Husky Runner

The Early Bird gets the $*@T scared out of Him.

2011-08-01T10:22:00.000-07:00

In the past two weeks the Maryland heat and humidity have been brutal at times. This means my runs have been earlier in the morning to beat the heat. The morning hours between 4:30 and 7am are also the time that Mother Nature and her crew are out in force. I have been bombed by Squirrels, ran up on an angry Raccoon and have been startled numerous times by deer and their fawns crossing the path. I may or may not have even screamed and almost jumped off the road once when a deer came out of the woods about 3 feet from me and ran back the other way, while being laughed at by a woman and her dog coming the opposite direction. All in all the mornings are quiet and have mostly been good temperatures. I had a great run this past Sunday, I got on the trail early and was finished by 7:30 just as the morning was heating up. My route was planned for 10 miles but with Lake Elkhorn still under construction I only ended up with 9 and some change running from Savage Park and back...Somehow I think I will live. Especially since that was only the beginning of my day. After church I came home and went on a bike ride with the girls and then ended the day at the pool and home at 6pm for making Old School Homemade Ice Cream.
We made vanilla and one with fresh peaches, it was a perfect end to a good weekend of being busy and hot.

Three Weeks Down and Newton's Laws of Motion.

2011-07-18T05:54:00.000-07:00

Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to a change in its state of motion or rest, or the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion. It is proportional to an object's mass. The principle of inertia is one of the fundamental principles of classical physics which are used to describe the motion of matter and how it is affected by applied forces. Inertia comes from the Latin word, iners, meaning idle, or lazy. Isaac Newton defined inertia as his first law in his Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, which states:

The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.

With three weeks in the books and week four beginning I feel good...really good. Week three was the best week of runs so far. I ran 3.4 miles Tuesday, 4 miles Thursday and I had a great run Saturday it was shorter distance week (5 miles), but since week two's run was a disaster, I felt good so I tacked on another mile and half loop. I blame week two's demise on The Colossus World Tour (and my love of a good time and beer). I was at the Judge's Bench Friday Night hanging out and then tried to run 7 miles Saturday Morning a touch dehydrated and then i had an idea of a quick make up run Sunday morning it was quickly traded for 'Pints and Pancakes' at T-Bonz. I had such a successful bounce back this past week that I am actually looking forward to this weeks work outs as I start tacking on more miles. I actually feel a good bit more overall energy when I keep up with my work out plan and I am moving around with the girls schedule and bike rides. When I stop though, I grow roots quick and it takes some effort to get moving again (especially if I have a beer in hand).
I guess you have to have a bad week or two to know what a good week looks like. Four Miles Tuesday, four mile run this Thursday then Xmas in July that night at DuClaw @ Arundel Mills come by and say 'hey' while I am stretching and keeping my legs from cramping up while I prepare for 9 miles come Saturday.

Week 1 - Self Discipline and Beer...and the Winner is...

2011-06-27T05:59:00.000-07:00

Today begins week 1 of 18 leading up to the Marine Corps Marathon. Hal Higdon's Novice plan for a Marathon is my base but I am moving some of the work-outs around with Hockey and getting the girls to Swim Team Practice. My minimum work out plan is to run 2-3 times a week with a cardio workout in there somewhere. Talking to people that have run a marathons before they all agree the long runs must happen. I have decided that Saturday or Sunday will be my long runs depending on weather and my social calendar. I'm back on my 5 small meals a day and watching my beer consumption.As some of you know that this is become increasingly difficult. As of a month ago I have been brewing for DuClaw. It is a fantastic opportunity for an old married guy with kids to work in a profession that I have been working towards the last 6+ years. So this is where the self discipline comes in...a chubby guy surrounded by beer at a time he needs to focus on working out and hopefully being a couple pounds lighter by the time he has to haul his ass 26.2 miles.
We will hope for the best but expect the worst.

Shipping up to Boston

2011-06-09T07:03:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was invited to help out Mike Roy from Franklin's Restaurant, Brewery and General Store, pouring beer for the BeerAdvocates American Craft Beer Festival. Three session over two days with 106 breweries in attendance with 506 beers being poured. I had made my short list of breweries and beers I wanted to try so not waste time or precious liver function with beers I have had before. Of course before I could enjoy my first sip of beer we had to get there. Mike Roy, Chris Graham (Mike's former intern and recent employee of DC Brau who's 1st day of work was the Monday after we returned)and myself left Maryland around 5:30am. Couple of stops here and there and we were in Boston in what seemed like a couple of hours not 8 and half. We hit town around 2pm and we and 105 other breweries were jocking for position to get into the Seaport World Trade Center to set up our booth and get our beers iced down for the 6pm session. Most breweries brought 4-5 styles in large quantities for the event, Mike decided to bring 10 beers each in smaller quantities to showcase the beers made at the Hyattsville Brew Pub. You are probably asking yourself why a Brewpub from Maryland that does not distribute beer past it's door be interested in going to a festival with the likes of Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada and Boston Beer Co.? We must have been asked the same question 50 times a session (along with jeers and good hearted ribbing about my Orioles hat). The answer is Mike Roy is from New Hampshire and knows just about every brewer in the area it was like a big homecoming for him. Also I was surprised to have people take business cards and say that they were visiting DC soon and were going to stop by while in town or they come to DC for work and have been looking for a good place for beer. I also ran into some folks from home; The Godfather of Baltimore Beer Week, Joe Gold, Hugh Sisson and Bond Distributor extraordinaire Matt Crow.I Sampled a lot of good beers and met a lot of good folks. A highlight at the Smuttynose Booth, was meeting Paul from my favorite Beer Label and got my picture taken with him. The word on the street is that Cy passed away last year.
Lines for Pretty Things, Surly, Clown Shoes, Duck Rabbit were the longest during every session and I would have to sneak up the side of the booths during my break or be stuck in line the entire time. Sadly breweries like Oscar Blues, Victory, Stouts and Six Points all poured their beers from bottles and cans, not that it was bad but, I always hope for an interesting twist to a staple beer or a one off at these events but I could be jaded with all of the years attending The Extreme Beer Fest also held here in Boston. Friday after the 6-9:30 session there was an after party for the Industry folks at the Harpoon Brewery about three blocks away right on the water. We had a chance to hang out, relax, talk beer and eat some great food The Brewers association of Massachusetts had for everyone. We got a 2 cent tour of the facility from a brewer that Mike knew and was amazed at the Automation of the 150BBL massive brewery. We caught a cab to our Hotel just before midnight knowing we had to do this twice again on Saturday. Woke Up Saturday and had some time to relax and catch up on the scores on ESPN. We took a cab to China Town and ate at a Dim Sum Restaurant that Mike used to frequent. I have had a lot of meals before beer festivals but Dim Sum is now at the top of the list for laying down a base for a day of drinking. We got to the Seaport about an hour before the first session was to begin and we refreshed our ice and made sure our taps were running smoothly. I lucked out to take my break first and got in line before the crowds had time to swarm. Some of my favorite beers from the weekend were Pretty Things Best Regards (Barleywine), Baby Tree (Quad) and Fluffy White Rabbits(Trippel); Surley Darkness, Bender and Furious, Six Points Sweet Action(Cream Ale). I also enjoyed all of the beers Boulevard Brewing out of Kansas City had to offer. They were pouring Sixth Glass(Quad), Double-Wide I.P.A., Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale, Dark Truth Imp Stout all bottle conditioned. Anyone who knows me I knows I am drawn to beers made with Ringwood yeast, good or bad I am amazed how different these beers can be. Gritty McDuffs had some decent beers but I was in heaven with the 'Alan Pugsly Signature Series' beers that Shipyard was pouring. They had a Smashed Blueberry, Smashed Pumpkin and my favorite was an American Double IPA. All clocked in at 9% and were really good and complex. The surprise brewery was Lawson's Finest Liquids out of Warren, Vermont. They are a 1 BBl Brewery and has won awards at GABF and World beer Cup and has already done a Collaboration with The Bruery. The Collaboration was called Acer Quercus and was Stout brewed with Maple Syrup, Dates and Maple Wood Smoked malt. A fantastic pallet challenging beer I'm glad I had this one early in the day on Saturday to enjoy it. They also were pouring a Double IPA called Double Sunshine. The hop aroma was flooring and the flavor was fantastic. I would put Double Sunshine up against any of the top Double IPA's, East or West Coast. I did 'work' a lot pouring between having these fine beers and by the end of the Saturday late session all I wanted to do was sleep but we had to break down pack up the car. The party was just getting started for most locals because it was also Game 2 of the Stanly Cup Finals for the Bruins. We finally rolled out about 10:45 and made our way to Mike's parents house to spend the night. The next morning we had breakfast with Mike's parents and some family members that stopped by and hit the road for home. We got back to my house at about 8:00pm Sunday and sadly it dawned on me that I had to go back to work in just a couple of hours. This trip cemented Boston as one of my favorite cities to visit, we had a great weather, met some good folks and drank some great beers.

19 years went by pretty fast...

2011-05-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was the 1st Annual Atholton High School Alumni Lacrosse Game. We had players from as early as 2010 graduates, and then some old guys from 1992(me and Alex)and my brother from 1990. Everyone had a lot of fun and there were more laughs and reminiscing of the old days then I have had in a long time. I was able to play with a player that I coached at Atholton (1997/98)that is now the Varsity head coach for Atholton and his father was my coach when I played at Atholton. I can't express how great it was to play a sport we all love with my old friends and brother one more time. I can't wait till next years game and I am looking into playing in the Howard County over 35 league in the fall since I did not embarrass myself and even made a handfull of saves. Next year Chris had mentioned we may rent out the turf field at Cedar Lane and hopefully be able to have a beer or two during/after the game(which is hard to do on school property). It goes to show that you are only as old as you feel and I felt old as hell the next day.
Pictures:
Top Right:My Brother Trevor
Middle Left:My Brother in the foreground and me in the goal(Jared A. and John P. in background)
bottom Center: The Post Game Team Picture

You're Never Too Old...or Are You?

2011-05-13T10:38:00.000-07:00

I got a call from a friend of mine from High School I haven't seen or talked to in about 4-5 years. Mrs. Runner had run into his wife at one of my her High School reunion/gatherings at Looney's in Maplelawn and given her her number for us to catch up. This call turned out to be to an invite me to play in a Alumni Lacrosse Game at our old High School, Atholton. Without a second thought I said yes and then asked what day, he said it was in two weeks and that it had been on Facebook for a month or more but he had to hunt me down the old fashioned way since I am 'Anti-Social Networking'(not to mention he needed another Goalie). I told Chris I had not played for 3-4 years but when I thought about it later it has been closer to 8-10 years but I still get opportunities to throw the ball around about once every year and I have not missed too much with my hand-eye skills since my old bones still play Hockey. I am however contemplating the move from a defending a 4' x 6' hockey goal to a 6' x 6' net. My wife likes to give me a hard time because anytime someone brings up High School Lacrosse I do my best Al Bundy Impersonation ("I scored 4 touchdowns in a single game") because I answer their question the same way everytime: "Yes, I played Goalie" and then tag on "I was 2nd Team All-County". I have started doing it now because I find it funny and my wife always rolls her eyes. Looking at the roster, I was the oldest on the roster till I talked my brother into playing now he is. I am looking forward to playing again and seeing some of my old teammates. Howard County does have a 35 & over Fall Lacrosse League I am thinking about getting involved in if I don't embarrass my self too badly.

It's not a sprint, it is a Marathon.

2011-05-05T05:28:00.000-07:00

The calendar has been marked for the beginning of my Marine Corps Marathon training. I have been running my normal off-and-on but as of Junes 26th that will need to be a focused regiment to end at the goal of 26.2 miles on October 30th. My friend Phil from my home brew club, who runs 2-3 Marathons a year and is starting to do Iron Man competitions, shared his knowledge and 4 work out programs that he has used. The training programs from Hal Higdon's 'How to Train' ranged from Novice (that is me)to Intermedate, Intermediate II (not Me) and Expert(definatly not me). So I looked at the calendar and counted back my 18 weeks to get my timeline of training together. My old friend the Annapolis 10 Miler even fits in perfect with my training as it turns out I need a 10 mile long run that weekend. Now I just need to make time for all of this running it looks like it is going to cut severly into my beer drinking time.

Ladies Flock Like Bees to a Hive.

2011-04-27T09:14:00.000-07:00

Hey Ladies, Get Funky ...(cue the Cow Bell)

Spring has sprung! Flowers are blooming, trees are getting green and bees are buzzing, especially when you dump six pounds of bees into a couple of hives. This is the 3rd year my brother has had bee hives but this is the first year I have been his right hand man since he has been in and out of town with work and I have had to get into the hives by myself.
This year since I was going have to be the primary bee care giver when Trevor was out of town We hived the bees and made up gallons of sugar water that the bees will need to feed off of when the nectar flow is slow. Hiving bees sounded easy enough I have helped my brother n the past how hard can it be? open the hive, dump a box of bees in and shut the lid! Done! uh...maybe not.
A 'Package' bees is a wooden box with 3lbs of bees, a can of bee food and a 'Queen cage' with 1 queen and 3-4 attendant bees (the queen cannot feed herself). The bees stay in the 'Package' for 2-3 days and come to recognize the queen the the cage by her pheromones this key for when you 'Hive' them because they will stay where the queen is. The package of bees usually contains bees shaken from two or more colonies, and the queen supplied with the package is bred from selected colonies to be sent in the package. So to get them ready the bees are sprayed with sugar water from a spray bottle to slow down their flying and making them easier to install. The lid of the box is then pryed off and the feeder can is removed. The 'Queen cage' is also removed and the lid is laid loosely back on the box. At this moment I was regretting my brother convincing me to not wear gloves because he has decided that he like most proficient bee keepers do not wear gloves because it dulls their sense of touch handling the bees. I being newer to it I was like 'what the hell? I'll go without gloves too'! uh...maybe I'm not ready for that because the moment the bee package was opened bees were steady flying out of it and my arms were getting shorter and shorter when Trevor needed the next nail or frame. Two small nail are then pushed into the soft wood of the Queen's Cage and a small cork is removed. Under the cork is a glob of what they call candy (or fondant) which slows the queen getting into the hive and thus keeping the bees near the hive and setting up house keeping for when the queen is released. To help a little we bore a small hole with drill bit in the candy to assist the attendant bees. The Cage is then placed suspended by the nails (candy down so if an attendant bee dies it does not block the queen getting out) between 2 frames and the bees are ready to hive. The box is sprayed one more time and with a quick bang on the table the bees fall to the bottom of the package and they are dumped into the open part of the hive(see top Picture). Believe it or not but this makes the bees a little testy and you'd be surprised how many bees make up 3 pounds. the bees are dive bombing my veil and I am doing a quick inventory of my boots, suit and veil to make sure I am protected because it seems like they are everywhere and I am not above running away and screaming like a girl if an angry bee somehow managed to get in my suit or veil. The finish the job a half gallon jar of sugar water is placed upside down on the frames, a small vent frame is put into place and the lid is put on on the hive. We repeat this for the other hive but with much more ease since we had practice with the first hive and we can now go have a beer and watch the bees from a safe distance as they make themselves at home. I checked the hives Monday and Wednesday to keep track of how much sugar water they had been consuming and Easter Sunday, with Trevor home, we smoked the bees and opened the hives to make sure the Queen were in the hive and that she was laying eggs. I had witnessed that both Queen's Cages were empty on my Wednesday inspection and we did find one of the queens and that both Queens were indeed laying eggs and hive had been busy making comb that we had to pry off to get into the frames. Bees are pretty cool and not something to be afraid of, they don't want to bother me any more then I want to get stung...but it is a good idea to wear the right protective equipment and Bee careful when doing full inspections of the hive and removing frames. See what I did There? BEE CAREFUL...get it? HAHAHAHA...uh...forget I said that!

eXiled: Part two - The Butcher, The Baker, The Candlestick maker

2011-04-21T09:39:00.000-07:00

Brad Called me on my lack-o-blogging I am a day late with Part two so here it is:

Transfer to the kettle was smooth and we waited while we filled the kettle to roughly 1,200 gallons of wort to begin boiling. As the wort filled the kettle, the steam jackets in the kettle are turned on in stages in the hopes that by the time our volume was reached we were close to a boil (and then I could add more hops by the 5 gallon bucket). To obtain the gravity we were shooting for we planned for 2 hour boil and the addition of 4 sacks of Rice Syrup Solids which are a 100% fermentable rice powder the same consistency of dried malt extract. Once to a boil and under control I went back to helping Bo Clean some kegs and help myself to half glass of beer that was on tap in the office. It turned out to be the remainder of a vintage keg of Bourbon Barrel Aged Black Jack Stout. It was like velvet but knew that too many glasses and I would be of no help what so ever. So I only had another 3-4 half glasses. I also had brought with me the next pilot batch that Kurt had came up with for me to brew. It was a unique beer that was good and think has a lot of potential but Jim and the Big Boss Man(Dave) make the decision if it sees the light of day. I also took this time to pull the 2 late additions hops for X5 in poundage's of 11lbs. and 12lbs. I also sampled some Black Lightning (APA) and Mayhem (weizenbock) off of the fermentors while we waited to whirlpool the beer as it finished. As we started moving the beer to the fermentor we took a sample and the beer was great color. The color was one of the things I really liked about the pilot batch. When they filter this beer it should be a brilliant straw color perfect and refreshing for back porch summer drinking. While we were wrapping up the maintenance guys stopped by and climbed a ladder I would have never stepped foot on and a push of a reset button the Auger sprung back to life and the batch of Belgian Wit for the next day was saved and Jim could relax (a little). We tested another couple bottles for quality control and began getting the grains ready for the following day. As my luck would have it the grain silo was empty and awaiting delivery so all the grain had to be dumped by hand 50 and 25lbs at a time to the magic number of over 2100lbs. So just when you think the day is over you find yourself in a blast proof room the size of a large bathroom lifting bags of grain in the mill and sweating out Black Jack Stout. It felt good to do manual labor I have sadly been behind my drafting table for too long pushing buttons. So with the beer in the fermentor and grain ready for the next day I helped myself to one more half glass of Black Jack and said goodbye and left with a hand full of bottles of Venom, Sawtooth and 13 Degrees to QC at home. Not a great day brewing but sure as hell beat being at my real job. I learned a valuable lesson that the bigger you get in the production side of beer the bigger smaller problems affect everything else. If I ever had to ditch a brew of mine I would be out 50-60 dollars and morning of my time. These guys need everything to go smoothly daily because one hitch in your auger or the like and that could have potentially pushed back an entire day to a week in production time....and time is Beer Money! My time at the brewery is always fun (minus all that bullshit manual labor)!
Watch for eXile 5 to hit the taps some time in June.

eXiled: Part One - You Want The Good News or The Bad News?

2011-04-19T11:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was the brew day for eXile 5 at DuClaw Brewing. I did the pilot batch for this beer in February and it turned out to be very close to what Jim was shooting for and with some minor tweaks it came to life yesterday as a 36 barrel batch of beer. Now anyone who has brewed beer knows that there are good days brewing and bad days brewing. I believe you need to have a bad brew day or two to know what a good brew day looks like if it ever happens. Yesterday was not a great one. Right off the bat, first thing in the morning we needed to mill in some more grain since the grain hopper would not hold it all that was need the day before and as the switch was thrown and I about to lift the first 50lbs bag of grain to the mill it made a hell of a noise and the auger and mill all shut down at once. Now this may not sound so bad, but the auger is what moves the grain after it is milled out of the blast proof grain room, up a tube system to the rafters and then to the top of the brew house where it goes into the funnel shaped grain hopper (see top picture)to be dropped into the Mash tun. Sadly this not just a couple pounds of grain we are dealing with. We a talking about thousands of pounds of grain needed to make a 40 barrel batch of beer. Now the beer we were making was not too badly impacted. We ended up grinding the remaining grains and adding them to the mash tun by hauling them up the stairs by the bucket full. This issue with the auger was going to severely impact the batch of 'Sawtooth' that was to be brewed the following morning much more. So we needed to get our brew going and it was going fine, but Jim was preoccupied with not knowing how to fix the auger issue for the next day so he troubleshot the auger between our brewing of X5. I'm sure when you brew all the time it does not seem like a big deal but even after all the times I've brewed with them at DuClaw I still think it is cool as hell to add hops by 5 gallon bucket. As the beer brewing went on when we had down time I helped Bo clean some kegs and check out the new 12oz bottling line. On a side note...to clear up any confusion the bottles are indeed twist off tops and bottle caps for beer bottles are universal so the beer is just as fresh in these bottles as pop or pry off tops. A ton of research was done to make sure that these bottles were going to be able to house and deliver the product to consumers in brewery form. To prove it, while there we checked a good number of bottles to make sure the beer was fit for consumption and each one we opened was in good form.
Now I'm thirsty...
Part Two Tomorrow!

Austin Lucas - “A NEW HOME IN THE OLD WORLD”

2011-04-04T12:17:00.000-07:00

Austin Lucas is one of my favorite singer song writers since I first heard him on The album Bristle Ridge with Chuck Ragan. Who I had just seen on the Revival Tour with Ben Nichols, Tim Barry and Frank Tuner...did you get all of that? It's kind of like six degrees of Lucero. 'A New Home in the Old World' is Austin's first full band release. A departure, featuring organs, horns and even electric guitars, from his normally stripped down acoustic albums. Hit play below and give it a listen or maybe even buy it if so moved to do so. I had pre-ordered mine last month. I got the limited color vinyl pressing that should be arriving today or tomorrow. Stop reading and start listening!

When did the Sport of Kings become so Sad and Laughable?

2011-03-30T11:20:00.001-07:00

If anyone knows me they know I am against and always have been against slots in Maryland. When Gambling on horses is not enough then you go to Slots, then that leads to Table games, then that leads to Atlantic City. Don't get me wrong, again, if you know me I love to play Texas Hold'em and am healthily addicted to Black Jack. For some reason we as a state decided that this seedy sport of Horse racing is worth saving with tax money and proceeds from slots because of 'our States proud racing tradition'. I don't get it. Let the sport and all that comes with it die. What makes the voting public think that it would be good to have slots and go to a dirty race track and hang out with the same sad people I pass playing Keno in the liquor store near my work? I live in Howard County in North Laurel in an older Blue collar neighborhood where my Grandfather built his house in the 50's and sadly I am just across route 1 from Laurel Park. That was also a reason I was against slots, because it would have been in my backyard as they say. We put the slots ruling up to a state wide vote and the state decided that we wanted slots so 'we could keep Maryland Money in Maryland'. Notice there were none of the parlors were slated for Montgomery County or the nicer parts of Anne Arundel County. So everyone slept well at night voting slots into someone else’s backyard. It worked like a charm, we passed slots and West Virginia and Delaware passed table games. We showed them we meant business and they showed us what a day late and a dollar short looks like. Luckily the folks at Laurel Park were too big for their britches and thought they had the slots in the bag and did not follow the directions of the board to secure the slots and lost the bid and burned their bridges with the board. Then the folks from Cordish decided they could take a run at it at the Arundel Mills Mall. Holy Shit you would have thought that slots were the work of the devil and who would ever think we could have families and gamblers share the same space. Question ‘A’ was the point I would talk about endlessly to anyone and everyone about how it would be great for everyone involved. I will tell you honestly I laughed at the holier-than-thou signs of the residence of the Malls surrounding area. 'Keep gamblers away from the mall and your children' was my favorite fear mongering TV Spot. This all from the same people that voted for slots when they thought they were going to be in someone else’s backyard. I admit that my vote was partially (the big part) vindictive and make no apologies about it. So now all is well except for some Bull Shit Liquor laws, gas prices and this latest marketing genius from these fine folks we are helping to save their sport.
Have you ever watched the Kentucky Derby? It is a time to dress fancy and sip Mint Juleps and see horse racing in its most prestigious form. Belmont stakes is in New york that I normally forget about so how good or bad can it really be and Maryland is stuck with the inbred cousin of the Triple Crown, The Preakness. I went to Preakness once in the mid 90's when we drank beer that we lugged onto the infield and commenced to drink all day and wait for girls to take off their shirts. This of course was before the Internet and girls were more than willing to do so with no fear of it showing up on the computer, ruining their chances of running for office or having it sent to their father by the 'porn guy' at the office. Since then it has turned into beer throwing, Port-a-John running, river of urine dodging good time. Just when you don’t think it could get any cooler The Horse Racing Brain Trust does something like this and completely redeems it self. I am speaking of Kegasus, The Official Kenny Powers looking Infield Spokescentaur. I originally thought I had hit my favorites and I had pulled up The Onion but no this White Trash Party Mammal is for real and targeting the 21 to 28 year old demographic ‘with his no-nonsense personality and total embodiment of a good time’.
This is what we are saving with our States money? The Maryland Jockey Club is a joke and so is this insulting representation of our state.

The Story of The Barometric Pressure and a Chubby Guys Knee - Lets Hope for a Happy Ending

2011-03-23T06:45:00.000-07:00

I woke up Monday to dreary weather and a sore knee. Was it from running on Sunday? No, Sunday was my rest day and all I did was brew a batch of beer. Now there is some lifting of 10 to 15 gallons of water, dumping a full mash tun of wet grain and then carrying full carboys of beer downstairs. Going back in history, I had an injury to this knee way back in high school playing football where it was drained of fluid. I wear a Cho Pat wrap on the knee in question normally because of it's sometime 'Squirreliness' on uneven pavement. I did a light 3 mile run Monday and by the time I got down my street the pain was 'gone'. I am hoping it is the weird weather that is causing my issue and nothing else. I get a little worried because of all the running I have to do and Hockey season starting soon.
So with a sore knee my Kettle Bell workout yesterday went much like my run, the pain went a way by my second set of swings. I may take it easy on my joints and do the elliptical today since it is raining. Hal Higdon gives me a rest day and 3-30 minute cross/Strength/Strech days. So I have a chance to go easy on it till my long run on Saturday. I just find it funny that here I am trainning for a Marathon and I'm dealing with a possible brewing accident.

Cold runs through the Husky Runner house like El Niño

2011-03-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

Last week started out great; running Sunday and Monday, Kettle Bell workout Tuesday and then it happened. My youngest daughter got sent home from school with a fever she was the 5th kid sent home that day and 4 kids never made it to school that day because they were sick. There is only 16 kids in my daughters class to begin with. So the next morning I wake up with a sore throat and entire nose stuffed up. Now I'm not good at running but you quickly realize that breathing is crucial to this activity. Nose is clear today and it is beautiful so I'm back at it today. I am marking time running 3.5 miles 4-5 times a week till I kick in Hal Higdon's work-out.
The Black Lightning (American Black Ale)release went well and the beer was well received. X-5 is next to be release in the Summer and I am brewing another pilot batch of a new beer this week for release later in the fall....and we are judging the 3 Lions Clone Beers Tuesday....did I mention I was busy?
Work is picking up and I am busy all around. The runs are well suited for helping turn my head off for a bit.

Marine Corps Marathon 2011 - An Exercise in Time, Weight and Momentum

2011-02-23T10:24:00.000-08:00

Today I took the first step (which will lead to many steps in the near future)in a direction to do something I said I would never do. Today was registration Day for the 2011 Marine Corps Marathon. I know what you are thinking "they have a 10K just do that". I should but my stubborn (Jackass) part of me would not allow me to do that. Instead I signed on the (computer) dotted line and I feel like I will be once again on the "Yellow Footprints" at Paris Island.
If I was going to do any Marathon it would be this one mainly because I spent 4 years in the Marines. I think this what my 36 year old body needs; a good kick in the pants out of my comfort zone and beyond anything I have done in 10-15 years. Sound like a good idea? HELL NO!...but for some reason that is not stopping me. So yesterday began my working out, eating better and (begrudgingly) drinking less beer. My plan is to start Hal Higdon's 1/2 Marathon Training that I did in 2007 and 2009 for The Baltimore Half and when that is done (beginning of June) begin to ramp my miles to the neighborhood of 20 miles+ in October and then 26.2 miles on October 30th 2011. I have some time to work on my race day diet and hydration issues. I know I have all my support in place Mrs. Runner is helping me with meals and will be there to give me a good kick in the ass when I need it. A new twist to my training will also be strength, flexibility and cardio with the use of my new favorite toy; the Kettle Bell. I will be chronicling my runs, good days and bad days (You know I've had my share) right here.

Cussing: It's Not Just for Adults Anymore

2011-02-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

I had to explain to my daughter that 'Adult Words' are not to be used by an eight year old in any situation and that even today at 36 I don't use them around my Mom.
Kids don't teach other kids to cuss, we do. I know my daughters have heard all of the good 4 letter words in their 6 and 8 years on this earth in their own house via TV, intentionally or conversationally. You try to curb the cussing but nothing is fool proof. Kids hear cuss words and they know them. They need to know (when) not to use them. When my wife told me what happened, my response: "Shit!"

It's February...What are you doing, Chubby?

2011-02-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a lot of brewing and drinking beer, put on 5 pounds (I like to call it insulation), watching a lot of Top Chef All Stars and Unique Eats and not working out. Still clinging to:"it's the holidays..it's too cold to run outside...I'll start Monday...Blah, Blah, Blah"!
Some good things are going on while I am not being skinny. Two beers that I brewed for pilot batches are going into full production and 3 Home brewing classes I'm teaching in the next 2 weeks...oh yeah and Max's 72 Hours of Belgium. Which incidental it is not called that anymore.
I have some plans for 2011 so stupid I'm not ready to tell anyone yet.

After that I promise back to working out. But it is the holidays..it's too cold to run outside...I'll start Monday...Blah, Blah, Blah....

BBW Twenty-10 ~ A HoCo Quick Re-Cap

2010-10-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

Judge’s Bench in Ellicott City was host to 8 BBW events. The two nights I made my way there for was Friday the 8th for Heavy Seas Firkin Friday with Loose Cannon dry-hopped with local hops from Still Point Farms (Mt. Airy, MD), poured directly from an oak cask and 6 taps of their seasonal offerings including 2008 Below Decks Barley Wine and the bourbon barrel aged Great’r Pumpkin. On Tuesday Night we stopped in for the ‘Judge your Java’ event. Troegs Javahead Stout was on draft, they also had a year old aged keg of Javahead, and the Javahead Stout in a firkin with Vanilla beans. It was a great way to taste a beer in three different ways side by side.

Victoria’s on Monday was Oktoberfest and Pumpkin Beers. They had a great selection of American as well as imported Oktoberfest and Fest biers. Favorites of our Oktoberfest flight were Harpoon’s Oktoberfest, Victory’s Festbier and Weihenstephaner Festbier. The Pumpkin Beers on tap ranged from subtle, Smuttynose, Saranac and Wolaver’s Organic Pumpkin beers, to strong spice and flavor with Weyerbacher Imperial Pumpkin, Southern Tier’s Pumking, Schafley’s and The Heavy Seas Great Pumpkin and Great’r Pumpkin. All the beers were good and I had to see how they matched with the Poutine.

Frisco Grille and Cantina had a BCS of their own (Beer Championship Series), that actual made sense not like the College Football one. Each night a brewery put up a 1/6th barrel of beer (1/6 barrel contains 5.16 gallons. There are roughly 53 servings in one 1/6 barrel, based on regular 12-oz. servings) against another brewery and which ever breweries keg kicked first moved on in the bracket. Breweries that were represented were Dogfish Head, Oskar Blues, Southampton, Bear Republic, Harpoon, Troegs, Flying Dog and Heavy Seas. For the winner you need to go by and check the bracket.

T-Bonz and Flying Dog’s Firkins and Fried Chicken was among the better events in Howard County offering Fried chicken and chicken & waffles sandwiches along with firkins of Flying Dog Beer. Kloby’s Smokehouse had 4 events of its own and is making a name for it’s self in the beer community hosting such breweries as Oskar Blues, Evolution and Flying Dog.

With Frisco Grille in construction at its new location and Kloby’s and T-Bonz, both with plans of expanding, Howard County’s beer/pub scene is really good and is only going to better.

Oktoberfest and Tap opening ceremony with Duff 'Ace of Cakes' Goldman coming later this week

Baltimore Beer Week 2010-Rockin' the Suburbs Edition

2010-09-28T10:20:00.000-07:00

I’ve never lived in a city, but I love visiting different cities. I’ve spent a lot of nights I have trouble remembering in NYC, San Diego, Tokyo, LA, Phoenix and Boston. There is something I like about having bars on every corner and the smells of restaurants mixing together into an intoxicating aroma that makes you want to eat everything you smell and stay up all night long drinking.
In my younger days the only reason I would go into Baltimore was for field trips to the Zoo or with my family to 33rd Street to see my heroes Cal, Rick and Eddie play ball. As I got older ‘The City that Reads' was where I went when I told my parents I was going over to a friends house. Instead we were sneaking into to Hammerjack’s for College Night or to Fletcher’s to see whatever band was playing upstairs that night. In my early twenties when I moved back into the area from being out west, I got entrenched in the Rockabilly scene in Baltimore. The Glenmont Pope’s were by far my favorite band fronted by now Dangerously Delicious Pies Baker and Ramblin‘ Pie Man, Rodney Henry. We would be at Fletcher’s, Club Midnight(now the Ottobar),The 8x10 or the Old Bohager’s to see Blue Balls Deluxe, The Pourbillies, Twin-Six and Chester Stacey or Social D, The Supersuckers, Reverend Horton Heat and the like. We would also grab beers at Ledbetter’s, The Horse You Came in on and Max’s on Broadway and good beers were found at Racers, Baltimore Brewing Co. or Capitol City. Baltimore was fun besides the fear of STD’s and 25 minute drive from my house in the Suburbs.

Where is all of this going? I'm not sure, but I think my point was: For me, the city is a nice place to visit but I wouldn't want to live there.

I still go into Baltimore about once a month to see bands or drink great craft beer, and beer of course is what Baltimore Beer Week is all about. The beer scene in Baltimore has improved by leaps and bounds in the last 6-7 years with the help of many fine establishments. For a beer that is made in the city proper there is one of two places you can go, The Pratt Street Ale House or Brewer’s Art. PSAH (formally the Wharf Rat) is a quick stop just inside the city by the stadiums for a pint of authentic English Ale made by Subterranean-brewer and friend Steve Jones. Brewer’s Art in the Mt Vernon area offers fine dining along with fine Belgian beers. Max’s Taphouse has made great steps for ‘beerkind’ in the city with the help of barkeeper Casey Hard and 140 rotating taps, 1,200+/- bottles and 5 Cask Ales. The other places that have helped to bring beer to the people of Baltimore are Mahaffey’s, Metropolitan, Grand Cru, Baltimore Taphouse, Bertha’s, Joe Squared, Mugsey’s and many more.

The nice thing about Baltimore Beer week is that in my neck of the woods in Howard County we have some great Beer-centric establishments that have embraced Baltimore’s week and become a part of it here in the ‘burbs. When I first moved back into the area there was this 'weird bar', The Last Chance Saloon, in the Oakland Mill’s area and it had a leather bound beer menu that confused everyone with different colors of beer and ABV percentages. It was way before it’s time and did not last long. Noel from The Last Chance helped expand what was then Frisco Burrito, (a bare bones restaurant counter and 10-15 tables where you could get great Cal-Mex Food and they had a Sierra Nevada on tap) to become Frisco Grille and Cantina (19 taps and a cask)and began to pave the way for craft beer in Howard County. Since then we have had very good establishments improve their beer offerings from better to outstanding. Judge’s Bench, T-Bonz, Pub Dog and Kloby’s have been great additions to the craft beer scene in my area along with, a Husky Runner favorite, Victoria’s Gastro Pub. Victoria’s has not only brought great food to the area but also great beer flights and Truffle Popcorn that have made me and my wife very happy. Combined I think there are a total of 31 events being hosted by establishments in Howard County, not including the tastings at Perfect Pour, Snowden Liquors or my class at Maryland Homebrew. The beer scene here in Howard County is really good and I only see it getting better. So during Baltimore Beer Week I will be traveling into the city a couple of times but for the most part I’ll be staying close to home and I will not miss a thing.

A-10 2010 - Cramps, Sweat and Beers

2010-09-14T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm not good at running. Seriously, I'm not kidding. I know what you are saying to yourself: What? You, Milhouse? Not good at running? I see plenty of 235 pound marathon runners. Surely you jest!
No really, I'm not good at running. I have no idea how to plan for a long distance run. The day before I stretched, drank plenty of fluids, ate a good diet and rested.
Run day was 5 miles of breathing out stomach cramps, 3 carefree miles that I enjoyed and 2 miles of foot and calf cramps. Awesome.

Oh well there is always next year. Had an awesome banana and a bumper of Southern Tier Hoppe when I got home.

I Can LIck Any Sonofabitch In the House-“The Sounds of Dying”

2010-07-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

Every great once in a while, something comes along to remind you of what rock 'n' roll is supposed to sound like, to push rock's essence and spirit into your veins and manipulate your heart and mind. I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House -- their full moniker is borrowed from bare-knuckle legend John L. Sullivan's vivid biography -- is a raucous quintet out of Portland, Oregon, and one of those rare throwback-catalysts. For the past couple of months, they have been on an erratic, scorched-earth campaign of the Western states, making instant believers out of audience after audience. I Can Lick's heady mix of Americana and punk reminiscent of Robbie Robertson and the Band, Neil Young and Crazy Horse, and Black Flag.*

I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In the House is the hard edge of americana music.

(*Excerpted from an interview conducted by Steve Stav for Ink19)

A10 2010

2010-06-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

I'm in! Registration opened yesterday. I guess I have a couple months to fine tune my hydration or lack there of.
The course is the same as has been since I've ran it the last three years.

Notice if you will mile 4 and 8. that is The Severn River Bridge. maybe you can see it better on the elevation profile:

Lace 'em up and I'll see you on August 29th

Austin Lucas- Collection

2010-05-17T12:15:00.000-07:00

Austin Lucas, I think is one of the most talented singer/song writers out there today. The album compiles tracks from previous vinyl-only tracks from his 'At War With Freak Folk' 10″, and his split LP's with Chuck Ragan, the Takers, and Frank Turner. (And an unreleased track (Easy Listening)completes the 11 track album). A lot of these tracks were recorded between His 2007 release 'Putting the Hammer Down' and recording 'Bristle Ridge' with Chuck Ragan and some of these tracks ended up Studio produced on 'Somebody Love You'.

'Oakland Skyline', 'Singing man', 'Life I've Got' are really good.
Give it a whirl, you won't be sorry.

The Ringwood Yeast Chronicles:The Ballad of Love and Hate:

2010-04-21T09:37:00.001-07:00

Talking to people in my brewing circles there is a simple Love/Like or Hate of one particular Yeast. I never hear anyone with disparaging words towards Chico/California Ale Yeast or an English Ale Yeast, but poor Ringwood yeast is the Red-Headed step child of the yeast world.
How did a strain of yeast that has been around for more than 150 years become so polarizing to fans of beer?
Ringwood is a Yorkshire yeast, typical of the yeasts used to brew ales in Yorkshire. You'll get plenty of esters from these yeasts, the fruity aromas and flavors that make a good British ale so nice and so refreshing, even at low alcohol levels that would render other beers tasteless. You'll also get varying amounts of diacetyl ("die-ASS-uh-till"), a fermentation by-product that has an aroma of butterscotch, or butter and one of the main reason for the conflict of opinions.
From the brewer’s perspective an unsettling aspect of this yeast is that it is designed to be open fermented. That means that the fermentation tanks have to be open to the air, with no covers. My first thoughts are that if would be prone to infection. It develops a rocky head and throws off a lot of carbon dioxide; that's its protection. Then, as I understand it, the beer is then crash cooled once the Primary Fermentation is finished, you leave a coating of yeast on top that gets crusty, the beer is then racked from the bottom and the crust is never broken. As long as you clean properly and use sterile techniques, you've got no worse protection than a closed vessel.

To see how this yeast got America, we may need to start at the beginning;
In the beginning there was beer and it was good and every good English gentleman would drink ales at his local pub after a hard day’s work and then go home to his loving family (or the Malt-Worms are their family).
A man named Peter Austin retired early from the North Country brewery in Hull and opened Ringwood brewery in 1977. Austin had used Ringwood Yeast at the brewery in Hull, where he was a brewer from late 1940s through the 1970s. That was the yeast they had used from the brewery's advent in the 1800s. It had originally come from the old Halifax brewery. In 1982 Austin hired, Biochemist and Lover of English Pubs, Alan Pugsley, who would later come to be known as the biggest Cheerleader for the Ringwood yeast strain. In 1983, Peter Austin advertised in the first issue of New Brewer magazine for people to come to the brewery and learn to make beer on a small scale. In the next two years he had people come through and learn to brew and he built breweries for a lot of them. That was the first seed of the yeast coming to the States.
One of those people was David Geary and in 1986 he offered a 2-year contract to Alan Pugsley to set up the brewery and design a beer called Geary's Pale Ale. They were the first packaging micro in New England, and that was the first Ringwood yeast brewery in the US. At this time there were only about 50 breweries in the country, very few micros. Anchor Steam and Sierra Nevada had just got started. It certainly was not the last microbrewery Pugsley helped get started with a Peter Austin system. Pugsley started a company called Pugsley Brewing Systems International - working in alliance with Peter Austin back in England. Austin had all the equipment made in England and then Pugsley received and installed all the equipment on this end. Some of the better known ones would include Magic Hat, Tremont, Old Nutfield, Sea Dog, Old Saddleback, and brewpubs like Gritty McDuff's and Federal Jack's. Pugsley had by this time set up breweries in China, Nigeria, Belgium, and Russia and in 1994 Pugsley along with entrepreneur Fred Forsley he was able to have his very own big Ringwood brewery, with the opening of Shipyard Brewing in Portland, ME, where he is to this very day.

The issue that most people have with Ringwood made beers, is the ‘Ringwood taste” (complete with air quotes) or being referred to as ‘Ringworm’. Alan Pugsley, its biggest fan, has been quoted as saying that Ringwood is a tough yeast to use. It needs a very specific environment: time, temperature, amount of yeast added, oxygenation of the beer, they all have to be right where you need them or you'll have a mess. Pugsley had found that it has a high oxygen demand at the beginning of fermentation. It's very forgiving temperature-wise, but the ester production at higher temperatures can overwhelm.
If you don't work this yeast right, you can get too much diacetyl, which means a beer that smells like a big tub of buttered movie theater popcorn. Unfortunately, Ringwood suffers from a bad image of always producing too much diacetyl, and some beer geeks will slam any Ringwood beers as being full of diacetyl...sometimes before tasting them.
I feel This Yeast is best left in the hands of professionals. Steve Jones of Oliver’s Brewery at The Pratt Street Ale House brews some of the best English ales that we can get in the States, with Ringwood Yeast in his subterranean brewery. I have used this yeast 2 times in my life when my Homebrew Club, in conjunction with Steve, has an Oliver’s Clone Beer Competition. This year we chose Steve’s Iron Man Pale as our clone recipe. A favorite, I find most enjoyable before and after a hot summer O’s game at ‘The Yard’. Open fermentation still scares the pants off me but I’m getting used to it. I would like for the stigma to be erased but as long as there is two types of yeast on this planet we will have Yeast wars.
I think it maybe as easy as a Slogan to get everyone fired up to try Ringwood made beers with unbiased taste buds.

Here is my slogan for the campaign:
Open Minds, Open Fermentation, Open Mouths!

Information for this post was found Via Wiki, and Interviews done by Andy Crouch and beergirl

The Race for Hope.....& Fatty got a new pair of shoes!

2010-04-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

If you don't know what the Race for Hope is it is a Race that raises money for Brain Tumor research. My best friend growing up, Jeff, had a cancerous brain tumor about 6 years ago and had surgery to remove what they could and went on an aggressive Chemo Treatment to clean up the rest. I was leveled when this happened. Jeff was married less than 4 years and his son Zach was just a year old and Jeff was in the middle of getting his professional golfers card. With the support of friends family and club members, Jeff was helped with his astronomical medical bills for scans and treatments. Here we are in 2010 and Jeff is 4 years cancer free he is back in his Pro golf Program and still a funny, smart-ass-pain I love. Last fall Jeff put together a 5K team for this run we needed a team name so when we were down for Thanksgiving we came up with Brains Matter. My good friend Kara came up with this logo for our team shirts:

I have been very careful of trying not to offend or make light of what other people that are going through what I went through years ago, but me and Jeff decided that that is how we coped so we are letting it fly. Another team name for the run this year I love is 'Joggin' for Noggins'

The Race for Hope 5K is two weeks away. I had to get a new pair of shoes since my old pair had two 10 milers, four 5K's, and a 10K not to mention having to haul me around walking the dog and training runs. I had tunnel vision that I was going to buy another pair of New Balance but much to my dismay I was not happy with the fit of the New Balance shoes available locally. Mrs. Runner suggested I try on a pair f saucony's that looked a little wider than the New Balance. Begrudgingly I did and they felt great. Not too narrow and an nice spongy but firm feel in the heal and balls (giggle, giggle). I have about 6 miles on the new kicks and they are feeling good. Weather is getting nice and I have promised I will for now keep my shirt on when running in public...but I can't promise for how long.

Home Brewing Classes at Maryland Homebrew

2010-03-30T11:06:00.000-07:00

If I am not making beer there is one thing I like to do just as much, and that is to teach Home brewing to people that think this hobby is as cool as I do. I am Teaching two All-grain and a Beginner Extract brewing Class (All Sold Out!)in the next 3 weeks.
So what makes me the authority to teach home brewing? I have been brewing for 7 years (my oldest daughter is 7 also...coincidence?) I have assisted in brewing one off batches of beer as well as some experimental pilot batches for DuClaw Brewing with my fishing compadre, Brewmaster Jim Wagner. I started brewing way back with a friend that now brews professionally for Clipper City Brewing-Heavy Seas or whatever they are called this week. I have won ribbons of all colors as well as a best in show in local and out of state Home brew Comps. Most importantly: I have made every mistake that you could ever make home brewing.
I share the process with folks that are looking to learn the hobby or advance with what they already know. Now I also keep some of the beer I make and I share the rest with the class once fermented. Once in a great while I will run into someone at a beer festivals and they will come up to me and let me know I had taught them at MDHB and I always react the same way. "Cool, hows it going? I hope you have not made the same mistakes I have."

Above is me and Grover scooping grains out of a cooler Mash Tun fixing a stuck mash

Trying new things is always setting yourself up for mistakes. My goal of the folks I teach is to cut their mistake curve in half. Home brewing can be as high or low tech as you want to make it. You can spend thousands of dollars or you can rig cooler to do teh same thing for a fraction of the cost. Have fun and make beer that si what I do. The origianl slogan Kurt and I had from the first batch we ever made and second guessed ourselves somewhere along the way: "The worst thing that can happen is we drink it."
Saturday is the first of two All Grain Classes and we are making a beer I call:

Slæmur Rass (Ode to Magnús Ver Magnússon)
which roughly translates to Bad Ass in Icelandic.

All Grain Recipe - CFJ-90 IPA ::: 1.064/1.012 (5.5 Gal)
Grain Bill (75% Efficiency assumed)

10 lbs. - English 2 Row Pale Malt
1.5 lb. - Vienna Malt
1.5 lb. - Caramel/Crystal Malt (20L)
1 lb. - CaraPils

Hop Schedule (53 IBU)

1 oz. - Centennial (60 min.)
1 oz. - Centennial (15 min.)
1 oz. - Centennial (flameout)
1 oz. - Centennial (Dry Hop)

Clipper City House Yeast(chico)*867-5309 (Jenny)

Single Infusuion Mash at 153° for 60 min.

"We brewers don’t make beer, we just get all the ingredients together and the beer makes itself." - Fritz Maytag, Anchor Brewing

What's Behind Door Number 1? - Beer Edition

2010-03-15T04:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend a Rare and Vintage Beer Tasting was held by 7 local beer people and brewers. When having a beer tasting it is important to have a group of people that you feel comfortable enough to talk straight about beers.
We had some great old home brews and then began our Commercial tasting that included notably a 1990 and 2001 Thomas Hardy, 1989 Samichlaus Dark and some mystery brown bag beers.
During the tasting the host went to the kitchen and came back with 2 bottles wrapped in a brown paper bags and marked '1' and '2'. No description or style was given just pour it in your glass and lets talk about what we have.
Bag number one comes around and and it pours with a nice head and a amber/caramel colored beer appears. The aroma is a mix of fermented grapes and cheap pipe tobacco. on the first taste it is highly carbonated and engages the entire palate with sweet malts to bready malt to fermented grapes, slight pepper with just a hint of alcohol. With each drink another taste appears, a very nice complex palate challenging beer.
Beer two comes around and pours dark brown/slightly reddish with a nice tan head. The aroma is dried fruit and sweet tobacco and leather, stronger than beer one. The taste is similar to the aroma, brown sugar, dark fruits with a mild clove and a little bit of sweet alcohol. Goes front to back but does not engage the entire palate like beer one. Very good beer but I go back for seconds on bottle number one. More discussion goes on around the table and seems we all in agreeing that beer one is very complex and are impressed with the way the beer does bring flavors to every part of the tongue and while we all have nothing bad to say about beer two there just was more to say about beer one.

Well the host is smiling from ear to ear and unveils the beer number one it is a blank Trappist bottle, and presents a blue cap. Beer number one is Westvleteren 8 a Dubbel style ale brewed by Brouwerij Westvleteren in the Belgian municipality of Westvleteren. We all comment on how good that beer was and someone mentions that 'Those Beer Rating Sites' rank this beer to be somewhere in the low 20's of their rankings of the best beers in the world. We all agree it is a very good beer. Beer two was unveiled and it was again a blank Trappist bottle with a raised collar and a yellow cap was produced. We all begin to laugh. Beer two is none other than Westvleteren 12, a Trappist Quadrupel(Quad)style, that is also brewed by Brouwerij Westvleteren, that is believed to be the best beer in the world. We all continue to discuss both beers and agreed that we enjoyed the 8 more than the 12. We also had Brooklyn's Black Ops and Goose Island Bourbon County that night and Black Ops got dogged because it was not as good as Bourbon County. It was a tough crowd. The 'Brown Bag Beers' are a lot of fun to get honest reactions for beers that normally would be given unfair peer pressure to enjoy. we also tore up another beer that was presented in bag I thought is was an 'under attenuated-syrup-y mess'. It turned out to be Dogfish Head's Olde School (not a)Barleywine. We still had 5-6 leftover beers we did not get to and we had a great time telling jokes and telling stories that we are going to plan another tasting soon.

This where we talk about what makes a beer world class, that tastes are subjective and how rarity adds to mystique and people believing that a beer is THE beer because he and 100 other people were lucky enough to taste a beer that some of us will never have. As I write this Westvleteren 12 is number two on 'A Beer Rating Site' behind Three Floyds Oak Aged Dark Lord Russian Imperial Stout that a whopping 32 'Beer Aficionados' have rated, and number one on another.
I'm not here to club Beer rating sites or the ranking of Top beers, if that is your thing, but the playing field is not level with availability, vintages, p(b)eer pressure and long traveled/mishandled beers. I live in Maryland and our distribution sucks it is getting better, but it still sucks. The Top 10 beers on most of 'the lists' are from breweries in Belgium, Sweden, The US is represented by Russian River, Three Floyds, Bells, and Surly, which we get none of. In Maryland we may get 2-3 of these beers that are in the top 50 on these lists. So how do we hear about these beers? Word of mouth, Beer Rating Sites and the breweries themselves. Folks collect these beers like baseball cards complete with trading with their friends for other beers they have been told are great. A couple of the guys that were at the tasting go with me to the BeerAdvocate EBF in Boston for the last 4 years, so we do get our share of beers that are hard to find/non-existent in this area but very rarely do these beers live up to the hype.

The Wrap Up: Wrap it up 'B'!
Drinking beer is a social practice with friends and soon to be friends. When you lose sight of what makes drinking a beer, any beer, enjoyable(Laughing, catching up, telling bad jokes, offending people and just being obnoxious), then it becomes an anti-social game of using a thesaurus to find new descriptive words for your next Beer Rating. One of the sites uses the slogan 'Respect Beer', I think people need to respect that we do not all have the same palates, likes or dislikes and as a beer drinker you need to be honest with your yourself...the best Rauchbier in the world is still a Rauchbier. Opinions are like belly buttons some are 'innies' and some are gross and stick out.

What it comes down to is you like the beer you like, just don’t try to get me buy into rating beers online and collecting the latest over hyped, hard to find beers because my taste in beer may suck, but it’s mine not yours...and yours blows big time.

Complete Beer Tasting Run Down:
1991 Anchor Christmas
1990 Thomas Hardy
2004 Thomas Hardy
1989 Russian Imperial Stout from a Baltic brewery whose name was in Russian.
Birrificio del Ducato Krampus 2008
Brouwerij De Hemel Nieuw Ligot Grand Cru 2005 (barleywine)
1989 Samichlaus Dark
Westvleteren 8
Westvleteren 12
Dogfish Head Old School Barleywine
Malheur 12
Unibroue 15
Unibroue 16
George Gale & Co. Ltd. Christmas Ale 2002
Weyerbacher Quad
Stillwater Artisanal Ales Stateside Saison
Brooklyn Black Ops Stout
Goose Island Bourbon County Stout 2009
De Molen Rasputin Russian Imperial Stout
Rogue Santa's Private Reserve
Brew Dog Hardcore IPA
2005 Dogfish Head Raison D'Extra
2006 Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout

Who's The Boss!?!

2010-03-02T07:18:00.000-08:00

It's not Judith Light or Tony Danza.
Mrs Runner and I have just started Obedience Classes with Otis. Training our dog is something I was pushing from the day we started talking about getting one. i did not want to be one of these people that constantly apologize and make excuses for their dogs. My one excuse I do use and I believe it is the exception is 'He is still a puppy'. At Six months old (today)He is a spastic, chewing, jumping, put everything in his mouth, pain in the ass sometimes. With that said, puppies become dogs and they are dogs a lot longer than they are puppies. When engaged he will sit, stay, lay down and fetch and drop the ball at your feet. The flip side is when he is off the hook you would have a better chance and same results trying to give the same commands to the vacuum cleaner. Class is once a week for a hour plus with homework.

We have to train with him 2 times a day for 10 minutes a day every 2 days adding a twist or new move into the training. Our Instructor seems to be no nonsense. If you are not progressing with your training or miss a class without making it up that week (it is that progressive) we will not be able to re-take or brush up on your training in the future if we do not put in the time now. So who is the Boss? Karen Decker @ P.U.P.S Dog Obedience Training
We are all in training and I'm looking forward to having a good time training and learning everything I can since Otis is gonna be with me for a long time.

GREGORY ALAN ISAKOV “This Empty Northern Hemisphere”

2010-02-03T10:53:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite unheard albums of 2009.

Polar Bear Plunge 2010

2010-02-01T08:23:00.000-08:00

Another year has come and gone of me dipping my bits into the Chesapeake Bay. The weather at 10:45 when I dunked: 19 degrees and snowing water temperature was somewhere around 34 degrees.

Cold.

alan the one man Wolfpack sound bite Zach Galifianakis sound bites

Tis the season....

2009-12-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

...for dropping the ball. I have been a little sparce with my work-outs not because I'm lazy (OK maybe a little) but because We have just gotten a dog in Runner household. It was a decision that we had made a while back and were going to get a dog in the spring. A puppy came available and we made the decision to get him now. He is a 12 weeks old German Shorthaired Pointer, Male and his name is Otis. he has fit right in with the family and his crate and house training is getting better everyday. We have already startd a puppy class to get him well socialized since I plan on taking him everywhere with me. He will not be able be a running partner till he is a little better trained and he is a year old so his bones are done growing.

Mrs. Runner and I are doing the Celtic Soltice 5 miler in Druid Hill Park on the 19th (followed by brunch and beers at The Pratt Street Ale House) so I have been trying to get out running but the weather has put the stop to that.
More to come.

Drag the River - Primer & Insanity Update

2009-11-20T03:26:00.000-08:00

Drag the River is a band my friend Chris C. turned me on to a couple of years ago. until I heard Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass solo efforts(on Suburban Home Records) did I finally get the get the band as whole.
here is a stream of their new album, Primer

I am two weeks down with Insanity and took my second fit test which I saw a big improvements and I feel good with this being a month to get ready for my plan of a big two month push of the soild Insanity to take to the end of January. More later and the tale of the tape so far.

The Takers

2009-11-13T10:22:00.000-08:00

The guys over at Suburban Home records are trying to get their band, The Takers on the sound track of the great show East Bound and Down on HBO.

'If you haven’t heard the Takers’ debut album, “Taker Easy”, it is time you took a listen to see what these guys have been up to. I posted a full album stream below. Take a listen. The band is from Gainesville and are one of only a handful of bands I know carrying the Outlaw Country torch that was lit during the 70’s with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, and others. Songs like “Curse of a Drunk” and “Friends in Bottles” almost seem meant for Eastbound & Down. Although the Takers don’t live the chaotic life that Kenny Powers lives on the show, their themes of disappointment, booze, and hard life would make the perfect soundtrack for the show.'

Good Looking Fellow

2009-11-11T12:04:00.000-08:00

Suburban Home Records recently had a picture of the Husky Runner on their fine Web Establishment sporting one of their t-shirts at The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival.

Insanity - Week One in the Books

2009-11-11T07:54:00.000-08:00

I have made the transition to doing my work out in the morning before I leave for work. That is 5am Ringy-Dingy and down stairs I go to the sweat factory. I like working out in the morning I get to work at 6:30 and I have a lot of energy to get work done before most folks get in around 8am. Mrs. Runner have an arrangement that I set my clothes out and a towel down stairs before I go to bed so I don’t disrupt he little ones as I shower and get dressed for work. It has worked out pretty good except for Monday when I was running late and I guess I never got a chance to cool off before I showered and left for work because I had HUGE visible (Thanks, Drew) sweaty pits by 9am. I had to change my shirt half way through the day to a dark shirt I luckily had in my truck.

Soreness is relative. Still crushing 6 days on 1 off and five small meals a day. I really like the work-out I did tweak my back a little during the work-out yesterday that I kind of felt today and may take a day doing the elliptical to let it mellow a day. One week down 7 to go.

Insanity - Day 3

2009-11-05T04:27:00.000-08:00

One word: HolyCrap!
The Program is circuit training on steroids. Have a water bottle on stand by you do get 20-30 second breaks between the sets of circuits. Each work out I have done is 41 minutes from warm up to cool down and stretching. Sweat has been dripping and breathing has been heavy. I always here people talking about the 'core', I think I have one in there somewhere because it hurts. I like the work-outs kinda reminds me of getting 'bent' in boot camp when I was younger man of 18. Mrs Runner has decide that she is going to do the program not everyday but in pieces along with her treadmill/running/elliptical workouts. She said it was "hard to the point of it not being fun."
I realized that if I stop now my body is going to hurt worse than just continuing doing the work-outs. I am very content with the small meals and the recipes the give you are very good.

Thanks, Richard....I will and I won't.

Insanity - Day One

2009-11-03T17:06:00.000-08:00

November 1st started me down the road of sweat and tears. The first thing you do is a what they call the Fit Test. The DVD starts with a warm up that made me want to stop before I began. For the Fit Test you do a series of 8 exercises in 1 minute sprints to see how many you can do in time allotted to later gauge your progress. The two that killed me were the power jacks and power jumps. My bouncing was knocking over pictures and books fell off the shelf as a was jumping around. I was sweating like a whore in church. During the program You do the Fit Test every two weeks to mark your progress. The meal planning is sweet and just what I needed in addition to cutting back on the pops. I am eating 5 small meals now instead of 2 big ones and washing it down with a couple of coldies. 1 down 59 to go.

Yes you, Chubby guy there on the couch. I'm talking to you....

2009-10-29T05:34:00.000-07:00

I was sitting around the house digesting too much of something maybe I didn't need to eat and drinking a beer and a infomercial comes on. It's these skinny little dicks and this hot chick I would love to have wash my clothes telling me about this great video series that could make me look like them. I would love to be a hot chick so I am immediately interested. After a quick inventory of what I have been putting in my body since beer festival season started, Baltimore Beer Week followed by a 4 day fishing trip of beers and deep fried goodness I could use something to do so I don't put on my normal holiday 10-15 lbs I have to lose when I start running again in the Spring. So in true fatty form I decided this would be a good idea to invest in my health over the holidays. Mrs. Runner bought this for me as a gift for her so when I'm finished I can wash her socks on my 2 pack. I will be keeping up with my progress here on the blob I am even going to weight myself and take a before picture that I may or may not post when this is all over.

For 60 days beat the piss out of yourself and eat right and I could be one of these peoples 'before' pictures sounds like a great idea.

Cory Branon and Jon Snodgrass

2009-09-30T12:13:00.000-07:00

Check out Suburban Home Records. You can stream the entire Jon Snodgrass and Cory Branan EP below.

and check out other music from The Suburban Home Line up...

A10 Huskyrunner Recap

2009-09-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

The weather has been great the past two years for the race. In a moment of clearity I realized a lot about myself during my run this past Sunday.

1)I don't know how to prepare for a race. Last year I was up all night before the race 'Dancing with Rhea Pearlman' so needless to say I was dehydrated for the race last year and cramped up early and often. This year I felt so much better and in fears of dehydrating I believe I over hydrated not to the point of having a 'slosshy stomach' but damn close I would guess. I took water at the stops and don't know if that helps or hurts because I don't train with 7 water stops in a 9 mile training run.
2)I'm not fast or what people would classify as 'good at running'.
I am OK with this. I am 35 and a good 15-20lbs. heavier than I should be. I don't think people expect me to run 8 minute miles when their normal response is 'you Run?'
3)I don't have a runner's mentality. Some runners I guess run through pain...pain tells me to slow down. Weird, I know. I kept up a good pace for the first 6 miles and slowly got to a pace that was comfortable and my breathing was controlled and finished the race with a smile and a glad that is over(and a beer).

The Severn River Bridge was still there(twice)and I was OK. The next time I see it I will be in a car and our realationship will be like that till this time next year.
The after race snack were a sad state of affairs. You should know that I was not the first one to hit the after race goodies but I'm sure the Bananas were yellow if I would have ran the race in hour and 20 minutes. The joke I made in the office today to a guy in my office who also ran the race was:I should have taken a banana. I guess they would've been yellow today. He too was not impressed with the location of after race snacks or them themselves and left quickly for a place to have lunch elsewhere. This is sad because in the past they have been very good bordering on great. Hopefully next year it will rebound....that's right I said it! I will be back next year. I don't do it for time, Competition, or the glory. I do it for myself and no one else. and they give out cool stuff that when skinny runners see me wearing it say 'He Runs!?!'

Hey,Annapolis 10 Miler....You Suck!

2009-09-01T12:16:00.000-07:00

Long story, short: I Finished.
More to come later, when my quads stop hurting, on the sad spread of after race nourishment.

Countdown to the Pain Cave

2009-08-13T04:33:00.000-07:00

The Annapolis 10 Miler is one of the few races that you do not receive your 'premium' till you actually finish the race. Most races you go to pick up your packet and your shirt or whatever the give away is already in your bag. Hell, why run the race I got the shirt. I always ignore the shirt or in the bag till after the race. I would never wear a shirt of a race I did not run or finish my soul can’t take that kind of torment. When I ran the Baltimore Half Marathon (13.1 miles of my life I would like to have back) I did not even look at the shirt till I came to my senses a day later but people were actually wearing their shirts to run the race, which I feel is like wearing the t-shirt of he band you are going to see in concert….Don’t be that Guy.

Here is this years Premium.

Notice it says 'Finisher'.
I like that they do it that way, because if you don’t run or finish no jacket or running shirt (in this case)for you. They always have the best give-a-ways but you have to bleed, sweat and cry to get.
Less than 3 weeks I have a 7 mile run this Saturday followed by regular week of running finshed with a 9 mile next Saturday and a ramp down to the race on the 30th.

Guest Blog @ Hobotrashcan.com

2009-08-06T12:45:00.000-07:00

This is an article I wrote for ‘The Trashcan’ getting everyone up to speed on what has happened since Top Chef began in 2005, as the Sixth season gets ready to kick off in Vegas Baby, Vegas!

Guest Blog @ Hobotrashcan.com

2009-07-27T04:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.hobotrashcan.com/2009/07/23/guest-blog-post-laughing-all-the-way-to-the-bank/
This was an article I wrote in response to the brilliant decision that Dreamworks bought the movie rights from Mattel for Viewmaster.....yes, that Viewmaster....also get ready for movies based on the board games Candyland and Battleship....I'm not kidding.

Hills!

2009-06-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

In preparation for the Annapolis 10 Miler I have put into my training a hills loop. My wife came up with it last year because you could get out quick in the neighborhood and get a good work out. It starts at my house goes out to North Laurel Rd and up a ¼+ climb, a loop around the neighborhood at the top of the hill then back done the hill back towards my house down 3rd street around Decatur up the hill on 4th St. to Madison past my house back down 3rd St and then around the other way on Decatur to the bottom of Madison and then the hill back to my house. A 2 mile beatdown of hills to get the endurance for hills up. I sandwich this in between my other two runs for the week to hopefully get me ready for’ The Severn River Bridge of Doom’

Free Shoes....both of them

2009-06-16T06:05:00.000-07:00

Free Shoes!

Safety First!

2009-06-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

My wife, Mrs. Runner, and I have two children. So we do not get to run together much at all. I wake up, run, come home, make breakfast for the little ones and mommy goes running. We always have a quick briefing of where we are running and when we should be back and it always ends with ‘if I’m not back by such-and-such time come find me’.
My brother is an avid bike rider both road and mountain biking and he has had numerous run-ins with cars and sketchy roads and trails. Taking a page out of his playbook I decided to buy a product for my wife and I that I hope we will never need.
I purchased for us each a RoadID http://www.roadid.com/. It is much reminiscent of the dog tags I wore in The Marines, minus my gas mask size and religion. For $20 you get a tag with your emergency contact and medical information on a stylish 3M reflective band. They sell these to be worn on your wrist, ankle, or your shoe. We both opted for the neoprene ankle style, mine in red and the Mrs. in Pink. I filled out our tags with our names, address, home phone number, each others cell phone number, blood type and that we have no allergies to medication and that we are both organ donors. It may seem a little bit morbid to think about but if I get ripped in two by a passing car it would be nice if they could give my still functioning organs to someone (although my liver may not do anyone any good) or better yet get me some blood and put me back together.

It’s easy to say it won’t happen to you but I decided for us it is better to be safe than sorry.

…and don’t forget: Be Positive…..no really! If you see me bleeding on the side of the road get me some B+!

11 weeks!

Getting back on the Horse

2009-06-08T03:34:00.000-07:00

Running Saturday was better. Not great. Each run should be getting better. I am breathing a little better. The River run is a good 3.5 miles and can be a very good trail not very scenic although it does go through Historic Laurel via Main Street. At this point I am trying to get my breathing and stride to match up. Which can take some time to hit the groove. nothing is worse than having to concentrate on your breathing while running once in stride you can just move without thinking. 12 Weeks till A10. It is on.
Hockey tonight running Tuesday, Thursday and long run on Saturday.

Don't forget to honk at chubby runners, it make us feel good.

Upper Respiratory Infection be Dammed!

2009-06-03T07:20:00.000-07:00

I am back from fishing in Miami and my friend Woody’s wedding in Key West.
June 1st was the registration for the 34th Annual Annapolis 10 Miler or more hipper known as The A10. If you plan on running this one you better do it quick, it always sells out.
I am on a mission for this race since in the past the hills have taken me mentally out of my ‘game’. I was whining in my head the entire time. “Who would put hills on top of hills? What kind of sicko is he or she?” So the running has begun with a goal of kicking this courses' ass (or the person who designed it) looming for August 30th. I am recovering or I may still have an Upper Respiratory Infection so yesterday’s run made 2 and half miles or less out of 3, that I could run and breathe, feel like 10. After coughing, gagging and leaving phlegm (that should be a spelling bee word) all over the neighborhood, I actually felt cleared out of all the bad I put in my body from the late nights in the Key’s.

Here we are: Ground Zero for the 10 mile training. 13 weeks of running 3 to 4 times a week and progressively doing more miles each week (Thank you, Hal Higdon) ending with 10 miles of hills and the dreaded Severn River Bridge.
It can only get better than the run yesterday.

I hope they are going to have those awesome chocolate chip cookies and watermelon after the race.

"Big occasions and races which have been eagerly anticipated almost to the point of dread, are where great deeds can be accomplished." -Jack Lovelock

The first step is admiting you have a problem....

2009-05-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

....I am addicted. I'm not proud of it. I'm just tired of sneaking around and you should know the truth. My name is Brandon and I'm a Pho Junkie. This Vietnamese beef soup is the perfect meal. Come lunch time I am out the door in search of beef broth, noodles, cilantro, onions, sweet basil, bean sprouts, jalapeños, thin sliced rare eye of round steak, tendon, brisket, flank steak, tripe, (quite) a bit of Shrachi, hoisin sauce and fresh squeezed lime. I eat it at least once a week it is very filling and satisfies my appitite as well as my wallet with a large bowl (32oz) being about 7 dollars and you can doctor it how ever you want with the add ons to be as spicy or mild as you want to make it. I usually leave with my nose running, esophagus and lips burning from drinking the volcanic broth that is left when all the noodles and bean sprouts are gone. There is much debate on the pronucation of this wonderful food. I like to say it just like it is spelled 'Foe', although I hear Anthony Bourdain and Andrew Zimmern say it 'Fuh'. Call it what you will I call it good. My friend at work and I have four spots we like to hit all with good Pho and one with the be-all-end-all Pho. We hit Pho 88, Pho An, Pho Siagon 54, and our favorite Pho Vn One. Everyone has ther favorites. Some spots have more meat in the soup, or fresher add-ons, the other might have better noodles or better broth and sometimes they all come together for that perfect bowl. Monday is my main Pho day for lunch. and it usually starts with an e-mail to Drew around 8:30-9:00 am with any of the following subject lines: Pho-Time? Pho-Tour? Pho-Real? or simply Pho?, which he never turns down. I can and have eaten it for days in row for lunch but not like sushi which I could have at every meal but that is another post. Get out there and eat some Pho...If you are in the College Park area at lunch time there's a good chance you could see me and Drew sweating over a bowl of delicious Pho.

(The picture above is my awesome lunch of a large #14 :Tai, Sach- Fresh rice noodle soup with Eye of Round Steak, & Shredded Tripe from Pho Vn One.)

No running this weekend....just beer runs.

2009-05-11T04:12:00.000-07:00

The 1st Annual Mt. Hope Brew Festival was this past weekend in Manheim, Pa on the site of the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire . I was up there with DuClaw Brewing from here in Maryland, pouring suds for the masses. The beer was well received. How could you not be lured in by good beer, a cool trailer, free buttons, and a chance to talk to Jim Wagner? It didn't hurt that there were some 20 other breweries and we got to taste their beer too and hang out with the brewers. . Friday Night was a VIP tasting that was attached to the Punch Brother's concert going on that night on the grounds. Only a couple of breweries were attached to the VIP tasting: Seven Gates, Spaten North America, Cape May Brewing, Erie Brewing Co., Franklin's from Hyattsville, MD, Lancaster Brewing, Roy Pitz, and DuClaw. It was a great night for beer and bluegrass. Notable Beers Friday night: Franklin's Dubbel, Erie Brewing Maibock, Roy Pitz Daddy Fat Sacks IPA, and DuClaw's Naked Fish of course.

Saturday we woke up and had minimal set up since all the beer stayed nicely in the trailer on site all night. The weather man was calling for showers all day but of course it was bright,warm, a little overcast and not one drop of rain. DuClaw was pouring Venom (APA), 13 Degrees (Hefewiezen) and what was left of Naked Fish from the night before. Once the the gates opened for the first session (11am-3pm) we were pouring beers almost non-stop for the first 2 and half hours and then it was just steady for last half an hour which made it good to step out from behind the table and see what other breweries were pouring. Cape May Brewing were our neighbors and they were serving their Fishermans IPA ran through a Hop Filter filled with Simco Leaf Hops. Victory was pouring Prima Pils and their Wit, Charles from Franklin's was pouring their Twisted Turtle Pale ale and Anarchy Ale. My new friend Jim, from Erie Brewing Co. was pouring Mad Anthony APA and one of my all time favorite beers Railbender Scotch Ale. The guy's at Roy Pitz from Chambersburg, PA were pouring their Old Jail Ale and a really good German Blonde that was the perfect beer for the balmy day. There was a lot good beers at the festival, only the guy who ran face first into a keg, drank them all. After the last session (4pm-8pm) there was a 'afterparty' at The Swashbuckler Brewery there on the primises of the Renn Faire. Jim, Bo and I just hung out with the other brewers and talked beer, told bad jokes and drank beers from the other breweries and Swashbuckler's beers (Jim shared a 1lt. bottle of Colossus to rave reviews). It was great festival, great weather, and good beer. The brew fest was very well run and we cannot wait to go back next year.

Also There was some fine entertainment next to our booth with The Ride the Keg. Which was barrel that was in rigged into the hydraulics of a Wood Splitter and spun, dipped, dunked, and threw patrons to and fro. it had no handle so all you could do is squeeze with your legs and hold the lip of the barrel for dear life. (Thanks, Bo for the keg ride picture.)

Everyone has set backs.....

2009-05-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

Good thing the weather has been so bad. I have had trouble getting myself psyched up to get out in the wind and rain to get a good run in. Not to mention that I was recently in a car accident and although there was no serious injury, I did have a couple of days where it felt like I went a couple of rounds with a UFC fighter. So once this weather gets better I'll be back on the pavement, not being skinny.

Wear your seat belt.

Welcome to The Husky Runner Blog

2009-04-15T12:09:00.000-07:00

This is your one stop shopping for everything you need to know if you are an A-Typical runners build and you run or want to start running.

I have run a Half Marathon, two 10 Milers, a couple 5K's and a 10K (my favorite). I run 8.5 to 10 min. miles depending on course and because I'm chubby.
This is my third year of running and I will share some tips I have learned to hopefully save you from learning the hard way.

First of all there are some things and apparel you may want to look into before you get started on this venture: ( Disclaimer: if I throw out a brand name it's only because I use the product. I have no affiliation with any company......but I would take free stuff if they offered.)
- A comfortable pair of running shoes. Do not assume your gym shoes are sufficient. My wife did some research for me when I got back into running. She advised me that New Balance had wider running shoes and they seem to cater to a 'Huskier Runner' which is where the name of this blog got it's name. Do your research or go with my wife's suggestion.
-Get a mp3 player.....and it doesn't have to have 'Eye of the Tiger' on a constant loop. I have found that music that you enjoy is enough. Something with a good beat helps just to help with your pace.
-I do not suggest running in cotton shirts. They can cause chafing of your nipples. If you have large pectorials or Man Boobs, cotton shirts may not be the best choice. Some sort of 'performace material' is good choice. All the major companies make there own style and cuts, but the materials are pretty close being the same. I run in Under Armour shirts and only on long runs do I get sensitve nips.
-When you are a bigger person your thighs sometimes touch....well when you run that touching will quickly become friction that will also burn like hell in the shower and for a couple of days after your run. I run with a pair of Under Armour compression shorts. All the major companies make different lengths and colors and materials. I find the ones that are made of smooth materials are the best kind to eliminate friction. These have single handedly saved me from starting a brush fire in my running shorts.

I am going to begin to cronicle my runs and more importantly after race snacks, goodies, lunch and beers.