Alky Tuesday

I'd talk about running, but I didn't run last night. I did a little foam rolling and some leg exercises, but that was it. There was a nice lunchtime walk mixed in during the day, so we'll call it a day of cross training.

I should also remind every one that tomorrow (Wednesday) is National Running Day. I don't think my area has an organized run, so I'm just going to hit the pavement on my own. Just make sure you get out there for a mile or two at least.


So, with nothing else athletic to say, I turn to today's Alcohol Tuesday entry..

This one comes from a recommendation from of Sun Runner. (I do keep track of all of the drinks recommended, and get to them all eventually).



She proposed I give 'Arrogant Bastard' a shot, from Stone Brewing. With a name like that, sure, why not?

Not only do they have an interesting web site name, the aptly named www.arrograntbastard.com, they have an interesting and amusing label on the bottle.

Here's the text of it:

• This is an aggressive beer. You probably won't like it. It is quite doubtful that you have the taste or sophistication to be able to appreciate an ale of this quality and depth. We would suggest that you stick to safer and more familiar territory -- maybe something with a multi-million dollar ad campaign aimed at convincing you it's made in a little brewery, or on e that implies that their tasteless fizzy yellow beer will give you more sex appeal. Perhaps you think multi-million dollar ad campaigns make a beer taste better. Perhaps you're mouthing your words as you read this.
  

I found it amusing, at least.

So, the beer itself? It's a darker colored amber beer, with a light to moderate amount of carbonation. I think it's classified as an American Ale, but is truly the epitome of what microbrews are about. A smell of it yields a decent hop smell, but the taste of it has a underlying malt taste mixed with the hops. The malts really cut the intensity of the hops, and yield a pleasant taste overall.

The beer is very smooth, and packs a decent punch at 7.2% ABV. There are a lot of complexities to this one, and I'm willing to be a student and study it for rounds to come.

This is actually my second bottle of it. I tried it a few weeks ago, and really liked it. This one makes the rotation.

Keep on rockin'!

Weekend running and the avatar

Well, I went out 2 days this weekend. Both days I left my knee strap at home, and tried a different approach to my running. I took up a Galloway-style approach.. I'd run .5 or .6 miles, then walk a block or so. Repeat. That *seemed* to keep the ITBS at a manageable level. I also stuck to flat routes, and I limited my runs to 2.25 & 2.5 miles. (The running part was those numbers, I don't count the walking).

The other thing I did was to pick up my pace a bit.. (mixing in walking allows me to run fast for a short period of time.. lol). I think that causes me to run more on front part of my foot, and it doesn't hurt the ITB as much. I know running faster leads to more injuries, so I'm hesitant to keep with this aspect of my weekend runs.

Today I feel pretty good, and I'm happy about that. I think I'll just go for a walk today and not try to push it to 3 days in a row.

Props to joyRuN, who correctly identified my avatar's origin. It's from Doctor Who.. It's a 'Dalek'. Wikipedia has a lengthy article on them here, because what else do sci-fi people have to do, but write detailed articles on Wikipedia? The long and the short of it is, it's an "evil alien race".

I really didn't know what to choose for an avatar, so that was it. I'd put pics up, but then people from work might stumble across this, put 2 and 2 together, and that just wouldn't be good.

That's all for now... I need to find something for tomorrow's alky Tuesday entry..

Keep on rockin'!

Blogaversary!!

Welp, it's been one year since I started this little blog. (Well, it's really tomorrow, but I don't really blog too much on the weekends) This is #260 of my posts over the past year. Wow.. really? That means I have a rate of 5 posts a week? Wow. As XC2 said, employee of the month. Well, really, I guess employee of the year.

Well, like most of you bloggers, I started a blog saying "who would read my writings?". However, over time, I've slowly built up a little "fan base". I find it really incredible, and I'd like to thank all of you who stop by here. I've made some good friends doing this, and I hope that continues on. The blogosphere is a really great community.

The reason I started blogging was that after I started running a couple of years ago, I went to Google and searched for something incredibly silly like "beginner runner tips" or something along that line. One thing led to another, and then I found a series of running blogs. I wound up lurking on the blogs for pretty much a year before starting my own.

(As it is, I still read a number of blogs that I lurk at.. haven't come around to posting, or don't post regularly).

So.. in honor of all of you, my readers, is there anything you'd like to read on here that you don't? Anything you want to see less of? Stuff you want changed?


On to running.. last night, I got in a humid 2 miles. No Garmin on me.. just wanted to go out. I think I'm not really sold on the whole running with a knee strap. I noticed that I felt my knee cap sliding around a bit (something I'm intimately familiar with, having a scorching case of patello femeral pain a few years back), and I figure that's due to my quad not having it's full control with the strap in the way. I think I'll try my next run without the strap, just to see how it goes. If I'm not better soon, I'm chugging my butt over to the doctor. It's been long enough. I'm tired of this.

I'm looking forward to the weekend.. I don't think we have any plans (I haven't verified this with Mrs. Raul, so I'm 99.99999% sure I'm wrong, and there's probably something really important going on). It was only a 4 day week, which is certainly better than a 5 day one, but I still like to leave work. Something tells me that even if I got down to a 1 day week, I'd still be exuberant at the end of the lone work day.


Thanks again.. keep on rockin'!

(and, an extra one for you, G, keep on rockin'!)

TIaRT: Running Injuries and Treatment

Today's TIaRT post is all about running injuries and treatment(s).

I'm relatively knowledgeable about injuries, as I have a tendency to do "too much" "too fast", and wind up sidelined for months at a time (see exhibit A, myself, right now).

As far as treatment goes, I really don't like taking medicine and such like that, so I really don't do Advil as much as some people. If my legs are really bothering me, I might pop a couple, but that's about it. I certainly don't throw them down like candy.

Instead, my treatment regimen is more along the lines of some rolling with my foam roller and some stretching. Alas, I lack dedication to do these things as much as I probably should, though, slowing down my return.

The one thing I do a fair amount of is self-diagnosis using the Internet. The last few times I went to the doctor, I knew exactly what I had (ITBS, broken bone, etc). The research does give me an opportunity to learn about the ailment, and more importantly, how to prevent it.

I know, no rocket science in this post. Sorry.


On a note of humor.. The other day, we had a fire drill at work.. I was relaying the story to my wife and said something along the lines of "Yeah, it was pretty inconvenient. I was right in the middle of doing some stuff."

Her response? "Oh, were you blogging?"

Har har har. (Good one, though!) She's learnin! :)

Alright.. that's all I've got for now.. Keep on rockin!

Running, biking, scotch

Over the weekend, my running buddy came home for a few days.

She and I went and did a couple of workouts. First was a 2+ mile run with some good sized hills... We did mix in some walking in addition to the 2 miles, so it was a pretty lengthy excursion. The knee felt pretty OK, but I wouldn't want to do too much more than that.

The next day, we went for a nice little bike ride, a little over 5 miles. Thankfully, I didn't have any incidents and come home with any broken bones, unlike the last time she and I rode together. This was the first time I pulled out my bike after I got it tuned up, and I was really pleased with how well it rode. The tune-up was definitely worth the money. (Plus, I have brakes now!)

I must say, I really missed working out with her. While I do like the solitude when working out, I really do enjoy her company, and the time really flies by. So, if I had to choose, I'd certainly choose having her around for the workouts. Plus, it's really good having someone that will drag your butt outside and make sure you work out on those days where you really just want to phone it in.


And now... Today's alcohol Tuesday entry is....



Glenmorange's 12 year 'Port Wood Finish' scotch. It's a single malt scotch that during its final years of maturation, is put into port containers for aging. This allows it to pick up some of the characteristics and flavors of a port, while retaining its scotch-ness. (What else would you call scotch-ness?)

In an effort for full disclosure, this is the scotch that got me into scotch drinking. It was a Christmas party with a very kind and generous host, a drinking buddy, and a bottle of this. (Unfortunately, the host only had about a single glass, and there was confusion the next day on how my buddy and I got home. Props to Mrs. Raul here for not killing me, as it was really a party for her and her co-workers)

Anyway..... The scotch has a somewhat rose tint to its golden color. The smell is slightly fruit-like, in the vein of cherries. A first sip is pretty dry. As you taste it, you start noticing more and more flavor. There's a very faint underlying smoke taste, but there is also the port taste. In some ways the port taste reminds me of Courvoisier cognac. (I'm no cognac expert, though. Nor a scotch expert for that matter)

The scotch itself is... pricey. So, it's definitely designed for sipping, and for special occasions. One could argue that it's not for a newbie scotch drinker, due to its price and complexity. However, I'll argue the opposite, saying it's a good way to get into scotch.. a 'gateway scotch', if you will. It worked for me.. (Of course, there are very few drinks I'll turn away from)

Hmm.. After doing a bit of research this morning, it appears that this scotch is discontinued, and has been replaced by the 'Quinta Ruban' variety (of which, people seem to prefer the Port Wood Finish version). Oh, this is disappointing. Plus, I robbed you all of a good review, because this is discontinued.. I guess I'd rush out and get a bottle if you are at all interested. lol. I'll have to do something else later on this week to make up for this.

Alright everyone, keep on rockin!

End of the week

Made it through another one! Whoo hoo!

• I'm looking to skeeeeedaddle early, if you will. Long weekend this weekend, and I'm hoping to enjoy it to it's max.
  
  
• This weekend, well, maybe not full maximum enjoyment. For all of you ladies out there, I'll probably be doing housework and cleaning toilets and mopping floors.
  
  (The place is really a wreck, and I'd like to get it cleaned up before mini-Raul surfaces. I figure it will only go downhill from that point onward, so I'd like to start at some sort of respectable level)
  
  
• My running buddy comes home this weekend for a few days. I've been rolling my leg to get ready. Here's hoping.. I'd like to get a few runs in with her.
  
  
• I did go see the Star Trek movie. I must say, I loved seeing the younger versions of the characters. Really did. The plot, well, ehh... it was a little more convoluted than it needed to be, but all in all, I liked the movie. (I mean, the plot is still follow-able, so fret not if you haven't seen it)
  
  
• Oh, yeah. The Facebook thing. As I mentioned, I did finally cave. It got to the point that my dad (who is on FB), was sending me notes saying "so and so wants to talk to you, here's their e-mail", etc etc. Now, this isn't a slight against my dad, but I really don't need him as the middle man for my e-mail social life. So, I signed up, breaking that whole "I'll never join that blah blah blah" line.
  
  
• Yeah, I really don't have too much to say today.
  
  
• Have a great weekend everyone! Keep on rockin!
  

Facebook

OK. I did it.

I'm joined up. I'll be slowly hunting all of you down that previous admitted you're on there too.

I'm going to do my best to keep my blog separate from Facebook, because I don't think my co-workers know about my blog, and, well, it's probably best to keep it that way.

So, I'll see you all on there. :)