#23 New House, New Year, Same Dreams

Digem's Trails

#23 New House, New Year, Same Dreams

Last Friday, 5/16 I spent the day lifting and moving furniture from the town home near Cheat Lake and into a runner's paradise. The new house is in sight of the tempo loop and will make it difficult to not double. Honestly, it serves as the perfect kick in the butt. And I viewed it as such. Before I get to the spacious new house, moving all of my crap was a trouble worth sharing. Looking at everything neatly organized in my room now makes me think of my possessions as more than crap, but when I'm carrying things too heavy for me- it's all crap. Anyone with a pulse has seen Home Alone 1 & 2.  Anyone with a pulse stopped watching when Macaulay Culkin stopped being Kevin. I played the role of Harry and Marv in the second movie. My bed played the role of the big red tool chest; thankfully it didn't weigh much. Chris Hunter helped me out a ton with moving everything and I couldn't have moved without him, but before he got off of work I wanted to move everything from my upstairs bedroom to the front door. Then everything from Josh's upstairs bedroom while he conveniently worked a ton. Being lazy and dreading extended manual labor, I made a decision at the cross road that everyone faces before moving out. Heavy to light furniture or light to heavy? Of course, I went light first. I took my bare queen mattress off of the springs and started maneuvering it through my door and to the top of the stairs. I then quickly back peddled down the stairs. There was a moment when I questioned why I was moving so quickly. That thought came to mind as I clipped my own feet and went airborne down the last three or so stairs. I've always had a fear of breaking my tail bone, but to this point I have avoided it while breaking/dislocating a knee, femur, 8 fingers, bone in my neck, two bones in my foot, 5th metatoe, and growth plate in an ankle. Turns out, I didn't even hurt my tailbone in the spill. I landed against the wall smacking my back and head before landing on my fully intact tail bone. The mattress then smacked me between my spread legs and gave me a friendly pop in the face. I remained seated for awhile before deciding to move everything downstairs. I was shocked that there was no hole in the wall from my back, but the wall's days were numbered. The fall initially reminded me of Home Alone 2, then of a New Years party for either 2008 or 09. A friend was looking for an intoxicated friend and it was one of those perfect scenes when he asks if we have seen his friend just before that friend flew down the stairs and put a knee and head through the wall if I recall correctly. That didn't matter because midnight was around the corner to provide a clean slate. Moving provides a clean slate too. 

Me and Chris Hunter

Chris came over after work and we began moving heavy to light as we loaded the moving truck. Josh has possibly the least convenient chest/dresser that I have ever lifted. Or whatever the proper verb would be since I never 'lifted' it. More like walked it. Tugged it. When that heavy s.o.b picked up steam down the stairs you are damn right I moved and let it penetrate the wall. Then we stealthily shifted the chest around and down the last step; leaving a deep trail in the wall. I had no expectation of a check for a security deposit so I wasn't concerned. Relieved if anything. That chest put a hole in the wall; probably would have killed me. I say probably because I can't say for sure whether or not I am invincible. I've gone over 21 years without accidentally dying, so you never know. I would test my invincibility, but I don't know Spiderman's hours and when he can provide my one get out of death free card so I will just keep on trying to not take physical risks. By the symphony of bones crackling when I get up from bed or walk up stairs I would say that I have had enough hard knocks for this lifetime.

Go ahead, try and bring it in my paint.

By the end of the night I was sleeping easy in my new house in suncrest. I have added Adam as a 2nd housemate so there's a fat chance that he will be a part of blogs moving forward. Also, we live walking distance from Mario's Fishbowl and Blackbear which will know the three of us by name behind the bar by the end of the year. My definition of success has changed often over my lifetime. How good someone was at NBA Jam on SNES, how well you flipped on a trampoline, whether or not you can hit/throw a curve ball, the percentage of homework you turn in without doing it yourself, how fast you can run, and most recently- how happy you are. The last year has easily been the happiest of my life. And that's all that really matters, before I would look at people and say: what a loser, but they seem a lot happier than me. With this move I can't imagine getting much happier. Completely satisfied with a lot of things right now. I'd like to improve on my fitness level and complete a few projects that I've been working on before Sid Meier's next game comes out. Because when that happens I begin losing track of time by the weeks. For the first time in seemingly ever, here is my weekly running blog:

Sunday 5/18- 18 miles. I wanted to run preferably all at once, but ended up doubling up. Josh, Adam, and Russ finished a solid 16 out at Cheat Lake. I went nearly 11 with them before tapping out for a second time due to my stomach being in knots. I exited the bathroom and tacked on another 2 before stopping at 13 for another bathroom break. Later on that evening I went for 5 more because I wasn't pleased with my morning run. If it were fatigued legs or just poor fitness I'd be fine with crappin out 11 miles in, but it was my stomach; legs felt fine. By the end of the day I registered 18, but not in the most beneficial way.

Monday 5/19- 11 miles. Consecutive double, but this one was planned ahead of time. Easy 5 miles and then a speed workout with a few legs of my old high school's 4x8 team who were prepping for a lackluster performance at the state meet in a few days (spoiler). 3 miles of track work and taking the warm up and cool down into consideration- 6 miles was put down for the afternoon. My first hot fudge brownie avalanche at Dairy Cream Corner this year which is embarrassing that it took so long. If you are ever blessed enough to cross Fairmont, WV go to DCC because it is the only place that kinda rocks. Plus you get to see the people of Fairmont so it's a great people watching spot.

Tuesday 5/20- 8 miles. Living in suncrest has provided various loops for me to run, but I think this route will be the most common that I run. Just down junkyard and onto the rail trail and head out toward Point Marion before turning around. So out of all of the potential loops, this isn't a loop.

Wednesday 5/21- 11 miles. With my friend leaving for the summer on an internship, I went 5 miles early with him. It was actually my first time running with him. He has cut weight and is just recently getting into running, but a childhood friend so one of my only non runner friends may turn into a hobby jogger. That would take away a serious percentage of non runner friends. I then went six with Josh, Hunter, and Adam. That will probably be a normal group, so from now on they will be addressed as the boys.

Thursday 5/22- 6 miles! The boys headed out toward Point Marion like I did Tuesday, but I wasn't feeling sexy so I turned early and made a loop back to the house.

Friday 5/23- 8 miles. I took to the streets of Fairmont prior to leaving for the state meet. As I mentioned earlier FS's 4x8 was poo. But after sitting through a day of blah, the 3a boys 2 mile kicked off! Colin Radabaugh (Radbra) has made several appearances in blogs already and has taken titles such as "my favorite high school runner". Coming in with the 8th best mark, I just wanted him to get all state, top 6, but the crazy s.o.b went off and placed 3rd. I will not give my play-by-play or post a picture today, but on one of my next two blogs this week I will post the video once the youtube guys upload it. OH! 3 blogs in 8 days coming up, Whaaaa?

Saturday 5/24- 6 miles. Intentionally cut my planned distance down because I feel quite run down, sunburnt yesterday, wanna be ready for a solid long run tomorrow, etc. Pick an excuse. 68 miles is child's play, but I'm all settled in now and I'll have hot water starting Wednesday so a routine should be hit here soon. Next week I'm only planning in the 70s. Racing in 8 days. The 100 miler has turned into a chore currently. I am getting really pumped for the 50k in September and want to just start getting faster, but I have to keep in mind that I am crippling myself at the end of June.

Book Review

11/22/63 by Stephen King

    I thoroughly enjoyed this book, all 800 pages of it. If you are a fan of time traveling, J.F.K, or the late 50's early 60's: you should enjoy the book as well. I'm going to try to summarize the book without giving any spoilers because I really think it is a good summer read. If it sucked then I would tell you what happens. Basically this school teacher is friends with Al, owner of Al's Diner. He noticed that Al had seemingly aged five years over night one day which was odd because he saw Al almost daily. Later Al tells Jake that he isn't healthy enough to finish the mission and asks for Jake's help since he was a single man with no real ties. Al has a portal into 1958 and every time he goes through it and returns to the present, only 2 real minutes pass. Al was convinced that the world would be a better place if he went back and killed Lee Harvey before he assassinated the president. Due to illness, he was forced to put this mission on Jake, his only friend, and with the Diner being torn down in two weeks, Jake didn't have much time to think about it.
    I enjoyed the book, one of my top ten reads ever, but I do have a few complaints/disappointments.  Though the book is about preventing John Kennedy's assassination, only a sliver of JFK's life is told in the book. For the most part it is about Jake and the insignificant fictional characters that crosses his path. It is Stephen King so of course the story was brilliant and full of twists and turns. If it wasn't I wouldn't have blown through the book in four sittings. I believe this is the longest read ever, unless one of the Potter books was longer. In that case, it is the longest read since then. My second complaint is that King and all of his brilliance simply chalked the assassination up to Lee. I like conspiracies, but more so like the truth. I am not saying that Lee didn't shoot the president, but I don't like that no other theory was mentioned in the novel. I guess it was easier to write if there was only one assassin.
    The one generation that should enjoy this book more than every other would be my dad's. I knew that he would dig it and gave it to him to read which he did very quickly. Being around for the real 50s and 60s makes all the difference in this book. The story is full of references to vehicles, music, celebrities, etc all from that era and provided an escape from this world and let my dad and all others who once lived the era, relive the early 60s. As much as I loved the book, pops loved it more. That is because when they are throwing out all of the dance moves and music and cars, that's like reading deutsch. I didn't listen, drive, or know every reference that was made like he does. I would recommend this read to anyone. I would strongly recommend this to anyone 60+ in age. So If you know someone in that age group, make them read it and they will thank you for it.

On my next blog I will go on about the concert tomorrow, give another example of my stupidity, show my new pad, and potentially answer a Q & A. I have actually had several people recommend doing one. So, if you have any questions about anything and want me to answer, leave the question in the comments and I will copy them over to Wednesday's blog along with my answers.

ONE LOVE!
 
Next on tap:

• Conor Oberst concert tomorrow night
• Midweek Blog Wednesday
• Conquer the Cove Trail Marathon Sunday 6/1 in VA
• Mohican 100 miler June 22nd.