old mix (CDs)

It's very telling of what generation you grew up in when you speak more of 'old mix CDs' in lieu of the almost ubiquitous pop-culture term 'old mix tapes.' I'm not sure how I began this recent process, but I recently came across my 'sought-after' series of K-State Mix CDs and, as I deemed them then, Home Mix CDs (because I was home over the summer when I burned those).

The 16 K-State mixes and 14 Home mixes were burned, if I recall correctly, during the course of freshman year at Kansas State (fall 2000, spring 2001) and through the next summer. What I've been doing lately, as I refresh the selection of CDs that I listen to in my car while I drive to and from work, is grabbing one or two of these mix CDs as a part of my listening menu.

And, quite honestly, I haven't been this excited about popping in a CD in a long time. There's a true excitement of the unknown with each CD (especially the ones where I didn't write track names on the front, which I stopped doing after the first couple discs). It's corny and probably fairly nerdy, but also really fun to not know what's coming next, and knowing at least at one point in time, that I liked these songs.

Not to sound too heady or hipster or whatever the appropriate term might be (douchey?), but it's fun to 'glimpse' back at that time in my life about ten years ago, via the music that I listened to (most of it probably downloaded via Napster -- talk about dating yourself, throwing around archaic software program names like that). I was but a wee 17-year-old lad, with peach fuzz mustache and backwards baseball cap proudly sported.

And the results have been enjoyable -- more often than not, my reaction has been 'YES, that song was awesome,' or 'cool, I remember this point in college when I was listening to that song (walking across campus or what have you).' Also on multiple occasions, I have skipped past a track. Phil Anselmo, I love you dearly, but I am not into the heavy stuff like I used to be (though you can never go wrong with 'A Good Friend and a Bottle of Pills,' am I right??).

Anyway, kind of a nerdy project that I'm in the middle of, but it's been really fun, slowly listening to each of these mix CDs from my 'distant' college days. I invite anyone who might have some old mixes lying around to pop one in when they have a free minute. Explore your past, brah.

half-marathon analysis

Since 2004, I have run in four different half-marathons. After my most recent one on October 10, 2010, I think I've made the official decision to attempt a full marathon sometime during 2011. I know that the endurance and training required is on a whole other level, so I don't make this decision lightly. My friends Tim and Dave have told me focus on a triathlon of some sort next, but I'd rather stick to running at this point, before introducing swimming (which I'm very poor at) and bicycling to my 'repertoire,' as it were.

I'll try to keep everyone posted on any decisions and developments as we approach 2011.

It is fairly interesting to compare my half-marathon results, as I know my improvement in times relates fairly directly to weight, but probably also that I've grown better at pacing and probably gotten overall healthier as I've lived the past few years (minor stuff -- drinking more water, watching what I eat to an extent, the amount I eat, etc.).

Here they are, with date, age, weight, and time included:

4/18/2004 - Linz, Austria - age 20, 185 lbs. - 2:08:51
4/20/2008 - Lawrence, KS - age 24, 220 lbs. - 2:18:55
4/18/2010 - Lawrence, KS - age 26, 190 lbs. - 1:58:04
10/10/2010 - Wichita, KS - age 27, 180 lbs. - 1:56:50

I haven't thought far enough ahead at this point, so I'm not sure what to set for my goal time at this point. Logically, I would shoot for 4 hours, 30 minutes, but that's only a minute slower page than my fastest half-marathon time, which might be a fairly optimistic goal. We shall see.

On a related note, congrats to the aforementioned Dave Lodewyck, who successfully completed the 2010 Chicago Marathon that was also on October 10. He is one of my many inspirations.

The blog is back

The recent birth of Gretchen's blog has inspired me (at least tentatively) to kickstart my blog back into gear.

It may or may not last, but at this moment, the burning in my loins is there.

Another reason is that at my 10-year high school reunion this past weekend, there were a few requests to bring back my newsletter, the Scorch! With this being the Scorch!'s 'cousin' so to speak, I thought that if I did decide to do that, it would be in this forum.

I'm at least considering a '10-year reunion' edition, and we'll see where it goes from there.
Quite frankly, in this day and age, Facebook and these other social media do the job that the Scorch! used to do, and in a much more powerful way.

The Scorch! was the protozoa, while these Twitters and LinkedIns and Bookfaces are the blue people from Avatar (which I haven't seen, so there).

Anyway, we have a lot to catch up on since my last post about 27 months ago.
Let's hope my motivation doesn't wane.