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!