SEX-LOAF!

Saturday after I ran errands I went over to Burt and Lonnie's apartment for dinner and some football watchin'. His nephew BC and his girlfriend also came over. I was duped into coming over for dinner because Burt was talking about how good Lonnie's meatloaf was, he had been saying that he hadn't had meatloaf since his mother passed a few years ago. So she made it for him a few weeks back and "nailed it the first time" as he says. I heard that and thought, what a tick, Lonnie made something other than grilled cheese or PB&J? I had to have some of this, I thought.

So I get over there, have a drink, and watch some football before the meal is ready. She made the whole spread, meatloaf, mashed tatters, biscuits, gravy, steamed veggies, the whole shebang. So now it's the moment of truth.

I will just say this and let my statement stand.

I took a bite and almost passed out from the onslaught of yummy-ness on my pallet. It was so good that I almost had sex with it. Srsly, y'all! You don't even what to know how good it was.

It's too bad she's going to drop a baby any second, or I would be demanding that she make it for me every day.

She doesn't make a Meatloaf she makes a SEX-LOAF!

Weekend Fun

Friday night I just chilled out at the house. Saturday The EYE-talian, Scooter, his wife, and I, (The D) went to the KU game at the Sprint Center.

Scooter scored some tix from someone that had VIP tickets to the Founders Room.

The beers were 7 BUCKS!!

Best 7 dollar beer EVAR!

On to the game! These 2 picks were taken one after the other. This one is not zoomed in at all (yea were way the fuck up there but they were kind enough to hand out free oxygen masks.)


And this one is taken right after with the FULL ZOOM!!

Doesn't that zoom just kick ass! (This is where you can insert your own joke about a zoom lens and my penis.)

Here I am concentrating on either the game or the cheerleaders or both. It was cold in the Sprint Area so I kept my scarf on the whole game.

And what kind of blogger would I be if I went to a sporting event and didn't include some cheerleader picks? Here ya, go your welcome;

That spot is some jerks bald head.

Here are some random game actions shots: HE SHOOTS, HE SCORES!

Time out, Bill wants to talk this over.

Darrell Arthur at the line.

After the ass whipping we put on Ohio the 4 of us head over to McFadden's for some tasty libations.

These are random peeps.

I probably just said something inappropriate to some random chick. Oh, well!

After Mcfadden's we headed to Westport where Scooter dropped the EYE-Tailian and I off at Kelly's. I was rocking the Escalade!

We had one drink at Kelly's then we headed to the Point. Where I my buddy B.C. was working. We had a bunch of drinks there. Then The EYE-talian had to go cause he was wasted. I then headed down to J.J's to crashed a G.N.O that some of my pals were having. It made their night that I showed up.

When I got there Abby started yelling at me b/c I was "apparently" wearing my scarf wrong. So my new pal Baywatch fixed it.

I really don't know whats up with these faces I'm making.

No I wasn't drunk at ALL!

Anyway Peace out my Homies!
Thanks for reading!

Busy, Snowy Saturday

I have a boat load of stuff to do today like hitting the Walgreens, and Kansas Sampler, and the grocery store, shoveling the sidewalk and driveway and finish putting up the Christmas lights, among others. After I just finished 4 hours at work. I went in at 6 this morning b/c I couldn't sleep with the snow falling and making all that noise on the roof... (?)

Anyway..., I'm putting in the O.T. so I can take some monster PTO starting Friday.

Here are some picks of the snow that came last night. Notice that the street still hasn't been plowed or treated and it's already 10 am, WTF?

From the front door.

From the back door.

Y'all have a nice weekend. I'll be out tonight. So, say hello if ya see me.

Well Crap

This weekend was complete CRAP! I had 4 days off and don't have jack to show for it, except a sore back and shoulders and mountains of embarrassment. The longer I stay up tonight the more and more pissed off I get at myself for being so unproductive over those 4 days.

Last years Thanksgiving was good but this years totally blew as far as sports teams go, first the Jayhawks get rolled, then the Chiefs get whipped by the worst team in the league. Tonight the Kansas basketball team had to take Arizona into overtime to get the win.

Saturday night the EYE-talian and I went to see a friends band play at Mikes Westsider on Westport road. The band is called The Sunshine Destroyers, with a name like that you'd think they were a Kiss tribute band or some other hard rocking 80's metal band. Well you'd be wrong, they are NOT a hard rocking 80's band but, they are a good band. You should check them out.

After they closed at 1:30 we walked back to my house. The EYE-talian took off, and that is when it all went down hill (if it could get any worse with Kansas losing that night.) There's nothing worst in this world than a drunken smart-ass with a cell phone home alone drinking. It's a complete clishe (yea, that's probably spelled wrong, but I know someone will correct me.)

Anyway I sent out some pretty lame drunken text messages. (this is where the mountains of embarrassment come in) Some people that were lucky enough to receive them were pissed, because it woke them up at 4 am, some were like "MEH, It's The D that's what he does." Others didn't get them until they woke up the next morning and thought they were funny. But the vast majority of the people that I talked too today told me that the 4 am texting is getting old and I should probably stop it.

So I will, at least for the week, but I'm not guaranteeing any thing.

I'm pretty worn out so I'm hitting the hay right now.
Thanks for reading.
Peace!

LEAVES ME ALONE!

Friday I set out on the overwelming task of raking the leaves in my yard, it's not a big yard but it had a TON of leaves in it.

See what I mean:

This is the view from my drive way. My house is on the right.

This is the back yard. Yes, there is grass there.

Another view of the back yard from the drive way.

I blew all of the leaves from one side of the yard to the driveway. Then I started thinking I was in over my head.

This is the view from the street.

From half way up the driveway. Looking toward the garage.

From half way up the driveway. Looking back to the street.

And from the garage back down the drive way.

And now for the after picks. This only took me 6.5 hours to do the entire yard, pick them up, and put them in trash bags.

Back yard after.

Back yard after. Notice the deer in the bushes is now upright.

And the trash bags of all the mulched up leaves.

Now, I didn't actually rake any of the leaves. I used a Craftsman blower/sucker. It worked splendidly (now if I could just find a girl to do the same thing I'd be set) but after doing my entire yard on Friday and half of moms on Saturday (next weekend I get to finish moms yard) my back and shoulders are pretty sore from all that yard work.

Thanks for readin' y'all!

McFadden's Sports Saloon

Friday night Mr. Awesome and I went down to check out the Zeros at McFadden’s Saloon in the new P&L District downtown. It’s your basic sports bar with lots of flat panel TV’s and cold beer.

But I have issues.

First off, if this is a chain of sports bars, and IF I have the correct web site linked then why does it not list Kansas City on their site? What are we second string? They say that there is one coming soon to Las Vegas, but what about the one you just opened 3 weeks ago in Kansas Fucking City? Are you not proud of it? Are you going to keep your K.C. location a secret like your retarded step child? It’s bush league, people! Update your fucking site! TODAY!! (Of course, if I don’t have the right web site linked then you can just ignore this whole paragraph.)

This was our first time to the new Power & Light District and we really didn’t know our way around as far as parking went. We arrived about 8 or so and just parked in the first parking garage we could find and paid the 5 bucks, while walking up we saw that there was parking under McFadden’s for only 2 bucks, count that one for lack of experience.

When we got to McFadden’s they check our I.D.’s (really, you’re going to check my ID? I’m thirty-fuckin'-seven. I don’t at least look like I’m 21? I was probably older that the dude checking I.D’s). The place was already packed, lots of people jammed in to the place. Apparently, they were having some kind of 80’s theme night, some of the bartenders were dressed like characters from 80’s movies, the girls were dressed like your typical Madonna types, with the big 80’s hair and lots of blue eye shadow. (Quite horrible I thought). Reggie and Scooter were already at the bar along with some other girls that we all knew.

The service was terrible when we were at the bar. Our bartender was “Iceman” from the Tom cruse movie “Top Gun”. With his Aviator sunglasses and crappy flight suite and the whole douche baggy attitude. When he was finished talking to another bartender about his sick dog crapping all over his crappy apartment. We finally got our over priced beers, Boulevard Wheat for me and Coors Light for my buddies.

If this place is going to call its self a sports bar and take any business away from Tanners (any location) or Johnny’s (any location) then they had better stop charging 4 bucks for a 10 oz draft of Coors Light. (That’s what they were charging during the KU football game on Saturday.) Because if they expect me to pay that much for a beer and then sit there and watch a sporting event and eat a meal then they are CRAZY! And just because you calm to be a sports bar or sports saloon or an Irish sports bar doesn’t mean you are one. I don’t know what a true Irish sports bar but this ain’t it. This is just a bar plain and simple. With lots of TV and loud rock music. There is nothing really special about it, if there was I missed it.

You had better get your kitchen in order also. Scooter waited for over AN HOUR for some chicken fingers and fries. Which he wasn’t happy about, and ladies and gentlemen if Scooter ain’t happy then ain’t nobody happy.

Some of the good qualities about the night were the over abundance of really good looking women. I would say that most of the women there were good looking or “top shelf” as I call them. But there really weren’t a lot of them. A good phrase to use to describe this would be “Quality over Quantity”. The quality of the women was high but the quantity was not. Which is usually what happens when the Zero’s play. When they play at the Brooksider it’s quite the sausage fest.

Another good aspect of the night was the free shots. About once or twice and hour the lady bartenders would walk up and down the bar,on top of the bar, pouring shots of whatever they had into anyone that opened their mouths. Yea, I had my fair share of those.

They had a tent set up right outside the back door for the band to play in. They were also smart enough to put in a small bar (cash only) that served Boulevard Wheat and Coors Light so people wouldn’t have to fight the crowds to get back to the bar to get a drink. Another good play was the pot-a-johns they put outside (NOT inside the tent mind you, but just out side of it) for the girls to use.

Apparently, at least this is what I have heard, is that they (the owners of these bars in the P&L District) are getting some kind of special liquor license to be able to let people walk around outside with beers and or alcohol in sort of “to go cups” (If you’ve been to the French Quarter in New Orleans you know what I’m talking about.) You can’t just leave with a glass of Long Island Ice Tea, you just have too ask for a to go cup, whether that is a plastic or what ever type of cup is up the establishment. You currently can’t do that anywhere in Kansas City, which is galacticlly stupid if you ask me. But you certainly wouldn’t be able to bring said beverage into another bar. Would you?

Overall it was a good time but then again I could have a good time at a funeral as long as it was an open bar. I would defiantly recommend it as a place to meet before or after a game or concert.

Weekend Stalker Update

This weekend will be a pretty good one, I've been looking forward to it for a few weeks now. Friday night Mr. Awesome and I are going down to McFadden's in the Power and Light District to see a local band called The Zero's. You've probably seen them at The Brooksider, or Raoul's Velvet Room. They always bring in the hot chicks so it should be fun. Plus, they're some other bars that will be or are opening that night in the P&L District, so if it sucks we can hit some other bars.

Saturday is the main event for the weekend. It's our November birthday group party and the last of my 3 birthday parties. Where a bunch of my buddies and pals get together to celebrate our birthdays, Scooter, Scooters wife, Harley Dude, Mrs. Awesome (Mr. Awesome's wife), Red, The Queen, and The Hottie, and The D, were all born in Nov of 1970, (best year ever!) well at least most of use were born in 1970, a couple weren't but that's no big deal. We have a private room at a restaurant all to our selves and our own private bar. Then it will be off to Westport, I think, for some more tasty libations! Your welcome to join us out in Westport but you'll have to check the twitter updates for where ever we go, it might not even be in Westport. The after dinner binge drinking location has not been officially announced yet.

Sunday, it's couch day for the Chiefs game.

Those are my weekend plans. What are yours?

P.S. Is this Birthday stuff redonkulous or what? I love it!

My Day Off

Today I took some much needed PTO (Paid Time Off) for my birthday it's going to be a new part of Darukah. I took today, instead of yesterday, off because I had to make sure that the project I was working on was finished yesterday, and that all the "tee's" were dotted and the "eyes" were crossed.

So, today I slept in till about 9, took a shower and was out the door. After having a nice, healthy breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerio's (it's my fav) and birthday cake. I went out to Oak Park Mall to pick up some pants that I had bought last week, and roamed around Macy's for a few minuets but didn't find anything I liked. (But when I got home and checked out there web site I found the perfect jacket to go with a new shirt that I plan to wear on Saturday night. So I have to go back out on Saturday morning. No biggie.

I also stopped by Old Navy and bought a winter jacket that I have been bitching about not having. I bought this one:

So now, I finally have a winter coat (I also bought a scarf) but I still want a leather one. I was only there about 15 min because we men don't "shop" we purchase. We, or at least I, would rather find what I want on-line then go out to the store and buy it there. I don't mess around, I get in, find what I want, and get out. That way there is no over spending. (Yes, I am aware that I am contradicting myself from the first paragraph. I didn't find anything there because I was not prepared to buy anything at there. It was a last second decision to go to Macy's in the first place.)

Then I got may hair cut. The jury is still out if she did a good job or not.

All in all it as a good day and it only took me about 2 hours.

I was talking to my pal Lonnie tonight about all of the days happenings and she suggested that I should wait until Friday to buy any other clothes because that is when all of the really big sales are going to be happening. I was all why then? I didn't realize that it was going to be Black Friday. I told her I was going to get the jacket. But I will wait for anything else.

P.S. Drew Carry is terrible as the host of The Price is Right.

Coming Up This Week

This week will be really busy for me at the office. Monday I have a 100% submittal due to the customer. I'm also having lunch with our Board of Directors. Or I should say all the company veterans are having lunch with them. But I'm telling everyone that it's just me so they think I'm sort of a big deal (which as we all know I totes am) I'm hoping for a free tee shirt out of the gig too. All over our buildings, or at least in my building, I would assume they would be in the other buildings too, are these posters with a group shot or all of us veterans.

Last week I was put in charge of all the CAD work that is required for the renovations we are doing in our building. Some more divisions are moving over here and now we have a lease on the entire building. Before my division only occupied the 2nd and 3rd floors. The problem is that there is a lot of work to do and only 4 days to do it so I'll be working a lot of overtime this week. Which sucks because my birthday is Wednesday, have I mentioned that?

Tuesday is the Blogger meet up at McCoy's. Wednesday is dinner with the family.

Thursday I'm off work, and hope to buy a new winter coat. I'm looking for a good leather one like one of these.

Which is your choice? Don't like any of them? Have other suggestions? Let me know in the comments or email your suggestions them to me.

Friday is the submittal for our building renovations.

Saturday, is another birthday party for me. Let me explain, the majority of my friends were born in November so every year for the past six or seven years we have all gotten together to have one big bash. Last year we had it at the Bulldog, one year we reserved the entire upper floor of the Grandfalloon on the Plaza. We also used to have it the day before Thanksgiving but as people get older and start having more kids it got to be too much of a hassle to try to get everyone together while still keeping there own family obligations. We usually have about 25-30 people there but since we moved it they will probably be even this year.

Did you know this was my 400th post? So YAY!

Sunday Random

Friday night I stayed in and watched Knocked Up (the un-rated HD version), it's the first time I had seen it, and I enjoyed it immensely.

Saturday night the fellas and I went out to celebrate my birthday. We meet all meet up at Tanners in Waldo, were we ate and watched KU become the only unbeaten team in college football. Then we bar hopped to Bobby Bakers, Fins and then Lew's. Good time was had by all, I just wish I could remember most of it.

But I did snap this pic at Tanners

Sunday the Chiefs lost. They should higher Bill Cowher next season. Then I took a nap.

I'm WAY behind on the Darukah gifts, this week I have gotten e-cards from Spyder and Waldo Oiseau. I also received a keg of beer from KC Beer Blog and was drop kicked by Chimpote both via Face book. And comments from Nightmare, Cate KC Sponge, Spyder and Doc. I also received a e-card from my pal Abby. Thanks to everyone for all those Darukah gifts I really appreciate them. I'm sorry if I forgot anyone.

Peace out!

UPDATE: The World Famous Shea also sent me this awesome e-card from someecards.com.



THANKS SHEA!!

Weekend Wrap Up With The D

Friday after having dinner with the family at moms for her birthday I went to Joseph A. Banks at Oak Park Mall. I know I told everyone that I was going to go to Men's Warehouse but on the advice of C-boy and his wife I decided to make a command decision and go with some place I had never been, plus I knew they were having a sale. I try on three pairs of pants and decide to go with the 34" waist. But I wear a 32-33 in jeans so I'm like WTF, yo? Apparently there is no universal size chart when it comes to men's clothes either, so you women aren't the only ones that have to keep track of what size you wear from different designers or stores. I used to wear a 38-40 in dress slacks now I wear a 34" waist. Even though I don't like the pleated slacks I did get 2 pairs (thinking the pleated pants look nicer when I'm wearing a tie, which I have to do 4 days a week for work.) I also got one pair of flat front pants that I wore to the wedding the next day. All three had to be tailored for the length, but I had them put a rush on the flat fronts because I wanted to wear them to the wedding on Saturday.

Then we move on to the shirts I tell the dude that I used to be a 18 1/2"/34-35 before I lost 85 pounds in 14 months. He bust out his tape and then says that I am now a 17"/33. (If you didn't know the first number is the neck size and the second is the length from the wrist to the middle of your back just above the shoulder blades.) So that means that I've lost 1 1/2" off my neck, and 2" off my sleeve length. (Because I've lost 85 pounds in 14 months.) I start digging though the shirts for some colors to go with the pants that I was going to wear the next day. While I'm bent over another salesman comes over and says "Where did you get those jeans." "Umm, I bought them at Banana Republic last march. They're now a little too lose now.", I say. "Na, they look alright." He replies back. I didn't realize it, until I was on my way out of the mall, but I think he was hitting on me. (EW.) At least I think he was, what straight dude would complement another dude about his pants? But I'm totally counting it as a Darukah gift for Friday.

Another unexpected surprise happened when I was checking out. The guy (the one that was helping me not the one hitting on me) asked me where I worked and if we had a corporate account. I told him where I worked and apparently we do have a corporate account which saved me another 20% off the already sale price. YESSS! BONUS!!

Saturday Mr. Awesome and I manned a martini bar at Reggie's cousins wedding reception. I was apprehensive in agreeing to do this when I was first asked because I have never tended bar or anything like that before, but once I got all of the details I agreed to do it. I knew the bride from playing kickball last fall. The evening went off with out a hitch she had left us with all the supplies and instructions on how to make them and how much of each ingredient goes in each one. We only had the supplies for 3 different martinis, Apple, (commonly known as a Appletini), a Cosmopolitan, and a Hawaiian Sea Breeze. The Apple and the Hawaiian were the most popular. But after a few hours of doing it correctly we just started pouring just about any thing in to them. She paid us 50 bucks plus the 10 bucks in tips we made. After the reception we meet up with the EYE-talian at Johnny's on Shawnee Mission Parkway. Mr. Awesome called it quits and The EYE-talian and I cam back to my house and drank all my beer, where we argued about it being the end of daylight savings time I said it was not he said it was, I lost the argument. I then sent out a drunken text message to just about everyone I know. If you got it congratulations, if you didn't then I guess it sucks to be you.

Sunday, I watched the Chiefs lose to the Packers. Speaking of fudge packers what the hell has happened to Nebraska football? And to KSU for that matter? Don't even get me started on Notre Dame. But as long as the Jayhawks win I'm happy. That KU-Neb game was an absolute blow out! 76-39? Did Nebraska even show up for the game. Did you know that that score is the highest combined score in the history of the Big 12? Did you also know that Kansas is now ranked #4 in the BCS? I'm not gonna bag on KSU because you only lost by 11 points, and I don't want some of you dudes to start crying again.

Darukah Gifts: Friday night was the clothes. And getting hit on by some dude. Saturday was a e-card from Spyder (she's totally kicking all your asses on the Darukah gifts people! Ya'll really need to step it up!! Did I tell you this was a competition? No? Good, cause it's not.) I also got a couple of beers from the EYE-talian, and Mr. Awesome. Sunday, I bought myself an egg McMuffin from Mickey D's. And Abby sent me a song.

Have a nice week Ya'll! Thanks for reading.

Weekend Shenanigans

Friday night I have a house party (not the blogger party) to go to, it’s supposed to be a costume party, but because I’m a rebel, and I march to the beat of my own drum. I’m not wearing one. We’ll at least one that doesn’t take a lot of effort.

It’s an orange tee shirt that says “Costume” in black letters. Then underneath that, on my chest I’m going to write in black permanent marker “Fuckin’ Costume.” But I bet no one sees that.

Saturday is lawn work, and that night is my mom’s birthday, probably just dinner somewhere that the SIL plans out.

Sunday will be TV all freakin’ day. And a shit load of sleeping.

Lame weekend I know but I've been hitting it hard for the past few weeks and I need to recharge before the Nov 10 weekend? What’s going on then, you ask? Well first of all it’s the Marine Corps Birthday, second it’s MY FREAKING BIRTHDAY! (Although I don’t think I’m going to have 3 parties this year, I was hung-over until March.)So if you have plans that Saturday Night you better cancel them. I have a 10K that morning and the par-taing will start right after.

Ya'll have a good one, and thanks for reading.

The Kansas City Marathon

The day started with a revile call at 5:30 am, which is usually the time I'm just getting home on some Friday nights/Saturday mornings. I had packed up all my stuff the night before into a small bag that I could just grab and go. But of course I still had to unpack the bag and go through it again to make sure I didn't forget anything. I take a shower and put on what I was going to wear for the race, socks, shoes, under armor shorts, regular shorts and the tee shirt that you've have already seen. I get out to the car hop in, turn the key, and then I farted which reminded me that I had not yet taken my pre-race dump. I shut off the car and back inside I go to do my bizzness. I get down to the Crown Center where there is a long line to get in to the parking garage so I just park on the surface lot that is south of Hallmark. I park the car and put on my watch and put my timing chip and my single car key in each shoe. I walk down to the park that is just north of the Westin Crown Center Hotel. I find a place under a tree and begin to stretch out, and warm up. At this point my stomach is freaking out. But I just tell myself that your already here, and that I have done all I can do to prepare for the race. I'm either ready or I'm not nothing I can do about it now.

They announce that the race will start in 15 min so I strap on my Ipod and walk up to the starting line, or at least get close to it. I realize that I'm surrounded by people with green numbers on their shirts. "Oh shit!" I think "These are the full marathoners! I better get the hell out of this area. These people aren't messing around." As I relocating further back I see that they have these flags with time on them like 9:00, 9:15, 9:30, and so on, each time being 15 minutes later than the previous one. So I find the 10:00 time and stand nearest I can to it. These are pace setters, I can keep a 10 min mile pace for 6 miles or so before I start to wear down. Then the 5 min warning goes off. Someone starts singing the National Anthem and I stand at attention like all good Marines do that are not in uniform. It immediately gets me going it always has, its just something about that song just puts me in the mood to kick some ass.

GO!!!! Nothing happens… after a few seconds maybe 25-30, the mass of almost 5000 people (I'm probably somewhere in the middle of the half marathoners) start to move closer and closer to the starting line. (Marathoners up front, then the half marathoners, then 5k'ers started 15 min behind us. Plus scattered in there were team marathoners where 4 people made up a team and would run 6-7 mile each of the 26.2 miles that the marathon consisted of.) The closer I get to the starting line the faster the walking becomes to where just I as I'm coming up on the starting line I start to run. I then start MY timer on MY watch.

I get a good pace going not to fast though I don't want to shoot my load too soon. I have a long ways to go. So I'm more or less just running an easy pace trying to get warmed up for the 2 hour plus run. And trying to enjoying the whole experience. Then I step in a pot hole and break my ankle! HAHAHA, that didn't happen I was just messing with you. How mess up would that have been?

Mile 1 thru 2

Before I even get to the first turn off of Grand I look over to my left and see this dude staring at me. He's about 5-6 feet away from me. I just ignore him becasue I was rocking out to some AC/DC. He moves over and says something to me. I take our my left ear piece and ask him politely to please repeat what he just said he says that he recognizes me from this blog and wished me good luck. I said the same to him. He said he was a lurker, and I said thanks for reading. And that was my one running with some one that read this site for the day. So thanks for reading dude let me know how ya did!

On the hill on Kessler which runs on the west side of the Liberty Memorial I had my one and only blow out. My shoe came untied and I thought I had lost my car key which would have been an absolute tragedy if I had to stop and look for that dam thing. So I stop to retie my shoe and look up and see my pall Katie running up the hill I start cheering her on "C'mon, KATIE! WHATS THE HOLD UP FASTER, FASTER." Just basically being an ass to her because I was in front of her. We make it up the hill together. And do the loop on the Liberty memorial taking about all the show offs that were already up and over the hill of Wyandotte Street. "Freaking show offs" I tell Katie. On the down side of the hill Katie just takes off! She starts to just fly down the hill with her arms wind-milling like she was a little kid running down a hill and didn't have the strength to stop herself, it was hilarious. The she just kept going once we turned left on to 31^st street. I never saw her again until after the race.

Miles 4 thru 6

I turn left off of main at the 4 mile mark on to Westport road. As I get near Kelly's I remember thinking I wonder if Kyle will give me a beer for free? I bet he would he's good people like that. But just as I'm passing my favorite bar I see a couple of mine and Katie's friends. I see them but they don't see me so I have to yell at them to get their attention. I bet they were either already drinking or were still drunk from the night before.

Further down the road at the Blockbuster store at the intersection of Westport Road and southwest traffic way, I see my best pals Lonnie and Abby. Well I see Lonnie on the corner of the parking lot. As I get closer I see that she is talking to Abby who is sitting in her car and Lonnie's is on the phone. As I run past them I yell "HEY! YOUR NEVER GOING TO SEE ME IF YOU STAY IN THE CAR!" They jump out and come running toward the street but I'm already past them. I had told them that I wasn't going to stop for any hugs plus I would be all wet and sweaty, so they prolly wouldn't want any hugs any way. While I am passing the big intersection and yelling at them I hear someone yelling from the cars that were stopped "RUN FASTER, RUN FASTER!" I remember thinking yea that's what I would be yelling too if I had to sit in my car and watch all of these people. Well come to find out later that the dude yelling form his car was my buddy the BC the bartender at The Point! I talked to him Saturday night and he said he saw me running and that is why he started yelling, he was telling me to run faster.

At the intersection of 45^th street and Roanoke I hear someone else calling my name he is yelling Hey Darren, I turn and look and it's one of the guys in my fantasy football league volunteering as a crossing guard! How freaking random is that! I think he started to ask me who I was playing this week in our league but I just waved and kept on pushing. I was too busy kickin ass to stop and talk.

I can't believe this post is already 1400 words and I'm just barely half way.

Mile 7 thru 8

Somewhere during mile 7 I started getting a sharp pain in my lower abdomen which started getting worse and worse then I farted. But it wasn't one of those standard farts it was one that only came out when my left foot hit the ground right, thththt, right, ththth, right, thththt. I don't know if they stunk or not because I was moving away from the "backblast" but I bet the people behind me knew if they stunk or not you'll have to ask them. So I knew I was in some serious trouble if I didn't hit the pot-a- johns and quick. So I picked up the pace and so did the fartingn right,ththththt,right,ththththth,right you get the idea. So at the aid station at the beginning of mile 8, I had to take a dump. Have you ever tried to take a dump while soaking wet? It was a new experience that I will never forget. Plus that pot-a-john was really hot (and stinky) inside, so not only was I sweating my balls off before I got inside I started sweating even MORE when I was in there (which I didn't think was possible.) It was like a turd sauna! So I make quick work of that and was back out in like 5 minutes or so. Before I went in I made sure to stop the timer on my watch.

Miles 9 thru Finish

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful just a nice pace and some good tunes to keep me motivated. At Mile 11 or so I started to lose some of my confidence that I could even finish this thing under 2:45 which was the number one goal, along with finishing without walking. As I rounded the final corner from 18^th street on to Baltimore I could see the finish line! SWEET!!!! I thought, I FREAKING DID IT!! I took out my ear pieces and tucked them in my shirt collar so they wouldn't come bouncing out. Only 0.1 mile to go! I looked at my watch and it said 2:40 and some change. Shit! I better pick it up if I want to make this in under 2:45! I could hear all the people cheering on other people and the announcer announcing people's names and other stuff. What I didn't expect to see was Abby and Lonnie there with a sign that said "The D Rules". It got me laughing so hard in the last 200 yards or so that I almost fell over the finish line. How would that have looked? As I crossed the line I stopped the watch 2:42 AWESOME! Two goals down and one to go. Now, who wants to make out?

I had meet all of my goals for the day! Come in under 2:45 I was actually shooting for 2:30 but the bottom time was 2:45. And to run the entire thing, which I did, except for about 100 yards combined. When I would get water at an aid station I would walk while I was drinking it. If I tried to run while drinking I would get more down my shirt then in my mouth. And the third goal was to have fun while doing it, which I TOTES did!

Aftermath!

After I got my metal I was walking back to the after party where there was no booze or free shots, or nekked women. What kind of after party is this I thought? A pretty lame one if ya ask me. Anyway, I meet up with Katie and her friend/trainer Kacey, who I have also know for a few years but haven't seen for about 2 years. We talk about the race and chug water and Gatorade like it was the nectar of the Gods. The whole time my feet keep getting more and more painful. I have had a problem with them for a few months now. And I really need to get them fixed or at least see a doctor. But after this race they hurt like a mofo!

I had to walk all the way back to my car from the parking lot of the fright house. That walk was torture!! When I got home at about 11 or so I remember thinking that if I went out last night I would have just been getting up about now. But instead I was in some serious pain because of my feet. I called Lonnie and Abby to say thanks for showing up and cheering me on and told them both how much pain I was in with regards to my feet. They both said to soak my feet in ebsome (sp?) salts. But neither volunteered to bring me any. I don't even know what ebsome salts are for that matter! I knew that I wouldn't be able to spend the rest of the day standing around my house. So I took some Advil, I ate some lunch and sent out some emails requesting that someone come over to the house and just hack off my feet. I mean they were that painful. On a scale of one to 10 (10 being shoot me now) I was prolly a 15 or more. I seriously could not stand it not only was it painful but it was also annoying, because when I would lay down on the couch I could feel my heart beating in them. That my friends was the WORST! I still don't know how I ended up crashing on the couch for about 3 hours.

When I woke up I was 100 times better. But the feet no longer hurt that bad. Or at least I couldn't feel my heart beating in them anymore. So I took a shower and got ready to hit The Point for some liquid painkillers. As the night wore on my feet stopped hurting but then my knees started to hurt. And they're still hurting today. But not nearly as bad, I would say like a 2 on the same scale I mentioned earlier.

Overall

Overall I would say I had an awesome time and I think it was a really great experience that most people are afraid to do. If you look at it from the perspective of where I was 14 months ago and how far I have come in just over a year! But I need to get my feet looked at before I try this distance (or longer? wait? what did he say?) again. So it's back to the 10K's and 5k's for the next 2 months. I would do this race and other races everyday of the week and twice on Sunday (as long as I get my feet looked at first.)

My next one is a 10K (6.2 miles) on Nov 10. I'm not going to do this distance until I get my feet fixed.

I have other stuff but they are more like random thoughts so I'll save those for later this week. Besides isn't this long enough? (that's what she said!)

Thanks for reading!

Weekend Update

There's a lot to tell as far as the race on Saturday goes so I'm going to post that in a separately Monday night. Plus it makes you come back if you want to hear about it, and thusly giving me more hits because, as you know I'm a hit whore.

Friday on the drive home I get a call from the SIL. I answer it and Sophia is singing the theme from Scooby Doo (it's her new fav song). Then Sophia asked me if I would come over and… Wait a sec lets back up here for a minute.

Last Tuesday we had a Family Fun Time while the whole D.C. Krew was in town for a few days. As we were sitting around the living room we somehow got on the subject of babysitting. The SIL asked me when I was going to start babysitting Sophia and Isabelle. I was all like WTF?? I didn't even know I was on the list of possible babysitters. I think the list consist of my mom, the SIL's twin sister, and the SIL's dad, and now apparently me, The D.

So, now back to the phone call. Sophia asked me if I would come cover and babysit her and her sister. I nearly died right then and there. I think I may have even blacked out (while driving) for a few seconds and then soiled myself. The SIL gets on the phone and seriously asked me if I could baby sit on Saturday afternoon at 4. First of all I thought she was only kidding about putting me on the list when we talked last week. Second does this woman even know me? I can barely keep myself safe in my own home. Not to mention taking care of 2 babies. What is she thinking? Why would she even put me on this list? I mean Hello I've never even changed a diaper in my whole life. I wouldn't even know the first thing to do if something went wrong. And what if the baby, Isabelle (only 8 months old) starts to cry? I would have absolutely no idea what to do except to start calling people in a panic asking what to do. But that would be after I started to freak out, and I mean a MAJOR freak out. How would I keep these kids entertained? (And don't say just put in a movie any retarded adult can do that. That's the chicken shit way out of babysitting.)I would just be totally lost and out of my element. But I do think it would make for a good blog fodder. I guess I could take them to a park and pick up chicks. (Every single dude knows that there are two sure ways of picking up hot chicks. 1) Babies, who doesn't like babies. 2) Puppies. What woman can refuse babies and puppies?) But using babies to pick up chicks just seams wrong to me. What am I baby pimp?

Anyway, I had to decline the baby sitting gig because I knew I wouldn't be in any kind of shape to anything but sit on the couch after the race on Saturday. If the offer comes again I just want to warn all the women that I know (whether you have kids of not) you had better be on stand-by for an emergency baby advice. Because I'm gonna need it!

Saturday after the race and my 3 hour nap a friend of mine who's a bartender at the Point. Was having some kind of shindig. So I meet some people up there about 7 for some after race binge drinking and free shots. We all had a good time watching KU beat Colorado and going 7-0. About 9 or so the rest of my crew showed up with their wives and congratulated me on recent Victory. They left about 11:30 or so, just after some other friends showed up. I left about 2 and took a cab to Westport for a final drink at Kellys, bought about 4 slices of pizza from the street meat vendor. Then headed home, made a couple of the required drunk text and drunk dials then finally called it a night at about 4 (at least that's when the last drunk text went out.) I really need a breathalyzer for my phone.

Sunday I had some yummy cold pizza for breakfast and took a 3-4 hour nap waking up just before the Chiefs game. They beat those sorry ass Raiders (sorry Raiders fan but your team isn't very good). During the game I get a text from my buddy the bartender at the point telling me that I owed him money for the tab from the night before. Apparently I took off and forgot to pay my tab. It's a good thing we're friends or I might be in some trouble for skipping out. So after the game I call him and tell him that I was starting the "Walk of Shame" (which is what I call the sober walk back to Westport (or anywhere I leave my car) back to the Point to get my car and to settle up my tab. He tells me he wasn't working and that I owed him the money for the tab, not the bar which is much better. He comes by and gives me a ride to my car. And we settle up.

The Race review is up next!

VICTORY IS MINE!!

So, ummm… yea… I’m… going to do something really big this weekend. Well, big for me anyway so big that I’m having a hard time getting words from my brain to my fingers. (This is where you say "When do you NOT have that problem?") I’ll get to what I’m doing in a second just bear with me while I explain some things.

It’s pretty much the biggest thing I have ever done. Well, actually it is the biggest thing I’ve ever done. I want my friends and family to come out and watch, and cheer me on, but I really just don’t know how to ask them without sounding arrogant, egotistical, or totally self-absorbed, all of which I am not, I’m only awesome. (Well, maybe a little self–absorbed I do blog about myself after all.) How do you ask someone to come out and watch you do this thing that they really don’t even understand why you’re doing it? Or they think you’re weird, or crazy, for even doing it. Even though thousands, if not, millions of people across the planet do it all the time? How do you ask someone to put their other responsibilities on hold, for a just few hours, so they can take part in seeing you accomplish something that you’ve been working on, for over a year to accomplish? How do you ask your friends and family to put you at the center of attention for just a couple of hours out of their Saturday morning? How do you ask people to come watch you finish the hardest thing you will have ever done in your life and take part in the joy, and share in the excitement of that accomplishment?

How do you get people to understand just how big something really is to you when you have done all of the hard work, the pain, the sweating, the injuries, the cramping, the disappointments, the stress, the anguish, the missing of goals by one pound (UUUGGGHHH, ONE FUCKING POUND!!!) that was all necessary in order to accomplish such an amazing feat? All… by… yourself? How do you get them to understand just how much it would mean to you if they just showed up at the finish line and said “Nice job buddy were proud of you.” How do you get people to understand what you've gone through if they have never gone through what you've gone through the past 14 months?

HOW PEOPLE, HOW?!?!?!

I think the best way to get everyone to understand how big this is for me is to use the analogy of taking a big exam like the SAT’s, LSAT’s, ASVAB, nursing boards, or the bar exam that lawyers take, or your dissertation for a PHD. You study for months, weeks or whatever, and then the day finally comes and you think you’re totally prepared for it. You even took all of those lame ass practice test. Then the day comes and you can’t control the excitement as you just know that you’ve passed the test and now you have your degree in whatever it is you were going for. That day was big days for you right? And you had all of your family and friends there to watch your big accomplishment right? This day is just as big for me as that day was for you.

As my everyday readers know I have been on this “voyage” or “quest” or whatever you want to call it for the past 14 months. To lose weight, A LOT of weight and to start living my life as if I actually wanted to be living it, instead of just meandering though it like some slack jawed yokel. At the start I was pretty miserable for the first few weeks with the constant soreness and the blistering feet from running on the treadmill for what seemed hours at a time.

At the starting point on September 1^st of 2006. I tipped the scales at a whopping 250 pounds, my BMI (Body Mass Index) was 38 which is categorized as SEVERLY OVERWIGHT or as my doctor put it MORBIDLY OVERWEIGHT (For my height 5’-8” and age 35 at the time.) I couldn't run one quarter of a mile with our almost passing out. or barfing all over the place. (You can read all about the weight loss by reading these posts. Or reading these post under Fitness)

This is where I started.

Please try not to vomit.

That is one sweet mullet! How jealous are ya right now?

As of Tuesday night October 16, 2007 I weighed in at 164 pounds with a BMI of 24.9. That number 24.9 has been the goal ever since I started. The 164 pounds was the secondary goal, along with overall better fitness. I wanted to get under a BMI of 25.0 because that was the low end of the overweight category any number under that was the goal. I would always ask myself “Self, what is the goal?” And I would answer “24.9, 24.9, 24.9.” But whenever someone would ask me what my goal was I would just say “To be healthier.” (Because I didn’t want to hear anyone say the 164 pounds was too light for my frame. I also didn’t want to hear anyone say that I couldn’t do it. I didn’t need the shitty negativity around me.) As I would answer their question about my goals I was actually screaming “24.9,24.9, Great Ravens Ghost 24.9!!!!” (I actually have that as my screen saver at home.)

Click to embiggen.

Now, 24.9 (FINALLY) puts me in the normal or healthy weight range. I have lost a total of 86 pounds and over 7 inches off my waist. I went from a size 40-38 waist in jeans to a size 33-32 waist. All of this might not mean jack shit to you but it means a shit load to me.

It means that I did this, ALL OF THIS, all on my own, I did not take some crazy ass drug, I didn’t hire a personal trainer, I didn’t read any of those bullshit self help books. I didn’t have any type of life threatening surgery. I didn’t result to tactics that would hurt me nor did I starve myself. I did this by reading what a proper diet consisted of. I found foods that I liked, I determined how many calories I need per day and how many I needed to burn in a day to lose weight. And I found all this information on the internet. Though hours and hours of searching for various food and weight loss websites.

I’m effectively calling a halt to all offensive operations. I am declaring VICTORY OVER MY WAR WITH OBESITY!!! I made obesity my BITCH and gave it a nice anal raping, prison yard style! (No homo.)

And these are the results:

Saturday is the crowning event of all this hard work, the miles on the treadmill, the 4 different pairs of running shoes, the blisters, the shin splints. All of that comes to an end, (for the time being.) Saturday I’m running in the Waddell & Reed Kansas City Marathon. I’m running the half marathon distance, 13.1 miles. This race, this event, is going to be one of the toughest things I have ever done. Sure, I completed Marine Corps Boot Camp but that was easy compared to what this is going to be. What this is going to be is a bitch, 13.1 miles on the mean streets of Kansas City, Missouri.

Remember the poll I had about which saying to put on the shirt for this race. Well here’s the winner!

Pretty sweet, huh?

I took out two of the numbers so it’s harder for you stalkers to find me.

I'll be wearing that shirt on Saturday.

Here’s a map of route:

View Larger Map

Doesn’t that look a lot longer than 13.1 miles!

Use the nav tools in the top left to navigate.

I'll have a total review of the event and how I felt after after the race on Monday night.

Wish me Luck!

Peace out! Have a nice weekend yourselves.

And thanks for reading!

UPDATE: The race startes at 7 a.m I should finish sometime after 9 to 9:30. I should be half way about 8 to 8:10.