Couch to 5k – The beginning
Posted on 2 March 2010 | No responses
For those not following me on Facebook, here’s my original postings for the Couch to 5k, which I started on the 21st.
day 1 in the bag. 60 second jog alt 90 second walk for 20 min. Harder than I thought it would be. Total of 3k.
day 2 of Couch to 5k, 3.1k in 20 min. Total of 4k with walk. Thanks to @Valerie for encouragement to get out even on a Basketball day.
day 3 down. pace was a little slower today, must be the fact that its morning. Gotta be honest, I don’t like this yet.
Day 5 – Couch to 5k
Posted on 2 March 2010 | No responses
Due to the weather outside, I decided to use the gym tonight for my run. Me and treadmills normally don’t get along, as I often stop the belt which throws me off stride and I end up holding on for dear life. When I started running, I was encouraged to look into forefoot running. I think that has helped a lot, as I didn’t have issues with that tonight. As for the actual run, it was very different from being outside, although I added an incline of 1% which was supposed to make it more like road running. I only hit 3k tonight, which is significantly lower than what I have been doing in the same time frame. My pace was 6mph for pretty much the whole run, although as I got near the end I started to speed up. That should give you an idea that it wasn’t quite as hard as it was Sunday. I’m not sure the best way to pace myself outside to keep it around 6mph, but it was a lot easier.
Of note, I registered today, not for a 5k, but a 10k (Miracle Miles for Kids)! On top of that, it’s one week earlier than I’m supposed to complete my training. I’m already telling myself that it’s OK to walk.
Couch to 5k – day 4
Posted on 28 February 2010 | No responses
Today I began day 4 which is 90sec run, 60sec walk alt for 20 min. I completed 3.6k total. I really didn’t think I was going to be able to do it. The last few runs were super tough and debated switching to 60sec runs. I brought Hailey out with me and she pulled me through!
LEVEL Basketball – Game 1 (37-41)
Posted on 23 February 2010 | No responses
(For Immediate Release)
Arroyo Grande, CA – A slow start proved all that was needed for LEVEL to remain winless against Donkey Kong. Looking to start this season with a bang, LEVEL spared no expense to bring back D. Carr to play along side “the Animal” Anelli. But no matter the players and no matter the size, LEVEL’s own mistakes proved their downfall. With a front court led by M. Castro, and Carr, T. Admaski and D. Connolly were to be left open for the long ball, leaving Anelli to clean up the boards. First game jitters and mis-queues left LEVEL always looking close, but never quite able to take the lead.
Unlike years past, the offensive side did not suffer, it was LEVEL’s defensive that proved more problematic as Donkey Kong’s point guard lit up the LEVEL D for 32 points. Hank “coach” Wethington had no answer as rotation after rotation couldn’t stop Donkey Kong. Even the energetic play from both P. Siems and S. Hasagawa couldn’t push LEVEL up the ladder to cage DK. When LEVEL reached into it’s magic bag to produce long time player D. Parks, it was hoped his speed and aggresive play would be the difference. Unfortunately, basketball is a team sport, and one man cannot do it alone.
While Hank heads back to the drawing board, many fans are left searching for another quarter. One of these games LEVEL will beat DK, it just wasn’t today.
LEVEL will get an opportunity for their first win next week at 6:30p.
To Buy or Not to Buy…
Posted on 12 February 2010 | No responses
I’m dealing with a quandary and looking for input. Here’s a bit of the back story.
The plan is, I’m going to start running due to all it’s wonderful benefits and want to get the right shoes. I’ve found that bad shoes make for a horrible experience and hence a short, unsuccessful attempt at running. So taking the advice of some running co-workers I headed over to GH Sports, a local company that focuses on running. They provide a great service by analyzing your gait and how you run to recommend the proper shoe. And this is where the quandary starts.
The shoe that was recommended was awesome, it felt great, and it was extremely expensive. I knew I couldn’t buy it that day, before I even walked in, but I still wanted to know what was the right shoe for me. The problem came after checking on-line for information about the show. The local cost was around $150, while the on-line cost was around $95. That’s a big difference! As a local business myself (shameless plug for Hank’s Homemade), I’m passionate about supporting good local businesses, but to what extent?
GH Sports did something that Amazon or Google or any other on-line shopping experience, or even chains like Big 5 or Sports Authority, couldn’t come close to. The analysis was performed free of charge, obviously as a way to encourage purchasing the shoes from them, but was the service worth the price differrence? I’m not advocating setting a mark, say 20% is ok, but 21% isn’t, but at what point do we put a cost savings above the service rendered? A co-worker said today “it’s not like they’re a doctor, they just bought some software and video taped you,” while true, no one else I’ve been to has offered this type of service.
So what’s your thoughts? Should buying local, no matter what the cost be supported, or is there a point at which you take the info and buy somewhere else? If I don’t buy from them, perhaps they eventually go out of business, taking that type of service with them. However, justifying a 50% price bump to the wife presents it’s own issues, not to mention the hit to the bank account.
Let’s here it people, I need your help.
Harrison is 13!
Posted on 6 February 2010 | No responses
I have been waiting for this day for a long time. About 8 years back, I took part in a “coming of age” or “rite of passage” ceremony for a friend’s kid when he turned 13. I thought it was a fantastic idea and decided then and there I wanted to do the same thing for both my boys.
The idea was to invite some men in Harrison’s life to come and share with him their opinion of what it means to be a man, information on becoming a man, responsibilities of being a man, etc. Each of the guys came prepared to speak for about 5 minutes. They were all awesome. In talking to Harrison tonight, he was very touched and couldn’t stop talking about it. Here’s what I shared with him: Read more
WordPress is the BOMB!
Posted on 27 January 2010 | No responses
I’ve been using WordPress for a couple of years now and I must say that the more I use it, the more I think it’s the greatest thing since… well, the internet. It makes keeping this site up so easy and looking great. Sure, I don’t always do a great job posting, but it looks great even when I don’t!
It’s Harder than it Looks!
Posted on 13 January 2010 | No responses
I’ve been spending every night this week working on the new www.hankshomemade.com webs site. The good part is I’m at least in the same room as my family and not sitting in an office or away in the kitchen (although I need to go spend some time making product soon). The bad part is that, dang, this stuff is hard work. I tried to make it easy on myself and use the same system I use here for my personal site, WordPress. However, the integration of the pluggins, especially the main piece, the e-commerce plugin, has been a lot of work. Stuff like CSS drives me crazy. To add insult to injury, I’m having to lean on my awesome co-workers to help with some image editing, ’cause I SUCK! Seriously, I’m thrilled that people are so willing to help, I need it. As you cruise the web tonight, thank a web designer/producer, because behind every great site is a team of fantastic people who make it look easy.
Short and Quick
Posted on 10 January 2010 | No responses
Is it better to have larger, more in-depth musing, but posted less frequently or shorter, quicker thoughts more regularly.
I’ve always felt the idea behind the blog was to do both, but I’ve found that it’s darn near impossible to keep up with work, toffee, family, etc and in-depth written thought. I continue to try, but it becomes discouraging to open this page and see it hasn’t been updated since Halloween. Incredible. I’ve certainly had a ton of thoughts. Many things have happened with the family, but doing another large catch-up post is just cheating. Not to mention it minimizes all that has happened.
For those of you who are blog writers, how do you deal with keeping up on your blog and life? Where do you fit it in? Is it better to at least post something, even if small, then to leave the blog blank, but have more meaningful posts when they get done? I’d love to hear from you.
Thanks for your input!
A Case for Candy Taxation
Posted on 31 October 2009 | No responses
For those that stumbled over here thinking I was going to addresses the government taxing junk food, I’m sorry, you might want to hit the back button. What I am going to talk about is parents taxing the candy haul on Halloween night. Taxing the kids? You bet. First, I’ll give you my method; one which I believe is fair to the kids, but still teaches some key lessons. Secondly, I’ll present my case for why.
I’m sure my kids are no different then yours, next to Christmas and their birthdays, Halloween is a favorite holiday. While the costumes are always fun, let’s face it, what they love is the candy. Lots of candy. Too much candy. Every year the candy haul seems to get larger. Of course, it’s not like we as parents have nothing to do with that. We buy more candy every year to hand out, and take our kids to more parties and more neighborhoods to trick-or-treat in. What started off as a small plastic pumpkin with 20-30 candies, has now become a pillowcase that’s 3/4 full of teeth rotting, sickness inducing, sugary treats.
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