Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was great! The food was great, the people were great, and the nap on a fully belly rocked!!!

I ran the Turkey Trot to justify my gluttony. Due to my knee injury I hadn't been running all that hard, I've been concentrating more on my swimming, biking and strength training. Previous to yesterday my PR had been 53:31 for a 10K, but that was in Austin and had some pretty good hills to go with it. None-the-less... I ran a 48:34... I was pumped more about the fact that I had no pain in my knee than about the new PR. Seeing that I can only focus on goals, I'll shoot for a sub 45:00 min the next race. That might be a stretch, but still doable..

Looking back on Thanksgiving pictures I found this one from last year. I was every bit of 250lbs. I was rocking the fat pants w/ the elastic in the waist band hidden by my fat belt. I was the Arab American version of Fat Bastard... Get in my belly!!!

This is me today, just as ugly only thinner, happier, and no more fat pants!!! but I'm still screaming.. Get in my belly!!!!

It's a bit chilly out today so, I'm off to the gym.. I know, I'm talking to myself because no one in there right mind would read this far. However I don't care, here's another dumb quote.

"If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure." - Dan Quayle

Bling Bling

Sorry, its been 7 days since my last pitiful post about the Techno Viking (but really if you haven't seen it do a search on youtube its hysterical). Then again no one reads these things anyway so it doesn't really matter. OK maybe a few people do read, the "Tri Commune" in Houston will do Maverick flyby occasionally...

Maverick, you just did an incredibly brave thing. What you should have done was land your plane! you don't own that plane, the tax payers do! Son, your ego is writing checks your body can't cash. You've been busted, you lost your qualifications as section leader three times, put in hack twice by me, with a history of high speed passes over five air control towers, and one admiral's daughter!

Penny Benjaman was her name... Anyhow, enough Top Gun...

Last week I was able to take a mini vacation to the beautifully overcast Southern California. What an amazing place to live.

Unfortunately, we all know the cost of housing there. It takes a lot of bling to enjoy that weather all year...

I was able to get in a few good runs while I was there. It's refreshing to run without a stopwatch or clocking the distance. I was running in a Forrest Gump fashion, running just to run and enjoy my surroundings.

Memorial Park is nice, Rice University is a good running/training place as well. However If I had a view like this with perfect weather and NO bugs, I'd be much more inclined to get out there and put in some miles.

Some days training seems like its just habit or I feel an obligation to the financial commitments I've made to this lifestyle. Other days I cant wait for the feeling after a hard workout. When you meet your goal for a run, or knock out an awesome 3000 yd swim, or your legs are dead from going all out the last few miles of a long bike, that's the good stuff. Other times the training is the only normal part of the day on those days when work sucks, traffic blows, or you get a letter from the IRS informing you that you screwed up royally on your Turbo Tax last year.. oops..

So, As I run a turkey trot tomorrow, I'll be thankful for my health and lifestyle that gets me out of bed before everyone else to take a 2 hr run, then to stop at the Surfin' Donuts and bring a little warm breakfast to those that slept in.

Now, I probably wont ever drive $300K "Lambo" on the Pacific Coast Highway. But I do have a lot to be thankful for this year, and in the years to come....
However, if this kid can develop some speed off that 3 point stance and can turn it into a 7 figure salary. I'll settle for a big house with pool and early retirement... Maybe a used Ferrari too... :)

Even though no one reads this far, I'll still end in a quote... Happy Thanksgiving!!

“I would like to live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were ever supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.”[Miss Alabama 1994]