Michael & Liz are Bloggable

A lot of people who know me, know that I participate several times a month in a Sunday production for kids at church called "Kidstuf". The goal is to both entertain and teach kids about Bible stories as well as instill in them a different virtual every month. For example in May, the virtue was "Responsibility" and it means "showing others you can be trusted with what's expected of you".

I have 2 roles that I play in the show. The first role is as the comic host, where me and another "credible host" introduce the show and the virtue at the beginning of the show while putting on a funny skit for the kids before the show starts. The second role I play is different characters during the section of the show called "The Word". This section of the show does the story telling part from the Bible.

Well last week Liz videoed the show. I do have a video of the introduction we put on, but the more  entertaining part is during my second role, which I was playing the character that I play once per month called Reginald Fastidious III. Just to set the scene, Reginald is as arrogant and pompous as it gets. He thinks he is the greatest actor who ever lived, but in reality, he's goofy, clumsy, and not very good at acting at all. In fact Reginald is so arrogant, that he constantly insists on acting out all the parts of the bible story, without any help from any other characters. In this weeks Word, Lisa is the story teller and she narrates the story while Reginald acts it out. The bible story this week is that of the Good Samaritan. I hope you enjoy!

We got a video this afternoon of Cole and his strong neck. Every now and then we give him "tummy time", and work on getting his neck strength up. The results usually vary, but today was a good day. Sometimes it's tough though because the dogs are so intrusive. Anytime we get on the ground like that, Gryffin wants to play with his ball and Daisy wants to lick his face or bite his toys. Here is the video:



*One note about the video, Cole's shirt today says "Snuggle Saurus. Ferociously Cute", so that's the reason for one of my comments.

Let me first say that I feel like I am in the best shape of my life. I didn't feel that way the week before this marathon, but I feel that way now. My "easy" run today ended up being 8 miles at under an 8 minute pace. I'm so excited about the possibilities this year holds in regards to everything, including running.

On May 5th I ran the New River Marathon out in the mountains near Boone and West Jefferson, NC. It was as intimidating as a race gets. It advertised 1700ft. of elevation gain/loss, which is insane for a marathon. I will admit, it was difficult but it didn't rock my world like I thought it would. Here are the stats for the race from my garmin. You can click it for more info:



I ran the first half in 1:44, with a few big hills in the middle. That is another reason why I say I'm in the best shape of my life. I wanted to go out with a comfortable pace and ended up hitting 8 minute miles until the mountain on the second half. I passed the halfway mark feeling great, albeit still tired and not looking forward to another half.

The second half is when the beast hit. I walked some of the steep parts, but for the most part I made it to mile 22 without walking. At that point I was drained and struggled to get into any kind of rhythm. I ran/walked to the finish with my second best marathon time of 3:52. For a while I thought I could come close to my best time of 3:46, but I just couldn't muster the energy to run continuously near the end. To say I am pleased though is an understatement. Not only am I excited about it, I have signed up for another race... in July!

I signed up for the Grandfather Mountain Marathon. So far from what I've read, it is quite a race. It's advertised as "One of America's Toughest Marathons". It has 2000 ft. of elevation gain and 1000 ft. of loss. It finishes in the middle of the world's second largest Scottish Highland Games. In my Google search of best marathons to run, Grandfather Mountain has made every "Top 25" list I found. It may be hard but it's apparently very scenic including 5 miles on the Blue Ridge Parkway. The other tough part is that it's in the middle of July, and hopefully the mountains contain the heat. From what I've read it's not too bad, with lows near mid 50's and highs in the 70's.

So for the foreseeable future here are the big races we are considering:

• July 14: Grandfather Mountain Marathon
• September 29: Hinson Lake 24 Hour Ultra
• October 7: Oktoberfest 10K
• November 4: City of Oaks Half Marathon (Liz)
• November 11: Outer Banks Marathon
• March 17: Georgia Marathon

Our motivation is very high right now to run, so hopefully injuries stay away!

I like blogging what movies we've been watching, and once again I've waited 3 months to do it. Believe it or not, for having watched 24 movies in these 3 months, we have slowed down. I realize that's because of having had Cole, but for anyone else, that's a lot of movies. Here is what we watched in February, March, and April:

Feburary: 

• Leaves of Grass (2010) - 2 stars - Disappointed with Ed Norton. I guess he did well with his acting, but you expect more from someone so talented. At least I did. 
• Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) - 4 stars - I gave it 4 stars the first time I saw it, this time I would have done 3. I like this series, as insane and confusing as it is. 
• Forks Over Knives (2011) - 5 stars - I've never seen or heard anything I believed wholeheartedly like the information in this documentary It's hard to discount the evidence that animal products are the causes of most diseases in our modern day diet. Watch this movie, it'll blow your mind. 
• Highlander (1986) - 1 star - Can I please give 0 stars? awful awful awful. 
• Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008) - 1 star - ditto, can I use 0 stars? I actually really want to find these movies funny, but they rely too heavily on raunchy jokes or drug jokes, and I rarely find that funny. 
• The Change-Up (2011) - 4 stars - I am beginning to love Jason Bateman. I thought this movie was really funny. Some jokes are raunchy, but they are done differently/better than the Harold & Kumar movie.
• Yes Man (2008) - 3 stars - This movie is really cute. I like Jim Carrey and I'd equate this movie to Liar Liar. If you liked that movie, you'll like this. 
• Food Matters (2008) - 2 stars - It's hard to see a movie like Forks Over Knives and then try and take any other food documentary seriously. I may agree with what is said here, but that's beside the point. 

March: 

• Last Train Home (2009) - 2 stars - This documentary got a lot of praise from (I believe) the Oscars, and getting all the footage was an incredible feat, but it was not a well put together documentary. It's about the millions of migrant workers in China. It has a lot of information, but there was very little the viewer is left with. It ended and wrapped up with very little conclusion or resolution. I tend to think documentaries should normally have a call to action at the end, if only to just make you more informed about your choices in life. This movie didn't even have that.
• Modern Family - Season 1 (2009) - 5 stars - Easily one of my favorite shows now. I want to be best friends with Phil Dunphy. I love his character, I can relate to it, and I get so much enjoyment out of his antics. 
• Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps (2010) - 3 stars - Just another movie to me. Although there were a lot of twists and turns, this movie was nothing really special.
• Larry Crowne (2011) - 3 stars - This movie was cute, but if it was done by any two actors other than Tom Hanks and Julia Robert, it wouldn't have been very good. I really enjoyed seeing how frugal Larry Crowne became after getting laid off. I love frugality. What bothered me though was the plot with his friends at college. It was just forced and random and could have been left out, it was clearly only meant to take up time. 
• Warrior (2011) - 5 stars - I don't like MMA fighting, and didn't expect to enjoy this movie, but it far exceeded my expectations. The two brothers did a phenomenal job as main characters. This is very much a Rocky type movie, but I enjoyed it just as much. 
• Jack and Jill (2011) - 1 star - Usually I can enjoy an Adam Sandler movie, but this one hit a new low. Awful awful awful. 
• Bad Teacher (2011) - 2 stars - I think they could have added far more laughs to this movie than they did. And the main reason I wanted to watch this was to see Jason Segel, but his character had a very small role. 

April: 

• Modern Family - Season 2 (2009) - 5 stars - "What's the plan Phil!?" Ugh, LOVE IT! My other favorite characters are Cam and Gloria. 
• The Descendants (2011) - 3 stars - I've seen this movie twice now and I don't understand why it got so much buzz. It is a complicated story line, and the acting was well done, but I felt unsatisfied by the conclusion. Loved the Hawaiian scenery, but it's gotta be better. 
• The Ides of March (2011) - 3 stars - I can't help but think this movie parallels some real life problems for politicians. They are always having to cover up potential scandals. I like Ryan Gosling, I don't know why I gave this only 3 stars, but it was a decent movie. 
• Moneyball (2011) - 5 stars - Loved this movie in every way. From start to finish I was engaged. Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill did a fantastic job. The only flaw I'd say this movie has, is the disconnect between Jonah Hill's character and the real life person it was based on. I found out in researching the movie afterward that the person in real life was nothing like the way Jonah betrayed it. It wasn't even just one person, Jonah was portraying a group of people. Oh well, that's why it was a movie.
• Red (2010) - 2 stars - Ehh, it was fine. The movie had a lot of star power, that's about all you can say. 
• Ricky Gervais: Out of England (2008) - 4 stars - I love stand up comics. Ricky definitely has that dry English humor, that I usually don't enjoy, but I do like it on him. Although this isn't very nice, I LOVED his bit on fat people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXTq2_3LfXM
• In Time (2011) - 4 stars - We loved the concept behind this movie. Instead of money, the currency is "time". It certainly makes you think about the possibilities. I'm starting to become a huge fan of Justin Timberlake though, he's a great actor. He's very similar to Will Smith in that he can basically do what he wants (comedy vs. action). 
• Friends with Benefits (2011) - 4 stars - Another JT movie that I enjoyed. It was obviously predictable but what do you expect from romantic comedies? The one thing I didn't enjoy though was there was one scene that basically bordered on being NC-17. It's hard to do, but it made Liz and I really uncomfortable. 
• Against The Ropes (2004) - 3 stars - I like Meg Ryan and I expect a lot from boxing movies, but this movie was average. Predictable, not too terribly exciting, and they managed to make the boxing scenes mediocre. I'd hoped for more.

Occasionally Liz sends me pictures to put in my digital picture frame at work. This morning she took a picture that not only I think deserves to be framed, but it must be posted to the blog for everyone to see. Tuesday will be 6 weeks since Cole was born and I cannot express how well she's done as a Mother. I knew she'd be good, but she makes it seem easy. We keep saying that Cole makes being a parent easy too, so I guess it goes both ways. I shouldn't speak too soon I guess, because life with a baby changes fast!!

I LOVE this picture, and I'm looking forward to many more pictures to come! Happy Mother's Day to Liz!!

It has been a couple weeks now, but I haven't blogged about the RunRaleigh Half Marathon I ran in. It was on April 15th, just under 2 weeks after Cole was born. I had trained hard early in the year, but hadn't done much running after he was born and wasn't expecting much from this race. My previous personal record in the half was 1:35:08, and my plan for this run was to hit between 1:40 and 1:45. It didn't quite pan out the way I wanted it to. The first mile I ran at a 7:15 minute per mile pace, and decided just to keep going with that, and ended up hitting a 1:35:29. I missed my PR by 21 seconds!! ARG!!!  Here are the stats I recorded on my Garmin:


I ran the Raleigh Rocks Half Marathon last year, and I have to say, RunRaleigh blew Raleigh Rocks away. They did everything better. The course was much better in that it covered much more distance and didn't loop back on itself multiple times like Raleigh Rocks does. The medals at the end and the t-shirt the race provided were both far better. I also felt like it was much more organized. The only downside was that there was a storm the night before and it blew away all the mile markers.

So what race is next? This Saturday I am running the New River Marathon. It should be quite an experience since it's way out in the mountains of North Carolina. RunRaleigh had 373 feet of elevation gain, but the New River Marathon has 1732 feet of elevation gain. I can't imagine how difficult it is going to be. What am I hoping to run? I guess if I were aiming for a time, it would be 4 hours or under, but I think that may be a little ambitious. My running plan is to go out comfortably, drink lots of water, and enjoy the scenery. However long it takes me, I really won't care as long as I don't completely tank, like running it in 5 hours or more.