Michael (Martha + Cy's uncle)

Nike Women's Marathon weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 17:40:00 +0000

It was a fantastic weekend in San Francisco. The weather was perfect and meeting up with Alex, Molly, Nick, and Josh to celebrate Molly's achievement was a lot of fun!

Molly ran the marathon in 04:04:06! She made running 26.2 miles look pretty easy. I know she was a hurtin' unit afterward, but it was awesome to watch her run. I caught up to her at about the 14 mile mark. At that point the people running the full marathon are separate from those running the half-marathon so she was easier to spot!

It is apparent that I am not a photographer and will need lessons before Molly's next marathon, but you get a glimpse of her now and again.

Renting the Vespa turned out to be a great idea. I was able to negotiate around the course pretty easily and park and watch when needed. Although you have to drive the rest of the time as if you are a lunatic or you will get run over. Maybe a mountain bike would have been a better option, although getting back to the hotel after the race may have been interesting.

Nike Women's Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 15:21:00 +0000

Friday I leave for San Francisco to watch my cousin Molly run the Nike Women's Marathon. She is running in honor of my mother.

I rented a Vespa scooter, printed out the course map and signed up to receive text messages about Molly's progress along the way. So I should be able to see her all along the route and get a 26.2 mile tour of San Fancisco!

Should be a fantastic weekend!

Skirt Chaser 5k results

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 01:43:00 +0000

Well, not training and trying to hydrate with Red Bull is not the best way to improve your 5k time. 33:44 for the Skirt Chaser 5k, 6:45/k or 10:51/mile. So another lesson has been learned. It was a very fun race and the after race party was a good time as well. Already penciled in the race for next year!

Summer softball winding down

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 17:17:00 +0000

The Summer softball leagues are winding down. The Tuesday night coed league finished last week. The Forks Lumber team won the league! Hooray, a free t-shirt!

We still have 3 games left to play in the Monday night mush ball league. The rain caused this league to start late. I can't remember where Forks Lumber stands, but I think we have only lost one game.

The Wednesday night LCSO team will play the last game of the season this Wednesday. No chance to get to .500, but it was a fun season nonetheless.

I have the opportunity to play on 4 teams for the fall season, Monday - Thursday, but I am not sure I will. If I do, I will have to modify my schedule to be able to play softball and continue to run. And now that agbulkeley has thrown down the gauntlet, I got to see what I can do in the 10K department. The next 5K I am registered for is "The Skirt Chaser 5K" in Denver. The women get a 3 minute head start and the chase is on! Should be fun!

Father's Day 5k results

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 15:27:00 +0000

There were a lot more people running the Father's Day 5k than ran the JourneyQuest 5k. I learned a good lesson in this race. Dropping your house key at the beginning of the race and trying to pick it up without getting trampled or causing a major pile up will cause your time to be a bit slower.

I finished with a time of 31:31. A pace of 6:18/k or 10:08/mile. A bit slower than the JourneyQuest 5k, but with a valid excuse :-).

Starting to search for a 5k in July.

Summer softball 2009 part deux...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 04:32:00 +0000

Well, due to all the rain, mushball softball has yet to begin! Maybe next Monday. So now for the update on the other two teams.

Tuesday night Forks Lumber Coed softball:
Bounced back from the loss and we are now 5-1. Got to keep rollin'!

Wednesday night Larimer County S.O. Coed softball:
The Slackers are now 2-4! Two games below .500. We can do it!

It has been a fun season so far. Good games and good times. Just need to add the Monday night games in and it will be a full week!

Softball 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:12:00 +0000

Tomorrow "mushball" softball starts. The Fort Collins summer softball leagues have been going on for 4 weeks now. So here is the summer 2009 softball update.

Monday night Forks Lumber Coed mushball softball:
Games start Monday, June 1st.

Tuesday night Forks Lumber Coed softball:
Currently 3-1. The loss was a tough one and we should have beaten that team. Oh well.

Wednesday night Larimer County S.O. Coed softball:
The Slackers are currently 1-2. Good first win last week!

More updates as events warrant!

Family vacation to Italy and Germany, April 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 06 May 2009 03:56:00 +0000

The trip started at Lake Maggiore in Italy. I took a shuttle from the airport to Stresa and met the family. We did some shopping and began sampling the Italian cuisine. I was afraid I would gain back all the weight I had lost. The food was delicious!

We stayed at Il Monterosso. It is on top of a hill that required Andrew to navigate the minivan through about 48 switchbacks. The view was amazing and Martha and Cy started each morning with a pony ride.

We shopped and ate a lot of Gelato in Stresa and Verbania. There was also an early birthday party for Martha. Andrew mistakenly bought the gag candles and Martha got to blow them out twice!

We then took a train down to Cinque Terre. We stayed at a hotel with an amazing view, Hotel Villa Steno in Monterosso al Mare. We took a boat trip in the rain and visited two of the other towns, Vernazza and Manarola. The rain cut the trip short, but it was still pretty fun.

Andrew and the kids spent a day on the beach soaking up sun and braving the freezing cold water.

Andrew, Martha, Cy and I left dad and Edie in Monterosso al Mare and headed back to Milan for a flight to Berlin. We got drenched finding the bus to the airport, but it made for quite the adventure.

Back in Berlin, I worked during the day and hung out with the Berlin Bulkeley's during the evening. I also took a tour of Sabine and Janet's new store, Pomeranza Design Ranch. It is fun to watch them talk about the store. They both have big smiles when they do. The store is bright and open with a lot of different design stuff. The pictures describe it better then I can.

Friday was May Day in Berlin so we headed out to Kreuzberg for the celebration. I have not seen so many people in one place since the Pope came to visit Colorado. The police were expecting a bigger than normal riot and had a huge presence. We left just as the protesters started arriving and a riot did eventually happen. We missed it, thank goodness. It turned out to be a "normal" riot. Maybe the police presence paid off.

We also celebrated Martha's sixth birthday again and hosted a party for the kids from the Kita and their parents.

All and all it was an amazing trip. Edie did a fantastic job planning this trip. The hotels and locations were awesome!

Take a look at the pics. No captions yet, but I will get some posted and maybe some others as well!

Now for summer softball! Stay tuned.

JourneyQuest 5k results

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 03:08:00 +0000

Survived the JourneyQuest 5K! My time was 31:23. A pace of 6:16/k or 10:07/mile. The baseline is established!

Busy busy...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 28 Mar 2009 19:11:00 +0000

Well, January and February were good months to workout. It seems March has presented a lot of other distractions to getting to The Club. I won't make the goal of being below 200 by the end of March. The updated goal is to be below 200 by the time I head off to Italy next month. I am not sure it will be attainable unless I start working out in the a.m., ugh. But I will make the effort. Plus there is nothing like a couple of days of ACT/Krav Maga training to make you realize you need to be in the gym more often. So I will redouble my efforts to make it at least 3 mornings next week.

Tomorrow is the JourneyQuest 5k. My first full 5k to establish the baseline time to beat for the year. Since I am recovering from a cold my time will be pretty easy to beat if I am healthy for the next 5k. I was debating not going, but since I have paid and can always use another t-shirt, I will be there bright and early.

We will see how it goes.

On another note, I cannot wait for the Italy/Germany trip with the family. Meeting Dad, Edie, Andrew, Martha and Cy in Italy for a vacation near Lake Maggiore then heading to Germany for a week where I will work while visiting the Germany Bulkeley's! Even get to celebrate Martha's 6th birthday with her! That will be a real treat! Already planning to be in Germany for Cy's 6th birthday next year.

The I Lost it at The Club challenge results are in...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 23:10:00 +0000

I lost 33 pounds over the 8 weeks of the challenge which translated to 14% of my body weight. It was enough to place 3rd overall in the challenge. The winner lost 18%. It was a great experience and I am glad I participated.

Having the challenge to keep me motivated to lose the weight was very helpful. So to stay motivated it appears having a goal is the key. So to that end, I have made it a goal to start running in 5k races. I plan on running several this year. Next Sunday is the beginning. The "Runnin' of the Green" in LoDo. To ease into this, the first race will not be a full 5k but a 2.2 mile jaunt.

The even better news is that when I registered for the race I got to put down my t-shirt size as XL instead of XXL! THAT felt great!

The great get in shape experiment continues!

The great get in shape adventure - update

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 17:36:00 +0000

You may recall (or you may not) that in December I started, "The great get in shape adventure" and posted here to help keep me accountable. Along the way I set monthly goals and got an extra push by joining the, "I Lost It at the Club" challenge. I was able to meet my monthly goals on my way to the final goal which was to return to 215 pounds. Then I would decide how I wanted to proceed from there.

Due to the challenge, I revised the ultimate goal. The new target was to be below 210 by the end of February with an eye on losing a little more for the final weigh-in on March 4th. I am very excited to report that Thursday, February 26th, the scale reported that I weighed 207.4 lbs!!!!! 37.6 pounds lost! I had to punch a new hole in my belt, my pants are falling off me, and I just feel better overall.

The new goal is now to continue the cardio workouts until I am below 200 pounds. Seeing a "1" in front of my weight for the first time since the mid 90's will be a terrific feeling. Once I achieve this, I will shift my focus from body weight to body fat percentage and begin lifting weights along with the cardio workouts. The new ultimate goal will be to get my body fat percentage somewhere into the 15-18 range as reported by my body fat monitoring scale.

I will keep you posted on the progress and let you know how the, "I Lost It at the Club" challenge plays out.

Final week!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:11:00 +0000

Heading into the final week of the "I Lost It at The Club" challenge. The scale at home today says 211.2! I don't know what the scale at The Club will say, but hopefully it is about the same. If it is that would be about 9.4% of my starting weight lost! Not too shabby.

If nothing else, the goal of weighing below 210 (according to my scale) by Saturday, February 28th sure looks attainable!

Yes, I can now tase you, bro...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 22:13:00 +0000

The Electronic Control Device practice shots:

I was not brave (stupid) enough to volunteer to experience being hit by a Taser shot. Now I think I should have, just so I could post it here.

Thanks to Big Larry for capturing this historic moment for me.

Halfway!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:21:00 +0000

Halfway through the, "I Lost it at The Club" challenge!

My second goal has been achieved! This was the, "weigh below 220 by the end of January" goal. The scale says 217. Hooray!

The extra added bonus is that the body fat monitoring scale tells me that I am no longer obese. I am now merely "overfat". Hooray again!

Off to a good start

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:22:00 +0000

Well, almost. Right away I broke my New Year's resolution to be more selfish. I took some old clothes to Goodwill instead of just throwing them out. Oh well.

Anyway, the weigh-in was completed for the "I lost it at The Club" program. When I lose the 16 pounds it will be about 9.5% of my body weight. I don't know what the winner last year accomplished, but I am hoping it will be enough. Even if it is not enough to split the pot, it will be keeping me on track.

I am close to the January goal I set for myself. There are only 3 pounds left to reach the goal of being under 220 pounds by the end of January. The treadmill rolls on!

2009!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 18:15:00 +0000

I guess this is the place that I should post my New Year's Resolution. So, in 2009, I have decided to be more selfish and more of a jerk. It will be a long hard year to keep it up, but I will try to stick with it! :-)

In other news, I will be joining the "I lost it at the Club!" program at the Fort Collins Club. It is an 8 week program and the goal is to lose the largest percentage of body weight over that time. The man and woman who do will split a cash pot. Last year it was $300 each!

Now I realize that body weight is not the best measure of weight loss. Body fat is a better gauge because it allows for doing some weight lifting to improve muscle tone. But this fits in with my goals as I wanted to get below 215 lbs. and then start mixing up cardio and weights for a better body overall (and more power for softball and golf).

My goal will be to lose 16 pounds over the 8 weeks. I don't know what percentage that is as the "official" weigh in is not until Tuesday, January 6th. But it fits with the recommended safe weight loss goal of 2 pounds per week.

Once again, I will keep track here. This will at least give me 8 new posts for the first quarter of 2009!

I will also keep track of the 2009 "be a selfish jerk" resolution.

First goal achieved!

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 19:55:00 +0000

This morning the scale informed me that I have made my goal of losing 15 pounds by the end of the year! The scale reported 227.8 pounds today! Hooray! Now I just have to make it through the next 6 days without putting any back on!

Luckily the Americinn in Monmouth has an exercise room. Cautious eating and some exercise will keep off the pounds!

Next goal: 220 by January 31st...

By December 31st...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 03:45:00 +0000

The first goal I set in this great adventure is to be down to 230 by December 31st. I am almost there (232 - 13 pounds down so far!) but the trick will be keeping it off while spending the 26th - 30th in Illinois visiting grandma. Maybe I should work doubly hard for the next 4 days and be below 230 before going...

We will see what happens!

The great get in shape adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Not that anyone really cares, but I figure if I put it out there it will hold me accountable.

About 2 years ago I started working out and eating better. At one point I was down below 215 pounds and was feeling really good. Everything seemed to be better. In fact, I think the picture to the right was taken when I was about 220.

Then, alas, I gave up and with the help of a little depression, found myself gaining weight again and heading back towards 240 pounds.

I had a little, "Get back in shape spurt," with the balding incident. But it never stuck. Then last week I made it back to the gym and stepped on the scale. 245!!!!! Son of a B%*@$!

Enough.

My goal is to get back down to 215, since I have already done it once, I know it is attainable. Then I will decide if the next 15 pounds will need to go.

I will track the progress here.

You may yawn now...

The Holidays

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 17:47:00 +0000

Well, not much else to talk about.

Headed down to Thanksgiving dinner with Dad, Edie, Judy and Dick Feather. We went to Le Central in Denver, "The affordable French restaurant." They did have a traditional turkey meal, but I opted for a baked salmon. It was tasty and the company was good. All-in-all a good Thanksgiving.

Heading out to Monmouth, IL for Christmas with Grandma, Uncle Irv and Aunt Susan. Looking forward to that visit as well!

The final softball post

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 17:58:00 +0000

Forks Lumber Sawyers finish the season undefeated!
It was a COLD, windy evening at Fossil Creek Park and the OCR team only had 8 players for the final game.

Warmed by free beer from the New Belgium team and excellent chocolate chip cookies baked by our own Michelle Harrold the Forks Lumber team took the field and finished the season undefeated. Hooray!

It was a fun season, just too long. Counting down the days to the start of the Spring Season.

Softball, because I got nothing else...

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 04:00:00 +0000

Interstates Electric Bulldogs:
Monday night is the, "City of Fort Collins 2008 Adult Fall Monday Men's IV Slow Pitch Softball Toilet Bowl." The 0-7 Bulldogs square off against the 0-7 Gamecocks. COME ON 1-7!

**UPDATE**
The Interstates Electric Bulldogs are successful in their quest to avoid an 0-8 season! Hooray! A hard fought game ended with the Bulldogs beating the Gamecocks 21-19!

The Interstates Electric Bulldogs end their inaugural season 1-7!

Forks Lumber Sawyers:
After two weeks of a broken power line at Fossil Creek park, the Sawyers now face a season that will go into November. The 6-0 Sawyers are looking to go undefeated.

**UPDATE**
After we put up ten runs in the top of the first, the Swine Dogs put up 5 and it looked like we had a game on our hands. Then we actually started to play. The Sawyers are on their way to 8-0. We play OCR next week and their shortstop is a little high strung. We beat them the first game, but I think they will be gunning for us. They can play when they want to play, so it should be a good game.

Further bulletins as events warrant...

Germany Bulkeley's visit - October 2008

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:23:00 +0000

Andrew, Sabine, Martha and Cy hopped the pond and landed in Chicago, IL on October 14th. A visit to Chicago playgrounds ensued. Then a 4 hour drive Southwest to Monmouth, IL.

I met them on Friday in Monmouth for a weekend visit with Grandma. It was a great weekend. Martha and Cy have a great time with Grandma and it is really fun to see them all together! We went out to the farm and, of course, went to Farm King. Never miss Farm King when visiting Monmouth!

We all flew back to Denver. I did the work thing for the week, but spent Saturday and Sunday visiting before they went home. The Museum of Contemporary Art, a corn maze and a dinner with the Peterson's were all part of the weekend.

TERRIFIC!

Got to give props to my dad and Edie for the activity planning! They planned a lot of activities. Not all of them were done, but what we did get done was fantastic! I missed the trip to Mt. Princeton, but I heard it was a good time.

THANKS for your hard work and planning Dad and Edie!

Softball

noreply@blogger.com (Michael) — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 03:58:00 +0000

Hmm, a softball update now, then an update on the Germany Bulkeley's visit later!!

Interstates Electric Bulldogs:
The Bulldogs continue their 0'fer streak. Our record is 0-7 going into the last game of the season. The toilet bowl will be played next Monday. Both teams are 0-7. We cannot both go 0-8. After last night's game where we lost by only one run we have the confidence to break into the win column!

Fort Collins Cubs:
Tonight we completed our season with a win! Hooray! A 5-3 season! Sooooo much better than the 0-9 season last year.

Forks Lumber Sawyers:
Still undefeated after last weeks blackout game. Two more games to complete the undefeated season. I will update after the game tomorrow, even if it is snowed out.

**UPDATE**
No game for the Sawyers last night. Power cable is still broken at Fossil Creek Park. Season has been extended two weeks. COLD games lay ahead. But we got to keep up the season to go undefeated!

That is all for now!