about:Chris

This sucker's electrical, but I need a nuclear reaction to generate the 1.21 gigawatts of electricity I need.

2 observations while running

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Two things:

1.  I’ve decided that, more than almost anything else, I hate those little black flies that fly around your head while your running.  God only knows how many end up in my mouth causing me to hack and spit like a lunatic.  You should see me running, waving my hands inches in front of my face trying to get them away from me.  It’s absurd.

2.  I don’t know why but I saw more people out running today (after work) than I have seen this entire year combined.  I also saw a big pack of bicyclists riding too.  Is today some sort of “get-off-your-ass” day?

About the picture

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Apparently I run better on an empty stomach

Tried my running-before-dinner-experiment & felt WAY better than last night. I found it weird that I ran the same loop but runkeeper registered a different mileage. Hmmn.

Now I should mow the lawn but I’m procrastinating on tumbler and fitocracy.

Splits like a Boss:

1 13:15

2 12:45

3 12:31

4 10:20

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Slow and Sweaty

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I went out last night and ran 3.9 miles at a dreadfully slow pace.  Lately I’ve fallen into the habit of running almost immediately after eating dinner.  Last night was no exception and I had a pretty big dinner jumbling around in my gut.  It still felt good to get out and work up a sweat.  I’m going to run the same route after work today but only eat a light snack before I go.  Let’s see what kind of pace improvements I make.

It’s funny to notice (thanks to runkeeper) that my mile splits do get consecutively shorter as the run went on.  (it’s the little victories, I tell you)

Picture Unrelated.

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Really Verizon Wireless? No Special Characters in Passwords?

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Considering the climate of online security these days how can Verizon Wireless not allow special characters in our passwords?  This is completely irresponsible on their part and makes me wonder what other lax policies they enforce on their back end.  At least they have minimum length and number requirements but c’mon…

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Spotify Playlists

People on Spotify, you should add “Spotify” to your followed people list. They have a bunch of good playlists that you can subscribe to. To do this, just type “spotify:user:spotify” into the search bar and it will bring up all their shared playlists. From there you can add them to your “people”.

Alternatively, you can find other Spotify users if you search for: “spotify:user:anyusername”. Just substitute the username you want in for the last part.  No need for the Facebook connection at all.

Now they just need to integrate with Google plus.


(remember, no quotes)

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Spotify's Terrible Android Horizontal UI

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I wonder if Spotify is aware of their Android app’s absolutely atrocious UI when it’s in a landscape orientation?  It’s embarrassing and nearly unusable.  I really, really like the service and will continue to use it but come on, the UI is terrible.

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Ham Flavored Burps

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After the rain stopped yesterday I went for a steamy 4 mile run.  It was so much nicer out that it was during the day, the air was much cooler and the sun was on its final descent.  I managed to take good enough care of my ankle I sprained a couple days ago that I thought I could hit the road.  

My intention wasn’t to run 4 miles but when it came time to turn around I looked at my Runkeeper map. I noticed another block to could run down that would connect back to my return route.  The WWII era neighborhood I live in is awesome for running.  There’s all sorts of quiet, windy roads that connect to one another and lots of hills (I’m sadistic, I like hills).

My ankle held up fine.  No pain at all.  Actually I had a pretty bad cramp for the first half of the run probably because I ate a big dinner and drank a bunch of seltzer (lotsa’ ham flavored burps, let me tell you).  There’s still some inflammation on my ankle but that always takes a while to go away but at least it’s functionally fine.

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Stupid Ankle

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Hey, you know that RICE method thing for injuries?  Turns out that when you follow the directions pretty closely it actually works quite well.

Rest (the hard part)

Ice

Compression (see above)

Elevation

I sprained my ankle this past Monday.  This was the second time this summer and now I’m beginning to look suspiciously at the Nike Free’s.  For a “minimalist shoe” the heels on these things are pretty lofty.  I’m going to keep an eye out for something a little lower to the ground.  I’m considering some Vibram FiveFingers but don’t want to look like “that guy” or need to buy a bunch of special socks.

Runners, what brand/model shoes do you run in that have a minimal heel?

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Coconut Oil

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Hello, Coconut Oil, welcome to my home.  Butter, pack your shit and get out.

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I'm Back

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I got back from quite the vacation last Saturday.  Not only did I take a break from work, I also took a break from running, eating right, and staying ketogenic (low carb).  

So what does 7 days of carbs and no running do to me?  It makes me gain 8 pounds.  I’m not really concerned though, I know it’s most likely water weight.  I’m not terribly up on the keto-science but I think it has something to do with glycogen in muscle fibers absorbing and holding onto water.  When you’re ketogenic, I think your glycogen stores are at a minimum and thus have less “water weight”.  It’s only Tuesday and I’ve already knocked off almost 3 pounds.

I tried going for a run last night and sprained my goddamn ankle at the halfway point.  I walked for a bit then tried running the rest of the way home but my ankle wasn’t having it.  I walked home muttering and swearing about how I need to go to the gas station now and buy a bag of ice and soak my foot in it.  Luckily, I have a clean 5 gallon bucket that I use for foot ice baths.  I would say the pain of plunging my foot into icy water is equal to the spraining but it has to be done.

I have a 5K that I’m running this Sunday and I was originally hoping to get a PR (break 30 minutes).  I was hoping to get some good runs in early this week then taper off before Sunday but it doesn’t look like it’s going to work out that way.

About the cool picture.

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