile and a half (w/ a period of walking in there), but at least I did something. I left feeling like I could have done a little more though so I need to keep pushing myself. If I add a mile or two a week and finish up the training with some inclines and spending well over an hour on the treadmill and running or jogging 8-10 miles a few times leading up to the race I think I should be in about the best shape possible w/ the time I have left. Considering looking into a group aerobics class or something a few mornings a week at the local rec center - but believe it when you read about it as I'm so not a morning person.

Sorry no cool little nike plus graph. I DID have my ipod - but just my luck, it was out of batteries!! I'll charge it tonight and start posting my graphs again tomorrow. Other than the eating better, which to be completely honest I still need to work on a ton (doing better on smaller portions and healthier options though), the thing I need to improve most is my motivation. I am more excited about the trip to St. John and the race than anything right now (OK it's tied w/ our wedding! sorry Ashley), but it's still tough to push myself to work out as hard as possible. I used to work out w/ Brian all the time when we were in our first couple years of college and it was so easy because we kept each other motivated. We were reminiscing about that on the phone the other night. We'd work out Tuesday and Thursdays together when I was at DMACC in Ankeny, Iowa, and Brian was at Iowa State, in Ames. He'd come to the Y in Ankeny Tuesdays, and then I'd go up to the rec center at Iowa State (I think some kid permanently gave me his ID or just left it for me Thursdays or something), and we'd always run, lift weights, and usually play basketball. Now, I'm by no means a natural athlete w/ the exception of my skills on the hockey rink - but in those days we got to a point where we could actually compete in just about any pick up game.

Speaking of Brian, he and Brett apparently got together this weekend and ran about 13 miles straight (that's a half marathon!!), so they are really gearing up for the big race and while I know I can't keep up w/ them I wouldn't want to spend the week on St. John and do the race with anyone else, we're going to have a great time. Both those guys have been great about being supportive, and Brett has been giving me lots of tips and is helping me set some realistic goals. I WILL finish the race, and I WILL feel good about my performance!!

You can check out some news and Peter's latest updates on how the race is shaping up at www.8tuffmiles.com. He has quite a few recent updates. Seems everything St. John has been consuming my time and thoughts lately actually. For Christmas my dad gave me a book called "Keep Left, the Open Air Asylum Called St. John." It is written and self-published by a guy named Mike Mullen who bought a lot and built a gorgeous villa called Villa Tesori on St. John. He talks all about his trials and tribulations in building the house as well some of the adventures he had and people he met along the way. The book is definitely a bit rough and choppy at times, but overall if you like St. John or just want a quick and easy to read crazy story, it's not bad at all. Mr. Mullen put his phone number on the back cover and said feel free to contact him - so I did. I called him and he was really nice and let me know that I was the first person to give him some feedback on the book! He was in the middle of meeting w/ an architect on St. Thomas in regards to a new project. Anyway, it was great talking to him after reading the book and I may even give him some thoughts if he reprints it. Another thing that was really cool was he suggested an online blog about the building of another St. John Villa, Bongo Bongo.

You can check out this really awesome, detailed, and very interesting and funny blog here. WARNING: If you get into this it'll take you well over an hour to read but it's totally worth it! The guys that wrote it and built the house also now maintain a website w/ daily websites called On St. John. Lot's of great videos, interviews, and all kinds of interesting content.

All right, I better go and collect up some of the stuff for our upcoming trip as we are going to have the official planning conference call on Wednesday night. I know, that seems early! But what can I say we are freaking excited!!! And we need to talk about all the details as far as packing, what we're bringing, who's bringing what, etc. Hey it will be fun and make us even more excited. Just over a month now till a week of sun, a run, and FUN on St. John w/ my two best friends - I can't wait!!

Good News, Bad News

Good News: Ipod found!! Just put in a load of laundry and it was in the pocket of an old pair of jeans. See, told you I'd find it! So running graphs should be back up again soon!

Bad News: I'm sick. Staying home from work today as I don't feel to great at all. Went the the Y last night and even after stretching for a long time just wasn't feeling it at all on the treadmill. I think this probably has something to do w/ the fact that I was starting to get sickish and that I forgot my lunch yesterday so ate out of the vending machine which has only crap. I ended up running only like a mile, then walking for another mile and a half or so, part of that on the highest incline (15) for a short period of time which was just killer! Overall sweated a lot but just didn't get into the groove. Came home, hit the couch, and almost immediately fell asleep watching a movie with Ashley (Once, started good w/ good music but I guess she didn't like it overall - I can't say as I was conked out). Woke up around 1:45 am and went straight back to sleep in the bedroom. Got up at the normal time w/ my alarm and just felt awful w/ a headache that was killing and just feeling crappy overall. Figured I'd probably be much better off getting some rest at home as I could tell I would probably not be productive at all at work. I do have a few things I can tackle at home as far as the Museum goes and as I'm feeling a bit better now I'll see what I can get done.

Don't know if I'll be up to a full run tonight but maybe depending on how I feel. If nothing else I'll try to get out of the house for a walk if I'm feeling up to it. All right, time for some more rest now so I don't miss any more days of work this week! Hope you are all feeling better than me!!

treadmill post

update from the treadmill via iPhone! Walking now after a short run. Hot and stinky in here

At last...

Ok, Ok. Where to begin? First off, sorry for the lack of updates. I could try to come up with some excuses but they are just that, "excuses." So what's really the point. The race is in like 50 days!! So my hope is to not only up the training but get back to posting at least once every couple of days if not every night. I have to admit, one thing that helped me in the past to remember to post was plugging in my ipod after a run and then uploading the graph to the blog. Well the iPod is still lost - I WILL FIND IT!! and since my new iphone doesn't let me sync up w/ the nike plus system I won't have the fun little graphs for awhile.

Anyway, instead of giving excuses, I'll give a quick update on what I've been up to so at least anyone who reads this knows I've been doing SOMETHING, even if it hasn't been hardcore race training (more on that in a bit). December was a fairly busy month for a lot of reasons. Not the least of which being the fact that Ashley and I are newly engaged and she decided (a decision which I fully support), she wanted to get married pretty much as soon as possible and also with the least amount of stress involved. We settled on May 3rd, which is great because it is her parents anniversary as well, and the place we wanted to get married, The Herrington Inn in Geneva, had that date open. Well even with our "simple" and stress-free as possible wedding there is a lot to do! And it needed to be started right away. So we've been busy picking food, DJs, musicians, colors, invitation, flowers, rings, cakes, etc. etc. the list goes on. I'm incredibly lucky and proud to be marrying a woman who is going through this process w/ an open mind yet is helping me to make good, quick decisions without dwelling on every little detail. I've heard some wedding horror stories and I think by getting things done early we'll avoid some stress and still have a really awesome wedding. So thats been taking some time.

Another project has been a lot of fun but was also a lot of work leading up to Christmas. My dad recently showed me how to make small wooden "Christmas" trees like these:



They are really fun to make and not too difficult. Well I made a batch of around 10 or 15 and took them in to work. I thought I'd see if I could raise some money for charity (and myself) by selling a few trees to people that needed last minute or unique gifts for the holidays and decided I'd sell a set of three trees for $12 and give 25% of anything I made to the Central Asia Institute. On that first day, I sold out by 11:00 a.m.!! So one thing led to another and I spend about two week every day after work making as many trees as my energy level and bandsaw blades would allow. To make a long story short, I know have my trees for sale in an art gallery in Naperville (The Beat of my Art), made over $500 in about 2 weeks, and donated over $125 to the Central Asia Institute. I also made trees (and collapsible castles, click HERE for my parent's website) for a lot of close friends and family for holiday presents and they went over great. None of this was planned as of December 10th and took a lot of time - but it was fun. People really like these little trees (if you're interested in trees or castles, just shoot me an email at tylerjhicks@gmail.com and I can hook you up w/ a custom design)!

Obviously the holidays kept us busy as well. We had the traditional Dempsey family tree-trimming and dinner w/ the 5 Catholic Priests, several family and work holiday gatherings, and a trip to Iowa with the dogs to celebrate Christmas with Ben, Lee, and my parents.

We did have a nice break from work for New Year's as well, but Ashley wasn't feeling great so we didn't to do much. We did get a bunch of stuff done around the house though which was good, and had fun seeing some friends, and a great new movie: Juno.

OK... but T.J. - what about the RUNNING??? Isn't that what this blog is all about! You don't want to die on the top of Bordeoux Mountain do you?? So the god's honest truth. I didn't do much in December. Not much at all. I didn't run outside once and made it to the gym a few times but not on a consistent basis. I've never been great at long term goal-setting and then continued hard work to reach those goals (a big reason I'm taking on 8 tuff miles), and I think I certainly struggled for a month or so there (and have yet to prove myself in the 50 short days leading up to the big race!). To dwell on that would probably not help me move forward towards the goal I WILL complete, however, so I think it's best to move on. I do want to say thanks to all those that continue to support me, ask about the race, and encourage me to run. Especially my family (even if they just make fun of me that I never update the blog), the posters to this blog, Peter Alter the race director, my running partners Brian and Brett, and most of all my fiance Ashley.

So there IS some good progress to report on over the last week or so. I've been getting into the Y consistently and am back up and running on the treadmill. I ran Wed, Friday, and yesterday, and am upping my distance a bit each time. Before I started slacking in December I was running 3-5 miles a night pretty comfortably. I hope to be back up to that in the next week to 10 days. My last two runs have been great, are fun, and have me pushing at the end but really feeling like I'm getting a good workout. I will probably start trying to mix in some swimming/biking at the Y a few days a week to change things up and work all my muscles. Also, while I haven't lost a significant amount yet - I'm about 8-10 pounds lighter than I was when I first started running last fall. I took today off and may actually try to get in two workout sessions tomorrow and into this week depending on how I'm feeling. I haven't drank any "real" pop in a few weeks and am slowly weaning myself off diet pop again. I made a deal with Ash - she can't buy bottled water (bad for the environment!!!!), and I'll quit diet pop. This will be hard for me!

I'll include in my next post distance ran, time, etc. since I'm pretty much running on the treadmill all the time now. As soon as I find that tiny little piece of technological magic I call my ipod I'll start updating my stats w/ the graph from each run as well.

On a final note, Ashley's pet rat, Tater, is super sick and looks like he's in the process of passing away this weekend. It's been a hard couple days for her (I know, he's a rat - but my girl loves animals - in fact click HERE to find out just how much!). So if you have a second say a little prayer or or send good wishes out that Tater is peaceful. I can assure you he lived a VERY good rat life! Well I have laundry to do, 60 minutes to watch, and need to pack up my running stuff for tomorrow's workout. g'night and Happy 2008!