Dec132008

Leanna Likes to Share

By der5er | December 13, 2008 | Posted in Family, Funny | Tagged , | Comments (0)

 

Leanna looking innocent

Leanna looking innocent

Here’s a little middle school drama for everyone. Leanna rides the bus home from school every day. This week, she happened to be sitting next to a boy named Craig.
Craig asked Leanna for some gum on Thursday. Leanna said yes, but accidentally dropped the gum on the floor of the school bus. Craig changed his mind (no kidding).
Then, on Friday, Leanna played a little joke on Craig. When he wasn’t looking, she took a piece of gum out of her purse and dropped it on the floor. Then, she offered it to Craig, making it look as though she had just taken the gum out of her purse. Not knowing the gum was tainted by the school bus floor, Craig took the gum and ate it!
Leanna claims he’s not her enemy, and that he’s actually one of her friends.
Of course, while Christi is trying to admonish Leanna for being so mean, Grandma Shirley and I are laughing non-stop. I feel bad for the guy, but I think Leanna is going to be a very good practical joker some day.

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By der5er | Posted in Family, Funny | Tagged , | Comments (0)
Dec122008

Cooper Sings Feliz Navidad!

By der5er | December 12, 2008 | Posted in Family | Tagged , | Comments (0)

Those who recieve der5er by e-mail will have to click the post title to see and hear Cooper sing Jose Feliciano’s holiday hit, “Feliz Navidad” in his own style.

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By der5er | Posted in Family | Tagged , | Comments (0)
Dec052008

WANT: Nike+ Heart Rate Monitor

By der5er | December 5, 2008 | Posted in Running | Tagged , | Comments (0)

 

The future?

The future?

Ever want a product that hasn’t been developed yet? Well today, that’s me. I’ve been following lots of running blogs and listening to running podcasts and it seems that many runners greatly improve their training by monitoring and tracking their heart rate. So yes, I want a heart rate monitor. There are several on the market, and I’ve even put some reasonably priced heart rate monitors on my Christmas wish list.  But what I really want isn’t yet available.  I want a heart rate monitor that integrates with my Nike+ kit and my iPod.  

 

This would be a great feature to have, and from the Google searches I’ve done, I’m not the only runner that thinks so.  So, there is already a market for this feature.  One of the latest new gadgets from Nike is the AMP remote control watch that integrates with Nike+.  I think they fell short on this one, as they could have easily put pulse monitoring in the wristband.  At any rate, this device opens up the possibility of multiple peripherals communicating with the receiver in the iPod.  So, a heart rate monitoring device may not be far behind.  

In fact, my Google searching turned up an article on Gizmodo that claims exactly that and more!  The article was published in April, 2008 and claims that the latest patent for Nike+ shows all kinds of sensors monitoring heart rate, temperature, and hydration levels in addition to the sensor in the shoe for monitoring pace and distance (see picture above).  I could really care less about my temperature, and I think I have a pretty good grasp on keeping track of hydration levels while running, what I really want is the heart rate monitor!  

As soon as this product is on the market, it will be on my wish list for sure!

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By der5er | Posted in Running | Tagged , | Comments (0)
Nov172008

Half Marathon Results!

By der5er | November 17, 2008 | Posted in Family, Running | Tagged , , | Comments (3)

   

Race Bib and Medal

 

 

Race Bib and Medal

I finished the Half Marathon Saturday morning with an official time of 2:04:46, or about 4 minutes slower than my goal time of 2 hours.  As you’ll remember from my post a few days ago, I was 100 percent positive that I would beat that goal.  I had no idea what the weather would have in store for me, and apparently, neither did the weatherman.  

ChristiSarah and LeannaCooper

Christi, Grandma Shirley, and the kids

Race morning was supposed to be rainy, cloudy, wet, windy, and the high should have been only about 64 for the day.  So, I figured that the high for the race would be somewhere near 60.  Boy, was I ever wrong.  Our high temperature during the race was (and I’m guessing here) over 70, the sun was out, and we had somewhere near 90% humidity.  

Normally, I would be fine running under these conditions, but Saturday I wasn’t prepared.  So, that slowed me down quite a bit.  With the unexpected humidity, I just couldn’t get my pace up where I wanted it to be, and when I had a little wind to dry out the air, it turned out to be a lot of wind blowing right at me, slowing me down even further.  

So, all in all, I’m actually very happy with 2:04.  I’m actually proud that I kept the pace as well as I did, and I’m very impressed with my time.  

Christi, the kids, and Grandma Shirley (a.k.a. www.shirleyannesheart.com) came down to the finish line, and it was a great motivator to see them as I got near the end.  I could see the signs they made and hear lots of people cheering.
Seeing Cooper and Sarah still wearing their medals from Friday night’s Kid’s Run really let me know that they were proud of their accomplishment, and it was a lot of fun to show them my medal, too.  While going through the runner’s food tent with Cooper, they even gave him a banana.  I, of course, told him that they gave him the banana because he was obviously a runner wearing his medal!

This was, over all, a very fun event for me, and I can’t wait to do another half marathon.  I’ve even signed up for the full marathon next year, to give myself a new goal to shoot for.

 

Almost There!

Almost There!

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By der5er | Posted in Family, Running | Tagged , , | Comments (3)