Hello Digletts!
Miss me? Yeah me neither.
Here is my toast to another slightly above mediocre year full of a few updates since my last entry, personal highlights from the previous twelve months, and maybe a resolution or two.
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The only tale worth telling since my North Carolina trip would be my race in southern WV and then my travels to and from St. Paul for about a week. Canary 25k+ is a decently big trail race for the locals so Josh and I headed down to Fayetteville, WV for the 18 miler. When we left Morgantown it was in the fifties and pleasant, but sure enough the ground in Fayetteville was snow covered and Hoka Huaka. I love these shoes, but they have minimal traction and for what it's worth I'd just rock the Clifton in almost every scenario. It is going to be a beautiful day when the Challenger ATR comes to my door. Super stoked for those bad boys. The race ended well because they had free carrot cake, cookies, pizza, and beer. Morgantown boys took 1-3 so that was pretty cool and semi-anticipated.
bitter cold. My plan going into the race was to cruise to the ten mile mark and then hammer the last eight; five of which were predominately downhill. From the gun I was in 4th and didn't see any of the top three until the 11th mile. I slid into third and remained there rest of the race. About 5k in I took a solid spill which brings me to my opinion of the
Now for the fun story! The road to St. Paul. Day one was textbook. I drove to Lafayette Indiana in one sitting, ordered a pizza, watched television and fell to sleep. Day two would prove to be one of the most difficult drives of my life. Naturally, the storm began in Chicago because that city has never been cooperative. The snow continued to accumulate through Wisconsin. We, and by we I mean me and other drivers, were getting hammered so hard that the average speed traveled throughout Wisconsin was about 30 mph. Visibility often times was a myth and I slid more times in that day than all previous days combined. I counted fifteen wrecks before I made it to a rest area. There I hoped that the storm would just pass although the forecast said otherwise. I rested in my car for an hour when I was forced to wake up due to the numbing of my toes and fingers from sleeping in a freezing car. I drove on and when I was 115 miles from my St. Paul hotel- disaster struck. My wiper on the driver's side stopped working and I continued to get pounded by snow and kicked up snow from trucks. More panicked than I'll ever admit, I leaned to the side and navigated the next few miles from the passenger seat. At this point I assumed that the wiper was just frozen. I navigated to a backwoods Wisconsin gas station where the two workers looked like they came right out of the stereotypical West Virginia. Between the two of them they had a handful of teeth. Strange, never see that in WV. Anyways, the wiper was not frozen. I felt pretty crappy as I watched the projected sixteen inches of snow continue to spill everywhere. After doing a few laps through the station I decided to buy two sets of heavy duty shoe laces and gloves. I wasn't too confident in my idea, but it had to work because I wasn't staying in that town.
I tied the laces together, tied them around my wiper, and wired it through my driver side window. I yanked on it and sure enough it wiped up! Full of excitement I push the wiper back down. Granted, I didn't even think about how I had to push it back down. Back on i94W a big truck blew snow all over me. I pulled on the string and it worked. I was giddy. Then I blankly stared at the vertical wiper and realized that I had no way of getting it to go back down. With my hands pretty much tied, I straddled the middle console and navigate from there. Picture this--> Left foot on the gas pedal, Right foot below the glove box, Ass stuck between the two seats. It was the most reckless driving I've ever done and would ever like to do. I felt more in control of my car when Doughty and I ghost rode my car in Oklahoma a few years ago.
Somehow I managed to make it to St. Paul. I felt like I may have never deserved a drink more than I did that night. The next morning I ran for only a few miles because real feel of negative 8 wasn't too hospitable. I went to Xcel Energy Center and purchased a home Brodin jersey; or sweater if you're a prick. That concluded my Scandinavian rainbow. Granlund and Koivu from Finland and Brodin across the water in Sweden. I walked down 7th and stopped in Dunn Bros coffee because I couldn't stand the cold anymore. Oh, I forgot to pack socks, so my toes were cold. Like, constantly for about a week. After warming up a touch I wanted to find some food. I walked out of the door and looked outside on the street to see if anything interesting was in eye-sight. Nothing jumped out. When I looked to the left I noticed that the coffee place was attached to a sports bar: Burger Moes. So I went inside and started drinking before noon. This action continued until almost three o'clock. One sandwich and seven different drinks, I think. That's the problem when I land in a different part of the country. When there are seventy beers on draft and you haven't tried almost all of them you try to taste as many as you can while being able to properly depart. Not properly thinking, I accepted the bartender's offer to hit the town after she got off at eight. I have never tried so hard to sober up just to go out again. I got to my room around 3:30, slept til 7:30, then had a pot of coffee. I was good enough. The rest of the night is irrelevant. I did go to sleep that night thinking if that is how my first day in the city went, I'd have no choice but to be happier if I resided in the city.GAME DAY!
I went back to Burger Moe's after throwing down 400$ to fix my car. Chatted with the bartender for a few more dead hours before leaving forever. It's strange how much warmer it is outside when you're full of alcohol. Before I knew it, I was sitting in my seat three rows from the ice. I only have two comments about the game because LA came to town and just annihilated us. 4-0. The first comment is about, well wait I have three comments. There were these two girls that walked down to the glass during warm ups and kept pounding on the glass and pointing at Wild players and then started hip thrusting. It was hilarious. But had the genders been reversed they probably would have been removed for being crude. Comment #2/3 - The mom behind me brought her kid who is a Kings "fan". As in he knows who won the cup last year, but they're from Minnesota. The little bastard talked shit all night and I started to think... Adrian Peterson's son could not have been half the little shit that this kid was. I'm not saying a kid should be lashed, but if you put little Peterson and that kid together, the little king kid would be far more deserving of physical punishment I'm sure. And lastly, I tend to have brilliant marketing ideas that will inevitably be stolen because I don't know the right people. For example: Pizza boxes should let other establishments advertise on their boxes. Do you know how long those damn boxes sit in my room? Forever. And why do pizza places put their phone number and advertise for themselves on the pizza box???? I bought your pizza, I think I know your number. That'd be like a car salesman selling a car and then handing the customer an ad about the car they just purchased. It's a wasted space. If I had a pizza place, and stopped hating myself for having a pizza place, I would totally accept money from other establishments and let them advertise on my box. I don't know why everyone is dumb but me. In the final two minutes of a period they announced that if Minnesota scores something happens. Also, you get 5 cents of per gallon the day after a game at certain gas stations for every goal they score if you have your ticket. That's dumb. What sporting franchises need to do is reward fans for watching losses. "If your team loses 4-0 tonight and you sit through the entire embarrassment, grab a free ice cream cone on your way out." No one cares about prizes when they win. The victory is the prize. But when I watch my team get killed, I would like a sympathy prize.
Here are a few top 5's from the previous year
Books I've read this year: I probably haven't read anything actually published in 2014.
5. Jodi Picoult - The Storyteller
4. Jo Nesbo - The Snowman
3. Dan Brown - Angels & Demons
2. Stephen King - 11/22/63
1. Dan Brown - Inferno
Albums released this year:
5. New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers
4. First Aid Kit - Stay Gold
3. Jenny Lewis - The Voyager
2. Passenger - Whispers
1. Conor Oberst - Upside Down Mountain
* I was fortunate enough to watch the top two on this list live this year. Two peaks of my happiness. If you listened to Jenny Lewis, you love her now. Listen to her entire new album and then look up Rilo Kiley and love her even more.
Movies released this year:
It turns out that I have only seen one movie that was released this year. I should watch more movies. I will make a resolution to watch two whole movies in '15. That new Captain America movie, though? Right? I can totally talk about that one.
TOP FIVE RACES!
5. Iron Furnace: Fun trail, biggest group of locals with me, and good experience all together. The chocolate milk was off after the race and it was one of the last runs in my prototype New Balance 110v2. I feel like I can honestly call them a prototype because I don't think they ever released that shoe. I like to think it was because when the NB rep came to town and I showed her my shredded pair that they realized the shoe may be the least durable piece of material ever.
4. Florida Challenge: Completely underestimated trail half marathon saw me blow up, but more importantly blew Josh up more than I've ever seen. He was crushing the CR through 11 miles but fell apart. I assume he will get it this year and I want to run as close to it as I can. January 25th. Be ready for it! Round two.
3. Pilot Mountain to Hanging Rock 50k: The most spontaneous of all of my races, but was a blast. Aside from the 5k that came on the roads, I enjoyed all of the trails. It is a great point to point race and was my lone victory of 2014. So that's some bonus points. Not to mention I had Chipotle waiting for me after the race. No wonder I won.
2. Conquer the Cove: This was the best race I think I had all year. 3:12 for the trail marathon is still my PB, but the course was gorgeous. I really wanted to do this course again and break 3 hours. Considering the lackluster shape I was in last year I know I could do that. I'm currently in better shape than the fittest I was in '14. But they scheduled it the same weekend as my NC 50k this year. So no '15 Cove.
1. Rut 50k: Sure I only finished 18 miles before passing out and dropping out, but I hadn't run in two months due to a stress fracture. There's no way I would've raced any other race in that condition, but Montana was too beautiful to not run as much as I could just to take in the sights. Can't wait to register here in less than a week for the Rut again.
And the final list. Video Games. I can't in good conscious avoid talking about my favorite hobby. I am more of a game nerd than I lead on.
5. FIFA 15- This game has two separate but equally annoying worlds for me. The majority of hours logged came playing against Chris Hunter. Last year we topped 200+ games against each other in FIFA 14 and have probably played as much already on 15. We are so nerdy that we are controlling every team in the Bundesliga, Barclays, Italian, and Spanish League. Eventually we will have a Champions League. With PSG automagically added. On the other hand I play Pro Clubs with my childhood friend Austin. In Fifa 14 we climbed from Division 10 to Division 3 in this game mode where we only control our lone character. So far we are in Division 6 and rising fast. How can you not root for our club: Krusty Krew? He's Mermaid Man and I was Barnacle Boy, but recently changed to Smitty Werben Man Jensen because I feel like I'm number 1.
4. Wolfenstein- There's nothing like killing Nazis. This was one of the most white knuckled campaigns I've ever played. The game seemed to move 100mph and was extremely beautiful. All of the cities looked amazing. It was harder than hell to beat too since I put it on the second hardest difficulty from the start. I didn't care for the ending. Quick spoiler. It's 1960s and you wake from a coma that started during WW2. The Nazis won and control basically all of Europe. But you get your strength back, instantly..., and form a rebellion. Fighting for the Allies. Slowly you start to pester the Nazis and in the end you blow up the Nazi leader and yourself. Then the game makes it seem like you've won. No! Take the leader out from a multimillion man army and the leader of a six person militia. I think the Nazis would have been just fine. Which is annoying.
3. Dead Rising 3- Sure it was a 2013 game, but I didn't really play it until this year. My favorite zombie game ever. The storyline was so gripping that I played it twice through. The customizations and endless combinations you could create made you less angry that weapons seemed to never last long. I played the majority of the game in a mega man helmet, cowboy shirt, daisy dukes, and flip flops. The wardrobe options were insane, too. Just a really fun time killer. Sadly I have no friends and never played the co op. But killing zombies beside a friend? That's the dream.
2. NHL 15- Things have been broken in my room over this game. I love hockey more than any sport and love the video game just as much. Hockey Ultimate Team has consumed so many of my hours. But the St. Paul Digletts are 4.5/5 star team and our weakest player is an 87 overall. I believe my record is in the range of 67-28-3. I'm in Division 3 which means that I am only two successful season from the highest rank. I will get there. Each of those games comes against a real player online. I had to start muting my opponent and not wearing a mic because shit talking gets too heated and the likelihood of breaking things goes up. You will never see me more focused than in one of these online games. It's actually draining. I don't play as much because it wears me out. If I take any game to serious, it's this one.
1. Dragon Age Inquisition- I purchased this epic game and soon after got a little sick. I figured with winter coming I could use a fun open world game. This claimed to be the biggest of worlds to hit the market and I would have to agree. Until I saw my first of ten dragons appear I thought the game was just okay. The storyline is a little vague, but I have a hard time staying on the main path anyways. I am eighty hours into this game and I have only seen a fraction of the world, slayed one dragon, only seen 4 dragons total, and barely scratched the surface on the main storyline. Roaming around killing stuff and finding little treasures has always been fun to me. I don't plan on beating this game in less than 150 hours. But until Witcher 3 comes out, I'm in no hurry.
Here is a short photo slideshow of my year.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS / RACING SCHEDULE
RACING SCHEDULE:
- Florida Challenge Trail Half Marathon - 1/25
- Quest For The Crest 50k - Burnsville, NC- 5/
- White Mountain Sky Marathon- Lake Placid, NY- 6/
- Audi Power of 4 50k- Aspen, CO - 7/
- Tushar Mountain Marathon- Utah - 8/
- Rut 25k- Big Sky, MT - 9/
- Flagstaff in October.
- Little races will be in between these races. Nothing in stone yet.
Happy Holidays Digletts! We'll talk again on Tuesday.
ONE LOVE
