Gladiator Rock n Run Rose Bowl 2015

I am going to catch up this week.  Really I am.  (Of course, I held off last week so I’d have stuff to post this week.

Anyway, back on the 17th, I took on the Gladiator Rock n Run for the second time this year.  This time was at the Rose Bowl.  Sadly, they only had the 5K course this time, not the 10K option that I’ve done in the past.  Still, it was fun to be back since I skipped it last year for that stupid Slime Run.

I did this with one of my friends from ultimate Frisbee, Nate.  This was his first mud run, and we both had fun.  There was the usual variety of obstacles, a little light on the mud since this is mainly around the Rose Bowl on the streets of Pasadena.  But there was enough to give him a feel for getting muddy, and he’s talking about doing one with me again in the future.

The thing that killed me on this was the stairs.  We start by running into the stadium and going up the down the stairs three times.  I was fine doing that.  I could tell my legs were shaky later, but I felt great all day on Saturday.  Sunday, I woke up and my legs were killing me.  I played ultimate that afternoon hoping to loosen them up, but it didn’t help.  It was late Tuesday afternoon before they started to feel significantly better.  Just in time for a run Tuesday night, in fact.

Before next year, I must start doing stairs as a workout.  I climb the stairs at work and at home, but never that many at once, which was my problem.

Word Association for October 21st

It's been a couple of weeks.  Let's do some word association today.

1. Frustration :: Disappointment
2. Ordered :: Food
3. Imagination :: Creative
4. Horizon :: God
5. Flu :: Vaccine
6. System :: Breakdown
7. Bombastic :: Trump
8. Windows :: Computer
9. Pumping :: Iron
10. Scorched :: Earth

I've been listening to a song from Downhere's first CD, which includes this in the chorus.

"Because I'll never hold a picture of the

Whole horizon in my view

Because I'll never rip the night in two

It makes me wonder who am I

Who am I

Who am I

And great are You."

And that's who I got from Horizon to God.

Walking and Playing

Yes, I still need to catch up on my blog.  I’m still almost two weeks behind.  (That’s what happens when you just post once a week.)

So, on the 10^th, I had two events with some time home between them.  I started the morning with the Walk for Life in town.  This annual event raises money for the local crisis pregnancy center.  It was just a two mile walk, twice around the block where we started.  It wasn’t an exciting route, but I walked with some people from my church, and that was fun.  I raise some money via my co-workers.

After some time at home, I headed out that might.  Met my friend Ann for dinner and then Angelique joined us for Guys and Dolls at Glendale Centre Theatre.  I’d never seen this musical before, and I really enjoyed it.  I’m not sure that I agree with the messages of the film, but I still had a lot of fun.  The music was wonderful and there were lots of laughs.

As you can see, it was an eventful day.

Squeezing In a New Couch

I’m falling behind again, aren’t I?  Let’s see if I can catch up.

For example, the first weekend of October, my new couch arrived.  I’d ordered it the beginning of September, and I was told it would take 6-8 weeks, but it arrived in 4.

The reason it was going to take so long?  I was going for the upgraded foam, which was firmer.  I was thinking of the couch lasting longer that way, but the result is a couch that is a little too firmer than I wanted.  I’m kind of regretting that, but I’m sure it will be better – eventually.  Meanwhile, my back is getting a little better very slowly.  My old couch was so far gone it was killing my back.

But when it was delivered that Saturday, it made for an interesting day since I had plans in the morning (Hallmark Ornament Debut), lunch with a friend, and then dinner and a play at Glendale Centre Theatre that night.  Fortunately, they delivered the couch first thing in the morning, so I was able to get on with my day without any complications.

And I had a good rest of that day.  It was nice to catch up with my friend over lunch, and the play was a lot of fun that night.  It was Guys and Dolls, which I’d never seen before.  I’m not sure I agreed with the morals, especially at the end, but it sure was a lot of fun, and they did an amazing job with it as always.

Another Premier Party

We are in full TV season mode again.  My last two returning shows premier this week, in fact.  But that meant that last weekend my friend Christy had her annual premier party for Once Upon a Time.  We once again dressed up in costumes and got together for dinner and then watching the premier.

Christy is the only one I know well out of the group; the rest are all people I only see once a year at these events.  But I’m getting to know several of them better over the years, and I really look forward to this party each year.

Yes, I went as Dr. Hopper again.  Boring, I know.  The costumes were so great this year with most everyone else going for a fairytale version of a character.  It was a blast.  The food was good.

And the premier?  I’m not doing full recaps this year, but I am loving this season so far.  The second episode was strong as well.  If only the same could be said for Castle.  (Please, don’t get me started on the stupid way they’ve taken the show this year.  The writers have definitely decided to kill it.  I will be shocked if it gets picked up for another season because I suspect that fans will stop watching in droves after last week.)

Word Association for September 30th

Quickly, let's do this week's word association.

1. Well :: Water
2. Validation :: Okay
3. Robert :: O'Malley (Don't ask me why)
4. Host :: Ghost (Haunted Mansion)
5. Stage :: Play
6. Bulky :: Package
7. Exclamation! :: Excited
8. Fluffy :: Bunny
9. Left :: Right
10. Inspire :: Quote

Word Association for September 23rd

What do you say we do some word association this week?

1. Resist :: the Devil
2. Procrastinate :: Later
3. Stimulate :: the Senses
4. Secretary :: Boss
5. Buffering :: Internet
6. Overcast :: Clouds
7. Grinder :: Coffee
8. Amateur :: Detective
9. Flaw :: in the Plan
10. Aloof :: Stuck up

Survivor Mud Run 2015

Wow, I’ve pretty much abandoned this place for almost two weeks now, haven’t I?  I guess that means it’s time to add a blog post.

Honestly, not much has happened in the last couple of weeks that was new or exciting.  This last Saturday was the exception as I did my September mud run.  Yep, the Survivor Mud Run was back in the area.

And I use the term area loosely.  It’s about an hour and 45 minutes one way to where this particular mud run is.  But I guess that’s almost as long as some of the other mud runs I do.  It just seems longer since its further east than those.  And the traffic coming home!  It was over two hours back and with the heat and no AC in my car, that wasn’t pleasant.

The race itself was great as always.  They didn’t seem to have as many non-mud obstacles this year as they have in the past.  But I’m not really complaining because there was lots of mud, which I love.  There was so thin and some fairly thick stuff as well, which was great.  Then there is the rubber slide into the lake near the end, which is always fun.

I almost had a friend sign up to do it with me, but then he changed his mind and signed up for a different one.  I would have enjoyed introducing him to mud runs with this one and his company.  Plus the AC since he was going to drive.  But I’ll just introduce him to mud runs next month instead.

Labor Day Weekend Fun

You’ll notice I haven’t been posting about much outside of ultimate Frisbee recently.  That’s because, outside of ultimate Frisbee, not much has been going on.  But hey, this was a 3 days weekend, so I went out and had some fun this last weekend.

It started Saturday when I headed down to Downtown Disney to meet friends for brunch.  Unfortunately, two of the regulars couldn’t make it, but the rest of us had fun.  It’s always a case of good friends and good food.  Heck, they even had their Caramel French Toast as part of the buffet.  Guess what I went back for seconds on.

As if I didn’t stuff myself enough at that, as soon as it was over, I met up with another friend for lunch.  Yes, I was as uncomfortable as you might expect when it was all over.  I’d met him on a Disney message board, and we text each other every so often.  He was in town for the half marathon over the weekend, and it was too good an opportunity to pass up.  It was lots of fun chatting with him in person.

After a little shopping (mainly window shopping since I only bought one ornament), I started driving north.  But I stopped and bought a new couch on the way home.  Unfortunately, it is supposed to take 6-8 weeks to get it to me.  But it should be nice when it arrives.

Sunday was the usual (church and ultimate).  And then Monday I played more ultimate in the morning followed by lunch with some of my ultimate friends.  I hadn’t planned to play on Monday, but it was a lot of fun, and I’m so glad I went.

I really didn’t need more time at home to get down what I wanted to get done either, which was nice.  Oh, there’s always more I could have done, but the essentials happened.  Not that I wouldn’t have been happy with an extra day or two.  It honestly didn’t feel like I got an extra day off when I headed back into work today.

Word Association for September 3rd

Let's get this week's word association done, shall we?

1. Hell :: Punishment
2. Time :: Eternity
3. Birth :: Death
4. Dock :: Ship
5. Column :: Excel
6. Distance :: Traveled
7. Text :: Phone
8. Pop up :: Ad
9. Fear :: Jump
10. Alert :: Danger