Run, Part II

Per Jaime's special request, here are my race photos:
http://www.yoursportingimage.com/Thumbs.asp?BibNbr=marshik&event=1512&Locate=Locate

Veterans' Day 25K

As I'm sure you're all aware, Sunday was Veterans' Day. Although we were trying to make it a tradition to throw a Veterans' Day partay, we were not able to do it this year for a few reasons. So instead I (Charlie) ran my first 25K (~15.5 miles) run in the Theatre District in downtown Houston on Sunday morning.

Jaime and I were at a friend's birthday partay the night before, so I was only able to get a little more than three and a half hours of sleep the night before. Considering this, I was able to impress myself three times over:

1. I made it out of bed and to the race!

2. I finished the race (and earned a superfly microfiber pullover by doing so)!

3. I came out with a respectable time (in my mind at least)!

Here is the video of me crossing the finish line- I'm the topless guy with the beefy build:

It turns out that this is currently one of the top ten downloaded videos on the net right now. Good ol' net...

It's hard to pick up, but the crowd is actually going crazy when my name is announced- I think the were having problems with the mic or something. I've heard rumors that there were even riots after my performance- 2003 UofM hockey championship style.

Anyway, my chip time* was 1:57:54.2, which is 7:36 per mile. ~7:15 per mile is kind of my marathon goal pace, but I'm more than 20 seconds higher than that at the moment, so it's a long shot. But if I do it in the Houston Marathon (which I am currently registered and training for), then I would qualify for the Boston Marathon. How cool would that be? My time was good enough to get 9th of 59 in my age-gender group and 137th of 1600+ overall, so I'm pretty happy with it.

No pics yet, as they won't be posted for another couple days. But when they are, I'm sure I will have some unflattering snapshots to share.

Until then...

*If you're not familiar with chip time: in many races, you tie a little chip to your shoe that registers your time when you run past mats placed in various places throughout the course. Not only is this able to ensure that nobody cheats by skipping laps, but it gives you a more accurate race time since not everybody can be at the front of the pack when the race starts; your time doesn't start until you cross the start line.

Armadillos Abound

Recently we have discovered that our puppy Sammie has a special bond with armadillos. Since we've had her, she has always been able to sniff out piles of armadillo poo in our backyard. She then proceeds to roll into it, which is a great time for everybody- she'd even convinced Kirby to try it once, but I think that was a one time deal for K-dog.

But even more recently we have caught her randomly going nuts for no apparent reason at all: pacing the house, whining, trying to look out all the windows, etc. It turns out that she's been sensing the presence of her arch-nemesis, the armadillo. So we've been opening up the backyard to her, at which point she proceeds (often with a confused Kirby on her heels) to sprint into the darkness. When we're quick enough to grab a flashlight and shine it out there, we often find them chasing small, armadillo-shaped animals. It seems that Kirby has started to get into the act as well, spotting the little guys from her post in the second-story windows.

So we were able to snap a few photos of the little nocturnal 'dillies (as we call them) who've been digging up our mulch beds.

Halloween 2007

Yesterday was the holiday of Halloween, as most of you should know. Even with limited time and resources available this year, we were still able to pull off a decorated home to celebrate the occasion. Charlie and I even carved pumpkins at the eleventh hour, but we still made it.

We had a quite a few kids show up, including one group of at least 15 little grubbers! The majority of the kids were very polite and said "Trick or Treat!", but there were a few ungrateful, poor-mannered kids, who weren't nearly as fun to give candy treats to (eg: "Put the candy in the bag!").

My favorite part of the evening was when an innocent, blonde, 5-year old girl dressed as a Princess with her Barbie treat bucket said of our door decorations: "I like the blood on your door!" That cracked me up!

Below are pix of our house...note: we hope to improve greatly next year!

Enjoy!

Jaime's Pumpkin (above)

Charlie's Pumpkin (above)