I am committing myself . . . to a 10-mile race!

I have decided to run in the Austin 10-mile race with a couple of friends in April. It's been a long time since I've committed myself to any form of organized running event. For one, there's this work/kids thing, making it hard to find time to train. Second, I probably have one of the weakest immune systems on this earth. Ever since I've had kids (i.e. germ-spreading rug rats), I've fallen sick at least once every six weeks. This means that just as I start making progress with my training, I have to stop to recuperate from my ailment of the month.

But I am determined to make it work this time around, and just spent a few hours arming myself with the tools I need to train for this race.

1. Proper footwear

I've been wearing this worn-out pair of New Balance shoes for quite some time now, so I decided it was time to invest in a new pair. I walked into the New Balance store, where I was greeted by a very knowledgeable sales guy. I quickly spotted a pair that I liked, and as I was being fitted, the sales guy casually asked how long I had been using my current pair. That was when I realized that I had no idea how long I have been wearing these shoes. Has it been four years? Five? Surely there's no way I would've let more than five years slip by without investing in a new pair of running shoes. I told him that I couldn't remember, to which he commented: "Well, it must be older than two years, because we don't make this model anymore."

After I got home, I searched through my photo files to see if I can find old pictures of me wearing this outdated model. And then I came across this picture, labeled "2006 Little Rock Marathon Relay."

 Here I am in the picture, covered in finish-line foil. I would not have been able to tell what footwear I was donning, if it were not for the little bit of gray peeping out from under the foil. I zoomed in on it, and here it is, to my shock and dismay. I was wearing this exact pair.

And that's when I realized that I had bought this pair when I was rafting in Maine, back in the fall of 2004. This pair of sneakers is over 8 years old!!

No wonder my back and ankles hurt like hell after my runs.



2. Immune booster
I know a ton of folks who do not like to take medication. Me, I'm the complete opposite. Got a headache? Take ibuprofen. Got allergies? Take Claritin. Can't sleep? Take Ambien.

So naturally, I figured there would be immune boosting supplements that I can take to ward off the germs. I marched into Whole Foods and after comparing and contrasting six different types of herbal remedy, settled upon this one:

I had thought about buying an herbal formula composed of 200 mcg of "whole Reishi mushroom powder," but something about taking pure mushroom extract didn't settle well with me - Would I get sick? Would I get high? Would I get healthy but grow a third eye? (Ed. note: This sounds like a Dr. Seuss rhyme). This Wellness Formula, however, has a combination of vitamins, minerals and herbal powders; kind of like East-meets-West thing -- best of both worlds.

I am now properly armed and ready to go. Let the training begin!

Angry Birds: Recycled Edition

K helped with EB on her very first science project this weekend. The theme this year is "recycled goods" -- the project was to take unused objects from around the house and make them into something fun or useful. K had the ingenious idea of making our very own "live action" Angry Bird game. Useful? Probably not. Fun? Definitely. And there are millions of Angry Bird players that would attest to that.

Here's the cast of characters. The disgruntled protagonist is made from a plastic softball, and the pigs are constructed from cardboard taped to Activia yogurt cups. For the facial features and coloring, they used a lot of poster paint and Sharpie markers.

And here's the most important component of the game--the sling. This is made from two training-wheel struts, a piece of particle board scrap, a cut-up jelly jar and a generous amount of duct tape. For the propellant, they started out with an old elastic strap. After a lot of very scientific trial and error, however, they switched to some thick rubber bands that I suggested. It's not the prettiest, but it does the job of launching the Angry Bird.

Here's the finished product in action!

The Farmer in the Dell, Production and Marketing

Here's a video of EB singing "The Farmer in the Dell" to B-Boy. I think it's adorable, but be forewarned: EB has a very strong set of lungs. She very possibly damaged B-Boy's hearing, but as you'll see in the video, he was totally into her serenade, pumping his legs and arms as if he's her number one fan. If you can bare a couple of minutes of her shrill singing, click on play. But don't say I didn't warn you....

By the way, I never quite understood what "The Farmer in the Dell" was all about, so I looked it up on Wikipedia, the most totally trust-worthy source on all of the Inter-Webs. If you're not familiar with the song, the lyrics go something like this: The farmer takes a wife, then the wife takes a child, so on and so forth, until you get to the last line--"the cheese stands alone." Evidently it originated in Germany and there are several interpretations of the song's meaning. The following is by far my favorite:

The farmer in the dell nursery rhyme refers to age old production. a farmer (historically) needed children to help with help hence he took a wife. The wife took a child in order to fulfill her duties as a mother the child took, or needed, a nurse during birth and early life. The nurse took a cow in order to help sustain the child quite possibly to supplement the wife's (mother) breastfeeding. The dog is needed to help manage the cattle (think a working border collie here). The dog (a stretch on this one) needs the cat for entertainment purposes. The cat obviously needs the rat as sustenance as does the rat need the cheese (the rat takes the cheese).

In the end the cheese stands alone. The nursery rhyme is a relationship to production and economy. The cheese represents the theoretical beginning of the production line.

Interesting, no? But I think EB took the production interpretation to a whole new level. If you were able to have make it through her entire performance, you'll notice that EB added a few twists of her own: The cheese takes the baby, then the baby takes the milk, then the milk takes the cookie, and finally, the cookie stands alone.

So, if the cheese represents the theoretical beginning of the production line, the baby signifies that the larger the population, the more necessary it became to automate and increase production. The baby needs the milk for obvious reasons, but in the end, milk needs the cookie. This signifies the fact that production is further accelerated by the advent of marketing. As us marketers are all-too aware, marketing creates a need that no one knows existed--remember the ads for Oreo, the "Milk's Favorite Cookie"?

In EB's version, The production line begins, making it possible to feed more and more people with less effort. Marketing takes it further, creating the need for more production. Brilliant, actually.