A Cyclist ..... I AM!!!!

So yes I know I have not been around on here for a long time. What can I say Batman has been doing some soul searching about athletics. A conclusion has been reached ..... I am a cyclist who runs. In case you are confused that is ok because Stefanie and I talked about this last night. She is a runner who cycles. She enjoys running more than cycling and vice versa for me. With that being said I was able to ride the mack daddy of all bikes on Wednesday night. Bill, The Bike Store Owner, allowed me the privilege to ride is bike. Well lets put it this way before I knew it he had my bike and was transferring the petals to his bike. I will not disclose the price but lets just say that I was extremely paranoid about crashing the whole night. I knew if I crashed that bike ... well lets just say I would be a permanent janitor at the bike store. None the less I rode the bike and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Bill's Bike Specs:

Madone 6.9 Pro (full carbon everything)

Shimano Dura Ace 7900 everywhere (except shifters)

Electronic (yes electronic) shifters

For a little back story (yes I know it is late in the blog for this but deal), Stefanie and I bought new bikes about 2 months ago when she was taking the Triathalon class at Wesleyan with Elizabeth. We bought 7.2 FX's which were tons better than our Target bikes we had. Recently I had started to outgrow my FX and was looking at upgrading and it was only a matter of time and MONEY!!!!! I had just finished talking with Bill about the Madones versus Trek 2.3 and I was a little rocky because the price difference is quite a bit. After talking with him I was going to go all the way and get a Madone 5.2 but I was still hesitant because of the price point. It as that night when he let me ride his bike. Well needless to say I loved that bike so much and after a debate with Stefanie over the bike she convinced me to go ahead and buy the Madone 5.2 Pro (as seen below).

This little beauty was ordered yesterday and will be here next week and I cannot wait. As many of your know Stefanie has started to get into triathalons. Well we are starting to upgrade her through bikes and the current plan is that she is going to get a road bike and practice on the small frame and wheels, then add aero bars to the bike, followed by investing in a Triathalon bike for her. With that being said through much debate I have convinced her on getting a Trek 2.1 WSD to start training on (picture is below).

So long story short I am doing much more cycling now than running. But do not worry Batman will still be at races and I will race from time to time. Tim I know it has been awhile but with it getting hotter and the AC running in the house I have had to conserve electricity so the Bat Signal has not been turned on in awhile. I mean come on it takes a full city block to power that magnificant device. But no worries it will be coming on here soon. We have missed hanging out with you and Mrs. Mandie. Till next Bat Broadcast ..... PEACE!!!!!!!! (Don't let the back button hit you on the way out)

Back to Reality

Hmmm.... Where to start! It has been awhile since I have posted because well life has been CRAZY. Lets see it all started exactly 2 weeks ago when my parents had to put my childhood pet down because he was old have health issues. O yeah and that Wednesday morning I was told my Grandfather passed away and the funeral was going to be on Saturday. We had originally planned on leaving that Friday evening to go to Florida for our Cruise the following week. The time table was pushed up a day and Wednesday was spent taking care of errands that were originally spread over 2 days. That was a hectic day.



We left for Florida on Thursday evening and had a cat get sick all over the back seat of the car. We had to pull in to a rest area and get wet paper towels to clean up the whole back seat. Mmmm... nothing like driving in a car for 2 hours with the smell of warm, wet catfood. We finally made it to my parent's house about 11:00 pm.



The funeral was on Saturday morning and it was not as sad as I thought it was going to be because everyone knew he was in a much better place. We called Timmy boy to congratulate him on his time at snickers. Then I find out that my other set of grandparents have been hit hard by the economy and are going to have to sell their house and property. That upset me because I have a lot of fond memories there and cannot imagine them living anywhere else.



Finally time for some fun on Sunday mixed in with the madness. Stefanie and I went to the Strawberry festival and just enjoyed the day and tried to forget about everything else going on in our lives. We had fun at the festival.



Woo Hoo it is now Monday and it is cruisin time. We went on a 5 day cruise to Cozumel, Mexico and Grand Cayman. During the week Stefanie and I ran 4.5 miles in Grand Cayman. We paid for a taxi to take us to 7 mile beach and then we ran back to the port. When we were in Cozumel we went to paradise beach and spent the day in the sun. We jumped on water trampolines, kayaked, and climbed on giant water rock walls.



Boo the cruise is now over and it is Saturday and back to the madness. To be honest we were ready for the cruise to be over and ready to get back to our routines but not ready to go back to work. Stefanie's step mom picked us up at the port on Saturday morning and greeted us by saying her grandfather was admitted to the Psych ward at the VA hospital (he has Alzheimer's). So we went to the hospital to see him. Then when we were done in Tampa we went back to my house in Ocala to find my parents had a new cat (or so it appeared). I asked my mom about it and she told me that it was my aunt Jerri's cat. My aunt had surgery about 2 weeks ago and apparently the scar did not heal and got severely infected. She had to be rushed to the hospital while we were gone and almost died. Before the doctors would let her go home she had to find a place for her cat. My parents picked her cat up and are not cat sitting until my aunt gets better.



Needless to say it is now exactly two weeks later and my life is just starting to get back to normal. Laundry is caught up and almost all of the chores that were neglected while on vacation are done.



I ran yesterday and boy did that not go well. I ran very slow and to top it all off my foot hurts today. Hey I suppose if push came to shove I could be a wheel chair racer. Just Kidding!!!!

Well Warner Robins is safe once again because Batman has returned. Speaking of which did the commissioner install the new signal while I was away? O well I suppose a few more days of rest is ok. Time to go and look for new adventures and invent new gadgets. Batman OUT!!!!

North Pole?!?!?!?!?!

So yes as Stefanie previously pointed out I ran a good 5K on Saturday and I finished in 33:43. Woo Hoo for me. One day I will let the wifey catch me but until then..... TRAIN HARDER!!!!!! :) That was all I ran this weekend.....Or was IT!!!!!!! On our way out to lunch yesterday my phone when RING RING. I looked down and it was Timmay! I said hmmm... must be that time. FLASHBACK..... (Waynes World Flash Back Noise) The day before we had volunteered to help him run since he was training for snickers and needed to get in close to 20 Miles. Well I am not built for 20 (Yet... and No I will not do a marathon soon Tim) so we said we would do about 7 or so with him. Anyways enough of a flash back...FLASHFORWARD! Once the bat signal was received Stefanie and I hopped into action and within 15 minutes we were out the door dressed in spandex and had our bat belts ready to go (read the title of the Blog... I am a NERD so stop thinking it). We went and had lunch and then met Tim in downtown Macon.

Had I known what I was getting into (don't you love HindSight) I would have said hmmmm... "You are Nuts!". Oh.. wait I did say that many times. Anyways yes... the indian mounds are as previously described by Stefanie. Hill after Hill after Hill. WAIT change the "i" to an "e" and you have the appropriate word. It is a very beautiful place and I would love to go back when I am recovered but yesterday was rough after having run hard the day before and so I had a huge mental block to overcome but I did. Way to go on your 14 miles yesterday Tim.

Now to the title of this post!!!! SOOOOO.. after so much running I was afraid of waking up and not being able to move because of sore muscles. I tried to cut the soreness off at the pass by putting biofreeze on. Well let me tell you biofreeze + cold weather = North Pole! I put biofreeze on the inside of my knees, front of my thighs, and on my shoulders and well needless to say I felt like I was a part of the Polar Bear Club ( you know those nuts that swim in the arctic)! I laid in bed and shivered and chattered my teeth for about 15 minutes before starting to warm up from the biofreeze. LESSON LEARNED!!! Never use biofreeze in the cold. Stefanie spent the night laughing at me because I was stuttering like crazy when I talked because I was so cold. In the end it was all worth it. We were able to help a friend in need and plus get in a few extra (7) miles. OMG ... what was I thinking!!!!! Anyways time to return to the bat cave and keep an eye out for bad runners everywhere!!!


P.S.- Tim the bat signal is temporarily broken sorry bud, but no batnerd to the rescue for a few. Parts are on back order!!

Exercies = Fun ( I Think )!!

So if you have not heard I ran my first race on Saturday!!! Much less I went for the 12K instead of the 5K. I must be mentally unstable to start at the 12K right? No, it actually was not that bad I had fun running it with my bud Tim. I would also like to take this time to give a special shout out to Mandy!!! She was a real trooper on Saturday and came out to the race even though she was sick. She said the only reason she came was because it was my first race. That means a lot Ms. Mandy ( I hope Tim relays the message). I ran the full 12K in 1:22:04 which I was extremely happy with. It is always fun running with Tim and Stefanie. Unfortunately I was seperated from Stefanie due to the large crowds. Thanks for running with me Tim!!!

Oh I suppose I should say that I am officially 25 now. My birthday was Sunday. Since Mandy was feeling better Tim and Mandy joined me for a birthday celebration at Outback. Of course they had to take the opportunity to embarrass me an have the staff sing happy birthday. Just remember that I do not forget things so I will get even at some point ( you can ask Stefanie ). :)
They brought me a present ( which they did not have to do ) and I really enjoyed it. It was pictures of me from Saturday crossing the finish line and it meant a lot to me. I am really proud of Tim for trying weight watchers so get lean and mean for his wife. Way to to Timmy!!!! Oh... I suppose I should talk about my wife a little too. She is sooooo totally awesome because she said I could go ahead and get a new grill! Partly because she loves grilled food, but who cares about the reason I was still able to get a new GRILL!!! So I decided to get a mack daddy grill and I got the Weber Genesis E-310. It is soooo totally worth the money and it is a really really good grill ( Tears of Joy ). That was my weekend in a nutshell now to go off subject.

I have convinced Stefanie to try and 16 week ab program with me. It is free and I said what the heck it is worth a shot and at the very least we are still getting a workout. It is from www.iwantsixpackabs.com so I will keep everyone updated on how it is going and I might even recommend it to everyone ( only if it is effective ). So hopefully this nerd can lose a keg and gain a six pack ( well lets be realistic maybe a 2 pack for starters ). Thus ends this rant from Nerd on the Run!!!!!!

Losing Weight Sucks!

For those of you who know Stefanie and I have been working really hard to lose weight. Well we have been losing weight and lots of it. That might sound like a good thing and believe me it is. However, it has a severe downside. I now have nothing that FITS!!!! I am afraid to buy new stuff because I want to lose more and the new stuff I buy will not fit after awhile so I am only trying to buy enough to get me buy. The worst thing is that I tried on my suits last night and they are extremely too large now.

I am going on a cruise in 3 weeks and this will be the first cruise that I have not worn a suit on for the Formal Night. It really bums me out because I want to look good on the cruise and take really nice pictures with Stefanie to show we have lost weight. One of our favorite pictures that we use for everything was taken on one of our first cruises. I was hoping to get another good picture to replace that one since we have lost so much weight. However it now looks like that goal will have to wait for the December cruise when I hopefully break 200 and able to buy a new suit without worrying too much about being to fit into it later on.

I suppose this is my hissy fit for the week. Stefanie had a hissy fit about running and I am having one about big clothes. Trust me I am extremely happy that I have lost so much weight but it is also expensive to keep up with all of the clothes that need to be replaced too. O well, I suppose that is how the cookie crumbles.

HISSY FIT OVER!!!!!!!!!!

Retail Therapy = Not Good!

I learned a very valuable lesson this past weekend. Stefanie was sick and unable to run because of the sniffles and coughing. If you keep up with her blog then you know about the hissy fit she was throwing. Unfortunately her solution was retail therapy. Of course I did not find any of this out until I returned from my run with Tim. When I walked in the door she said "I need retail therapy". Of course with me being nice gentle person I am.... I said OK. That was mistake #1. After lunch I took her to the department stores and boy is my wallet still trying to recover. But I love her and she does not do retail therapy that often. The moral of the story is.... never tell your wife she cannot run because she is sick. Because trust me you will regret it in the long run (NO pun intended).

As far as the run with Tim goes I enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun running with him and learning some new history of Macon. Not to mention I became more familiar with the downtown area. Here is a shout out for Tim. THANKS TIM!!!!!!!!

Thus ends the latest installment of Nerd on the Run!

I'm a RUNNER?!?!?!?!

So lets see..... Where should I begin. Stefanie has finally conned me into running. I run my first official face on Feb. 14. I think we are going to run the 12K since I will just make it part of my training program. Needless to say I always knew that running was expensive, but holy crap when 2 people are running in a family you better own stock in a gold mine. Well not really it is just the start up costs that have been expensive. I finally think I have enough equipment for most kinds of weather.

I had to buy a new pair of running shoes because I found out I have FAT feet! My feet overpronate too much and my arches where busting out the sides of my shoes when I ran. Thus causing my feet to really hurt.... sooo much to the point I was limping during my walking intervals. O well... enough of my wining about my stupid feet. I have to admit I kinda of like running to some extent. Do not count on my running a full marathon anytime soon but I do plan on attempting a half in November.

I send my apologies out to Amanda Cook. Sorry you will loose your weekend buddy for some of the races. Have no fear you have not lost me for all of them. There will be plenty of races that I sit out and then we can spend the time taking pictures. That is all for the first installment of Nerd On The Run. Tune back later... Same NERD channel, Same NERD time!!!!!!!