Rough Use or Hard Shock May Cause Damage

I received a free sports watch when I sent a gift subscription of my fave running zine to a friend. I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but I did find the following important information on the small sheet of paper included with the watch:

1. You can wear it while swimming or washing car, but don' t press any buttons in water.
2. Do not wear in broiling or freezing environment.
3. Do not wear it in puissant electric field, static or high cycle environment. [what does this even mean????]
4. Do not drop on hard ground. The watch can bear normal shake but not hard shock. Any rough use or hard shock may cause damage. [true, so true...]
5. Do not wear in the places having gasoline, detergent, spraying agent, adhesion agent, oil paint, etc., their chemical action would damage sealing ring, watchcase and watch surface.
6. Do not stretch the watchband too tightly around your wrist. The tightness is reasonable when your finger can insert in.
7. The watchband is made from resin, so  If you find any white powder on the watchband wipe them off with cloth, the powder would not cause any hurt to your skin and clothes. The resin-made watchband may aging, crack or break when bear sweat or damp. Wipe off the dirt or drip with soft cloth as soon as possible
8.  The watch is made of precision electronic parts, don' t open the cover by yourself. If there is water smoke or drips inside the watchcase, ask approved specialist to disassembly and repair at once, or the inner parts may damage caused by corrosion. [I do hope my watch never starts smoking...]
9. Keep well the operation instruction and other attached files for necessary use in the future.

I skipped some of the less humorous ones. I sure wish they'd devoted as much space to the actual instructions as they did to the "Notice" section. 

2012 - the year of the marathon

Last month I read a book by this crazy ultra-fit runner named Dean Karnazes. It's called 50 50: Secrets I Learned Running 50 Marathons in 50 Days-and How You Too Can Achieve Super Endurance!

The fittest man on earth.

Yes, you read that correctly. 50 marathons in 50 days. What the title doesn't tell you is that there's a third '50' to factor in. 50 states. That's right. He traveled to a different state every day and ran a marathon. Repeat 50 times. Okay, he's superhuman. This didn't kill him. As the saying goes it made him stronger. Kids, don't try this at home. Now, what I learned from the book, aside from how very cool and fit and kind of insane Dean Karnazes is, is that maybe I too can run a marathon. I've been running half marathons for 2 years now and completed #6 on 10/29/11. #7 will be in beautiful Huntington Beach on 2/5. Sunshine here I come! I've maintained that the 13.1 mile distance is plenty for me, thank you very much. Sprinkle in some 5 & 10ks and an annual Ragnar relay and that's a fine bit of running, don't you think?

The fittest woman in this picture.

So, what changed my mind? One of the most incredible things about Dean's story was the number of first time marathoners that joined him on his runs. These were mostly small events limited to 50 participants. After all, there aren't organized marathons 7 days a week. One would think these races would attract the elite runner who wants the chance to test themselves against a well-know athlete. I'm sure they were there too, but the stories that made it into the book were mostly about the newbies who got out there and did it. Hmmm. I guess I could join that club, eh? So, I'm tentatively adding the Newport Marathon to my calendar. June 2nd is the date. I haven't registered yet. Soon...

Into the deep end...

So, the time has finally come to do this. Since my brain won't shut down I'll put some of my inner rantings on the screen and see if it entertains anyone. Food, music, running and interesting human interactions, in no particular order. And, of course, my dog and the freaked out cats.

Freaked out cat.

I'm painting my basement stairwell and in order to do this I have to occasionally make the basement off-limits to the neurotic creatures known as my cats. The most paranoid of the two is convinced that any change means death is just around the corner. So, once I managed to get him out of the basement (after the goof hid down there and then proceeded to run up the freshly painted stairs) he then hid under a table and yowled as if I were trying to take him to the vet. He is not deprived of food, litter box or comfy places to sit, and if the basement door were open he would happily snuggle with his brother in the living room. Ah well, the white kitty paw prints on the concrete basement floor are pretty cute...

Super fast with a killer 'stache.

I haven't run for a week and I can feel it. I got the cruddy cold that's out there and then it's just been so dark and gloomy. I'm running a 15k race in a couple of days, though. That'll get me going. After that, training must begin again. Only 6 weeks until the next half-marathon in sunny SoCal.  I've been reading more about running than actually running these days. I just finished a biography of Steve Prefontaine. He didn't live long enough to have much of a life outside of running, but it was still very interesting. As a casual runner, it's surprising to be able to draw parallels between what I do and what he did. I'll never run a 4-minute mile - hell, I don't know if I'll ever run an 8-minute mile - but there's still something compelling about his story and some things that I can take and apply to myself.

Thus ends blogpost numero uno.