Week in Review, IPA's and the "Currently" Thing

This past week, week and a half, has been a little hectic.  Did some construction, ran a little bit and went to a friend's house for a get together.  Which turned into, everybody watch their kid so they don't get hurt party, but it was still fun.

I started to have some pain in my left knee last week.  It didn't hurt after a run, but getting out of a car.  It's not excruciating, but I do notice it.  If I walk on level ground it's OK, but if i climb a hill or go up some stairs, it hurts.  All that aside, I took a couple of days off.  Then on Saturday I headed to the Lake Murray Dam walking path at about 5:30 am for the 9 miler.  The temperature was about 70 degrees, slightly humid, but had a nice breeze coming off of the lake.  The walk path is about a 3.4 mile out and back, flat, so it wouldn't bother my knee, and wasn't crowded at all.  However, I think the women walking were a little on edge when they saw a fat tattooed man running toward them.  One of those ladies even shined her LED light in my eyes as I was running by...that wasn't nice.

I did my run in about 1 hour and 50 minutes.  After each lap, I would stop off at my truck, rehydrate and get some gel.  This was nice because I didn't have to carry anything on the run itself.  The ratio for the first 2 laps was 2/1.  I was feeling good for the last lap and cranked it to a 2:30/1 ratio.  I know what you're thinking... but I knew what I was doing.  It was a great run because I ran the 9 miles 4 minutes slower than my 8 miler two weeks prior.

That same Saturday, was the Saturday that the wife and I were going to put up her closet organizer ( you can take a look at the details on her blog, http://ostranderfam.blogspot.com/)  In short, when we took the old system down it left a lot of large holes.  So a one day putting up a closet organizer task, turned into a 2 day spackle, paint, paint some more the put up the closet organizer.  The most time consuming aspect was putting the anchor on the wall that would hold the system.  After that it was just busy work to put all the pieces together.  It took a while, but it looks nice and now I'm awaiting my closet organizer and two day construction time.

The weight watchers watch: I lost 4 lbs, even after a weekend party of great non weight watcher friendly food and about 10 beers. I think the long run helped a little.

My favorite beer right now is the Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA.  This is the first IPA that I have partaken in, and I love it.  It's probably my favorite beer right now.  This being said, I decided to do a little taste test and try some other IPA's.  I went to the local Food Lion, and built my six pack with, Magic Hat #9 (I know it says "almost pale ale" but who's counting), Sweet Water IPA, New Belgium Ranger, and 2 Sam Adams Lat IPA. 

After drinking the other beers, I discovered that the IPA has a grapefruity taste to it.  I didn't notice it in the Sam, but now I do and the other beers brought that out.  The first I tried was the Sweet Water.  This had a strong grapefruit taste to it, and was very sweet.  The Ranger had the same taste, not as sweet but leaning more toward the hoppiness that I like.  Magic Hat, again had the grapefruit taste, but was more subdued.  All in all I didn't hate any of them.  I probably won't by the Sweet Water again, but I won't turn it down if someone offered me one.  My favorite is still the Sam.

And now the grand finale, the "currently" thing.  The wife did it on her blog (see the link above) and encouraged me to do one.  So away we go...

Currently

Current Book: Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, by  Chris McDougall.  Great book.  I love the section of the tribes and Caballo Blanco, but I think the sections on natural running and scientific stuff could have been saved for another book.  I am also listening to Once a Runner, by John L. Parker Jr.  My first audio book.  It's on the iPod, and is used for the long runs.

Current Song: "My Hero," by the Foo Fighters.  I'm going through a 90's and early 2000's phase right now.

Current Drink: Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA

Current Wish: Saucony Kinvaras or some Vibram Five Fingers.  The Vibrams are not for running, just lounging.

Current Triumph: 9 mile long run completed.

Current Guilty Pleasure: Jimmy Dean turkey sausage biscuits.

Current Favorite Blog: Rocky Mountain Dirt Running, by Nick Clark.  http://irunmountains.blogspot.com/.  I stumbled across this one.  He had just completed the Western States 100 and Hardrock 100.  I'm a sucker for ultramarthoners.

Current Goal:  To leave for Disney at 4am like planned on August 20th.

Current Indulgence:  Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA

Current Bane of My Existence: Tyler playing with the computer mouse and keyboard while I try to type this...hghjyhhjjnjhgjhjrhuyujyujjng44343h3rtfggbgvbegvb3g3g... see what I mean.

Current Excitement:  Vacation is less than 30....

Current Mood: horny

Current Favorite Pic:  Oldie but goodie.

Here you try it.  What is "currently" going on with you??