Nov. 29: Bievenue a Paris Papa!

Today was my dad's first full day in Paris so we decided to show him all the main highlights, L'arc de Triomphe, Champs Alysee, Louvre (including Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, and my favorite painting - The Raft of Medussa), Eiffle Tower, then dinner at Montmartre. The best way to see all of this is by, of course, bike!

Dad, Jennie, and my sister getting ready to cruise!

My sister, dad, and Jennie approaching the L'arc de Triomphe. Dad wants you to take note of his Lance Armstrong form (He says that you will just have to trust him that his yellow jersey is under his warmup jacket!)

Dad and I at the L'arc de Triomphe.

Me infront of "The Raft of Medussa" at the Louvre. This is one of my top 2 paintings in the Louvre. That speck in the bottom right corner is me (for scale!). I do not have time as to why I love this picture...we will have to save that for another post.

My sister, Jennie, and I crossing the Pont de La Carrousel...the top of the Eiffel Tower is in the background.


The Eiffel Tower - lit blue to represent the blue of the EU flag (12 gold stars are on the other side, which makes the Tower look like the EU flag)


The Eiffel Tower sparkles for 5 minutes at the top of each hour.

Jennie and I in Montmartre - The Sacre Coeur is in the background.

Dad infront of the Moulin Rouge...he was a little disapointed that the dancers were not performing outside today!

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Nov.28: BLACK Friday

LET'S GET READY TO RUUUUUUUUUUMBBBBBBBBBBLE!!

For those of you, you, you, ou, u
Who, who, who, ho, o
Are going, going, going, oing, ing, ng
Shopping, shopping, hopping, opping, ing, ing

Good Luck, luck, luck, luck....!!!!

(The above is meant to be read as though you have that cool echo effect going on in your head...and if possible, try to put a little growl to your voice (kind of like a DJ who was out smoking all night) for the true effect I am trying to go for here. It is meant to convey the level of intensity that you will need shopping today!)

On other news, my dad is arriving in Paris today for the first time ever! I am really excited to see him and show him around a little! He is bringing my road bike, which I am VERY excited about! I already have a few weekend trips planned around France to tour by bike (Did anyone say the Loire Valley?)!

Ok, I have procrastinated not going to work long enough. You guys keep it real today and remember that, perhaps, that $3 DVD player may not be worth an assault charge why you are fighting the masses at Walmart...

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Nov. 23: Not Running

This morning I had every intention of getting up early and heading out for another glorious morning run just like I had experienced yesterday. It was critical that I get my run done first thing since I will be travelling to the south of France later today for work (tough work - but someone has to do it!). Yet, here I am sitting in my apartment all alone while Jennie is out bagging another run. What gives?!

It seems that lately Jennie has been slacking on her Friday and Saturday night wine intake. This means that I have to pick up the slack to finish off whatever wine bottle(s) may have been opened. It would be offensive to the French if I left some of their finest wine unfinished...no?! Yep - I hope she is enjoying her run as much as I enjoyed the wine!!

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Nov. 22: A beautiful day

Today I woke up and did something that I do not normally do - I ran first thing! What an awesome way to start the weekend! It was crispy and the sun was just high enough to cast long shadows across the pathways that seemed to dance to the same rythym of my pace today. I ran 7.5 miles as follows:

7:31, 7:29, 7:28, 7:29, 7:28, 7:30, 7:25, 7:30 (last 0.5) min/mile

I just love these runs where you just lock into a pace, get lost in your thoughts, and before you know it you are back at your door.

Now we are just getting ready to go storm Paris by bike!

ps - The last 2 days I spent in cultural training and they showed us this video to highlight the differences (and importance) of language...I thought it was hilarious!

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Nov. 20: TMI?

So, after over 30 years of negligance I finally broke down this week and did some "hair maintenance" on my chest. When I was living in the colder northern climates I found that it was quite advantageous to be born with a natural sweater...in fact a hairy chest such as mine was viewed as a favorable genetic mutation...kinda of like an 'X-Man' quality. I was even referred to by some common X-Men names such as 'Wolverine', 'Sabretooth', and 'Beast'. You can also thank genetically advanced people such as myself for the whole Bigfoot myth - look at all the entertainment my people have provided!

Then I moved to Houston where my natural sweater was no longer an advantage...especially during the hot 'n humid summer months. But this is when I started running and the resistance training proved to be invaluable! Infact, during hurricane season I could just stand outside with no shirt on and let my chest hair catch all the flying debris to keep my neighborhood safe.

Plus the Yeti was something new to the local Texan folk since it is normally found high in the Himalayas feeding on inexperienced ice-climbers and yoodlers. I proved to be an attraction...kinda of like the type you see at the circus (but not the good circus, the kinda seedy - don't bring your kids to the performance - type circus!)

Lately there have been no curious crowds willing to pay 50 cents to see me, the bearded lady, and sword-swallowing midget so I found that I was the one becoming curious...I was curious as to what my belly button actually looked like? I knew that it still excisted deep below the carpeted hair forest because I could still feel its general shape below the turf! To cut a long story short, I can now see my belly button!

Yeah...definitely TMI...and definitely another good day in Paris!
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Nov. 18: Oh yeah...this is a running blog

Although it is only Tuesday, this is a great week! For starters, when I rolled out of bed on Monday morning and looked out my window I was greeted with this sunrise over the Sacre Coeur:



And on Thursday and Friday I am off work to attend Cultural Training! Ok, to be honest I am not sure what I would rather do...work or attend the training. But I am pretty sure that I will have a steady supply of croissants and pain au chocolats to keep me entertained...we shall see!

And to make this week even better, I have actually been running again lately (hence the title of this blog)! I ran 6 miles on Sunday night with Jennie at ~ 9 minute/mile pace.

Yesterday I was leaving work to catch the metro only to discover that the metro was on strike and that all of Paris seemed to be jammed into the metro station trying to catch the 1 train that was running every 20 minutes. "No problem," I thought - like any well planned runner I have a pair of running shoes, shorts, shirt, and clean socks in my office, "I can just run home." And run home I did and it was a BLAST!! It has been a while since I have done serious urban adventure running - I usually avoid it due to the threat of injury or the fact that my legs are just too brittle from extensive training to do some of the maneuvering required to jump obstacles, side step people, and hang fakies when blasting over 5-6 stairs at a time! But yesterday I was just a running fool...now I just need to perfect the army roll while running mid-stride - that would look so cool to do randomly infront of a group of people and just keep running without breaking stride afterwards!!

Today I ran 6 miles in what I believe the Kenyan Way people would call a "progressive run." I had no intention of doing this but once my feet hit the pavement I just let them make the decisions for me. This was not an easy run, nor was it an overly hard run, but it was a GREAT run! It went as follows:
7:30, 7:13, 7:04, 6:39, 5:52, 5:43 min/mile

I have had to restructure my running route to follow alongside lit roads now since it is dusky by 4:45pm and dark by 5:00pm. Since I do not start running until 7:30-8:00pm, I run in search of light! My usual running routes are a little too dark and I believe are used for extracurricular tranny activities during this time of year (2 sightings tonight). My new 6 mile running route is below - it just pains me to see all those beautiful pathways inbetween that I will not be able to run along until next spring sometime!



Speaking of running in darker conditions though - does anyone notice how super dilated their eyes get when coming in from a, generally, dark run. It is obvious why...but after my run today my pupils were huge - I scared myself when I looked into the mirror!

Tomorrow is pilates...going to get my stretch on...sucre!
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You think you are having a bad day?

This guy just accidentally sat on the sharp end of a tree stump...naked! OUCH!