On The Road Again

Well, I am on the road again traveling for work. The hard part about traveling is missing the family, eating right, and continuing my training routine. My company's corporate headquarters is located in Michigan and I tend to do the majority of my traveling during the winter months. Even though I am a California boy, trust me, I know how much it sucks to train during the winter. I can't believe I am saying this, but I truly miss my 60 degree late evening runs after work in the middle of winter. At the hotel I am staying at I am fighting for treadmill time in the exercise closet (it is pretty small). However, I shouldn't complain. It has a TV and I could be running outside in the snowy weather, up hills, both ways. The current outside temperature is 5 degrees. Going home tomorrow (weather permitting).

Pacific Shoreline

On Sunday, I participated in my second half marathon. The Pacific Shoreline was an awesome event. If you are looking for a full or half marathon, or even a 5K in February, there is nothing better than the Pacific Shoreline. They've got great weather, high turnout, an outstanding view of the coast line, unique surfboard finishers medallions, and top it all off with a beer garden at the finish line. The beer garden might have been the motivating factor for me to turn in a new personal best! I ran my first half a month earlier and finished with a time of 2:40:59. Four short weeks later, I cut over a minute off my pace and finished with a time of 2:26:22. I was very happy with these results and really enjoyed those beers at the finish line. I think that is my new prerequisite for signing up for races.

iPod Recycling Program

You know you have been training pretty hard when your iPod stops working. A couple of weeks ago my U2 Special Edition iPod started acting up. It was not playing songs in their entirety, a problem I have had in the past. So, it was time for the five R's. All iPod owners should be familiar with them. If not, you are very lucky. For future reference, I have included them below.

The Five R's:
1. Reset you iPod.
2. Retry with a different USB port.
3. Restart your computer.
4. Reinstall iPod and iTunes software.
5. Restore your iPod.

Well, for some reason the five R's didn't work this time. I had a feeling something more serious was wrong. It turns out, after two trips to the local Apple store, that the hard drive crashed. At first I freaked out and said, "I NEED MY IPOD!!!" That is when I learned about the iPod recycling program. If you give Apple your iPod, they will in turn offer you a 10% discount towards the purchase of a new iPod. Not a very big discount, but it beats a jab in the eye with a sharp stick.

Now I am the proud owner of the iPod nano (PRODUCT) RED. I decided on this nano because, if I had to spend money on a new iPod, I wanted to at least support Bono in the fight against AIDS in Africa. Also, since I am a tech-lover, I can now break down and spend over $100 on new the Nike+ system. There's something about GPS tracking and the ability to play a power songs at the push of a button that really gets my blood flowing.