Baltimore BOT-Fest

[lourodrigis]

Good Morning Bots.

Lou: I'd love to do the Broad Street Run one of these years. Won't be this year though. Good luck defending your home turf against your friends and family.

Howard: A trip to Jamaica sounds great. Didn't you just get back from a warm tropical vacation? I want your life. Good luck with your training for Delaware. Thanks for your comment on my blog. Right now it feels like the only thing I can control in my life is my running, so I'm holding on to that as best I can.

Cindy - I've already applied to be Howard & Cam's housekeeper. I figured they may take me on their trips like Alice from the Brady Bunch. Sorry about those stomach troubles. Giving up coffee would be tough. I think I could give up beer easier then coffee. Hope the GI figures out what's wrong.

Howard - See above for my response on Jamaica. I'm still waiting to hear back on my housekeeper application. I'll even travel in coach.

Not much running this week. I'll be working in Philly today and the plan is to run after work somewhere in town.

Lou

 

[KeenHo]

Howard: A trip to Jamaica sounds great. Didn't you just get back from a warm tropical vacation? I want your life. Good luck with your training for Delaware. Thanks for your comment on my blog. Right now it feels like the only thing I can control in my life is my running, so I'm holding on to that as best I can. Cindy

Cindy~ If you are counting Orlando, Florida for the Disney Marathon Weekend, as the tropical location... that's not flying here. We did vacation with Judy & Charlie in November/December when we went on the Disney Magic (Western Itinerary). That is a long time ago... months ago! Last year even! I hope your stomach issues get diagnosed and solved quickly. Keep up the great effort with your training!

Lou~ I'll keep a close look out for your application.

Megan & Jen~ Have fun at the Princess Half!

Jodi~

Mike~



Howard

 

[StitchAttack]

Hey bots! Just another quick all-about-me update, but I ran 3 miles yesterday. My knee didn't feel great, but it felt better than Tuesday when I was only able to run 2 miles. I didn't run this morning, and figure I'll try again on Saturday. Until things are 100% back to normal I'm probably not going to run on back to back days and I'm going to generally take it easy as much as possible.

 

[lourodrigis]

Matt - Glad the knee held up better.

Quick post...got in 8 miles in Philly last night. Ran from Art Museum, around the river, and back. The pace was 8:50 mpm which wasn't bad and I felt decent. Heading to NYC for the weekend. Going to see Rock of Ages today at 2PM.

Lou

 

[KeenHo]

Matt~ Hope to hear some additional good news about the knee in the next few days.

Lou~ I hope your trip to the Big Apple was fun. Nice run on Friday.

I got out for a run this afternoon:

Miles: 6.0
Time: 56:30
Pace: 9:25
Splits: 9:57, 9:51, 8:55, 9:05, 9:29, and 9:13

I just ran through and around my neighborhoods. Nice set of hills thrown in and some inconvenient piles of left over snow/ice to dodge.

Mike~ I thought about running at or near your recent pace but decided against it. I want to live to run another day.

Next weekend is the Special Olympics Delaware Polar Bear Plunge in Rehoboth Beach, DE. The following weekend I get to see ou for the Caesar Rodney Half Marathon in Wilmington. Bring it on.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!



Howard

 

[jbucci]

Matt: Glad to hear the knee is improving, hope it continues to get better.

Cindy: How is training coming along. Has your stomach improved at all? I hope things are going well.

Dave: Nice blog post

Chester: Missed you this weekend, I hope things are going ok.

I had a really nice weekend. The weather was way better than Jan and I ran a pretty good race for me setting a PR of 2:26:31-- beat my old PR by almost 12 min

I found a fun race-- www.warriordash.com anyone up for it? There is free beer at the end...

 

[Jodi]

Hey Bots...It's been soooo long since I've posted, but here goes:

Jen - Congrats on a new PR!!! You rock . I'm all over that Warrior Dash. Like I said on FB, we were going to sign up for the event up here in NY, but think I could persuade all involved to trek down to MD if we could make it an official BOT event!!

Howard - Continue to be in awe of your dedication @ the gym. I went that one time a few weeks ago & that was IT! DONE! How's the running going? Knee behaving?

CindyLou - Gearing up for Boston? How excited ru? How's the gut thing? What a freakin' drag!!

Matt - Speaking of knees...how goes it? I say you just hang out & drink those beers...who needs running?

Mike - You SO need a crew for your 50 miler....AND a pacer. I had a dog pace me for my 50k a few years ago .

Cindy - What's doin'? Have you been out running? You need to retire STAT!

Colleen - So what does it feel like when you drop off the face of the earth? Does it hurt much?

Sara - Thinking about you & hoping you're doing well. Still walking the doggies?

Chester - Hope you & Tracy are doing well . Have you been able to run @ all or even THOUGHT about it? Job searching?

Dave - Almost 1k friends on FB! I'm SO proud of you . Hope you will still talk to us over here on the BOT board.

Lou - Running outside? Ready for Cesar Rodney? How's business?

Who'd I miss?

Me? My back tightened up 2 weeks ago....I got it loosened & was able to run 3 or 4 days early last week, then woke up on Thurs. tight again. Sat a.m. there was MUCHO pain w/ much cursing involved & even some gut-wrenching cries of pain as something deep in my back/leg/hip spasm-ed for a few minutes. Bruce had had enough by then & dragged me to the chiropractor where he sorted me out with some massage & such. Felt better that day, went again yesterday, ran 4 yesterday...a little tight today, but will run easy for 3 or so....going back tomorrow....& Friday.
Inevitably I'll have to go to the pin-guy, but it's a lot easier for me to shell out a $5 co-pay to the chiro than what pin-guy wants . All I know is I need to be able to run, no matter how pathetically, in the NYC 1/2 in about 11 days. . Never did run that 1/2 in Colchester on 2/27...I was pissed @ myself that day, but looking back it was probably the right thing to do.

 

[Theta]

Colleen - So what does it feel like when you drop off the face of the earth? Does it hurt much?

Good one!

Yeah, I know, I suck! I really need a BOT fix. Been busy here, you know, s*** happens. Gotta deal with it. So I think I need to see y'all before MCM. So what's up? What does everyone have for summer plans?

 

[Jodi]

So I think I need to see y'all before MCM. So what's up? What does everyone have for summer plans?

Ahh, yes. A stinky, sweaty, sultry, summer meet somewhere! I'm up for it. Wherever you go, there I am.

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Everyone should come to D.C.

 

[Theta]

Everyone should come to D.C.

OK, we'll come. I will check my calendar for free weekends!

 

[Jodi]

OK, we'll come. I will check my calendar for free weekends!

OK, we're in. Lemme know the weekend.

 

[Optimator]

Oh, so we've decided to use this old, archaic, uncool mode of communication again? Let's see if I remember how...

Jodi - Nice catch up post! Sorry to hear about your cranky back. Just take it easy for your Big City half and enjoy it.

So how is Bruce's training going?

And quit bothering me about all this complicated race support crap! I was planning to take a cell phone. What more do you want?


CindyLou - Boston's coming soon! How are you feeling?

Howard - Sorry you are feeling under the weather. Get better soon.

How is Cam doing?


Matt - How's the knee? More importantly, how does that home brew taste?

Cindy - Any running for you?

Dave - You are one blogging machine! Maybe you should give up your day job.

Sara - I hope you are feeling well. Everything going O.K.?


Jen - Big congratulations on your PR! That's huge!

I'd be up for that Warrior race thing. Looks like fun.

Kathy told me Butch won his round at American Idol. That's pretty cool. He definitely should do it in January. We could fill the theater with WISH types and stack the deck in his favor!


Colleen - So, when you comin' up?

Lou - How's it going? Working like a dog?

Chester - Looking forward to seeing you at Tobacco Road.

Judy, Bill, Jackie and others looking on -

 

[Cindylou]

Good Morning Bots.

Mike: Good to see you’re getting some training in. Are all your snow piles gone yet? 50 miles with just a cell phone. Who needs Gu?

Colleen: Hope all is well.

Jodi: Glad the back is improving. I am starting to get really excited for Boston. Just 40 more days. More on the stomach below.

Jen: Again, congrats on the PR. Taking 12 minutes off is amazing.

Howard: Glad to see you were able to run outdoors. I hope you’ll go nice and easy for Caesar Rodney. Good luck with that Polar Bear Plunge. I think I’d rather do a 50 mile trail run than a 10 second dip in the ocean this time of year.

Lou: Good to see you’re getting in some miles outside too.

Matt: Hope the knee is doing OK. What have you been cooking lately?

Cindy: Hope work is settling down.

Sara: Hope things are going well.

Dave: How's it going? Are you running?

My stomach is so-so. I have a few good days then a few bad days. The GI doesn’t think it’s allergies so I am back to eating what I want (except the sweets). She has an upper GI scheduled and a CT Scan thinking it is something outside my stomach that is presenting itself as stomach pain. I go for one test this week and one next. In the meantime she’s given me a GI cocktail – a mix of Maalox and Lidocain. It tastes nasty but numbs some of the pain in my stomach when it’s hurting.

Training for Boston is going OK. I’m getting in most of my scheduled runs. I still feel like I’m a bit slower than I was during my training last fall. It could be the extra 5-8 lbs I’m still carrying. I'm trying to balance fueling and downsizing while being aware of all my stomach woes. I’ve got 18 miles this weekend, a half marathon the following and then 20 miles the week after that and I’ll be into the taper. Almost there.

I’m thinking of signing up for the NYC Marathon lottery. Does anyone know, if I by some chance get in this year, can I defer it to next year? Thanks.

Have a great day everyone.
Cindy

 

[msblrobs]

Checking in since I see a faint light at the end of the tunnel My surgeon says she'll put a small capped trach in on Friday and if I can tolerate sleeping with it in then she'll remove it next Wednesday and I'll be done with it. I'm back to work on Monday after 10 weeks off That should be very interesting, to say the least Currently I've got a heinous stomach/flu bug thing which is preventing me from any kind of exercise yet I'm hoping to have my life back to some sense of normalcy next week and promise to post and catch up with y'all then

 

[StitchAttack]

Wow so many posts I don't know where to start. Since I'm actually at work right now and I should be working I'll start with me! I ran this morning for the first time since last week. My knee felt pretty good for the first 2 miles then after 3 miles it started to feel tight so I walked the last mile home. I guess it is getting better. I figure as long as it isn't feeling any worse while running it will eventually heal itself. The good news is that I have no pain walking or doing normal non-running stuff now, which wasn't the case a few weeks ago.

So enough about this running stuff, I know everyone is more interested in hearing about beer brewing. We bottle one batch of beer on Saturday. This batch was the dopplebock and it tastes pretty much like the Optimator at the beer garden, but it has a bit more carmel taste to it and it is only 7.2% alcohol instead of whatever crazy % optimator is. The color isn't as dark, but it is very very smooth. Dangerously so, as in you could drink a ton of these very easily.

When you make the beer, you aren't sure exactly how much you will end up with, but we ended up with about 5 cases worth--120 beers. While bottling we ended up drinking 10 or so beers, so we split the remaining 110 beers with our friends who brewed with us. This week we are bottling the porter, and we should probably end up with another 100-120 beers to split or so. I'm not sure any of this beer will last until the MCM as Cindy and I are going through it at a pretty high rate, but I'm sure some will last at least until Mike runs the 50 miler.

The whole experience was so fun, though, that we will definitely do another batch of beer before the MCM as an incentive to come to DC.

 

[MouseDogMom]

Mike -

Sara - Great news! Well, maybe except for the going back to work part... Hope the stomach bug goes away quickly. Lots of people around here have had it and they say it's really, really nasty.

Matt - Are you sure you don't want to come to Tobacco Road anyway? Just to bring beer? Otherwise, I'll have to stop being a lurking BOT and come to DC... It looks like I may have to pull out of Tobacco Road as well - may be nursing a stress fracture, but like you, am putting off going to the doctor just so I won't know for sure. Have promised myself if it's not better by this weekend I'll call the doc on Monday and get xrays. And now it's past the deferment date, so I'll just lose my entry.

Jackie

 

[Theta]

I know everyone is more interested in hearing about beer brewing. We bottle one batch of beer on Saturday. This batch was the dopplebock and it tastes pretty much like the Optimator at the beer garden, but it has a bit more carmel taste to it and it is only 7.2% alcohol instead of whatever crazy % optimator is. The color isn't as dark, but it is very very smooth. Dangerously so, as in you could drink a ton of these very easily.

Oh, beers sounds good! Going through it at a high rate, eh?? Better get up there soon, so how does Easter sound for a trip up to DC? The kids have the week off after Easter Sunday, is that a bad time to do the DC touristy stuff? If not, send me hotel suggestions and I will pack up the kids and come.

CindyLou2- Boston is getting close, must be exciting!

Jackie, you have to back out of Tobacco Road too? That's a shame.

Sara, so happy to hear from you. Yes, that is a light at the end of the tunnel, hope the tummy feels better.

Mike, see above, when do your girls have Easter break this year? Congratulations to Kathy for a great Princess half! Looks like fun. I already started to look for flights for the Wine and Dine. Is it too early to book?

Jodi, so get that bod into shape already. You only pay a $5 co-pay? You suck.

Hi to Howard, Cam, Lou, Dave, Judy, Bill, et al...

 

[Theta]

I’m thinking of signing up for the NYC Marathon lottery. Does anyone know, if I by some chance get in this year, can I defer it to next year? Thanks.


Cindy

Cindy, I think this is how it works. You enter the lottery, if accepted, your credit card is automatically charged the $185 (or whatever) entry fee. You are allowed to defer until next year, but you lose your $185 from this year and need to pay it again next year.

 

[CynthiaCindy]

Oh, beers sounds good! Going through it at a high rate, eh?? Better get up there soon, so how does Easter sound for a trip up to DC? The kids have the week off after Easter Sunday, is that a bad time to do the DC touristy stuff? If not, send me hotel suggestions and I will pack up the kids and come.

The week after Easter is a good time to visit. It may be a bit cool, but weather should be decent. The Cherry Blossom Festival will be going on, so lots of special events. And if the Cherry Blossoms are actually out - it is really, really pretty. Only real drawback is that it will be super crowded, but you've done Disney in the summer, so you can handle it.

As for hotels, honestly, Rosslyn (where the MCM ends) is a good place to stay to explore the city. Also there are plenty of places right on the Metro in Crystal City or Pentagon City. You could stay in DC, but staying in VA is probably going to be cheaper and from most DC hotels, you would probably need to take the Metro to most tourist sites anyway.