threw up last night

 woke up around 3am and my stomach hurt. about 90 minutes later I vom'd. then I felt better and went back to sleep. I was looking through my blog trying to find the last time I threw up because I remember writing about it. 

Yes yes yes I just remembered it was December 2019 and I got caught in a cold rain and had hypothermia and later threw up after a disastrous shoe-shopping experience. Is that the last time I threw up? Maybe.

I think I maybe did again at the end of 2021 but I can't remember for sure. 

Anyway here's my attempt to remember for the future. Let's see how long we can go!

I'm pretty sure I threw up because I accidentally bought this reduced fat shredded cheese and it looked weird but I wasn't sure if the cheese had gone bad or if that's just what reduced fat shredded cheese looks like but I'm going to throw it out and never buy it again.

what my name means

andy is shortened version of andrew which comes from the greek word for man, andros. So my name just means like 'guy'.

But I think my name is a combination of the english word for 'and' and the spanish word for 'and' which is 'y'. And-y. 

So it's like when you're naming a list of amazing things and for added effect you do a second and before the third thing. Like, I crossed the highest peaks, and rewound the longest tapes, and...AND computed the optimal route. Or whatever.

And and. My name means and and.

I'm going to name colors and the word that sounds closest to how that color word sounds

violet-violence

red-led

blue-ploo

turquoise-durquoise

yellow-lay low

I don't know where I was going with that. Here's what is important. I never let people know that I don't understand something. If someone is saying something and I don't understand, I lie to myself and tell myself that I do understand. Because as someone who has tried to be understood, the thing I hate the most is when people don't understand. And so if I don't understand, I'm basically making that person hate me. And when I hate someone, I really dislike them. So, it's from a place of empathy and understanding that I always pretend to understand everything that everyone is saying to me.

And that's called being a good person

here's what I think should have happened in Shrek 2

 To understand Shrek 2, we have to understand the first film, Shrek. A lot of people think Shrek is a love story. The culmination of the first film is the union of Shrek and Fiona. The second film continues this line of thought by showing the challenges of marriage. But this is flawed. The failure of the second Shrek movie is that it ends exactly where it started, Shrek and Fiona in a happy marriage. Sure they overcome challenges and the Fairy Godmother sings I Need a Hero but this is all noise. I haven't rewatched the second movie or bothered to look at a synopsis but I feel confident in saying that the movie ends with Shrek and Fiona in a happy marriage. Nothing else about the characters or their relationship or the world that we actually cared about before the movie started has changed. That's not a plot for a movie. That's a plot for a TV show. 

In the first movie, Shrek begins the movie happy in his swamp, terrifying villagers. He ends the movie happy in his swamp with an ogre wife. That's progression. That's the hero's journey. Normalcy, a disruption, a journey, a reckoning, a return to normalcy with a difference. But to have a proper sequel, Shrek can't just be a love story. As we've discussed, there's nothing to build upon there. Shrek is a movie about a guy killing a vicious tyrant, Lord Farquaad. Lord Farquaad at the beginning of the first movie is trying to round up all the fairy tale creatures and they seek refuge in Shrek's swamp so Shrek has to go to the kingdom of Duloc to stop Lord Farquaad. And then later Lord Farquaad gets eaten by a dragon. 

The movie takes a hard turn at the end into the love story but the change Shrek has affected cannot be ignored. This is the fundamental change that occurs in the first Shrek movie. The toppling of a ruthless monarch. And so the sequel of Shrek can only be about one of two things. Either a) Lord Farquaad returns somehow and Shrek must vanquish him again or b) in the power vacuum left behind, Shrek must fill in as the ruler of the land. Both of these plots have been done before and neither is very interesting. Shrek defeating Lord Farquaad again has the same problem as the actual sequel. It doesn't actually go anywhere. The second plot where Shrek learns to rule doesn't have a lot of opportunities for drama. In the first movie, Shrek goes from this outsider and monster to a hero and a revolutionary. And then in the proposed second movie he goes from a revolutionary to leader--a setter and enforcer of the new status quo. But that's not a fun movie to watch. That's a long, complex, difficult process. It might take generations of slow and inconsistent change. The first movie is resolved with a guy being eaten by a dragon. The second movie would be like watching paint dry. 

But here's the fix. Here's what makes it interesting. Donkey turns evil. This is what needs to happen for Shrek 2 to work. Because I'm sure you remember that Donkey and Dragon fall in love. And technically the Dragon is the one that eats Lord Farquaad. Everyone gives Shrek all the credit because it's his swamp and he's part of the major love arc but Donkey was just as much a part of the coup. So now in the 2nd movie, Shrek and Donkey have some disagreement about who has the true claim as the ruler of the former kingdom of Duloc and tensions escalate and lines are drawn and forces are mustered and there's an all-out war between the fairy tale creatures and the people of the realm and then in the end Shrek and Donkey are fighting in the courtyard of Shrek's Swamp Tower and the Dragon tries to eat Shrek like Lord Farquaad but Shrek punches his way out of the back of the Dragon's throat and the Dragon chokes to death and so Donkey in a fit of rage runs a sword through Shrek's ogre-heart and in that moment their eyes meet and Donkey remembers that all he ever really wanted was a friend and Shrek was that friend and Shrek remembers that all he ever really wanted was to be alone and everyone ruined that for him and he dies and with a heavy heart Donkey becomes the ruler of the land and builds a giant mud statue for Shrek and everyone lives in isolation with minimal contact because Shrek taught everyone that we're all monsters on the inside and when we gather together as a society, we become even more monstrous and not even the true friendship of Donkey and Shrek could overcome that so everyone just keeps to themselves.

somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas I need to get myself away from this place

I said, yep, what a concept, I could use a little fuel myself and we could all use a little change

if it's worth doing, it's worth overdoing

 I did a little bit of hip exercises and mobility and saw a big effect so now I'm doing A LOT of hip mobility and exercises and I think I've fully gone over to fatigue. But I'm okay with that for right now. I'm sure I'll adapt pretty quickly and be stronger for it. It's fun to find out.

the go in wegman's and not fall in love challenge

 you go in wegman's and try not to fall in love with someone. and then, if you win you actually lose

I made up this climb today while coaching

 and the last move was really tricky so I told the kids if any of them could do it I'd give them a dollar. I didn't think I'd have to pay out because I was pretty sure I couldn't do it. I said if I could do it then I would get to pour water on a person's head of my choosing.

Well ten minutes later I figured out how to do the move and then on the next go this girl did it so I payed her a dollar in quarters and then we went out in the parking lot and I poured water over her head. fun day.

 "Anything might have been anything else and had as much meaning to it."

great quote by tennessee williams. the man the state was named after.

It makes me think about that thing people like to say a lot when talking about people in history or inventors or whoever "Oh, if so-and-so hadn't done such-and-such then there never would've been blah-blah-blah" 

That's so lame. What a lame wrong thing to say. It probably would've been done anyway and even if it never happened the world wouldn't have any less meaning or richness. Hamlet says, "there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so."

So who cares if pop-tarts have already been invented. Make your own product called top-parts and it's where you take like, the top part of an oreo and the top part of candy corn and the top part of a s'more and the top part of a sandwich, and the top part of a banana and the top part of peanut butter that has separated over time and you put all that in food processor and blend it into a paste and inject that into like a bread-pastry thing. And don't let the little minds of others stop you.

doing well!

 Reflecting on some things I've done well in training this Fall

-not taking down weeks. This one maybe doesn't matter too much but because I wanted to hit 3000 miles for the year I couldn't really afford to do down weeks so I've just kept my volume at 67 miles per week for about 13 weeks now. I feel like my fitness has only gone up. 10 miles a day with one long run and a day off isn't too hard for me to manage. What I think has happened is that as my body has gotten more and more used to the mileage, my pace has increased and my workouts have gotten harder. Which is what you want. So, maybe taking those down weeks was just missing out on mileage that I could have been doing.

-doing race specific workouts. I went to race at 5:30 pace so most of my workouts have been around that pace or at race effort given my current fitness. Last year my training wasn't specific enough. A lot of it was probably too slow to be really helpful on race day.

-doing a double on Friday. Two 5 mile runs feels like a rest day compared to one 10 mile run and I usually work in some faster paces for fun. It's a double win

-track workouts on Sunday. I only recently started doing this but I immediately liked it. Normally I'd do a 15 mile run with anywhere from 8 to 10 miles at a moderately hard pace but now I'm doing high quality track workouts when my legs tend to feel their best. That gives me more confidence.

-working on the hips, hammies, and buns. This one has been pretty huge. I forgot why I decided to do some glute activation but I noticed a difference right away. It's hard to describe. It's kinda like if you've been driving on flat tires for a long time and then you finally inflate them. There's a float to my stride again that makes running way more enjoyable and fun. It's like I thought I was enjoying running but really I was riding on the wheels and not the tires. Or something.

Anyway doing well.

went too deep in the tired cave

 I had a really good workout but now I can barely keep my eyes open and I have to go coach. I'm sure I'll be fine when I get there but it's a delicate balance between running hard and having enough energy to function afterwards. No regrets. 

I'm going to be aware of how I feel and mindful of not letting that affect how I treat others.

things I wouldn't do anymore if I was a frog

I wouldn't have to renew my car registration anymore with the DMV. The DMV secret police would pull my car over and try to get me but inside they would just find a frog which would be impossible to arrest.

Pay 9 dollars for fake chicken nuggets. I would eat bugs instead for free.

Reach things for people. A tremendous hassle now alleviated by the fact that I am the size of an apple and would ride around in the coat pocket of my man-servant Beauregard who is a black-belt in karate and has a mustache and carries an axe.

Political intrigue. How can I be expected to keep up with all the goings-ons of politicians when I spend my days and nights sitting in water and screaming with my friends.

Frogs are amphibious.

And the last thing I wouldn't have to do anymore as a frog is suffer the slings and arrows of waiting for water to boil because I heard once that if you put a frog in boiling water it will just be a like hot tub for it. Checkmate.

5:20 is the new 5:30. 70 is the new 75.

 believe it!!

went back to CHT today

 did a fun little half-day family camp. very nice. ate 2 muffins. 

 a one pound nugget of wisdom is equal to a pound of experience. there is a one-to-one exchange rate between wisdom and experience

i am a tree

 a tree is a place unto itself

I SENT THE PROJECT!!!

 AHHHH!! Very happy. very relieved.

Did a good warm-up. Really psyched myself up. Felt good and just did the dang thing. Executed everything really well.

Upwards and onwards

still on the project

 Last Wednesday I was matched on the next to last hold and couldn't hang on to the sidepull sloper and fell off. I gave it more goes but couldn't get back to that spot. Then I ended up doing a lot of climbing and got pretty tired. Friday I knew I wasn't as fresh but still gave some goes and got out of the cave. It was a little colder Friday and maybe my shoe rubber wasn't as sticky or something but the holds felt a little slicker than normal. By the end of the session I couldn't get the toe hook to stick in the cave. 

I think resting two days is too much rest or it's possible my long run workout on Sunday is making me tired. Probably a bit of both. Didn't climb over the weekend and felt recovered but my body was definitely a little tired. I didn't warm up very much at all and hopped on the climb immediately and got to the third to last hold. I think that was my best go. I should have warmed up better. I was consistent in doing all the moves so that's an improvement over Friday.

Probably my best chance at sending is this coming Wednesday. I can rest a lot tomorrow and do a much better job of warming up. If I don't get it Wednesday I will try to climb less and hope I can be fresh for Friday. 

Regardless of the outcome, it's been a fun challenge and I know I've made myself stronger by trying it. If I don't do the climb before it's reset, I'm that much more prepared for the next climb that takes its place.

fresh dill is really good

 gotta say

The Project

click Youtube on the bottom right to watch fullscreen!

Maya Pics

 I'm guessing it's spelled Maya like Maya Rudolph. She's so pretty.