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This weekend my wife and I did a practice run for the 1/2 marathon we are doing in Nashville next weekend. We ran 10 1/2 miles of the 13.1 miles and walked the rest. While walking out the last 2+ miles I realized that the walking hurt more than the running and have decided to try and run the entire event despite the pain. Now if I start to experience real pain and not muscle fatigue I will call it quits and try again next year but if the only pain I experience is musle fatigue I plan to run until I collapse or finish.

I also went to Rock City this weekend with my 7 year old nephew and I must admit it’s kind of a cool place despite the cheesy touristy crap they have put there. I can only imagine the amazement of the first people to stumble upon that place. It’s quite a natural wonder. If you have never been there you should at least check it out one time. You will be sickened by the fat tourists there but the natural rock formations are fascinating. And if you can see 7 states with all the pollution in the air you are on some serious drugs or you got very lucky.

I left work early yesterday to watch the final descent of stage 3 of the Tour de Georgia as it came off Lookout Mountain down Ochs Hwy. into St. Elmo. I was at the bottom of Ochs Hwy. as the cyclists came by and they were hauling major ass. There was a breakaway group in the lead that was about 30 minutes ahead of the peleton. I don’t know how fast they were going but I have heard it was around 60mph. If that number is correct then I am truly impressed.

My friend TD was in town tonight and we met up at Pisa Pizza, a hip little pizza joint in my neighborhood that is managed by my brother. Before this I ran 2.5 miles, a short little distance but it was nice to get out in the fine weather and get some exercise. Any good I did with the running I am sure was undone by the 4 slices of pizza I ate but what the hell.

The tour de Georgia comes to town tomorrow. The events web site seems to be suffering a bit but there is a nice BLOG site that will keep you up to date on the results.

To all those effected by the tragedy at Virginia Tech University I can’t imagine the sorrow you feel so I send you my condolences. It is times like this when I wonder why we allow the purchasing of handguns to just about anybody.

Friday evening a friend of mine Mark Bradley Shoup had an art opening at the Tanner Hill Gallery on Broad Street in South Chattanooga. This is a very nice gallery in a great location. I ran into a number of my friends there and I drank a bit to much free wine but enjoyed a great dinner at the St. John’s Meeting Place afterwards.

Saturday I went over to the river walk in between rain storms and ran 5 miles. I love running on the River Walk in the rain for 2 reasons, first there are no people there and second there are no major hills. During this rainy run I passed about 5 people. The great news for me during this run was that I upped my usual slow running pace by about 1 minute per mile. I came in on this run at a few seconds over 50 minutes for 5 miles which almost cuts 5 minutes off my average times at this distance. This is good news as far as my 1/2 marathon is concerned. I still will not be running the entire distance but my plan is to run 5 miles walk 3 and then run out the remaining 5.1 miles to the finish line.

Sunday I went to the theater and saw the Grindhouse double feature. The length of the film was a bit much as my ass was hurting by the end but the films were campy and amusing and it was nice to get 2 for the price of one.

The 1/2 Marathon I signed up for is fast approaching and I am not ready for it. I was fully intending to train hard for it and run the entire event but it looks like I have just run out of time and will not make it. I will finish but I expect it will require some walking. My new goal is to run 10 of the 13.1 miles. I have trained up to 7 miles so I expect I can add on 3 more in the next 2 weeks. If I can run 10 miles I will still be pleased with myself.

I thought every Friday was a good Friday. In my humble life they are. The work week is over and the I have 2 days off from the hell known as my job. Do I really need the son of a fake “god” to make it a “good” Friday? Fuck Christians and fuck Jesus even the sweet chocolate one!

Went on a short run this evening around the 2 bridges. Not a very long run but it was more than most people ran today. My wife and 2 of her friends left early this morning for a weekend trip to NYC. Looks like the boys have the weekend free. Saturday night there is going to be a good show at Rhythm and Brews, Lord T and Eloise will be bringing the sounds of Aristocrunk back to the city of Chattanooga. Check out their video for the song Million Dollar Boots.

Well it’s another day and another post. I commuted to work on my new touring bike yesterday and after work I took a ride down to Flinstone, GA. taking Old Hwy 2 right past my friend E-Rock’s house. I was planning on stopping by his house to say hello and surprise him but he was not home so I kept on riding for a few miles before I turned around and headed back to the house. I plan on upping this ride to eventually include the addition of Lookout Mountain going up Nick A. Jack Rd. and coming back down Cummings Hwy. but I am a ways away from being able to do this.

I am drewcifer and I live in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I am a systems administrator at a local ISP and within the last year I have gotten into running and cycling as a way to work off some of the computer physique I have developed over the past 10 years of working in the IT industry. This blog will often times focus on this nonsense but will also include whatever else I choose to publish here. I hope you find it useful.