Them is Some Fancy Shoes

One of the many exciting things about training for a marathon is the ability to get new shoes on a frequent basis.  The shoes that a runner chooses – excuse me, the shoes that choose a runner are of great importance to the success of any race or training schedule.  They are a key element of success, not only to provide the unique support needed for one's running style, but to ensure that a runner looks his or her best when they are out there putting in the miles.  After all, everyone knows that the key to being a successful runner has nothing to do with hard work, training, or God given ability; it is all about how snazzy you look when you are out there.  If you look good enough during a race, you will intimidate the other runners who won’t dare to pass you, hence you will place high in your age group. 

Last week, it was time for me to replace my worn out shoes with some new ones since they reached the 400 mile mark.  My mind raced with excitement as  I went to my favorite running outlet to see what type of color selection awaited me on this year’s model of the Asics Gel Kayanos.  These are the shoes that choose me over 3 years ago and I have stuck with them ever since.  They have seen me through countless run events, triathlons, trail runs and workouts but never have they given me the gift which awaited me on that day. 

One of the color selections on the Kayano 17s was black on black! Immediately, I pictured myself cutting through the early morning darkness of the Austin Marathon with my black shoes, black running shorts and black tech shirt.  I would be a ninja slicing through the crowded streets on my way to eternal glory.  The anticipation that I felt waiting for the UPS man to deliver my secret weapon was almost too much to bear. 

On the day of scheduled arrival, I clicked the tracking number many, many times so that I may snatch the shoes from my porch before anyone got word of their arrival and attempted to take them for themselves.  At the end of the day, the tracker said “delivered – front porch.”   Oh, I hurried home, unwrapped the package to find them staring up at me just begging me to put them on and go for a run.  How could I resist???

I put on all of the black running clothes I could find and laced my shoes up for the first time.  Oh, the feeling of them on my feet – how they cradled my ankle made every step feel like I was walking on a cloud.  I walked – no I STRUTTED into the computer room to model them to my wife.  I was so proud, I just knew that she would jump out of her chair to embrace me because my manliness and secret agent style would be irresistible to any normal woman.  I prepared myself to fight her off so she could get in the way of my run when she looked over at me. 

At first I thought I heard the gasps of disbelief of being married to a man with such style and debonair, but no!  It was laughing.  I was in shock as between her chuckles she told me that my shoes were the ugliest thing she had ever seen and that they looked like non-skid shoes that you buy at Wal Mart. 

I was in spechless– I have always considered my wife to be a woman of good taste and style.  Apparently not!  Apparently, she does not realize true beauty when she sees it.  It is a good thing that I can ignore these shortcomings or it might cause problems in our marriage. 

Despite her poor taste, the shoes met every expectation that I had.  The only question now is whether or not I should run with my samurai sword during my ninja runs.  Who knows, I might need it to fend off all of the normal people who would stop at nothing to take my awesome shoes! 

One More Mile

Earlier this week, I switched my registration from the Austin Half Marathon to the Full Marathon.  26.2 miles of running - what was I thinking?  I did run the OKC Memorial Marathon in 2008, but to steal a phrase from my buddy; I thought that I ran two marathons that day – my first, and my last.  Well, apparently not.  It is too late, I am now committed and my pride is on the line.  Ok, ok, the real motivator is that I was charged an extra 55 bucks which was the price difference in the half and the full plus a 10 dollar processing fee. 

The whole thing kind of snuck up on me this time.  It is definitely something that I didn’t seek out to do.  After the Route 66 half marathon in November, I decided that I was going run 10 miles each weekend to keep from getting out of shape during the Holidays and get a head start on training for the Austin Half.  I stuck to my plan for two weeks, but then I wasn’t satisfied with the distance and thought, “Well, I will do 12 today.”  That kept escalating and next it was 13, then 14, then 16 etc. etc.   I got to the point, where I was significantly through the necessary training for a marathon without even realizing it.  Then my wife made me a list (that’s what she does – list after list) of the top 8 reasons to run another marathon.  Reason 6 was that it would give me an excuse to wear more spandex and that was the clincher! 

It has been a really fun and low stress experience this time. I haven’t really been following a plan and I am not taking it too seriously.  I usually set out to run significantly less than I do, but end up enjoying it so much that I start thinking “Just one more mile” every time I get towards the end.  That was the case this week. I had planned to give myself a recovery week and run a much lower distance, but ended up running a 22 miler yesterday.    

I get extra motivation from my trusty companion, Toby Dogg.  I started taking him running earlier this year and he has gotten to where he can run almost as far as I can.  He ran his farthest yesterday when he went 20.  It is too bad that he can’t run the event with me – I think he could do it. 

Maybe it is the fact that I have done one before or maybe it is because I was able to run 18 miles before I realized that I was training for a marathon, but the training has been much more zen like this time around.  Rather than looking at the long run I face each Saturday as a chore, I have been seeing them as a way to unplug, spend time with my hound, acquaint myself with new music, and clear my head.  Hopefully the next month will be as good as the last few and the marathon itself will just be the celebration that is the culmination of all the training. 

Tribute to a Lost Friend

On Monday, my cousin Jeffery went backcountry snowboarding with a friend and his trusty dog, Bo.  His friend completed the run before Jeff and Bo and waited at the bottom, but they didn’t show up.  He caught a ride to the top and went down two more times looking for Jeff but did not have any success.  The friend then notified the authorities and they began to search for my cousin.  The weather was not good in the area and the location was at a high risk for avalanche.  The friend has noticed a small snow slide behind them while coming down the run, but still had a visual on Jeff and Bo until a short time later. 

Weather and conditions dictated that the search be called off that night, but a command unit was stationed at the trail head in case Jeff made it down during the night.  Even though conditions in the area were still sketchy the search resumed Tuesday morning.  Friends and rescuers combed the area utilizing all available resources to try and give him the best opportunity to get back to his friends and family.   A report got out through the rumor mill that they had found his body and that he didn’t make it.  The rumor was quickly dispelled, but it was an eerie foreshadowing event that, for the first time, made me realize that this saga might not have a happy ending.   

Once again, the search had to be called of that night due to conditions but it resumed at first light Wednesday morning.  I received a call from my folks around noon that they had recovered his body buried in the snow and that he was no longer with us. 

Jeff was family – Jeff was a friend, but the truth is that we had lost touch over the past 10 years.  Jeff was always off living life to the fullest and wasn’t the kind of cousin that was at every holiday and family gathering.  He had invited me to Colorado several times to stay with him and go snowboarding and I always thought we would have a blast together.  I had every intention of going but was guilty of being too wrapped up in my own life and not finding the time to make it actually happen.

It is not like we didn’t get along; every time we saw each other we had a great time.  I always looked forward to seeing him, enjoyed his company and we had common interests in wakeboarding and snowboarding.  It is sad that we didn’t spend more time together as adults.  Even though he was five years younger than I was, we spent a lot of time together as kids.  In many ways, he was like a little brother.  I would pick on him, we would fight, we would cause mischief and it was always great fun.  We were the only two kids at the family gatherings growing up, but I think we got the attention and caused the trouble equal to an army of kids.

Most of us get so caught up in our daily lives, our problems, our agendas and our activities that we sometimes don’t put the effort into relationships that we have with family and friends  like we should.  We all have relationships that we take for granted and think will always be there.  Sometimes you don’t realize a special relationship or special memories that you may have missed out on until it is too late.  I think it is important to live life to the fullest – to live without any regret and to treat each opportunity, each encounter, and each conversation like it may be the last. 

I truly believe that Jeff lived life to the fullest.  He had the courage and the sense of adventure to pursue the kind of lifestyle and take the kind of chances that most of us only fantasize about when we are teenagers.  He spent is summers by the water, and his winters in the snow.  Living life was what mattered to him, not material things or fitting in to the mold of what society tells us we should be at every step of our lives.  He had the courage to make his own mold.  He had the spirit to blaze his own trails.  To those of us who knew him, his 26 years were not enough on this earth.  There were many adventures left undone and many areas left unexplored.  Although we may not understand the reasons why, I do believe everything happens according to God’s grand plan. 

Jeff – I am sorry we didn’t have more time together in the past few years, but I am thankful for the time that we did have.  I have always admired your adventurous spirit.  You always showed courage that I have never possessed and lived life to the fullest because of it.  I am glad that you got to spend your last day on earth doing something you loved with your trusty companion.  A friend of mine once told me that people live eternally on earth by the memories they leave behind and the impact they have on those around them.  I think you had an impact on everyone you touched and have left many fond memories with many people.  Your spirit will live on, but you will be missed. 

On a sad note

I was really hoping that the focus of my blog would be all happy, fun, and sarcastic updates. I consider myself an optimist who always tries to find the fun in bad situations and the silver lining of any dark cloud. Normally I can find at least something to joke about, but today I got a call from my mom with a situation that just seems surreal.

My cousin went missing while snowboarding in the back country at the the Berthoud Pass area in Colorado around 3:30 yesterday afternoon. Bad weather and avalanche conditions were present when he disappeared. They have had search parties looking for him during the daylight, but have had to come in at night due to darkness and weather conditions. The story has been all over the news stations the Denver area, but the information is slow and the updates are not frequent.

This is the kind of situation that you see on the discovery channel - it is certainly not one that you you expect to have happen to your family. It is an empty feeling to sit there and try and go about your daily routine while waiting for information and knowing that you are helpless to affect the situation in any way. My cousin does have avalanche training so at least he knows how to handle himself. The search will resume tomorrow morning and there is hope. Please keep the situation in your thoughts and prayers.

Utility Belts and Dog Teeth

So I got inspired to start a blog because of the great stories that I know about some of my friends by reading their blogs and the realization that I do a terrible job of keeping up with my family and friends.  I hope that I will be able to post weekly and tell amusing tales of some of the things I encounter and share some of the fun we have at the Mueller home. 

I begin this blog by having a day off of work.  I think that it is the lack of my job demanding my full attention today that finally got me to sit down and set up this page.  The highlight of the day had to be the scheduled surgery to have one of Toby Dogg's teeth removed.  Toby Dogg needs more medical than any animal that exists on this planet.  The tooth in question has been broken ever since we got him from the neighboring trailer park nine years ago, but hasn't been a problem until now.  Recently, it caused an infection in his root cavity and made the left side of his snout swell up like he had a golf ball under his skin.  It all went well and he has been staggering around the house this evening, still a little woozy from the drugs.

After dropping Toby off at the vet, I went for a 10 mile run with a friend and then picked up Rachel for a day on the town.  Of course, the day couldn't go by without a trip to Starbucks, but then it was off to the Red Coyote to use the Groupon that I got in my stocking for Christmas.  I was so excited to see all of the accessories that they had for me to attach to my running belt so I could become an even bigger dork while I am running.  I now have a full-fledged utility belt with three water battles and two storage pouches that I can strap on during a long run.  Batman would be jealous!