Halloween, Wisconsin Style

Okay... the Wisconsin reference is a stretch. This evening, Joel and I decided to go with our alternative to pizza, the Wisconsin Burger. A sports bar not far from where Joel used to work has a good sized hamburger sandwiched between two different cheeses and sliced of buttered, seasoned bread. This is a very tasty burger that may be even worse for us than our regular sausage and pepperoni pizza. Fortunately, we only go for this thing a few times a year.

No movie tonight. Instead, we went back to chat with Marlene. I'd not talked with Marlene since her trip to see the Hawks play at Michigan so there was plenty to catch up on. After sitting through her extensive and detailed recounting of the trip ("It was a long drive,") we chatted about kids, the elections, work, etc.

I called it a night and, on the drive home, realized that my internal clock was still on Daylight Savings Time; it was only a little after eight. Oh well... it was a good night.

Happy Halloween!

Monday Night

Monday was a beautiful day here. The sun was shining. The temperature was comfortable. It was alright. I drove over to Linda's after work so that we could go for a walk and use a coupon for a tasty, somewhat novel pizza not far from her home. By that time, the sun had set, winds had picked up, and temperatures had fallen. It wasn't too bad but it wasn't as nice as the day I'd seen through the window at work.

When we got to the pizza place, we learned that it was closed on mondays. With a walk of a mile or so behind (and ahead of us) we considered other options and found a little sports bar neither of us had even heard of. They had the menu in the window and the Irish Nachos looked interesting. We went inside and found a lively Monday Night Football crowd settling in for the Vikings-Patriots game. Our nachos came and we enjoyed the atmosphere and pre-game coverage. We stayed through the first quarter and walked back, pleased with our walk and discovery of another neat place to stop in.

Sports Wrap 2006-10-30

A pretty good weekend for "my" teams. Only losses were the Cyclones and Bucs; the Bucs also had a win so that balances out.

NFL
Chicago Bears 41, San Francisco 49ers 10

College Football
Iowa 24, Northern Illinois 14
Kansas State 31, Iowa State 10
Drake 21, Dayton 9
 
USHL Hockey
Des Moines Buccaneers 7, Cedar Rapids 6
Cedar Rapids 8, Des Moines Buccaneers 3
 
NASCAR Nextel Cup
Jimmie Johnson took second at the Bass Pro Shops 500 in Atlanta, Georgia.

Sunday Afternoon

This afternoon was just too nice to spend inside. After spending the majority of the day yesterday sitting in a vehicle, sports venue, or restaurant, it was time to get out and move around. Of course, I didn't really act on this notion until the Bears were well in control of their encounter with the 49ers. With the sun shining, it felt like it could be a great day to collect some photos of good autumn color so I grabbed my camera and headed out.

When I arrived at a nice little woods, I was not disappointed. The images at the right were all collected there this afternoon. It was a real treat to be out crunching around in the leaves experimenting with autumn color photography. I hope you've been able to enjoy some of the season as well.

Waterloo

Young Arena in Waterloo is the home ice of the Waterloo Blackhawks of the USHL, the first team Linda and I saw play the Des Moines Buccaneers. Situated on the banks of the Cedar River, this facility is a comfortable newer arena that is well utilized in the community. When we stopped by earlier in the afternoon to pick up tickets, the UNI Panthers hockey team was taking the ice. Looking at the schedule online, the facility is scheduled for use daily. The upper walkway is even open as a walking track for the community.

This evening, the Blackhawks were hosting the Chicago Steel, the team they'd defeated the night before in Chicago. The fans are passionate and bring along their Blackhawk cowbells... hundreds of cowbells. The din these things can raise in unison is impressive. Like Des Moines, the fans are involved, enthusiastic, hockey smart, and support their home team. Most of the seats were filled and the rail around the top of the seats was occupied most of the way around. The hockey was well played and few obvious mistakes were seen.

There was one opportunity for the home team fans to get a chuckle at the expense of one of the visiting players. After the Steel scored a goal, one of the players on the ice skated by his teammates on the bench high-fiving each one as he passed. As he turned to skate out to his goalie, he fell flat on his face. I didn't see any reason for it other than that he was on skates on the ice. The home fans had a big laugh; the player, smiling an embarassed smile, bounced back up and got back in line with his teammates as they passed their goalie.

One of the major reasons Linda wanted to visit the arena had to do with Tommy Hawk, the Blackhawk mascot. During one of the intermissions, Tommy puts on a dance on ice; tonight, it was a Saturday Night Fever routine, in a leisure suit costume. The crowd participated by mimicing Tommy's moves as he'd approach the glass. All in all, it was a very entertaining little show.

Tommy spends most of the intermissions on the ice and works every aisle during the games. The kids look to high- and low-five him. He poses for a LOT of pictures with fans and provides a good deal of entertainment value throughout. One of the cute antics I saw in the stands was as he posed for a picture with a girl probably about eight years old. He started with his arm around her shoulders, then tipped his head over a bit to for a cute picture. Just before the camera popped, he turned just a bit and caught the girls head in his open beak. Mom had a very good laugh.

A surprising moment followed Tommy's dance routine. The first official came blasting out of the doors at center ice ... on his belly! He must have slid fully half way across the ice before he popped up onto his skates. Even after Tommy's show, that was pretty impressive. As he looked back at his officiating teammates, his smile was pretty broad. It was nice to see an official having a bit of fun.

In the end, the game was low scoring but full of good action by both teams on both ends the ice. The Blackhawks won 2-1 in regulation.

Cedar Falls

This afternoon, Linda and I went for a trip to one of the 100 Places in Iowa to Visit before You Die: the UNI-Dome in Cedar Falls. Until recently, Linda was a resident in this community so it was a nice opportunity to show off some of her old territory to someone who'd never been there.

Before actually going to the dome, we drove through the updated downtown area and stopped at Pablo's for burritos. My distant recollection from high school Spanish class is that putting -ito or -ita on the end of another word often means a smaller version; this time, I have to question whether that's appropriate! These were some large examples of South-of-the-Border eats... and with an interesting twist: pumpkin seed salsa! It was tasty!

Hunger no longer a concern, Linda took a tiny side trip on our way to the dome. This time to see a tree on Tremont street. Lore is that a science teacher planted four trees along the sidewalk leading to the front door. Once tall enought, the trees across the sidewalk from one another were grafted into one trunk each forming two living arches. Once these two trees were tall enought, they were grafted to one another and produced one trunk. Pretty amazing, eh?

The house is currently for sale so we wondered whether the unique botanical would add or detract from the marketability of the property.

Side trips completed, we proceeded on to the UNI-Dome, home field of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers football team. This afternoon, we were going to see the 5-2 Panthers host the 4-4 Western Illinois University Leathernecks. Having seen the Panthers soundly defeat the Drake Bulldogs, we knew they were a quality team; WIU was a mystery. By the half, we'd learned that the Leathernecks were ready for a game as they lead 17-13 on very solid play on both sides of the ball.

In an unexpected move, the Western Illinois Marching Band took the field to open the halftime show. Surpassing that surprise, their musical selections were based on two classic video games: Mario Brothers and Legend of Zelda. While the music wasn't familiar, the performance was entertaining.

The UNI marching band then took the field and did an excellent job with their pieces. Similar to Drake's Sometimes Marching Band, the Panthers moved in curves, forward and back, while playing some pretty jazzy numbers. I've had to adjust my expectations and criteria for evaluation the quality of the show. They are interesting and entertaining, I just have to recognize that things have changed since I, with a few dozen musically inclined friends, donned a uniform and "funny" hat to march around a gridiron.

In the end, Western Illinois scored another touchdown and won 24-13 ... but we weren't there for the final act. We'd already moved on to our next activity!

I wore green...

I didn't think to look to see the color of the team visiting KGGO Arena tonight. When I presented my ticket, the ticket taker went a bit out of her way wish me an enjoyable evening... apparently seeing my green jacket and concluding that I was one of the Cedar Rapids faithful. Fortunately, I was able to take off my jacket and stash it on the bench beside me.

When I arrived, Bill was already in our section and enjoying the atmosphere of the place. As the pregame announcements were being made, he commented that it had already been an evening with a stepped up intensity.

This evening, the Bucs had their Halloween costume night and the turnout was pretty good. More than a dozen of those in costumes went out onto the ice between the second and third periods to compete for prizes. There were probably as many adults as children but the kids were more creative; most of the adults were in pirate (buccaneer) costumes. My disguise as a Cedar Rapids RoughRiders fan wasn't going to win so I stayed in the stands.

The Bucs scored on several of their power plays and twice killed off pentalties that put them two men down. To their credit, Cedar Rapids stayed in the game and closed to within one in the final minutes. The final score of 7-6 may look a little closer than the game was but, in the end, the RoughRiders were within striking distance as time was running out. Since the Bucs won and scored at least six goals, a local donut shop will give out half a dozen donuts to each ticketholder in the morning. I don't think I'll take the drive for the donuts but it is a nice promotion.

A Walk in the Woods

This evening was unchar-acteristically warm and clear; a nice evening for a walk. Fortunately, Linda called and suggested we take advantage before the other evening plans kicked in. We met at the Raccoon River Park and turned a decent lap on the three mile trail. This trail is not as developed or popular as Gray's Lake but is a pleasant walk. I was a bit short of breath at points but was able to keep it going and finished well.

I'm seein' red...

There was more red in the stands for last night's World Series game than at most NASCAR races... and that's sayin' somethin'.

After a successful and entertaining gaming session Thursday night, I turned on the television in time to see most of the bottom of the seventh inning of game four. The pitcher for the Tigers promptly put his team in the records books by making the fourth error by one pitching staff in one World Series. It also pulled the Cardinals even with the Tigers on the scoreboard.

As I continued to watch, I really found a better appreciation for the camera work and production team at Fox. Their images of the game and individuals in the crowd really conveyed the tension and excitement of the game. They showed timely glimpses of fans hoping, praying, and cheering their team on; it was an excellent job of telling the story around the story. I wonder how much of the story would have been apparent with the sound turned off.

It was a great night to be a Cardinal fan as their team rallied for the win, 5-4, putting the Tigers behind 3-1. Being a Cub fan, I'm not thrilled to see this happen but respect the work.

Rain...

Wednesday, I felt the urge to get out for a walk before all of the training goes away. I left work anticipating walking after completing a few far flung errands. As I was making my last couple of stops, raindrops were falling on my windshield. One of the last things I wanted to see was rain. Rather than get caught in an autumn shower a mile away from my car, I decided to stay indoors... have some soup... maybe watch the World Series. Those of you following the Series know what I found; it was raining in St. Louis... for hours. I guess it was just one of those nights. Maybe Thursday...

It's been a quiet week...

After reporting so much activity for a month or more, maintaining this blog is having an interesting and unexpected yet reasonable effect. I'm very much aware when I'm NOT doing something "interesting," something to talk about. That said, it doesn't mean that I'm doing something not worthwhile, it's just different. I will admit that training reports of painful shins probably weren't the highlights of your day either but it was reportable in the context of a blog about training for long walk. This may be like the feeling when someone keeps track of when they smoke or what they eat; when you actually see it in a log, you see it with different eyes; there's a different awareness of what you're doing.

Monday, I was feeling the beginning signs of a sinus cold and took the day off from work to rest and prevent it from getting worse. I didn't go anywhere, I didn't do anything of note. What I did was important to maintaining my health but not much to talk about.

Tuesday, I was ready for work, had a good day, went for pizza with Joel, stopped at his house for Deal or No Deal, and went home. I caught up on NCIS and Boston Legal and called it a night.

That's What Dale's Doing Now...

NASCAR - Martinsville

I spent this afternoon on the couch watching the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at the small town short track at Martinsville, Virginia. Jeff Burton, leading the Chase for the Cup, had car trouble early and finished forty-second. My other three drivers, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin, and Jimmie Johnson lead the majority of the race. In the closing laps, Jimmie held off Denny for the win. Jeff Gordon finished fifth. My fantasy league team may have clinched first place today. I'll have to see what the standings are Monday.

Sports Wrap

Wow! A VERY rough weekend for the football teams I support. Good thing the Bears aren't playing!

Michigan 20, Iowa 6
Texas Tech 42, Iowa State 26
San Diego 37, Drake 0

Iowa Stars 8, Syracuse Crush 5
Des Moines Buccaneers 3, Sioux Falls Stampede 2, in overtime

Linda and I did brave the elements to support Drake's Sellout Saturday and see the number-one-in-the-nation San Diego Tereros at Drake Stadium. Unfortunately, the number-two-in-the-nation Drake Bulldogs did not have one of their better showings. San Diego moved the ball in moderate chunks that Drake could just not stop. On offense, the Bulldogs were never really able to get it moving with any consistency. In the end, the score reflected the game: Drake was beaten by a team that was clearly superior tonight. On top of that, the band didn't show up, even in the stands. Fortunately, the one-dollar hot dog offer was a very successful promotion.

Des Moines Buccaneers

Tonight, Linda and I checked out the Des Moines Buccaneers, a USHL Tier 1 team that has built a history of remarkable success. That success has produced several champions banners positioned all around the flag of the United States of America. Before every game, everyone in the place will pause and look at that part of the arena while listening to our national anthem. The eye can't help wandering from the flag to those banners. It was pretty impressive to me.

Attending a game at the arena is a combination of excellent hockey, great fans, and an arena music coordinator with an amazing sense of humor and timing. The smaller ice and speed and skill of the players made for a very active and entertaining evening. The play included successions of end to end breaks by both teams as well as very controlled passing sequences leading to excellent shots and many great saves by both goalies. These players are all twenty years of age or less and amateur. Three former Bucs are in the NHL at this time. These guys are good.

Linda and I had several good chuckles at the musical selections that were perfect fits for the situations. As soon as there was any break in the action on the ice, an appropriate song snippet was playing on a sound system that was suprisingly well suited to the Quonset hut style arena. Some of the memorable examples: Carly Simon's You're No Good as the opposing team came onto the ice, the theme from Law and Order as the officials skated in, and a particulary good choice when one of the Bucs was skating off after a particularly hard check into the boards: I'm Alright. We also noticed that very few songs were heard more than once in the evening; they must have access to a great library of songs and well thought out situations for their play.

The fans are passionate about their Bucs. These two senior ladies were very much involved in the game, at one point, even leading a "Go Bucs!" cheer in our section. A group of eighteen boys, probably about eight years old were in the rows directly behind them. Their dance moves caught the attention of our section from time to time as well. Unlike a lot of stadiums, when the scoreboard asks for noise, these fans produce! Big time!! The amazing energy of the place made for a great experience.

Oh... the game... Tied at four at the end of regulation play and the five minute fourth period, the Bucs won in a shootout 5-4.

Chilly Breezes

This evening, Linda and I thought the weather would make for a nice walk around the lake... we were wrong! Neither of us were really dressed in our cold weather gear so, when the breeze blew, it went right through us. We went about two and one-half miles and that was enough tonight. We spent some time talking about how to be better prepared for the upcoming cold if we're going to continue walking; something we both would like to do.

Wednesday Picture Show

When I got home from work this evening, I checked my email and found a note from MarathonFoto, the group that showed up to take pictures at the race. They'd completed sorting out the pictures and I could go see mine. Well, since my bib number was generally blocked, they'd only found two images that were for sure me. I browsed the "Lost and Found" section and found five more of me. It was pretty easy to recognize me; big guy, walking, wearing black pants... not many of those were in the race Sunday. Unfortunately, their site doesn't like people accessing it through a link or bookmark so I can't link you in to see them.

With my pictures properly assigned, I headed out to meet Linda to see The Illusionist, a very nicely done movie about a tricky magician in Vienna in the early 1900s. Just about anything with Edward Norton is going to be interesting and this didn't disappoint.

After the movie, we took a little stroll and I found myself having to resist the urge to pick up the pace. The training has stuck. We'll probably have to go for a walk some day soon.

Service

I headed up to Joel's for our weekly pizza last night. On my way, I stopped at my "regular" gas station. Every Wednesday for last few months, if I needed gasoline, I'd been stopping at this gas station to buy fifteen dollars worth of gas and five dollars of PowerBall. It got to the point that, when the girl at the register saw me at the pump, she'd set the pump to stop at fifteen and print up the lottery ticket; that's service! Now that our weekly outting has moved to Tuesday, I thought I'd probably better stop in to start the training even though I didn't have room for fifteen dollars in gas. I pulled up to the pump, put in eleven-fifty and went in to pay.

"It's not Wednesday... and that's not fifteen dollars in gas." My Powerball ticket was on the counter. She works Tuesdays as well! I explained that it was all the car would take and that I'd now be showing up on Tuesdays... at least for a while.

Joel and I went to our regular pizza spot and when we were seated in our traditional location, the server brought the table service and menus. Hmmm... "We won't be needing menus."

"Ah... it's you guys," said our server with a smile. "Large sausage and pepperoni? Anything to drink?"

"I'll have a Pepsi," said Joel.

"So you'll have the Mountain Dew?" she asked me.

"Yep." It's nice to find good service.

We enjoyed our dinner and headed back to Joel's to chat with Marlene and let him prepare for work.

Very Lucky Night

Monday night, I went to play cards with the Kevin's crew at Bill's house. (Not the Bill I often lunch with, but still a co-worker.) I was a little late arriving due to a number of less than lucky minor situations: late start, had to buy gasoline, got behind a law enforcement vehicle, and turned a block early.

The football game and my cards started off no better. Slowly but surely, players were being eliminated from the card table and I was winning just often enough to hang around a little longer. In the end, there were three guys with LOTS of chips and me with only a few. As luck would have it, they got cards they thought would win and put their game at risk... and were eliminated. Similarly, the Bear defense started playing well and stopped the Cardinals and started scoring some themselves.

Finally, the cards came down to me versus a guy I only know as Cubic. With little chance of winning, I went All-In without even looking at my cards. When the hand was played out, I won. I did it again... and won! Again... and won!! The Bears scored again! Things were going my way on all fronts! Cubic and the Cardinals got cautious. Momentum was with the Good Guys and we played on. Finally, Cubic got a hand he wanted to play and I was All-In. He turned a pair of sixes, a good starter. I turned Cowboys (a pair of Kings). He got no help and I WON a HIGHLY improbable come from behind victory. The Bears returned a punt for a touchdown and took the lead! Maybe, just maybe they could pull it out too. We all hung around and watched the Cardinals drive for a game winning field goal... that sailed wide left. Bears WIN! A wild and crazy turn of events made for a memorable evening out.

Marathon wrap-up and Future Plans

Friday, I'd anticipated needing / wanting to not be in a rush to get to work this morning and scheduled four hours of vaction. It was nice but really not needed. Tonight, I feel fine and am happy to have gone on another very long walk. I'm not sure when the next one will be but I think another full marathon may be in order for 2009; time will tell on that one.

I started this blog largely to communicate what was going on related to the marathon. During this month, that purpose evolved into something more. I've found it to be a fun activity and one that a number of you have said was interesting for one reason or another. I'm going to continue ... at least for a while.

Finish in Sight!

We finally were closing in the end of our walk. The first ten miles went pretty well. The last few were certainly testers. That said, we probably turned the miles at a very consistent fifteen to sixteen minutes per mile, some of our best sustained times yet!

5 the Hard Way

5 the Hard Way played us through the deepest portion of the course with some very good covers. I think that a couple of the band members were amused that a marathon participant was taking pictures along the way.

Dragons!

These two dragons high fived us as we reached the back of the park. The little lady in the picture was fun to chat with for a while as we would our way along.

From this point on, I felt like a horse heading back to the barn. Linda later commented that I'd been energized as we cleared this portion of the course.

Joel and Marlene Show Up!

Joel and Marlene came out to provide their support. Fortunately, they caught this image of us as we went zipping past their location. About the same time, from the left, the lead woman half marathon runner was approaching fast. The cheers for her nearly drowned out Joel and Marlene's calling out to me. It was a real treat to get to see them there; I had a good chuckle over the next mile.

A Walk in the Park

Racers snake along the road in Water Works Park. The overcast sky had been a concern early; it had actually rained overnight. Fortunately, the rains stayed away during our walk.

Drum Line

At the first turn in the course, we enjoyed the rhythm of this drum group. It set a nice pace for us as we were starting off. We encountered them again a few blocks from the finish line.

Line up!

It's just about time to start out. Over three thousand people were registered for the various events of the day. An unexpected little touch was a bugler in full costume playing the call to the gates heard at horse races. As expected, when the gun to start was fired, we all just stood there and clapped. In a few minutes, I could see the ripple of heads bobbing up and down working its way back to us.

Recuperating Nicely

Ten hours have passed since we crossed the finish line. I've cleaned up, rested up, and eaten up and I'm feeling better. The feet are a bit tender but I'll be fine soon.

Time for some images from today! This site apparently limits the number of images in a post so I'm going to make one post per image.

It's done, I lived, I ache...

I got some pretty good pictures, no blisters, and an unofficial time somewhere between three hours fifteen minutes and three hours thirty minutes. I'll tell more later. Thanks for all the words of encouragement! On an overcast, nearly rainy day, it was nice to know people were rooting for me. (Joel and Marlene even showed up to yell at... er... for me!)

Almost there...

The ankle wrap chips have been activated, the weather is cooperating, and no new aches or pains have shown up. It's looking like all systems are go. The big question now is, will I wake up in time? Fortunately, Linda is going to call in plenty of time for me to be ready. Three thousand plus people will start at eight oclock in the morning; by ten thirty, someone will be done. I hope to be done by noon. I'll let you know how it goes.

World Food Festival? I'm IN!

After picking up our race materials, Linda and I headed over to the East Village area of Des Moines to check out the World Food Festival. The windy, chilly weather is probably NOT what the promoter, vendors, or even we visitors would have chosen. The "crowd" was kinda sparce when we arrived but did build as the evening went on. A bagpiper parade did add a certain festive air to the proceedings. (The photo is from a prior event.)

As we made our way down the street, we visited various tents inquiring about this item or that and tried those that caught our eye. By the time we finished, we'd tried an oriental won-ton type dumpling, El Salvadorian pupusa, a Greek honey-nut thing that looked like a giant shredded wheat, butter chicken and potato roll from India, and some Mesquaki Indian fry bread. It was all pretty tasty and certainly some new concoctions.

As we were leaving, I realized that I'd just violated one of my own recommendations to Linda. As we get closer to the race, we need to be careful about what we eat. New foods may not be the thing to be trying. Oh well... hopefully, it won't be a problem.

"Pain is Weakness Leaving the Body"

Uh oh...

Friday after work, Linda and I stopped in at the Polk County Convention Center to pick up our race packets. Among the first things we saw when we entered the exhibition hall were three Marines wearing tee-shirts with that slogan across their backs. It was not the last pain related message of the day.

We got in the first long line we saw and verified that it was for packet pickup, not the 30-second Marine Pull-up Challenge. Suprisingly, there was no line for that! Our line moved well and we were soon routed to the appropriate table to pick up our materials.

The packets included our racing bibs with our numbers, a neat poster, a breakfast cookie, two packets of pain relief gel, a "Peanut Toffee Buzz" bar, some chewable electrolyte tablets, a sample Band-Aid bandage, an excellent course map, promotions for three other marathons, a water bottle, and a two-for-one ticket offer for two Stars hockey games this week. Hmmm... The shirt that came with the registration is made of an excellent material and has a very cool map of the half-marathon course we'll be completing. (Word selection was not an accident.)

We got our packets and learned that our scoring chips were not yet available. They were expected to be ready Saturday evening or at 5:30 Sunday morning; I'm thinking I'll stop by Saturday evening. (For those unfamiliar with these chips, they're a small electronic gizmo in a plastic shell that, in my prior races, is attached to you shoelace. When you cross sensor strips at the start, finish, and certain points on the course, the chip responds and the scoring system records your time and verifies your presence. The chips I saw for this race look to be more like the picture, mounted on a strap that can be worn around the ankle... Martha Stewart style!)

We roamed the Sport and Fitness Expo and saw souvenir shirts, energy bars and drinks, pain relief items, and promotions for local attractions. There were a couple of massage offers. (I'm guessing that's to relieve the pain.) Drake was there giving out vouchers for tickets to a basketball game. It was a decent little expo with lots of little freebies and ideas for other things to do.

Last Practice

Tonight, Linda and I took what I expect to be the last significant distance, four miles, two laps around the lake. The weather was a challenge both for temperature and wind. We're confident that the worst weather of the walk Sunday will be no worse than tonight. It was a quick, strong walk as well... and no burning shins for me! Actually, it was one of my best walks yet. Tonight, I tested carrying my camera in a fannypack. The picture attached was a nice sunset over Grays Lake, one of the bonuses of getting out and walking around. I'm looking forward to catching some nice race day images.

Chilly Walk

A chill wind was blowing and the low clouds made me question whether going for a walk this evening was such a good idea. I'd thought I needed to get out for a four mile spin yet this week, preferably tonight. I couldn't let it get much later in the week before I'd become concerned about the recovery time before the big walk. I put on some of my cold weather gear and had a pretty decent time of it. Designed to produce a dead air space around my body and wick away moisture, this gear works! I walked the four and one-half mile loop at Water Works Park in a little over an hour and saw preparations for the marathon and / or winter. The speed bumps are gone and some of the potholes have been patched. I'm sure the additional portapotties are for the marathon.

Cribbage Night

From time to time, I get to sit in at Jeff's weekly cribbage game. Two of the guys work together and play cribbage most days during breaks at work. There's a father and son who've had a lifetime of cribbage; Dad is the Commissioner Emeritus of the ficticious house league. It's a good group but, from time to time, someone has to be out and I'm generally asked to step in and play for the absent. It's a good gig. Expectations aren't too high, and, from time to time, I can get on a streak and produce pretty well.

Food is a meaningful part of the experience. Jeff provides a dinner before the games and, around eight, serves ice cream or Hershey's chocolate in one form or another; on a really good night, he serves some way that combines the two. Tonight, dinner was roast beef with potatoes and carrots. True to form, after the first hand, Jeff offered chocolate and the intermission treat was a root beer float.

One of the house rules is that, no matter what the score in games is, the last game of the night is the Championship Game. The Championship Game is the first game that begins no sooner than nine o'clock. Some nights, the only game a set of partners wins is the Championship Game but, for the coming week, they are known as the champions. Tonight, I was partnered with the Commissioner and we didn't win a game... until the Championship Game. Woohoo! We are the Champions!

Quiet Monday Night

Monday night was spent in pretty quiet ways. My feet were bone tired and a bit sore so it was time to give them a break; no miles. I'd not spoken to Mom and Dad so I gave them a call and had a nice chat. Monday Night Football was between teams that I didn't much care about; next week, the Bears travel to Arizona so I will be watching MNF next week as I rest my tired feet once more. Other than that, it was just life at home.

Monsters and Witches

As Halloween approaches, it's time to be thinking of monsters and witches. Today, I saw both!

The Monsters of the Midway are back in Chicago. The Bears are playing some of the best football being played today. Their game against Buffalo got so lopsided that our local affiliate switched to another, more competitive game.

This evening, I went out for a little drive to enjoy the weather and grab a bite to eat. On my way, was treated to a couple riding recumbant bicycles. I enjoyed seeing the decorative brooms they had attached to their rides with black bristles trailing. It's fun to see people enjoying being out and thinking enough ahead to tie in the season.

Walk, Forecast, Prediction

This morning, Linda and I met up at the lake for a four mile walk. The weather was cool but still warmer than it will be for the event. My shins were again a distraction. We modified the pace for a while, even paused at one point, and put out the burn... just in time to go home. We were both surprised to find that the time was not impacted much. I wanted to be sure that the burn was done so we went another mile and confirmed that it was history.

It's becoming time to watch the weather forecast. Currently, they're predicting a high of 55°F with a 20% chance of precipitation. Saturday night is predicted to be as low as 37°F with a 30% chance of precipitation. It'll be brisk.

When I filled out the registration, I was asked to predict my time to complete the course. I made a mistake in my thinking and came up with four hours, thirty-five minutes; it'll probably more like three hourse, forty-five minutes start to finish. The number of participants will affect the actual wall time of the event. In Portland, the starting gun went off and nobody around me could take the first step; we'd all been bunched up and had to wait for the people ahead of us to get started before we could actually start. Given the long, narrow channel of the first mile and single start time, I expect we'll take a while to cover the first mile. Once the pack gets some spacing, the pace will smooth out. This time next week, it'll all be history.

Busy Saturday Afternoon

Saturday afternoon, Linda and I went out to the Chichaqua Bottoms Greenbelt for the A-Mazing Prairie Festival. The main feature being offered was the prairie maze. The Polk County Conservation Board has rebuilt a pretty large area with plants that would have been common when settlers first arrived in this part of Iowa. They then cut an excellent maze into it and let people go in and try to find their way through. It was not easy! One of the great features of the maze was that, even when you were tall enough to see over the top, you could not see the maze itself. The dominant grass was Big Bluestem which was thick enough tall enough that I could only see the heads of some of the other adults in the maze. Shorter people would have been completely immersed in the experience. Even with the ever so slight advantage of height, it took us over half an hour to find our way through.

Besides the maze, the park offered their normal services. One of the very popular attractions today was the canoeing. Walking around one of the Skunk River oxbows, I counted six canoes in the water and in sight. The twists and turns of the river within the park can easily hide several. I fondly remembered having taken my kids there to do a little canoeing here years ago. There is very little current so we enjoyed gliding quietly through the woods and grassland. The narrow twisting channels keep you guessing what's waiting around the next corner.

The next stop on of the day was dinner at the Norwood Inn, a small cement block tavern with a hot sausage sandwich that understandably made the list of the Des Moines Register's 100 things to eat in Iowa before you die (number forty for those who look.) When we arrived, there were several picnic tables of guys on the east side of the building chatting with the grillmeister. We headed inside and found a raucous crowd, two televisions showing college football, and two empty chairs at the bar. We sat at the bar, placed our order, and learned it had been the day of their golf outting. No wonder! Our sandwiches arrived and we started into two of the biggest, tastiest hot sausage sandwiches either of us could remember. As we were in the second half of the meal, the results of the golf were announced and prize bags were awarded. One group was awarded a collection of humorous items that included pink furry hats, feather boas, and cans of Silly String! Fortunately, these grown men knew what to do. They donned their hats, wrapped their necks in feathers, and opened fire on one another with the string. The a few bystanders and the pool table took collateral damage as camera phones documented the action. It was the proverbial hoot! Hunger and thirst satisfied (for the next day or two,) we set out for our next stop.

The Drake Bulldogs have been having an excellent year! After being outgunned by the UNI Panthers, the Dawgs have reeled off five consecutive wins. Each home game adds another feature. The most obvious is the marching band. The first night, they didn't march. The next game, they marched but did fairly simple (looking) formations. Tonight, they were doing pretty complicated (looking) moves while playing some pretty jazzy numbers. No Sousa for these cats; they're playing some pretty interesting, non-traditional halftime shows... and sounding great! When all was said and done, the Bulldogs won 35-3. In each of their wins, they've allowed no more than seven points to be scored against them. In each of their home wins, they've scored at least thirty-three points; on the road, twenty-one. These 'dawgs have bite.

Committed

I opened an email this morning and found a note that opened "Congratulations! You are officially registered for the 2006 IMT Des Moines Marathon." That’s pretty cool. Of course, reading a bit further, there was this thing called a waiver that included "I know that running a marathon is a potentially hazardous activity." Fortunately, I’m walking; being in the insurance industry, I’ve become familiar with the concept of mitigation of risk. As in my prior marathon experiences, I do plan to run at some point to be able to accurately state that I ran in the Des Moines (Half) Marathon.

Marlene, Joel says that you read this from time to time. I need to provide a correction to the information I provided you earlier. I thought that we were going to be starting at 7:00 a.m. but then I read "Join in the pre-race atmosphere beginning at 7:00 a.m. on race day." Reading the registration information, it says, "Race division starts will begin promptly at 8:00 a.m." You’ll want to advance those viewing times accordingly… or plan to wait the extra hour.

There is some GREAT spectator information at the marathon website. The section "How To Be a Spectator" includes one that was particularly fun: Set out a boom box and play the "Rocky Theme"... please do not do that one. There even appear to be on course musicians playing during the race; NASCAR doesn't have that!

I’m officially committed to participate. Personally, I’m committed to completing this event.

Friday Night

Linda and I planned on a four mile walk. The weather was nice but a bit breezy. Fortunately, the two mile loop at the lake is fairly protected so we expected it to be good… but… Linda read my earlier entry and wasn’t too happy with the part about me walking slower when I’m with her than when I’m alone. I’d like to publicly provide clarity to my remark. It’s not that Linda walks slowly; she doesn’t. It’s that I don’t have the conditioning to walk fifteen-minute miles AND carry on a conversation. I can do one or I can do the other. Right now, I’m not able to do both at the same time. (I did get to demonstrate that I could do either and chew gum.)

It was a bit amusing getting started. Linda was ready to race and I was ready to walk as if she wasn’t there. For me, that meant fifteen-minute miles and not talking any more than necessary. She talked about things that I could simply give one-syllable responses to so it seemed she was on board with my program. Then she asked, “So… how was your day?” I laughed out loud. After getting on the same page, I got to walk and listen while Linda walked and talked… but not too much. She talked just the right amount.

The first two miles clicked off in the expected fifteen minutes each. I was pleasantly surprised that I’d been able to recognize early enough when my shins were about to ignite and modify my step to prevent it from taking hold.

Having completed our circuit, Linda wondered about taking a different course for the remainder of our walk. I suggested looping the library and we were on our way. The walk was nice and we sustained a good pace where we could. There were times where we had to cross streets and traffic would not allow us to pass.

Back at the lake, we cooled down and Linda pulled out her new little digital camera. As she was showing me some of its features, one of my poker friends, Jeff, showed up and chatted for a while. Earlier in the evening Linda had asked how often I saw people I knew at the lake. I’d said it was pretty rare but had happened a time or two… then she got to see it actually happen.

As I was leaving the lake, I got stopped at the light and decided to drive the downtown section of the course we’d just walked. It turned out to be three miles almost on the dot. The road does go a little outside the course we walked but I didn’t drive back into the park. I’m guessing that we walked VERY close to five miles at VERY close to fifteen-minute mile pace.

Four quick ones

This evening, I went out right after work and walked four quick miles (about 16 minutes each.) It was a very nice evening to be out. I think I confirmed a suspicion that when I walk with Linda, I talk with Linda and when I talk with Linda, I don't walk as fast (to keep my breath.) When I don't walk as fast, my shins don't burn. This evening, I walked alone and felt the burn for a while during mile number two. I walked it off and enjoyed the evening.

The gaming group got together again and had a good time.

Time to watch Survivor!

Joel and I give notice... Scoundrels!

This evening, Joel and I returned to our usual pizza place and gave notice that, due to Joel's new employment requirements, we'll no longer be needing our regular table on Wednesday nights. Our long time server was disappointed but also appreciated knowing that it wasn't about the service. She added that proper communication and training would be provided to the Tuesday night servers so that we could continue to enjoy our dining experience in the manner of which we've become accustomed.

After pizza, we headed over to see the cinematic offerings and were pleased to find School For Scoundrels, a pretty light hearted story about a collection of men with low self esteem and the rascal who promises to show them how to claim their fair share in the modern day jungle of urban life. It's not too hard to see where this is likely to go; the leader of the group is himself a scoundrel, preying on those weaker than himself. Of course, when the class realizes their leader isn't all he's cracked up to be, there's justice to be served. While somewhat predictable, it was still entertaining.

After the movie, Joel and I headed back to see if Marlene was still up for some conversation. Fortunately, she was and we had a nice chat. She did, however, rightly point out a grammatical error in my conversation and that this blog is not really about what I'm doing now, rather, what I've done recently and chosen to share. For any of the rest of you who noticed that there wasn't an entry for Tuesday evening, it's because I really didn't do much to talk about Tuesday evening. I don't think that the Dale version of EDtv is what y'all are tuning in for. If you are, go outside and enjoy the arrival of Autumn; it may not be here long.

Monday Night Footfalls!

Once again, Linda and I went for a walk of the four-plus mile variety on a Monday evening. This time, we walked around on most of the Water Works Park portion of the course. Between the two monday night walks and the occasional spin around Gray's Lake, we've covered just about the whole course together at one time or another. On this walk, I felt neither the burning shins nor the blisters; I took preventative action and bandaged the usual blister locations before the walk.

The park was pretty as the fall colors are coming in on several of the trees. A few vines were particularly red and provided a nice accent to the greens and golds of the leaves. The image I posted today was from a portion of the course within the park that we did not walk Monday night. I took it earlier when I was just out enjoying the beautiful weather we've been having.

Sports Wrap

Wow! Quite a sports weekend.

Bears 37, Seahawks 6 - The Bears looked great. Everything was working.

Ohio State 38, Iowa 17 - The top-ranked Buckeyes looked the role. The Hawks were pretty well outmatched in my opinion. The game didn't deliver on the hype.

Iowa State 28, Northern Iowa 27 - Iowa State found a second half offense and rallied to defeat the Panthers. The UNI Panthers are a VERY good team.

Drake 21, Valparaiso 7 - The Bulldogs celebrated homecoming and dedicated its football field in honor of the University's greatest athlete of all time, Johnny Bright.

Iowa Stars 3, Omaha Knights 1

Tony Stewart wins at Kansas after his car runs out of gas on the last lap! My fantasy team lost but so did the closest two teams behind me so my lead is preserved.

My body is revolting!

Okay... some of you may be saying "Duh!" but let me explain. It's actually my shins that are revolting; the rest of my body is simply sympathetic to the cause.

This morning, I walked somewhere between eight and nine miles and felt good as I decided to call it a morning; another mile or two would have been ideal but I underestimated the first segment of my walk. My shins burned fiercely for a couple of miles early, enough that I seriously considered calling the whole thing off. At the one hour mark, the burning in my shins was gone but my toes were feeling it. After another mile or two, the pains all went away and, finally, I was cruising. This morning was a good reminder that I can work through it and get to the finish. With two weeks to go, I'm looking forward to the race.