I am an idiot.
Exhibit No. 1: Tinkering with the blog at 3 a.m.
Someone please tell me to go to bed.
Filed under: Pittsburgh,Social Media,Sports | Tags: even more sports, i'm an idiot, pixburke, yet another dreaded bullet update, yinzteam
You may recall that on the last day of November — quite possibly while I was delirious upon completing yet another National Blog Posting Month — I made you guys a promise: That I would complete the half-marathon portion of the Pittsburgh Marathon.
You know, the one that’s being run on Sunday morning.
OK. As it turns out, training for a half-marathon is hard. Especially for a fat 43-year old.
Some other things:
- Running during the third-snowiest month in the region’s history just doesn’t happen.
- Running while I have the stomach flu doesn’t happen either.
- Running while on vacation in Florida does happen, but wow, the beach seems like a much better idea.
Yeah, that’s all a bunch of crap. I didn’t do what I needed to do, and I ain’t running on Sunday morning. I am running, though — well, shuffling is a little more accurate — and I’m still going to keep that promise. I will run the half-marathon next spring, and I’ll get in at least a couple 5Ks or something longer in the interim. I owe it to you guys, and I owe it to me as well.
Here’s the interesting part. I’ve never been a huge fan of running, but once I got going this spring, I found that I wasn’t having a bad time. When I get up and run first thing in the morning, I find that I feel great for the rest of the day — my legs might be a little stiff and my knees might be a little sore, but to my surprise, I’m feeling good about this. Good enough that I’m going to keep going for a while.
I’m not running on Sunday, but I’ll be out there bright and early, helping to staff the water station at Mile-7.8, right in front of our glorious new casino. I’m looking forward to working with a bunch of fellow YinzTeamers at the station, but I’m also looking forward to cheering for a bunch of other YinzTeamers who are running — some as part of a relay, some running the half, and a few attempting the whole freaking thing. I’m proud to be helping out with one the city’s biggest annual events, but I’m more proud of my friends who are actually participating — and I look forward to joining them a year from now.
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If you’re running tomorrow — and especially if I haven’t met you yet — let me know in the comments. I know we’re going to be busy at the water station — and I know you’ll be busy with the actual running — but I’d love to be able to look for you and yell a little extra loud as you hit 7.8. Good luck to all of you on Sunday!
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The pic was stolen from a great little photo essay I saw in Runner’s World in advance of the Boston Marathon.
Filed under: Food and Drink,Music,Pittsburgh,Social Media | Tags: hippie music, i'm an idiot, pixburke, yinzteam, yum
Because I’m not too bright, I failed to make the obvious connection between this week’s two social highlights until today.
Pic ruthlessly stolen from douglasderda.com (Thanks, Doogle).
On Tuesday, we had our first-ever Pho Down, which I hope becomes the inaugural event of the Great Pittsburgh Pho Tour.
On Sunday, Mrs. Crappy, Doctor Yohe and I are seeing moe. at the Carnegie Music Hall of Homestead.
The part I missed? I could have been babbling about “moe.pho week” for days now — except I didn’t think of it until this morning.
Sigh.
Filed under: Pittsburgh,Sports | Tags: i have a question, i'm an idiot, weather freak boy, winter obsession
At about this time a year ago, I was dying to go skiing — and the weather posed something of a problem.
Here we are again — I can go tomorrow, but the weather seems bent on making my day as difficult as possible.
Last year, it was the cold, as in a high of 1, which the Seven Springs public announcer guy gleefully announced sometime in the afternoon. But even with the epic cold, I had one of the better days of the year — great snow, and just about no one there to share it with.
It’ll be brisk tomorrow, but that’s not the problem. The problem is the 10 inches of snow the National Weather Service says Seven Springs could get between now and the time I would be finishing up a day of skiing tomorrow afternoon.
If I can get there, the skiing will be unbelievable. It’ll be cold, so the snow should be pretty dry and light, meaning I’ll have an actual powder day. And, as was the case a year ago, the weather should keep away an awful lot of people who would normally be tracking up my snow. I’m confident in saying it would be one of the best days I’ll ever have at Seven Springs.
But. Notice how I said “if I can get there.” I should also add “if I can get back home.” I’m not so much worried about the turnpike, but there are a lot of fun twisty little roads that take you from the Donegal exit up to the resort. Even a little snow can make those tricky; a lot can make it treacherous.
So. I asked you last year and I’m asking once again: Drive through the snow or be safe and stay home. Vote in the poll below; if you feel the need to elaborate — and I hope you do — please leave a comment as well. What’s it going to be, yinz guys?
Filed under: I Have No Idea,Pittsburgh,Social Media | Tags: holiday fun, i'm an idiot, pixburke, woo-hoo, yinzteam
If you’re not already excited about going for a swim on New Year’s Day, it’s time to start.
1) I think we’re going to have about double the number of swimmers we had this year, plus a much larger group of people who will come out to watch shoot video with the swimmers’ cameras.
2) We have yet another reason to tailgate.
3) It’s still a long way out, but Accuweather says the day will be cloudy with a high of 27. Of course, we won’t reach that high temp until the afternoon, so we’re going to be dealing with something closer to the forecast low, which is 11. So there’s that. (This year’s temp at swimming time was 16, so don’t worry about that too much. When it’s that cold, I don’t think 5 degrees makes that much of a difference.)
4) And then there’s the big thing: Since we no longer have an official connection to Ruggers, I was concerned about where we might go to get warmed up after the swim this time; I’m happy to say that after some cajoling on the part of of our friend Wormy, the folks at the Hard Rock Cafe in Station Square have agreed to open up that morning for any and all Polar Bears. They’ll have some drink and food specials to help with our recovery. It’s in a convenient location — I suppose you could swim there from the Mon Wharf if you really wanted to — and it’s a very cool thing for them to do. So, whether you’re swimming or watching, make sure you stop by the Hard Rock after and get warmed up with the rest of us.
(Wormy, by the way, was one of the spectators a year ago. She said she regretted not joining us as soon as we all hit the water and vowed right then she would try in 2010. I’m proud to say she’ll be joining us as a swimmer this time around.)
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One other really cool thing about the upcoming swim — our buddy Gina, whom we don’t get to see nearly enough, also has agreed to join us this year. She displays symptoms of the same kind of brain damage that led all of the swimmers to give it a try a year ago, but she has another reason for taking the plunge. She has a connection to this tradition that none of us can match, and you should check out her post from earlier this week to see what that is. Seriously. Go.
