Yesterday I had one of the best runs since I kick started my running last December. My plan was to do a four mile tempo run at 6:56 per mile and all of that went off without a hitch. About half way into the 4th mile I realized that I was feeling fantastic, and after thinking through a conversation I'd had with Culla about working up to 5 mile tempo runs I decided to add a 5th mile. I was still feeling great after the 5th mile but decided to call it a day and not over do it.

I'm really pleased with how I felt and I'm taking it as an indicator that my training is going well. I was planning on doing another 5 mile tempo run in two weeks (next week is 6 miles of cruise intervals) and then, based on this performance, I may bump up the last three weeks to 6 or even 7 miles of tempo.

I'm also currently exploring how I can incorporate some race pace (7:32) miles into my long runs. I'm not sure how to do this since I'm usually pretty exhausted after maintaining the 8:30 pace but Culla thinks it is important and he probably knows a lot better than I do.

My Hold Steady record finally arrived in the mail yesterday. After I ate and showered from my run I put it on before bed and it was an incredible experience. Right from the opening guitar and keyboard chords of 'Stuck Between Stations' I was totally hooked on this record. I'll probably give it another listen tonight with Laura after dinner.

I had Monday off and Laura, Kev, and I went to Metro for a little climbing. I had two good climbs on a 10d and an 11a, and based on those two I decided to go for an 11c. That turned into a pretty big disaster and so did the 11d I tried after that, but it was fun to get on them and I'm happy with the past two climbing performances I've had. We're going to go back on Friday but I'll probably take it easy since I have my long run this weekend on Saturday.

I've finished off my Crimson Fist Captain and I'm pretty happy with how he turned out. I tried out some washing techniques on his cloak, a new method for doing power swords, and some free hand on one of his shoulder pads. All of it turned out well for a first attempt and I think I can do better with practice.

Crimson Fists Captain


right side showing the freehand 5



back showing the shading on the cloak



power sword



a top down view of the sword

I also finished off the sergeant for my assault squad. I did a little freehand on him as well and got to see how the pouches and grenade bits look.

shoulder pad pouches



freehand 5 and some more pouches and grenades

Thus far in 2009 I've painted 7 Warmachine models and 2 Crimson Fist models, which gives me a score of 9 thus far (one point for each infantry model). I've got another 9 infantry models and 2 tanks to complete for the Tale of Painters projects I'm doing and then I'll move on to the pile of single mini's on my shelf.

Finally, I read this OpEd piece this morning in the New York times about how the Muslim community in India is refusing to allow the nine bodies of the Pakistani terrorists involved in the Mumbai shootings to be burried in a Muslim cemetary in Inida.

At the beginning of January I had 75 dollars in my new model fund. I spent 51.13 on some models (Greylords, Koldun Lord, and Kodiak), 9.00 on three Games Workshop washes, and 24.69 on some paintbrushes and a pallet for a total of 84.82. That left my fund at -9.82 for January which is clearly over my limit.

I'm going to add another 25 bucks in (since I couldn't stick to budget I'm going to cut the monthly allocation in half) for February, which puts the fund at 15.18.

New Model Fund (February): $15.18

Since I have enough models to get both my Marines and Khador forces through the Tale of Painters I'm not sure what my next step will be. I also have a bunch of models sitting around my shelves that I need to paint so I may put a hold on purchasing any more models for a while.

I've seen a few articles recently about priming with gesso that have been of interst to me due to the difficulties of using spray primer in the Boston winter. Essentially it is a brush on primer that doesn't obscure details on models and can be used indoors (unlike spray cans). It might be a moot point for this winter but it is something to look in to.

The 17 miles this weekend didn't go as well as the 16 last weekend. Lisa and I ended up averaging about 8:55 per mile. I didn't feel sluggish or bad - in fact, I felt almost the same as last Sunday. This week is a down week so hopefully the break will be good for my legs before I ramp up into the 19 and 20 mile runs coming up.

On Friday Laura, Kevin, and I trekked out to Metro for an evening of climbing. I surprised myself and got up three 11b's. None of them were clean but most of the time I felt that the reasons I came off had a lot more to do with my strength and less to do with my skills. I am encouraged by that because it means that if I can get my strength back I should be a solid 11 climber. We're probably going to head back this coming Monday since we all have off from work.

I received my birthday present from Spoony the other day and it was The 59 Sound by the Gaslight Anthem on vinyl. My copy of Something to Write Home About by The Get Up Kids also arrived in the mail last week. Both records sound very good on my stereo and I had an excellent time playing them, dancing around, and playing air guitar.

Work has been really dragging this week even though I had Tuesday off. Sometimes I can get myself excited to do something but most of the time I find myself bored, listless, and uninterested.

Laura has been applying to a lot of publishing jobs recently and came across an interesting potential career move for me in the field of mathematics text book publishing. She sent me a few postings for jobs editing and working with math texts. It is something I had never considered before but now that she's planted the idea in my head I'm intrigued.

Recently a UFC fighter who I like, Chris Leben, failed a drug test and was suspended for 9 months. My reaction to this was to feel bad for him because I like him and I feel like he's overcome a lot in his life. I was out on a run the other day thinking about this and I realized that my reaction was the complete opposite to how I normally react to situations like this. I can't stand Sean Sherk, another UFC fighter who failed a drug test, and have almost not respect for him as an athlete anymore. I also distinctly remember when Justin Gatlin failed his drug tests and how betrayed I felt by him. Other althletes like Marion Jones, Floyd Landis, and Jan Ulrich have been tainted for me by their steroid useage and I know that I can never look at any of their achievements with any sort of faith that they were achieved in good faith.

I honestly don't know why Chris Leben bucks my trend of anger and resentment towards althletes who use steroids. I liked Justin Gatlin more than Chris Leben and I was more familiar with Gatlin and Marion Jones's accomplishements and careers. Most of the other people on my list denied using while Leben admitted it immediatley. I wouldn't even say that Leben is very high up on my list of favorite fighters, so why do I feel sympathy for him when I could never support any of those others again? I honestly have no idea.

I've decided to start reading more. It's been a while since I read any sort of book and I'd like to get back into the habit. I also want to be more informed so I've taken to browsing CNN and the New York Times at work when I have spare time.

I went climbing the other night before and after teaching and had a lot of fun. I still remember most of my technique and I'm just waiting for my arm and hand strength to return. Unfortunatly I tore a lot of skin off the pad on my right middle finger but I've been drying it out pretty aggressively so I hope it will be usable in a few days.

I finished off the last three marines for my first tactical squad.

all 10


vet with power sword


plasma twins


the three new guys

I taught on Wednesday night and stayed after my class to climb during the open hours. I had my ass handed to me since I haven't climbed in so long; I loved it. I discovered that I really miss climbing so I'm going to try to get on the wall a few days a week. Matt told me I could use the wall right after work as long as I wore my staff shirt so that takes away my excuse that the open hours are too late and I don't want to commute.

Obama won on Tuesday night, that was awesome. Laura and I stayed up to watch McCain's concession speech (very gracious) and Obama's acceptance speech before going to bed very happy. After the past two Presidential elections I didn't have much faith in the election system and even though Obama has been consistently ahead in the polls for a while I was very nervous all day on Tuesday. Now that it's all over and he won so decisevley (and the Democrats picked up seats in the House and Senate) I have a much brighter view of the future of this country.

Laura and I saw the Decemberists play last night. I wasn't hugely excited for this show because I didn't know if this band could capture my interest live. I sure was wrong. The crowd was excited and the singer wrapped several hundred people around his finger for an hour and a half. They played a lot of songs that I wasn't familiar with but towards the end of their set they shook the balconey (literaly) with O Valencia! and then ended their encore with Sons and Daughters, my favorite song.

The best part of that song is the out-tro where the band sings the phrase "hear all the bombs fade away" together. Their vocals combined with the music produces a haunting and pleasent sound. Right before this section of the song the singer paused and explained that he had written the song a few years ago and this particular part was in reference to the current administration and how the only solution he could see to making the bombs fade away was to leave. Now though, after Tuesday he said the song's meaning had changed for him and it represented his hope that the bombs would fade away because a new President had been elected who would help lead the country out of the war. That was a really poignant moment for me, made even more so when he invited 30 people up on stage to sing it with him. I really couldn't have asked for a better ending to the show.

I found this thread by dave8oy on Warseer. Take a look at the lenses on the marine here - they're incredibly detailed and look phenomenal.

by dave8oy

I am hoping to use this weekend and my day off on Tuesday to paint the last three marines for my first Crimson Fist squad and I'm going to see if I can replicate this effect.

I've finally gotten started on my Crimson Fists. I have the two test models I did a few months ago and last night I painted up a third bolter marine. From a technical standpoint I am very very happy with how he turned out. I gave him a really smooth base coat of Regal Blue and then two highlights. The first one was a 60/40 or even 70/30 mix of Regal Blue / Ultramarines Blue that was pretty watered down. I used this in pretty broad strokes as a bridge between the basecoat and the second highlight, which very thin lines of straight Ultramarines Blue.

Looking at the model up close I was really proud how how I had executed the highlighting, but from arms length almost all of them dissapeared. Obviously that's the opposite of how I wanted the highlights to work and I'm not sure what went wrong. I went ahead and finished the model with the hope that addine the reds, metallics, and whites would help the overall effect pop. To a small extent they did but not as much as I wanted.

I'm not really sure how to fix this but I'll keep experimenting.

Last week was the last up week of my marathon training and it was capped off with the last 20 miler in the schedule. Sunday was a very rainy, cool day and I think that contributed to the pretty poor showing both Lisa and I had during the run. Neither one of us had much pop in our legs from the get-go and come mile 10ish we were both feeling pretty bad. Around Kenmore Square we both decided to slog through to the bottom of my hill and then walk up.

I'm sure the rain played a role in our poor showing but I'm not willing to give it all the credit. Neither one of the 20 milers I've done this training cycle have gone particularly well, and both times (and other times through this training) I've felt that my legs just didn't have and life in them. I don't know if this is because they're reacting poorly to the increase in mileage or if they're not recovering adequately or if the problem is something else. I hope that the three weeks of tapering gives them enough time to rest and be fresh for the race.

Other people however, don't seem to be having my problems. Haile Gebrselassie, the world record holder in the marathon, shaved 27 seconds off his previous record time to finish the Berlin marathon in 2:03:59 and become the first person to ever run a marathon under two hours and four minutes. And he's 35 years old! I think it's only a matter of a few years before someone knocks off those last few minutes and we're looking at a marathon run in under two hours.

Steve and I had a long conversation yesterday about the financial crisis currently going on. I was pretty uninformed about it and when I tried to get informed, most of the articles I was reading were assuming that I already knew what was going on. I think I have a handle on the general ideas now and I'll admit to being a little nervous about what's going to happen. My dad sent me an article a few days ago that talked about the bailout plan that was ultimately shot down.

This Thursday is the Vice-Presidential debate. I am planning on racing home after teaching on Thursday to watch it and see how Sarah Palin holds up. I am pretty scared of the prospect of her becoming the VP after watching her handle herself in this interviw with Katie Couric. Thus far she's been almost completely hidden from the national media and most every time she has spoken it's been pretty scripted. She tried standing on her feet for that interview and failed miserably, so I wonder how she's going to make up for that during the debate. The evidence against her keeps growing and I think Thursday will be a very telling moment.

A few weeks ago my parents came up to visit and brought my old Play Station. Yesterday my copy of Final Fantasy VII arrived in the mail and I'm really excited to play it. I remember the huge hype and excitement when I was in 7th or 8th grade and it came out and how even now it is hailed as one of the greatest RPGs ever made. Unfortunatley I never got a chance to play much of the game (or Final Fantasy IIX or IX) so I'm excited, as a fan of the RPG genre, to finally get to play it through.

After teaching last Thursday I finally got on the wall and climbed for the first time in what feels like months. It didn't go very well. I still remember how to make all the motions but I don't have any of my arm, core, or hand strength. I've certianly done this before with climbing but it doesn't get any less frustrating.

I've been doing some research into Space Marine painting as I get closer to being done with my elves. After looking at a bunch of forums and blogs, I think I've identified the style of marine I'm looking for - bold and clean highlights on top of a clean basecoat. I have a few examples below, none of which were painted by me. You can get a better sense of the paint job if you click on the images to see larger versions.

painted by static grass

painted by rev

painted by lemfresh

painted by Cyric the Mad

painted by From the Warp



painted by kkoene


painted by spikyjames


painted by lone pilgrim

The last guy is the final step in a really great highlighting tutorial from From the Warp. The colors aren't the same, but the principles apply and I'm going to use this to paint up my third Crimson Fist test model. I've done a few tests already (here), and while they are in the spirit of my vision, they are also messy and unrefined. I think this tutorial will help me get them more in line with what I'm looking for. I've also found this article from Tau Online that gives a very detailed description of how to highlight marines.

Laura and I went climbing last night and it was a pretty big disaster for me. My technique is still around by all of my forearm and hand strength is out the window. Laura got to the top of an 11b, which is a pretty big deal considering she'd never gone up anything harder than a 10c before. She looked really good doing it to, probably a lot better than I did.

My running has been a huge roller coaster lately. Some days (like Wendesday) I can't finish a run because I have horrible stomach problems. Other days (like yesterday) I can crush a four mile run with 6:30 miles. I'm planning to skip another 4 miler I had planned for today and to start being more conscious of what I eat and when on days with runs scheduled. I hope this will get me back on track to healthy, stomach problem free runs. I am also planning on shifting my training away from the schedule I've been on since December (rest, short, medium, short, rest, medium, long) to a new plan that Culla reccomends. The new plan calls for three key workouts a week (tempo, long, and track) plus two other days of easier miles. This is really new stuff for me, and really intimidating, but he thinks it will help push me to the 3:10 time I need to qualify for Boston.

I am pretty sure that my fish tank is fully cycled, so hopefully I can get it stocked with some Neon Tetras soon. I found out recently that I had bought a 10 gallon tank (and not a 5 gallon like I had assumed), which means that I can put a few other fish in there. Currently I'm thinking about a school of Pygmy Corydoras, but I'm not sure how available they around here. Hopefuly when I get to the store I can take a look at what they have and make some decisions based on that.

Wow, lots of links!

Apparently I missed most of July here.

Marathon training has been going pretty well. I've been a lot less tense about nailing workouts this time around. I'm still doing all of them, but I'm a lot more willing to play with my two rest days and shuffle around the schedule to fit in with my life, as opposed to fitting my life into my marathon training. I am a bit concerned about my ability to qualify for Boston though. The idea of 7:15 miles is pretty daunting and I haven't done much to improve my time. I did run 4 miles yesterday at 6:53 pace, but I was pretty tired out at the end. I might talk to some friends who know what they're doing to see what I should be doing.

My climbing has been almost non-existent since the beginning of the month. Laura and I keep making plans and then canceling them because we're both exhausted from the week. We're looking to get there this week sometime, but who can say.

Wildwood was awesome, except for Drew breaking his clavicle. We didn't win a trophy due to massive thunderstorms, but the ultimate was fun and the party was great. Laura and I had a lot of fun together and I hope to repeat again next year.

This past weekend was Dar and Katie's wedding. I will admit to being in denial right up until the ceremony itself, but something about all the tuxes, dresses, flowers, and church made me finally deal with it. The ceremony was very nice and everyone seemed to really enjoy it. The reception was also a very classy affair with lots of food, dancing, and booze (at one point I had three drinks in front of me). Daryl and Katie seemed genuinely happy and that is probably the point.

I finished a unit of Wildriders for my Elf army, which leaves me with only 7 more models until completion.

I have (I think) all of the models I want for my Crimson Fist army at this point, which I will start painting once the elves are done. Through the wonders of ebay I purchased $290.00 worth of figures for $219.37, which is 25% off retail. This hobby is pretty damn expensive but being patient and smart on ebay really helps.

There was a free Hold Steady show at the Paradise a few weeks ago and Laura, Jason, Mariam, and I went. I'm constantly impressed by their live show; the energy and enthusiasm they put out is phenomenal. They played a lot of material from their new album that I wasn't very familiar but there were plenty of tracks from their other albums that I did.

Laura and I saw Wall-E last week and it was pretty great. The quality of the animation was simply stunning and the story was adorable. It would make a phenomenal date movie but is well worth seeing in any capacity.

Jason and I took a trip up to Rumney on Saturday. The weather was gorgeous and for some reason, there were almost no people there. We didn't have to wait for a climb at all and some of the crags were totally empty. We started off on Rose Garden (5.7) and Truth in Advertising (5.7+) and I felt pretty sketched out on both climbs. I wasn't very confident with my feet or hands the whole time and these climbs didn't get me excited about the day at all.

We then wandered up to Jimmy Cliff and started on The Junco (5.8+). This particular climb was the second lead I had ever done outdoors and I was hoping it would help me get back into a good mental place. I ended up getting backing off several moves (some of them multiple times) and eventually came off near the top. This was about the least confident I've ever felt on a climb and I was pretty bummed out about the day and the state of my climbing in general.

Jason then shot up To Love, Honor, and Belay (5.9) and told me that I should get up it. This is either the easiest 5.9 around, or the Junco is the hardest 5.8+ around because I went right to the top without any problems.

Jason had been climbing really well all day and wanted to give Lonesome Dove (5.10a) a try. He went up it with almost no problems and couldn't stop raving about how awesome it was. I had climbed it last summer (not cleanly at all) but after my climbing exploits earlier in the day, I wasn't feeling very confident. Jason talked me into it and I'm glad he did, because I ended up with my first clean send of a 5.10 outside. For whatever reason I felt solid the whole way up, my feet and hands stuck where they were supposed to, and I didn't run into any of the problems I had last time with route finding. The view from the top was incredible and it was a totally unexpected high after the nonsense from the morning.

After that we hiked back down to Darth Vader (which was still empty) and flailed around on Yoda (5.9). The first few bolts are on a pumpy overhang which neither one of us were in any shape to be playing on, and the last section was a vertical crack / crimp climb that required a lot more footwork than my toes could handle.

A few quick photos from Quincy:

The main crag.

I set the anchors on top of the main crag...

... and no one died!

This is the second Crimson Fist test model I have painted. I tried to go with thinner highlight strokes on this model with a different color blue. I think the technical highlighting looks a lot better but I'm not sold on the color so I will probably make a third tester with the new style and old color of highlights. I'm also still deciding whether or not I like the all brown base (Test 1) or the brown and gray base (Test 2).

Test 2.

Test 2 and Test 1 side by side.

Last week I started training for the Bay State Marathon which runs on October 19th. Lisa and I will be training together again but this time we're looking to take the next step in our program. We're going to be doing the Intermediate II schedule from halhigdon.com (last time we did the Intermediate I) and also incorporating tempo runs, pace work, and possibly some core work as well.

This first week of training was pretty rough. I jumped right back into 5 days of running per week after not running for almost 4 weeks. My body is pretty tired and sore but I worked through it and after my 10 miles yesterday I am feeling pretty good about the whole thing. I think the hardest run I did was the 6 miler on Saturday because I pushed the pace pretty hard on the way home and paid for it. I toned it down for the 10 miles on Sunday and managed to run pretty evenly (somewhere between 8 and 9 minutes per mile) and strongly the whole time.

Runs: 5
Miles: 28.4
Time: 3:51:50

The other weekend Laura, Jason, and I took a trip out to Quincy for some climbing. I set the anchors and did a pretty good job. I was nervous about the whole thing but I think I was pretty successful. The climbs weren't very hard but there were some interesting ones.

Today is Laura and my two year anniversary. To celebrate, we went to the ICA on Saturday, had sushi for dinner, and saw Get Smart. Tonight we're going to a place called Shabu Zen in Allston. Neither one of us has been to a restaurant like this before but it looks pretty exciting. It's been a wonderful two years thus far, and I anticipate more of the same.

I haven't made a whole lot of progress on my Wood Elves in the past few weeks. I managed to paint up the last four Dryads in the army, which leaves 5 Wild Riders, 6 Waywatchers, and 1 Wild Rider Noble left for the army. Of that, I've made a start on one Wild Rider horse.

Branchwraith, Branchnymph, and two two Dryads

I've also made a discovery that is a bit disconcerting. Apparently, Games Workshop has stopped production of half of their Waywatcher models. Currently I have six models for the unit, but only three unique sculpts. I don't like having duplicate models in a single unit but I am not sure where I am going to get an additional three models with different sculpts. Games Workshop does make a Waywatcher Noble model, but that still leaves me two models short. The idea of hacking up and converting metal models is not appealing so hopefully ebay or the interwebs will provide a solution.

I have all the models I need for about 1000 points of Crimson Fists sitting on my desk. I'd like to get them assembled and play a game or two with Spoony. Once 5th edition and the new codex comes out I will buy some more models and take it up to 1500 or 2000 points. I've started a second test model to try a few different things out and I think I'm closing in on what the final scheme will be.

The other day Bannister, in what I can only assume was some sort of protest over the terrible way I've been treating him this winter, threw his chain as I was going into a busy intersection and nearly killed me. When I stopped to fix that problem I noticed that the rear hub is totally boned. I'm in negotiations with Woodrow now to purchase a set of wheels from him.

Work has been really stressing me out lately, so much so that I left sick halfway through yesterday. It was a good decision I think, because I'm a lot more motivated and focused today. I don't really know what it is about this week, but I was just not very happy here or enjoying what I've been doing lately. I'm hoping a solid weekend will get me back on track.

I'm approaching the end of my Wood Elf army. Yesterday I finished off the Dryads, and all that's left at this point is some Wild Riders and Waywatchers. I'm excited to have this project done. I've learned quite a bit about painting and had a lot of fun getting this army from concept to completion.

Once these guys are done I'm going to begin work on an army of Crimson Fists. Already have 5 tactical marines, 5 terminators, and a rhino assembled, and another 10 tactical, 5 terminators, and 1 rhino on the sprues awaiting some attention. I'm currently looking into purchasing an assault and devastator squad as well, which should get me somewhere between 1000 and 1500 points. The scheme will be pretty typical of Crimson Fists.

I was aiming for some bold highlights, but I think I overdid it just a little. I have a bunch of ideas on how to improve this scheme on the next test model which I think are going to work really well. Also, these models come out in October and I'm planning on picking up a set of each:

Veterans on foot (from Bell of Lost Souls)

Veterans with jump packs (from Bell of Lost Souls)

Climbing has been sporadic at best over the past few weeks. There was a period of time where I thought my new shoes were going to be too small and painful, but I believe that I have fixed the problem now. They are incredibly precise and powerful and I'm pretty pumped to see how they work out.

Laura, Jason, , Kev, and I headed up to Rumney to spend Saturday and Sunday climbing and camping. I would describe the weekend as a rousing success - the weather was gorgeous, the climbing was fun, and the camping was relaxing.

Saturday started with what would turn out to be the hardest climb of the weekend, Obi-Wan Ryobi, a 9+. I lead it, but got sketched out on the early cave crux and spent a bit of time figuring out where the holds were. In retrospect, probably not the best climb to start on.

Me on Obi-Wan.

We then wandered on down to the 5.8 Crag and I set up The Terrace (5.8) for Laura to climb on. It was very slabby and while there weren't really any holds, the climb was very straightforward and fun.

Laura on The Terrace.

Next I got on The Raven, a very long 5.8. This climb spend a lot of time traveling up and to the right, so the falls had the potential to be big pendulums. This was a bit of a sketch out because often I wouldn't be able to see the next bolt so I would just continue up and to the right until something presented itself.

Jason and I then blitzed through Snake Skin Slab (5.8) and Asbury Park (5.7) before calling it a day.

Saturday night found us camping along the clear and cold Baker River. We bought burgers, s'mores, chips, and lots of beer, set a big fire, and generally had a grand old time. Jason fashioned a very functional spatula out of a coat hanger that we used with great success to flip burgers all evening.

I woke up on Sunday a little hung over but otherwise feeling ready to climb some more. I started up on one of my favorite climbs, Bolt Line (5.8). I feel like every time I get on this route the first bolt is less sketchy and the second bolt is more. There are no feet or hands anywhere and my calves were screaming at the end.

Me on Bolt Line.

Jason really wanted to try Lies and Propaganda next, which is a two star 5.9. After the second clip there was a sequence of moves that was a bit scary, but otherwise it was a great climb that was very rewarding to finish.

Jason on Lies and Propaganda.

Following that performance, Jason and I lead and cleaned Sixth Sense (5.6) for Laura. The climb had a few cool overhangs and some other interesting formations that made for a really interesting climb. We also watched some people take some interesting falls and generally be idiots.

To cap off the weekend, we got on Air and Present Danger, a 5.8 that starts at the top of another crag and is phenomenally exposed. The first two clips are sketchy because if you fall you're rolling off the cliff before being caught. The third clip is sketchy because you can't see if until you totally commit to some big moves. The rest of them are sketchy because you can see for miles in every direction and you're super exposed. The climb ends on a pair of really thin hands and no shuts; there is a rap ring and some chain. I was pretty nervous at the end and decided to back up my personal awesomeness system with a second anchor made from three draws strung together. All told it was a great climb to polish of a fantastic weekend.

Andy comes down off of Air and Present Danger.

I think I need a break from running. Since the marathon ended I don't have anything that I'm working towards and running has become something of a chore. I've been inconsistent at best with keeping in shape and at this point, two or three runs a week of 4 miles almost feels like a waste of my time. Mostly I just feel unmotivated and unexcited about the whole thing. My plan is to take a few weeks / months (whatever feels right) off and come back excited and with a goal (what that goal is I have no idea, but something).

My return to climbing has been going pretty well though. Last weekend I bought a bunch of new gear, including quite a bit of cord / webbing / slings and a rope. I took it to Hammond a few days ago with Jason and Kev and we climbed some simple stuff; it was a lot of fun to be outside again. Laura and I went to Metro where I struggled up a 10c, rocked a 10d, and tanked on a 10d/11a; that all tells me that the routes were not terribly consistent but that I am in pretty good shape for how long I've been back climbing. Hopefully some people will want to spend this weekend up at Rumney where I can get in some good solid leads.

My Wood Elves are shaping up pretty nicely. I'm now about 700 points away from having a full 2000 point army painted. In the 10ish years I've been in (and out) of this hobby, I've never had more than a few hundred points of anything painted, and what I had looked like crap. I'm really proud of this army and I think it's going to look great when it's done.

I've also started thinking about what I want to do once the elves are done. I was initially hesitant to start anything new since Spoony will be leaving and the GW store moved out of Harvard Square, but I realized that I'm not much of a gamer anyway so nothing has really changed. Initially I was thinking Deathwing, then I moved to Eldar, and now I'm thinking vanilla marines in the form of Crimson Fists. I like this last idea the most since it allows me to essentially play marines how I'd like to. We'll see though, as I'm going to wait until 5th Edition and the new codex are released (October).

I'm going for a run after work today, which will be the third time I've run since the marathon. I had such high hopes for maintaining my fitness levels post race, but without a goal to train for I've sort of fallen off the bus. I've also started climbing again, which is taking up the time and energy I used to devote to running.

Yesterday Matt, Pete, and I went to Hammond Pond after work and did some bouldering and traversing. There would have been some top-roping but Matt forgot his rope. The stone at Hammond is called Puddingstone, which essentially looks like concrete with pebbles in it. The pebbles are round and very slick, so footwork is very very important. I spent a lot of time working on my foot placement yesterday and feel pretty confident that I improved quite a bit in the hour and a half we were there. I'm thinking about trying to get back once a week for the specific purpose of traversing to improve my stamina and foot work.

I bought these shoes last week and I'm waiting for them to arrive in the mail so I can use them.

Work has been very stressful the past few days. My office is gearing up for the closing of the dorms, Commencement, our participation in summer orientation, and the general madness that comes with every office at BU trying to get everything done before the school year ends. I have been very busy this whole week and haven't really had any time to screw around, which used to be all I did at work.

Total number of runs: 80
Total number of miles: 535.85
Total time: 74 hours, 11 minutes, 21 seconds

This tapering nonsense is more difficult than the long running. I'm having a really hard time taking it easy on these runs which is adding more stress to the upcoming marathon day. Over the course of these week I will be running 11 miles total - this is not nearly enough miles to eat up the boundless energy that I have.

I've been trying to make plans in the evenings to occupy my mind. Lisa and I are going shopping after our run tomorrow to find some shirts to wear on race day, on Thursday Steve and I are going to get burgers and watch a Red Sox game after work, and Laura and I might go to a Red Sox game on Friday night. Lately I've sat on the couch at night with so much energy that I almost want to get up and start pacing.

I e-mailed a girl this morning who may have a number that Lisa can use. If that's the case then I will fill out the application Woodrow gave me and we'll both be official runners. If not, we'll continue our plan of being bandits.

I've worked my way through three of the Wardancers. They all have good spots and bad spots but overall I'm happy with how they're coming out. I painted the skin of two more last night but found myself rushing through and didn't do anything else. I've also noticed that the paint has been rubbing off of some of the models, which is a bit disturbing.

I miss climbing. I haven't climbed anything since I was in San Francisco, which was over a month ago.

Total number of runs: 66
Total number of miles: 439.56
Total time: 60 hours, 53 minutes, 17 seconds

Running in San Francisco felt like running in jello. The hills were ridiculous and I don't ever want to try it again. The situation wasn't helped by the fact that I had rolled my ankle climbing in Yosemite, so I only ran twice that week.

I arrived home on Saturday, and on Sunday Lisa and I crushed 20 miles; that did wonders for my confidence. Sadly, it did the opposite for my right hamstring. After toughing out Tuesday and Wednesday of this past week, I took Thursday off to rest and came back terrifyingly strong on Saturday (I blew through 8 miles at 7:30 pace) and solid on Sunday. There is some lingering pain and tightness, so I plan to take Tuesday off as well.

My vacation was a pretty good time. Laura and I spent our first night in California sleeping in a tent that we pitched in a parking lot because there was snow on the campground. In the morning we went climbing in Yosemite, where I didn't even top 30 feet before rolling my ankle and ending my outing.

After that adventure, we spend the rest of the week wandering the city. We took a tour of the Haight (a fun commercial district in the city), saw the aquarium and an Asian Art Museum, and spend a day in Stanford looking at the campus and Tim's lab. All and all it was very relaxing and warm, which was what I was looking for. Some photo excerpts can be found below, and more here.

Some trees near our campsite.

El Cap, about 3500 feet up.

Laura cruising through a crack.

Me enjoying the highest point in my Yosemite climbing experience.

Since coming home, I've tried to finish painting my Glade Guard, but the models are so boring and I'm just not interested in them. They're mostly done, but I'm not sure I'll be able to hit the 200 point mark for this month. The monotony of this has left me thinking about finishing the models I have bought (a unit of 7 Wardancers) and putting the rest of the army on hold to work on something else. This same feeling has led me to seriously think about downgrading the size of my Blood Raven army from 1500 to 1000 points. If I do that, I will only have 3 Marines, a Land Speeder, and Dreadnought left to paint. I'd also like to finish the Tau army I have (2 Crisis suits and 5 Firewarriors left).

After that, I'm not sure where I'd like to go with this hobby. Spoony, my primary (and only) opponent, is moving to California in September and once that happens, I won't have anyone to play with anymore. That being said, we don't play much to begin with, so mostly this hobby has been painting for me anyway. Who can say. I have been looking at a Death Guard army and a Blood Angels army recently, but I'd like to finish what I have now before starting anything new.

Laura and I are going on a date tonight to celebrate her getting an apartment and so I can thank her for taking care of me yesterday when my stomach revolted against my body.

I saw Dar this weekend and he asked me to be part of his wedding party. I was a bit surprised but honored. Now I just need to figure out what exactly that means. I sure do feel old.

Total number of runs: 57
Total number of miles: 358.05
Total time: 49 hours, 30 minutes, 15 seconds

I've now spent over 48 hours training for this marathon.

Apparently, 18 miles is a breeze. I ran without Lisa this past Sunday (due to an alcohol induced foot injury) and did really well. The first few miles took about 10 minutes per, but eventually I found a comfortable stride and ran strong through 12 miles. Here, I pulled my new ace: Gu Performance Gel. I took one of these at the 12 mile mark, and another one at 15 miles, and never looked back. There wasn't a surge of energy that I could detect, but despite my rather large pace increase, there wasn't any new fatigue either. These things essentially allowed me to go a lot faster with no consequences - awesome!

Kayleigh came to visit over the weekend and Laura and I entertained her while she was here. I was sad when she left in December so it was nice to have her come visit us. We all tentatively made plans to visit her in the Addirondaks this summer.

I had some very lofty plans to paint 8 Glade Guard before leaving for California on Saturday morning, but they've fallen pretty short. The idea was to paint one color a day (flesh, secondary green, primary green, and brown) over the course of four days, and have 90% of the models done when I left. The flesh and secondary green went on just fine, but Laura and I went climbing last night, and followed that up with some beer at the Behan, so last night was a wash. Tonight is movie night, which means that I won't be able to paint anything else before we leave. Oh well.

EMS had a very large pack on sale for $100, which I bought yesterday to use on this trip. I also bought a dozen carabiners to turn into draws. I'm getting more and more excited about this trip as it gets closer.

Joel is still rocking my socks off in chess (I'm currently 0 - 5, with a 6th loss coming right up). My book arrived in the mail, so some quality reading time on the plane should help my game a bit.

At times, biking is the most relaxing thing I can do for myself. The quick ride from Laura's place last night to the comic shop was pure happiness. I didn't feel the cold, I didn't feel my legs working, I just felt the smooth motion.

Total number of runs: 40
Total number of miles: 231.69
Total time: 31 hours, 23 minutes, 59 seconds

I crushed my weekend 7 mile run. I ran 8 minute splits for the first half, and then increased my pace for the second half. I felt great the whole time and finished strong even up the hills. Sunday's 15 miles were done in the pouring rain, the shining sun, and the blowing wind; towards the end there was even some thunder, and we just avoided a blizzard. Lisa and I averaged 9 minute miles and I felt great for most of it. This week is a down week, which is going to be a welcome rest and recovery period.

This weekend I was very motivated to paint, and between Sunday and yesterday I painted eight of my 16 remaining Dryads. One unit is a darker version of my previous scheme. It doesn't look terrible, but I think the original unit is going to look better. I was a bit bored painting brown though, so the second unit found itself looking like Birch trees. I think the scheme itself turned out really well, but I was a bit sloppy and rushed through it. Hopefully the final four in that unit will turn out better.

Spoony and I muddled our way though a game of Warmachine this weekend. After a promising start (I managed to get all three of my units into assault and do quite a bit of damage), Spoon executed some clever maneuvers that allowed him to kill my warcaster and win the game. Lesson learned, so next time I'll do a better job of protecting my 'caster. I had a lot of fun playing, but it took a long time since neither one of us is familiar with the rules at all.

Laura and I went climbing on Friday night. Neither one of us had the day we were hoping for, but I think that's about what we can expect after not climbing a whole lot. We are planning on going back out on Monday (Presidents' Day = no work!) to get in another good workout so that we're ready for Joshua Tree in a month.

Total number of runs: 36
Total number of miles: 200.19
Total time: 26 hours, 50 minutes, 42 seconds

Two-hundred miles! Twenty-four hours! Awesome! The 14-miler on Sunday was quite the adventure. It took us just over two hours to do, which is a damn long time to be running. Lisa's ankle and calf started giving her a lot of trouble towards the end, but we still managed to average 9 minute miles. I started to get tightness in my groin and legs, and stopping at Sunset for some water didn't help much. I'm going to start stretching a little more and hopefully address that problem. Yesterday I did four miles in under 32 minutes, which translates to an average of under 8 minutes. I felt great doing it and it wasn't apparent to me that I was going that fast.

On Monday I went to Marathon Sports downtown and bought another pair of running shoes. I'm not even half way into my training and I've already gone almost 200 miles on my Adidas shoes, so I was concerned about wearing them out and having to break in a new pair on a 20 mile run. I wanted to get a second pair of the Supernovas I have right now, but they've updated the model since I bought these in December and I don't like the changes. The woman at the store gave me a pair of Mizunos that felt incredible on my run yesterday. I'm going to break them in slowly, and then use them for the last few weeks of training and the marathon itself.

On Friday Laura took me out for my birthday dinner to Addis Red Sea. We both love it there and this time was no exception. I ordered a cabbage dish and Laura had a dish with potatoes and vegetables. The bread was delicious as always, and we were both able to order beers to go with the food.

Sunday was the Superbowl and chili cook off at our house. The Giants stole the Patriots undefeated season and were the victors; most everyone in the house was bummed out. There were five different chili entries and I tried all of them except Spoony's (his was way too spicy). There were some interesting chilies, including one with cinnamon in it. It was a very hearty way to eat after the 14 mile run.

Last night Laura and I bought our plane tickets to California. We're going to spend a week climbing in Joshua Tree and hanging out in Palo Alto with Tim. I'm really excited to travel with Laura and go climbing somewhere not in New England.

Since we moved our office, I'm no longer in walking range of the Dunkin' Dohnuts. I've been trying Starbucks and Campco coffee, but so far they're both terrible.

Lately I've spent a lot of time lately looking at the game Warmachine by Privateer Press. The models look phenomenal and the game mechanics seem to be more intuitive than 40k or Warhammer. Spoony has an older rule book that I've been reading and I'm pretty much sold on the game. I'm really excited to paint the models and play the game, but mostly I'm excited about the models. They all look very dynamic and well sculpted, and they have tons of details. Initially I'm going to purchase the starter army, which comes with a warcaster and two warjacks (the 'jacks are phenomenal looking and are what makes me want to play this game). I am also eying box of sniper models. After that I'm going to expand with another 'jack and some more human models.

Khador Battlegroup (Juggernaut, Kommander Sorscha, Destroyer)


Widowmakers


Kodiak


Manhunter


Vladimir Tzepesci

Total number of runs: 25
Total number of miles: 130.51
Total time: 17 hours, 17 minutes, 03 seconds

This past week of training was phenomenal. The six miler on Wednesday was cold but Lisa and I kept a good pace and ran through it with no problems. The other six miler I ran alone on Saturday and found myself at the 3 mile mark a lot faster than I thought I would. Coming off of those two good runs I was feeling pretty confident about the 12 miles Lisa and I were going to do on Sunday. We managed 9 minute miles the entire way, and I felt very good all the way up to mile 10.

I don't think I've ever been in shape like this, and my confidence is through the roof. I am really excited about my training and the prospect of running the marathon; I think it is going to go very well.

Spoony and I played 40k yesterday. It was the first time I have used an Ork list and he beat me. There is a lot more finesse involved in this army than the Marines, or even the Tau. However, it was a very fun list to play and I'm excited about learning how to use it.

I went to Metro with Laura yesterday with the intention of seeing where my top-rope stamina was. I climbed seven climbs (four 5.10's and three 5.11's) and at the end of the day I felt fine. However, on sustained climbs I was struggling towards the end and both Laura and I had to take a break in the middle of our session to let our arms recover. My strength is very high right now but my stamina is not where I would like it to be. That being said, I think it was a very successful afternoon and I know that the stamina issues can be resolved quickly.

Alex Maas was in town this weekend. Laura and I went to a bar with him on Friday night. It was good to see him again and to catch up.