Underground running

Today I came to three realizations:

1. I am not as fast as I used to be.

2. I am not in as good as shape as I used to be.

3. Going to a run alone sucks!

As most of you know, I love to run. For most of my life, I was pretty OK at running and could go at a pretty good pace for some distance. I would get into how far I used to run and how fast I used to go but it would get boring pretty quick.

So why am I writing about this? On Wednesday of this past week, I received an email from my work indicating that they had paid for 100 people to participate in a 5k/10k run today. There was no way in heck that I was going to pay $30 to jog 3.1 miles but if someone else was going to pick up the tab, I was all for it.

The run was in one of the local storage caves where the temperature was much warmer (70 degrees) than the 20 degrees outdoors. The run is called the GroundHog run and has been run for the past 25 years. As I rolled out of bed this morning at 6:30, I looked out the window and asked myself what I was doing as I watched flakes of snow falling from the sky. Traci was snuggled in the warm blankets and was still recovering from Friday; however, was doing better and planning on heading to Church at 9am.

I arrived at the caves around 8am and signed in for the 5k that started at 9am. This is the first time I have even gone to a run alone and plan on not doing it again. I kept looking for a familiar face in the crowd.. no luck. Cerner, the company I work for, is a corporate sponsor so I had access to nice restrooms and free food and drinks. As I moped around sipping free water, a co-worker spotted me and we chatted for a bit. I didn't run with her as her pace was about a min faster than mine.

I felt really good for the first mile, OK for the second, crappy for the last and the remaining .10 of a mile I tried not to die. :-) My run time was 30:56 and I came 58/95 for my age group... Old man group.

I have been running a couple of times a week and working out about the same. I plan to pick it up a bit and see if can improve my time in the next couple of months.

Wish me luck!

Bill

Nerves of steel

Have you ever heard of the expression "Curiosity Killed the Cat"? If you have not, go adopt a cat and you will soon learn what that means. I have owned cats almost all of my adult life and to date none of them have disappointed me with their fearless adventures.

Funny story #1: I almost smothered Connick last year when we were putting a skirting around bottom of the bed. I lifted the mattress up to put on one side of the skirting and then set it back down. Within seconds I heard a strange moaning sound coming from under the bed and immediately thought one of the cats was coughing up a hairball. Traci and I looked around and couldn't locate the ill feline. Then we thought the noise was coming from the T.V. so we lowered the volume and still heard the sound. It hit me all at once and I realized that Connick might have moved under the mattress when I had it raised. I lifted the mattress up and he came stumbling out gasping for every little kitty breath he could get. After about 5 minutes of gasping, he came back around and was ready for his next adventure.

Funny story #2: This past weekend, I needed to change one of really really high light builbs in the living room. I pulled out the 18 ft. ladder and set it up in the general vicinity of the light. I then went and grabbed a new bulb, a dust rag (Traci figured that if I was up that high I might as well dust off the fan), and a light bulb removing tool that is nothing more than a long pole with a suction cup. By the way, that is one of our favorite wedding gifts!! THANKS!

As I walking back to the ladder, I noticed Mr. Fearless climbing to the top. Once there, he froze and realized there was no easy way down. He thought about jumping to the fan or the fireplace mantle but quickly realized that when he leaned in either direction that the ladder leaned with his fat body. After about 5 minutes, he laid down and waited for one of us to climb up and get him. I think he learned his lesson as he stayed clear of the ladder for the rest of the time that I had it out.

Busted

What meow?

I think I can, I think I can

I know I can, I know I can

ok... Get me down

If you have never owned a cat, I recommend you go out and get one. You will never use words like "No way" or "You have got to be kidding me" or "honey, come quick you have got to see this" unless you own one of these fearless/brainless creatures.

Have a great weekend!

Bill "meow" Traci

Royal Blue

This past weekend, Traci and I were invited to go to the Royal's Fan Fest at the Overland Convention Center. I normally wouldn't go to these types of things as they tend to feel more like a Star Trek Convention. But, instead of people running around speaking in Clingon with their phasers set to stun, they are clutching their photo albums filled with baseball cards and quoting baseball stats. Our friends Jeff and Jamie pulled through and offered us a pair of free tickets and you can't turn down free. :-)

David DeJesus, Shane Costa and Coco Crisp

Traci and I in the outfield

Jeff and Jamie

We arrived about 3 pm and started our stroll about the building. They had cages set up for batting, throwing, wiffle ball home run derby, and an area where you could catch fly balls. The Royals also brought out all the historical paraphernalia for everyone to gawk at. If you were hungry or thirsty, there was a bar and snack bar to take care of that. About every hour or so the Royals Blue Crew would come out and toss out "stuff" to the crowd. I am talking about cool stuff too!! Two different types of blankets, Jose Pena Jr. bobble heads, Royal's banners, hats, squishy balls and t-shirts. We walked away with a bag full of stuff and so did just about everyone else who held up their arms. I ended up giving away all of the squishy balls to kids as I was walking around. It is incredible how excited kids get when they find something unexpected. :-)

Now a Fanfest would not be complete without a good ole' photo session and autograph signing. Traci and I got in line to get autographs from John Buck and Zach Greinke. We were in line for about an hour and then we realized that the line had been cut off and not moving. Apparently the first 250 people are guaranteed to get an autograph and the rest have to wait until the next batch of ball players come out. The new names were posted and Brian Bannister was one of the players. We decided it was worth the wait to get a Monarch's hat and Major League Baseball signed. After about 20 mins, they allowed us to move forward and up to the tables. I noticed that all the seasoned Fanfest people began to take a squat and relax. I asked why everyone was sitting down and someone said that it would be another 50 minutes before the guys came. Traci and I both looked at each other and mouthed the words "Yeah, Right..." Needless to say, we jumped out of line and went to the makeshift bar.

There was one last event that we could participate in and that was the photo session with John Buck, Mike Aviles, and Luke Hochever. We were guaranteed a photo as we were 5th in line. We were level 5 excited and were planning how we were going to pose for our photos. When they came out, they all sat next to each other and the first person stood behind them and their photo was snapped. I think the girl said something about wanting to take a photo with just one of the players and they split them up. Crap, now it was going to take 3 times as long to get our pictures taken. The players were super-friendly and John Buck allowed Traci to kiss his cheek. :-) When I got up there, he asked me if I wanted him to kiss my cheek. What a guy!!

Traci laying one on John Buck

John Buck and I

Traci and Mike Aviles

Traci and Luke Hochevar

NO, I am not on his lap

The night was capped off by us tracking down Slugger and me getting a picture with him. If you ever get a picture with him, beware... he smells like Febreze and whoa!!!

My buddy Slugger and me

My buddy smacking me across my mug

We had a great time and look forward to going to the season opener this year. It falls on a Friday and we get the beat the Yankees!!

Go Royals!


Bill and Traci

...A lot like Christmas

Yeah...

I typically like to wait until after Thanksgiving to start listening to Christmas music or pulling out the lights and tree. So, when Traci got all wound up about putting up the lights, deer, and tree I went on the defensive. As I lay watching the Chiefs get worked over this past weekend, I could hear the faint thud of a staple gun. She started without me...

The only thing going through my mind was a vision of me walking outside and seeing Traci sprawled out on the driveway with a string of lights wrapped around her body, staple gun in one hand and the other hand grasping for the ladder that she just fell off of. Needless to say, I ended up going outside and helping her put up the house lights.

We purchased a new ladder over the past year that was high enough to reach the inside ceiling but low enough to not reach the gutters. After watching Traci stretch and stand on tippy-toes, the neighbor offered their extension ladder to us. Unfortunately, there is a weight limit on most aluminum ladders and of course I was just over the limit. :-)

Traci was a trooper and had the lights put up in no time at all. Later that night we took a walk around the neighborhood to look at the competition. There was only one house that came close.

So being the Pre-Thanksgiving-bah-humbug guy that I am I still insisted that we keep the lights off until after Thursday. Traci agreed and unplugged the lights. It didn't last very long as I came home tonight and thought about how much joy it brought her to see the deer heads bobbing up and down.

Bottom line: The lights are on and they are beautiful. I guess there is a first for everything including me getting into the Christmas spirit 5 days early.

I hope the Christmas Spirit finds you all soon!!

Bill and Traci

We did our duty

This is the first year that I can honestly say that I paid attention to who was running for office and voted for the person that I thought would do the best job. Kansas is one of the states that allows for early voting so Traci went in last week and took care of business and I went in this morning. The county that we live in is kind of special in that it is the only one in Kansas that was allowed to vote at 6am and the rest of Kansas had to wait until 7am.

I got up at 5:30 and got ready to head to the polls. I arrived about 5:55am and waited in line with about 50 other people. To my surprise, I was out of there in less than 20 minutes and on my way. I was surprised to see that almost everyone I ran into at work had voted or were going to take the time to go vote later in the day.

After work, I went to they gym and spent about 30 minutes on the stairclimber watching the news and listening to the reports come in regarding the results of the election. I was glued to the set listening as each state turned in their results and excited to see how close the race was.

As I am typing this, the results from the West coast came in and Obama was projected to be our next President. VERY EXCITING!

Although the election was exciting, the best part of this night is yet to come...because there will no longer be any election commericals on the TV and radio! That is really VERY EXCITING!

Take care,

Bill and Traci