The Aftermath - Part 2

Hopefully throughout the process of training for, and running the marathon, I made it painfully obvious that I was raising money for a charity that is very important to my family. I feel that it is important to express my gratitude to all donors in how this effort panned out (though it still isn't over...donation page will be open until Dec. 1). I couldn't be more touched, and proud of all my friends and family that helped contribute over $3,000 to organ donation research. Whether you donated $5 or over $100, believe me, you helped drastically improve, if not save, someone's life. As I look over the list of donors, I'm amazed at the amount of people I barely speak to, don't really know, or know are struggling financially, yet still donated to this cause. Over the 4-1/2 hours it took to run 26.2 miles this past Sunday, I thought about this quite a bit. I still haven't figured out how, but I will find a way to individually thank all of you (in as personal a way as I can). I thank you, my family thanks you, and whether they know families that receive organ donations thank you as well. This effort was more important than the marathon itself, and because of all of your generosity, was also more successful.

As I said in my previous post, many people have been asking, "when's the next one". While I'm not sure whether I'll do another marathon, and therefore can't answer that question, I do happen to know what's next. As a somewhat quirky way to celebrate my 30th birthday, I will (along with a handful of close friends) be participating in the Tough Mudder. The course looks brutal (probably more grueling than the marathon), but if I don't have these types of events to look forward to, I spend exponentially more time on the couch than the treadmill, and while I say I put on "winter weight", I actually just get fat. Because I've got another event on deck, I'll be jumping back in the gym next week, and I'll also continue to peck away at these blog posts. Considering the events in the Tough Mudder, there will be more of a blend of cardio and weight training, and considering I don't like lifting, hopefully more entertaining posts.

To wrap up the two part Aftermath, here's some random thoughts that popped up from pre-race to recovery:

-My family came to watch the race. It had been a long time since they've been to Philly, so my dad ordered a TripTik from AAA, printed a MapQuest, and also happens to have a Garmin in the car. Say what you will about the older generation, but they are nothing if not prepared.

-My mom took over 150 pictures in 24 hours down in Philadelphia. Including quite a few at the Liberty Bell. Because she wanted a bunch of different pictures of the family in front of the bell, we have every possibly combination of family members with the historic monument, yet no clear picture of the crack itself. Good times...

-For ladies, a port-a-potty with no toilet paper is like eating a burrito without access to napkins.

-For 48 hours after running a marathon, you want to make it clear to everyone what you just accomplished. Not for the accolades, but to explain why you are walking the way you are.

-I've never hated living on the top floor of my building more than I did Sunday when I got home (only 3 floors, but no elevator...stairs sucked bad).

-The marathon diet did lots of good things for me, however it ruined my normal rest stop combo on rides home (doritos, slim jims, root beer and a coffee).

-When I arrived home, I was very excited that my parents didn't have any technological tasks they needed completed, however they picked a hell of a time to ask to move around the patio furniture. (fear not...it took a day, but apparently the homepage needs to be changed from google to yahoo, so it looks like I'll be busy for the next 26 seconds).

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Enjoy your families, the weekend, and travel safe.

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

The Aftermath - Part 1

A little before noon, on this past Sunday, I never felt so relieved. It was a bit of a surreal experience, as I was coming into Center City Philadelphia I saw one of my best friends (thanks for coming out Bobbo and Kristina) and my family. I can truly say the rush of seeing them provided me with a little extra boost for the last dash across the finish line of the Philadelphia Marathon. As my buddy Andy and I crossed the line, arms raised, we let out a deep breath, gave each other a big man hug, then tried our best to rehydrate and fuel up before all the soreness set in.

It didn't take long...within 10 minutes my legs started to lock up, my swollen feet got achier by the minute, and since my heart was still beating like crazy my body temperature was getting all out of whack. We decided to skip the post race nap, thinking that lying down would just make the pain and stiffness worse. Two weeks ago, I very much looked forward to Sunday night. I wanted to eat a bunch of fried fatty food, drink more beers than I should, and get about 10 hours of sleep. I got to pick at some nachos, and have a couple beers, however sleep was interrupted by a fever, and it actually took a couple days before everything other than my legs felt back to normal.

A lot of people have asked me over the past couple of days, "when's the next one?". As of now, I'm still saying that this past Sunday I ran my one and only marathon, however I'm still going to give it another week, get back into the gym, then make a decision whether I want to try another one at some point next year. In my immediate plans are lots of food, Magic Hat Winter Ale, and some late nights with longtime friends, as I'm chilling out back in Rochester for Thanksgiving.

Part 2 coming tomorrow: A new venture, donation round up, and some random thoughts over recovery week...

The Final Countdown

Well I'm writing this bad boy from my hotel room, and it's gonna be snappy, because I have to wake up quite early tomorrow. I felt I needed to do a last check-in however to discuss how the last couple days have been leading up to tomorrow's marathon. Let's put it this way, so far this could have gone considerably more smoothly.

For starter, Andrew's flight got in over 3 hours late (at 2:00am), which sort of jacked up the sleep schedule for the weekend. Then my windshield got broken on the drive down, got stuck in traffic, check-in was fine, got stuck in traffic again on the way to the hotel. Got to the hotel to find out there are two Crowne Plaza's in Philly, and we're staying at the one that isn't near the start (add cab-fare on the weekend bill), and also our room wasn't ready. (Note to hotels, I appreciate the steps you take to fancy up the room, but I don't need the fancy folds in the toilet paper if it means I will get in my room a little quicker).

All that said though, I had a nice day hanging with my family and Andrew. We hit the Liberty Bell (meaning visited, not trying to cause new cracks), the first Supreme Court, Assembly Hall and had a nice italian/carb load dinner.

Now we're back at the hotel drinking a bunch of water and getting ready to wake up at 4:30am to make sure we can eat before what will be a somewhat chilly and no doubt grueling endeavor. Thank you again to everyone for the support over the past months. I'll be posting over the next week, as I won't have anything else to do considering I probably won't be able to move.

G'night,

Matt

twitter.com/mstendardi

One week away...and other stuff too.

I'm now in the midst of what is called "tapering down". Basically my focus for the next week is going to be staying loose and healthy, eat well, drink tons of water, and try not to think of the atrocity that has become the Buffalo Bills season. I've seen the Bills play some impressively crappy football over the past decade or so, but I've never seen a more disappointing two week stretch for a team that looked like it had so much promise. I can't say I didn't see this coming at some point, but it's still a bummer. On the plus side, after next Sunday, at least I'll be able to cry in my beer.

I hope anyone who's been following this little adventure is aware of the fundraising effort that I coupled with the marathon. I am unbelievably happy and proud to say that the goal of $2,620 has been achieved. There is still time to donate, and I'd love to his $3,000 if I could, however I want to express my gratitude to everyone who has donated. The generosity has been unbelievable...college students have chipped in money they can barely spare, new parents have donated what they can, other friends have been tremendously generous with some impressive sums, and even friends between jobs found the means to throw their Friday bar money towards an important cause. So once again, thank you to each and every one of you. Every penny you donated will go to saving someones life, I promise you.

Exactly one week from today (and this moment), I will likely be exactly where I am right now...in bed. However I will be sore, uncomfortable, and most likely a little tipsy, as I haven't had a drink in four weeks (five by next week) and will certainly be heading out for some post race celebration. The difference is, tomorrow I'll be hopping out of bed bright and early for a conference call, whereas a week from tomorrow I won't be able to move.

***This is a good place to check out if you don't want to read thoughts on the Penn St. scandal***

By now, everyone is obviously familiar with the sex abuse scandal involving the Penn St. coaching staff. As disgusted as I was with the events and lack of proactivity and reactivity on the part of the Penn St. coaching staff, I was even more flummoxed (always wanted to use that word) with the wide range of reactions I heard through conversation and saw on facebook and twitter. When details started emerging, I imagined the most reactions would range from "fire everyone" to "throw them all in jail" with the occasional "burn 'em at the stake" and one or two jokes that illicit a response of "too soon". I probably expected a few super zealous fans to be in support of Paterno too. What I didn't expect was such defiance as more details emerged, and an unwillingness to hold people in authoritative positions accountable. The Paterno defenders will quickly point a finger at a grand jury report, which absolves Paterno of criminal responsibility regarding a 2002 incident. What they completely ignore is his complacence to the matter, and how his lack of control on his own facilities allowed this perverted monster to continue to use the schools athletic facilities, and have children on campus as well. At best Paterno had to be held accountable for this and relieved of his duties.

Perhaps what equally surprised me in this matter is the criticism at which some had for people's expression of their opinions. Basically twitter and facebook are forums where you can share and discuss opinions (sometimes more maturely than others), so if you don't want to hear opinions on issues, we're left with "Just went to the grocery store" and "Good morning". Not exactly rich and exciting stuff there. While some people are more well spoken and agreeable than others, this is why both of these forums have subscribe and follow features...and believe it or not, you don't even have to log on and look to begin with. So if your opinion is "keep it to yourself" you may actually be the one sharing your voice in the wrong forum.

Stepping off the soapbox and headed to bed.

Night,

Matt

Final Stretch, Katy Perry Sucks, & I Almost Peed My Pants

Three weeks from Sunday I am going to wake up early, have a banana and a bottle of water, then spend four-ish hours trying to accomplish the hardest physical thing I have ever done in my life. This past week the reality has really set in, as well as some nervousness. The simple fact is, other than sleeping, there really isn't anything I like doing for four hours at a time (try to keep the inquiries clean, but the answer is still no...four hours is too long for just about anything). My training runs will max out pretty soon at about three hours, and I'm just going to have to count on adrenaline, my buddy Andy, and a hopefully raucous crowd to keep me moving for the last hour. As of now, I'm feeling alright overall, my legs get a little sore, but at least I don't have to stop my runs to pee anymore.

As I recently mentioned, I joined a new gym. I like just about everything about this gym more than my old one, except they run the same music videos on a frequent loop. The only artist that I can tell has more than one video in the look is Katy Perry, although you wouldn't be able to tell from listening to the songs. I find it hard to believe that when Kings Of Leon, Coldplay, Foo Fighters, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foster The People, TI, Wiz Khalifa, Jay-Z, and even Beyonce are constantly putting out new music, that somehow Katy Perry happens to crap out FIVE #1 HITS ON 1 ALBUM! She somehow tied Michael Jackson for #1 his of a single album. Let's quickly break this down:
Michael Jackson's #1 hits of Bad: Dirty Diana, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Bad, & The Way You Make Me Feel
Katy Perry's #1 hits of Teenage Dream: Teenage Dream, Firework, E.T., Last Friday Night, California Gurls
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for modern day music. If you want to dive into song depth/quality, four of KP's #1s are about either looking like or acting like a slut, and as far as I can tell ET is essentially a song about an orgasm...good times. And for the life of me I can't tell the difference in what she's trying to say between Last Friday Night and Waking Up In Vegas (I'll give you a hint though...I'm pretty sure they're both about getting loaded and hooking up). There's a silver lining in all this though, and that is that I don't have a teenage daughter.

Moving off my pop culture soap box, allow me to take a paragraph to embarrass myself. Two weeks ago marked the time where I gave up all alcohol intake until the marathon is over. That said, I decided to go out with a bang. The "final Sunday", I went to the Giants/Bills game with a bunch of friends (Bills loss-sucked...9am tailgate-awesome), then met some people at a bar to watch the late games, then closed out the evening having a couple with my buddy Trevor. After the game, I stopped home to change into clothes that didn't smell like hot dogs and beer. The only clean pair of jeans were a pair of semi nice button fly jeans I paid way too much for, and don't wear because button flys are dumb and don't provide easy urinal access. Unfortunately the only clean pair of boxer briefs I had were the athletic stretch kind, which I later discovered don't have what calls call "the access flap". All this, combined with a few beers/jamesons, led to me being slightly intoxicated and super confused/panicked when I went to pee at the Famished Frog (awesome spot for Sunday fundays in Morristown). I had to dance around until the stall was available because I saw no possible way for me to handle my functions at the urinal given my wardrobe choices, which led to more than one odd look. And if there's one thing I'd like to avoid in public bathrooms, it's odd looks.

That's all for today, be back soon, and have a great/safe Halloween weekend everyone,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Notes from the Missouri outpost...

Quick Admin note - For some reason a bunch of posts got locked up in the drafts for the past couple weeks. Sorry for the delay, and regular posts shall now commence.

Note from Matt’s marathon-training buddy out in Missouri (friend Andy G.):
This week my odds of an unfortunate incident rose sharply.

First, I realized you should not climb Missouri’s equivalent of Mt. Everest in the 10th mile of a 13-mile training run. I finished the run. But two hours later, tequila-hangover-like symptoms set in including the shakes, cold sweats, and a heart beat racing to 90+ bpm solely from walking upstairs to answer the phone. The body thought it had been poisoned. I was thereafter laid up in bed for three hours, with a trash-can on standy-by near by. Only tylenols and not moving could help. Lesson learned: Look for the pain of completing a marathon (if we can do this) to set in hours, not minutes later. Have someone ready not at the finish line, but afterwards, to help.

Second, my town, Creve Coeur, MO, passed a town rule permitting bow-hunting on residential plots of one acre or more to cull the deer population. Creve Coeur has many such plots, and I happen to run by them, and on more than one occasion I have experienced that moment of mutual surprise when I go jogging past a deer and see it/him/her at the same moment he/she/it realizes it got surprised. If you hear about an unfortunate incident involving a jogger and a bow-hunter, it may be because the next time I have such an encounter, a bow-hunter is readying a ‘kill shot’ (is that what it’s called in that sport???) just as I go by. Parents of Creve Coeur, and similar towns, do not let your kids where those fake-antler head-dresses during halloween or christmas!

(Note: if this seems unlikely, consider the following—Recently, a domestic violence incident was reported on the local news. In a quarelling love-triangle, one man shot the other with an arrow over a dispute about a woman. In a separate incident, an arrow crashed through a woman’s kitchen window, in a suburb, while she was having breakfast. It was a case of target-practice gone bad by a local sportsman. These occured within the county lines of a city of three million people.)


Until next time...

Bumps In The Road, Pseudo-Celebrity Sightings, Buckling Down

Seven Sundays from this upcoming one (or 51 days), I'll be waking up very early, drinking water and nervously stretching as my buddy Andy and I get ready to run 26.2 miles around the city of Philadelphia. Over the past few months I've been building my endurance by running, lifting, running, then running some more. Unfortunately as the chronological finish line is approaching, my training has kind of hit a plateau. I was hoping by this point to be comfortably running 16 or so miles, but unfortunately every step after the 14 mark gets exponentially more uncomfortable. I know that on the day of the marathon that adrenaline will carry me for quite a bit, but I don't it'll handle the last 12 miles. To add on to that little quandary, I've sustained my second legitimate training injury, developing hip bursitis. It's more uncomfortable than debilitating, however it's going to require lots of ice, more rest than I'd prefer, and a trip to the doctor in the next couple weeks. In the mean time, I just gotta stretch out, it out and push through...and somehow try to go for a long run in Seattle tomorrow after flying cross country and attending my buddy Matt's bachelor party tonight. We'll see how that goes...

While at the car wash in Toms River, NJ, Wednesday I had a minor "not-as-much-as-they'd-like-to-think celebrity" sighting. As I pulled my car in behind a pimped out two door BMW, I thought the driver looked familiar. He was a big jacked dude, sleeved in tattoos, a borderline offensive amount of gel in his hair, shaking up a protein shake, and had "DO WORK" custom stitched into the back of his Nikes...all that said, I couldn't place who it was. As he paid, the cashier said, "you look really familiar", the guy got an ear-to-ear grin, and said, "Do you watch Jersey Shore? I'm Roger". For those who don't watch the show, that is the fake-boobied, chain smoking bikini model, J-Woww's boyfriend. I didn't talk to him at all, just had a little bit of an internal laugh (thankfully it was internal, 'cause that dude could kill me) at the apparent celebrity anyone attached to that show has attained. Then I became a little sad when I realized that whenever I get introduced to new people and they ask the annoying, "Do you ever see people from the Jersey Shore???" I apparently have to say "yes"...though I may stick with "ughh" and walk away.

Now that I'm in the home stretch of this marathon training, I've really got to buckle down. I'm settled into my new apartment, new gym, somewhat getting used to my new diet, and hopefully (after another weekend of travel) getting into a more regimented schedule. I have some friends in town next weekend (the 6 week mark), and after that no more alcohol (maybe a glass of wine if I'm at a nice dinner, but doubtful), no more bad food, more sleep, and a strict 6 day a week training schedule. And for people who enjoy these ramblings, significantly more posts, considering I won't be going out all too often.

That's all for now, stay tuned for some stories for what is sure to be a pretty wild weekend,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Guest Blog: Top 5 Tips for Fueling for Long Runs

Hi Matt’s friends, family and groupies! I was super psyched when Matt asked me to do a guest blog on healthy eating because, well to be honest, I really love hearing myself talk on this subject. And, equally importantly, I love helping people make changes to their eating habits to see big gains in their health goals.

I’ll follow suit from Andy, Matt’s other guest blogger, and give yall a brief introduction. I grew up a 1/3rd of a mile down the road from Matt, so we’ve known each other since the days of riding bikes and capture the flag. Most of my early memories about Matt have to do with his undying loyalty to the Buffalo Bills - please google “Buffalo Bills Zubaz Pants” to see what I mean. Thanks to following Matt on Twitter for the last few months, I know now not much has changed. (And by that I mean his loyalty… not his fashion choices. At least I hope…)

By the way, if you’re coming from my blog or Twitter, check out Matt’s back story here. If you feel like giving your karma a little boost, there’s a link to donate to his fundraising here too.

Anyways! I’m here to weigh in on some tips for healthy eating & better fueling for runners, whether you’re doing your first couch-to-5k or tackling the monster 26.2 miles like Matt & Andy are. I coach people on dietary changes for fitness goals in my job as a wellness coach, and I’ve completed six endurances events including a marathon, 3 halfs and 2 triathlons so I’ve had a few years to experience the good, the bad and the really ugly of fueling for your runs.

Here’s my top 5 tips:

Fuel Up: The better the fuel, the better the performance. This is stating the obvious, but I’m going to point it out anyways because it personally took me a little while to make the connection between what I ate and how I ran. If you’re in pretty good shape, you probably won’t notice the impact of your diet on your workouts as acutely as you will once you start getting into higher mileage. The food you eat the day of your run (or the night before, if you’re an AM runner) will start to impact your ability to get through longer runs. If you’re struggling through your long runs, start paying closer attention to your intake and see what foods help or hurt. Every body has different needs– for instance, I noticed I had to avoid pop, coffee and really salty foods the day before a run and I had to add in a carb-heavy snack before bed. Sadly, I also discovered margaritas ended up on the banned list. Huh, what a surprise. Figure out the fuel your body needs (or doesn't need), and your long runs will suddenly become a whole lot more enjoyable.

Don’t Run on Empty: The most common question people ask me about eating and exercise is what to eat before a run. Pre-run fueling can be tricky. Eat too much and you’ll have a side stitch, too little and you’ll bonk before the run is over. The best approach is a mostly-carb snack about 90 minutes your run. Avoid anything with a lot of fiber, fat or protein which will slow the release of glucose, your primary energy source, into the bloodstream. For a short run, a banana or a 100-calorie granola bar is perfect. (I like Clif Z-bar for their lack of questionable ingredients and low added sugar content.) For longer runs, a little more protein can be included. Try a slice of toast or banana with PB or even a ½ turkey sandwich. You’ll have to experiment with what works for you, but I’ve generally found people who struggle to get through longer runs aren’t doing enough pre-run fueling.

Refueling: The obvious other side of that question is what to eat after a run. Within 30 minutes, eat a combination of protein and carbohydrates. The carbs will replace your depleted glucose stores and the protein is essential for rebuilding muscles. One of my favorite is Horizon Organic Chocolate Milk- frankly, I just love an excuse to have chocolate milk. Other postworkout choices could be peanut butter & banana, a whey protein shake with a ½ banana, oatmeal with a tablespoon of peanut butter or tuna on whole wheat. Depending on when you’re running, you may be having a meal after your workout – that’s perfectly fine, just make sure to include your protein.

Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate: If you’re not a water drinker, it’s time to get o-v-e-r that and start big gulping some h20. As Matt mentioned in his last post, the hydration paradox is a little bit tricky but getting enough fluid is absolutely critical for endurance races. I have seen someone pass out at every long run I have done and I have had the unfortunate experience of visiting the EMS tent myself before. Trust me, there’s no boy scout badge being given out for passing the hydration stations with a “no thanks” on a long run. This includes training runs: once you start running over an hour, it’s time to think about wearing a water belt. Actually, staying hydrated is something you need to do all the day long, not just during the long run. An easy rule of thumb? If your pee looks like apple juice, go drink more water. There, I said it. (And by the way, if you drink alcohol or caffeine you need to up your water intake even more as both of those are diuretics that will end up dehydrating you even more.)

Topping Off: Calorie Compensation: Many people start training for a long run with the hopes that maybe, along with that glorious moment of crossing a finish line and checking something big off the Bucket List, they also might get a nice side effect of a little weight loss. Weight loss and endurance race training can go hand in hand, but it's not easy as you might think. You’re upping your calorie intake, and specifically your carb intake, to make sure you’ve got the proper fuel to get through your long runs. But if weight loss is one of your goals, keep in mind that on the days you don’t do a long run, you don’t have that extra cushion of calorie compensation. I actually weighed the most I’ve ever weighed the year I did a marathon and a triathlon back to back, because I know in my mind I was thinking “I’m working out all the time – woohoo, free pass!” Sadly, it doesn’t quite work like that. If you’re training for an event, make proper nutrition and fuel your primary goal – don’t short yourself what you need. Then, if you want to see a little weight loss as a side effect, just make sure to balance out your non-long run days with more moderate intake.

When you really dive into training for an endurance event, you start to realize that training actually encompasses much more than just the time you spend with your feet hitting the pavement. What you do before and after your long runs starts to become as important as what you do during the long run. I’ve heard it been said that training for a marathon starts in the kitchen, and I couldn’t agree more. But the good news is, small changes can go a long way in improving how you feel during, and after, your long runs.

So, Matt, drink your water and eat your carbs! I’ll be here raising my margarita glass to you. Good luck, buddy!

The Hydration Paradox, Dumb Friends & Random Thoughts

According to an internet Hydration Calculater (yes, apparently such a thing exists) I should be drinking just about 120oz. of water every day. That's roughly 7 1/2 bottles from the time I wake up, to the time I close my eyes. Now I know in that total I should include overall fluid intake, however since coffee actually dehydrates you, I actually need to be drinking more like 9 bottles of water, iced tea, vitamin water or gatorade each and every day. Between the amount of time it takes to actually drink that much fluid, and the amount of time it takes to have 34 bathroom breaks per day I probably won't have too much time to train, let alone do the job that helps me foot the bill for my gym membership. In the past month I have been considerably more conscious of drinking plenty of water. On the plus side, I'm more hydrated, losing weight and overall feel better when I workout. The flip side of that is I always have to pee...like, can't run more than 5 or 6 miles without thinking I'm 20 seconds away from massive embarrassment. So, in addition to training my legs and lungs, looks like I better work on training my bladder too (or maybe just wear black shorts).

In one of my first blogs I stated I was going to do some "Aaron Karo style ruminations". After this blog, I was talking to a friend and he said, "dude, I enjoyed the last blog, but you sort of ripped off Aaron Karo". Well, considering I said that's what I'm doing, not making any money, and Mr. Karo has never heard of me, nor will ever read this, I don't think it is that egregious of an offense. After further thought, I decided to take it as a compliment...and start finding smarter friends.

Here's some random thoughts to peruse:

-The only thing that looks more awkward than an uncoordinated girl trying to keep up in a zumba class is an uncoordinated guy trying to keep up in a zumba class.

-Based on the trailers for Real Steel, I'm going to assume that there isn't another Wolverine movie due for a couple years and Hugh Jackman really needed a paycheck.

-"Matthew, I got a new car" - Grandma
"Oh yeah? What'd you get" - Matt
"A Ford something" - Grandma
"A Focus, Fusion or something else?" - Matt
"Yeah, it's black" - Grandma
Well then...glad we got that cleared up
(for additional laughter, all Grandma quotes are to be thought of in a thick Long Island accent)

-I love this Red Sox collapse so much I want to kiss and hold it. I may even buy it breakfast the next morning.

-How.Bout.Dem.Bills!!!

-Apparently Summer's Eve (killer company slogan by the way) is a major sponsor for MTV's Real World franchise. You would think if they were going for accurate sponsorships they would have signed on Valtrex
***Sidenote-Many comedians have already beat to death how cheerful those people are in herpes commercials. Forget them, what is with the joyful partners of those people? I feel like that is some major false advertisement. Moral of the story...if you go home and have to tell your wife or girlfriend you have herpes, don't expect a hug and a camera crew. Well maybe a camera crew, but only if Cops is filming in your area.

-Lastly, this week will be my last week as a member of New York Sports Club. Nothing against my old gym, but Lifetime Fitness is nicer and closer to my new place. I'll miss the open windows of NYSC that let me observe all the goofy zumba and cardio kickboxing classes. I'll also miss the lady who sings on the treadmill, and the dude who works out in jean shorts (he also has a shark tooth necklace). I won't miss the grumpy dude at the front desk, but hopefully he can finally land a date with one of the cute girls that has the same job (or finally land that elusive personal trainer position). Overall though, it was a great gym and a great company. I'm excited about the new gym, as it is easy the nicest one I have ever been to, let alone been a member of. Let's just hope the restroom is 30 seconds or less from the treadmills.

That's all for now,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

ps - If you enjoyed this, email/tweet/facebook a link out to your friends. More readers=more potential donors to the goal I am oh so close to reaching (less that $700 to go).

Guest Blog #3 - Throw down a donation, I’ll match it*; and, illogical training tactics.

For those of you who missed my last post, a very brief introduction: I am Matt’s buddy from growing up in Pittsford, NY, and he has convinced me to run the marathon with him. He has often called me ‘the dumbest smart person I know.’ To back that up, I am only (ostensibly) running (in theory) the marathon because Matt has this painful race on his life bucket list, and he couldn’t find anyone else to try it alongside him. If you ask me, then, that’s kind of like a black pot calling a black kettle black, while all the shiny China from grandma (that’d be anyone not running the ‘thon) sits back, looking good in the cabinet and inclining at a comfortable angle on those plate-holder things…
But let me share with you another bit of information before you decide whether Matt’s assessment is correct: I offset this perception with some intelligent (you be the judge) tactics in two key subject areas related to this race:
1) Fundraising
2) Training tactics
For fundraising, I recently bombarded about 75 business school friends with an email requesting their help with our effort to raise $2,620 to Donate Life. I learned about five valuable thing in business school, and paid about $80k to do it, so the cost of learning a tactic associated with that request, to me, was about $16k. I can’t speak for how much everyone else learned, but they paid similar amounts, and at least they got some classmate spamming them for money 15 months later, if nothing else. So that’s that.
HERE’S THE CATCH/TACTIC: I promised each of those people I’d donate an additional $5 for each person who makes a donation to our marathon-running cause (the charity/foundation Donate Life). So far, they’ve hit me up for about $75, and I’m on the hook for $ BILLIONS untold more still (or $300, if you wanted to be picky about it…).
For Matt’s friends and family reading this…the first ten people who donate next, who I don’t know personally, I’ll also donate $5 to match the donation from each of you!!!!!
There you have it…a psychological tactic relying on feelings of guilt and shared sacrafice to get people to do something. Just cost me $16,000 for the idea! Plus $75 so far but I hope that number goes up!!
On the topic of training tactics, I’ll keep it short for now. I have learned that when it comes to something as dumb as readying yourself for a marathon, you must not only do logical things to stay in good physical health, but illogical things to challenge your body and also to keep your mind occupied. I present to you my top two such items for this week…
a) I am going to Brazil for 10 days starting tomorrow, but the training must continue. Therefore I will run in one of the world’s most smog-choked cities (Sao Paulo) at mountain elevations. Category: illogical physical challenges likely to result in black lung.
b) I occassionally do runs on park trails in my current home, St. Louis county. I have been known to take a look around, during moments of powering through pain, and point my arm/index finger to the sky at a forty-five degree angle only after I’m sure no one is looking. It is a mix between declaring myself #1, and encouraging myself to keep going forward. Category: illogical things to keep your mind occupied and look stupid at the same time.
I have some other moves in the arsenal, but I need to test them a bit more before I know they are tough enough to recommend to you. Stay posted, and I look forward to matching your donation!!
- Andy G.
P.S. If you need your own motivational video/tactic for any reason, I suggest trying this clip on youtube. Matt will like it for its Jeter reference, hate it for its Ray Allen (kryptonite to SU) reference, and like it for its Melo reference. See you in a couple weeks…

Andy

How 'Bout 'Dem Bills, Odd Discovery, & Links

I spent the majority of this past Sunday either sitting in an airport, on a plane, sitting in traffic or sleeping. Because of the amazing time I had at my cousin Rachael's wedding, I wasn't able to watch most of Sunday's football games. I was however able to listen to the Buffalo Bills crazy comeback win to move to an improbable 2-0. I'm not booking playoff tickets yet, but as a pretty diehard fan of a pretty historically inept team, a couple weeks of success is a welcome break from the normal fall Sunday. I'm sure this will all come crashing back down to earth as hated Patriots, led by man's man Tom Brady, come into town, but it sure has been a fun start to the season.

Since I've been writing this blog, I've been delighted to see the traffic to my posts gain traction almost weekly (with the exception of the power outage hiccup...Don't worry I'm not bitter). I decided to research where most of my traffic was coming from. By far, Facebook was the biggest source of traffic. Twitter was the second most, followed by google searches and my friend Meg's blog (Thanks Meg!). Seeing that this was popping up in google searches, I was curious what the searches were. Optimistically I was thinking "marathon blog" "marathon training blog" "matt stendardi is hot", etc... were going to be the most likely searches. Well, sadly I discovered I get the most google traffic from people searching for shirtless pictures of Wesley Snipes, due to a previous post. Sadly for Wesley, this blog doesn't make a dime, so it won't exactly help him out with his current predicament.

Let's round out with some links for the evening:

-Pretty crazy read for you online poker fans out there

-For some unknown reason, we're still not quite tired of Charlie Sheen yet

-Very interesting reaction from Jim Boeheim regarding Syracuse's impending departure from the Big East

-If you saw the Mayweather/Ortiz boxing fiasco this weekend, check this out

-Yep, (Mac users nod happily)

-Looks like I'm not the only one excited about the Bills start...still cynically preparing for the inevitable though

Got a guest blog from Andy coming up tomorrow, and I'll be back with a training update (big change coming at the end of the month).

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Unsolicited TV Review, Family Weddings & Stepping Up When Called

After 8 seasons, HBO's hit comedy Entourage wrapped up this past Sunday. DO NOT READ THE NEXT PARAGRAPH IF YOU WATCH THE SHOW, BUT HAVEN'T SEEN THE FINALE. BIG FAT SPOILER ALERT, EVEN THOUGH I'M SURE YOU CAN PREDICT EXACTLY HOW THE SHOW WENT. While the first couple seasons of the show were funny, raunchy and pretty much replicated the lives most of us would want to have with our three best friends, the show took a turn somewhere in Season 3 or 4. It became more predictable, less outrageous, and got a little bit sappy. Sure, you still had Ari screaming gay slurs at Lloyd, various hot naked chicks, and even a storyline involving a porn star, but it still seemed a little forced. It's like the guy that graduated from school 5 years ago, but still goes back and demands a beer pong game, a room of freshmen girls, and shotguns Pabst (Before any of you say it, I go to the bar when I'm back at school...and I only shotgun Miller Lite. So there). My point is, that dude, like the show, had to figure out whether to go left (more raunchy) or right (more serious), instead it was four or so seasons of the same. While everyone was pleased Ari fixed his family (or did he? Make sure to watch through the credits...apparently that movie career isn't jumping off for Jeremy Piven), Vince seemed to settle down, and Eric got his girl, I think everyone was really hoping for one more house party, random hot nude chick, and meltdown from Johnny Drama. In the end, it was a show I enjoyed, thought was pretty funny and kinda good, but could have been great. It was a multiple course meal that fizzled after the first two courses...much like these random analogies. Step up your game HBO, because Californication is everything Entourage should have been.

This weekend I'll be taking my running shoes down south to Atlanta to celebrate the wedding of my cousin Rachael. While two of my other cousins are married (and I'm older than all of them), I wasn't able to be at those two weddings, so I am quite excited. Not excited to answer questions about whatever lady is or isn't in my life, or excited to sit in an airport, but if you give the big guy music and an open bar, you get a happy big guy. Plus my dad's side of the family (the Italian side) is very fun and only has everyone together every couple years, so it should be quite a reunion. Good food, good drinks, good company, and tons of bad dancing...can't wait!

Lastly, and most importantly, we have had some pretty insane weather over the past couple weeks here in the northeast. All joking aside, this has done a tremendous amount of damage. For many families, they are out of homes, and with the current economic state, out of the resources to provide for their family. My friend Tim is starting an effort to raise money for his hometown in Pennsylvania which has been decimated by flooding. While he has a fundraising goal, the best part about this effort is that you can contribute anything. Clean your closets and find clothes, get rid of canned food that you haven't had in months, those old blankets will provide a comfortable night sleep. So while times are tough, and you may not have the cash, you can still contribute. CLICK HERE FOR INFORMATION ON THIS CAUSE. So go ahead and show some love to a community that needs more of it that you can imagine.

That's all for now,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Playoff Beards, Wedding Madness & Links

There are four things I truly love in this world:
-My Family
-Lumina Resort
-Hot chicks in yoga pants
-The Rocky Series (1-4 with a mini honorable mention for number 6...5 was a disaster)

For this reason, in addition to some general morning laziness, I've decided to grow a beard as I'm charging through the home stretch of training (started the last 10 weeks for those counting). The way I look at it, was that in Rocky IV, as our short roided hero was preparing for the biggest challenge of his life, he went into the Russian tundra, grew a beard and trained like a mad man. Also, guys in the NHL look pretty bad ass with their playoff beards (except you Sidney Crosby...that was just terrible). Quick Rocky side-note; there really wasn't another training montage would word, 1 and 2 he was basically mentally challenged, 3 would include running shirtless with dudes in the water, 5 never happened, and 6 he was old and had varicose veins (on that note, it is understated how ridiculous the premise for Rocky Balboa is. A 60 year old former champ is supposed to compete with an undefeated champion in his prime? Unless there was a weight-class difference and the current champ was on the same drugs as the "amblance guy" that fight wouldn't last longer than 2 minutes). So, even though I've never had more mixed reviews over a change in appearance, the beard is staying around for a few weeks (unless my company comes up with a facial hair policy...gotta keep gettin' that check).

For the past couple weeks I've kept on an aggressive by quality training schedule. That will be a challenge to keep for a few weeks though, as I have three weddings to attend over the next five weekends. Sept. 17-Atlanta, GA, Oct. 1-Pottsville, PA, Oct. 9-Seattle, WA. Thankfully running is the least expensive form of exercise out there, because it doesn't take a great detective to figure out where the rest of my money is going to be going. Here's hoping to some good hotel fitness centers, and some self moderation on the open bar.

In honor of holiday week hump day (not nearly as dirty as it sounds), here's some links:
-The language is fairly NSFW, but this is hilarious. A former NFL player, Ethan Albright, was awfully upset about his player ranking in Madden 2007
-"I totally know how we can get the White House back...let's have a ton of big group arguments where we destroy one another's political foundation!"
-From the Better Late Than Never files -Good news: Football is back. Bad news: The Bills stink again
-He's an acquired taste, but Dave Dameshek cracks me up
-Fun twist on fantasy football
-Huh? What? How? Why? Huh?
Check in with everyone tomorrow!
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Mother Nature's Tantrum, More Parents Stuff, & An Uncomfortable Steam/Sauna

First and foremost, sorry for the delay between posts. Between moving into a new place, and a New Jersey hurricane, I basically did not have home internet for a couple weeks. Considering I avoid trips to the office at almost all costs, showing up to write a blog would probably be professionally frowned upon. Anyhow, I'm back online and if anything, the hurricane helped me keep on a pretty good running schedule. It's amazing how willing you are to hit the gym when it is the only place that you can get a hot shower. Last week wound up being my first 30 mile week (33 miles to be exact, with a long run of 10.5). This week I'm going for another 30, but with a long run of 13. Now for how on schedule the running has been, work has been making everything else go in the exact opposite direction. I drive around for work, and when half the roads are flooded, that makes it considerably difficult. With the rain today, the roads flooded again making it seem like I was in a live action version of the Oregon Trail, fording a river. As far as the damage to where I live, it was pretty limited. Power was out for about 6 days, ruining the contents of the fridge, but other than that, we were in pretty good shape. I picked up some wisdom though on how to handle these situations in the future. I can't control the weather, what happens as a result of the weather, but I can control what information I pass along to my mom and dad. For the first few days, I received multiple calls/texts a day asking if the power was on (it wasn't), and when it was coming back on (had no idea...we'll touch on that in a second). It was almost like my parents were getting back at me for childhood road-trips when my sister and I would constantly ask, "are we there yet?". Overall I wasn't too annoyed by the whole power outage, except for the mayor of Morristown making daily guarantees it would be back on. When a road salesman has had it with your b.s., you are officially doing a terrible job. So after two weeks in Morristown, I'll have my ear out for the next round of mayoral candidates (you've got some time Tim Dougherty...pick your game up).

I've got plenty of stuff to write about (way too much for one blog) over the next week or so. Expect almost daily posts hitting all sorts of different topics.

I'll leave you on this little note though, which was easily as uncomfortable as I've been in a long time. As any reader of this blog knows, I enjoy poking fun at the eclectic mix of patrons at my gym. Today, after a 6.5 mile run, I went to the stretching mat to do a post run stretch and ab workout. about halfway through a middle aged guy got on the mat and did some sort of yoga workout (not weird at all, just a precursor). After the time on the mat, I hit the steam room and sauna for a bit (feels great after a long run and really helps your muscles loosen up). After 15 minutes in the steam room, I jumped over to the sauna, and a minute later the yoga guy from the mat came in. He was fully dressed, and started stretching in the middle of the room (kinda odd). He then removed his shirt and was doing some of the yoga poses (getting more odd). This was followed by a complete strip down, a new round of stretches, then plopping his sweaty naked backside on the bench and saying, "Hi, how are ya?" (what the hell?). Good times at the New York Sports Club and hopefully more frequent good times here on this site.

Hope everyone had a good long weekend, and I'll be back tomorrow,
Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Genetic Quirks, Training Update, Donations Update

Over the years, I've become familiar with the two following questions: "Why'd you do that?" & "Why'd you say that?". Fortunately its not usually for anything too bad, just a few eyebrow raising moments/comments. Sometimes, I'll even hear this from family members, but as I often tell my parents, "Hey, it's your genetics". Thinking more about these situations, I realized my family has plenty of these little situations themselves. Here's some generational snippets for you.
I had the following conversation with my grandmother a few months ago:
"Hey Grandma...what's happening?" - Me
"Oh, nothing, just ready for Dancing with the Stars. Do you watch it?" - Grandma
"Nope, never seen it." - Me
"I like the football guy (Hines Ward)" - Grandma
"Cool, I don't watch the show though" - Me
"They've got some girl from Playboy on there (Kendra Wilkinson)" - Grandma
"Oh, well that's cool" - Me
"She's a tramp" - Grandma

I called her a few weeks ago, and got this:
"Hey Grandma" - Me
"Hey Matthew, what's cookin'" - Grandma
"Not much, what about you" - Me
"I'm soaking my feet in epsom salts" - Grandma

So even two generations back, my family members have been quite direct. So that covers the verbal part of my research. As for the actions, my lovely sister had herself a moment the other weekend. Before heading out to a BBQ, we decided to go to the gym. She was working out on the machine next to the treadmill I was on, and when she was done, she wiped the machine down (as you should). After making eye contact, she proceeded to put the sweaty wipe in the cup-holder of my treadmill, then go about her business (in fairness she did throw it away at the end of my run). My parents have plenty of these examples, however they've taken a beating in this blog lately, and apparently gets the audio version from my sister, so for now they get a pass (for now mom and dad, don't get used to it).

In my previous post, I discussed how I was on the shelf for a few days of training due to a muscle pull. I followed instructions, and on Saturday starting working myself back in slowly. Saturday was a hilly three mile run, Sunday was off, and today was a pretty flat 5 miles. The leg feels pretty good, so it'll be another five miles tomorrow, just a few Wednesday, then a long run (10ish miles) on Friday after work. This weekend is the move, so unfortunately that'll keep me from running, but certainly make me plenty exhausted.

On the donations front, they have pretty much stalled out. I'll think of another incentive, but whatever you guys can do would be very much appreciated. Once again, every penny of every single dollar donated goes to directly to research. We're almost half way there, with just about three months to go. Thanks to everyone who has supported the cause so far. For those interested, you can DONATE HERE.

That's all for now, but healthy and running, means more posting. Maybe I'll even call my parents to see if they can inspire anymore embarrassing family material.

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Guest Blog 2 - Partial Employment, Moving to St. Louis and Living In Sin

Training report from your middle-of-nowhere resident and marathan co-runner...
A lot of stuff has happened since my last blog-post. On the more noteable side, I moved to St. Louis in the end of June because my girlfriend started a new job here. I'm finishing up the job search myself...

That happens to leave a lot of time for training for marathons. And watching the noon-time local St. Louis news on the treadmill since it's too damn hot to run outside. (Those of you who remember the New York Governer's Race televised debate may remember a certain clown candidate whose platform was lowering rent in NYC....well If I were gonna found a political party, it'd be the "It's Too Damn Hot to Run Outside Party" and our platform would be air-conditioned gyms and treadmills for every American. I would hold debt-ceiling negotiations hostage for this stipulation, but that's neither here nor there).
Anyway, if you've ever looked down on St. Louis while flying high towards a bachelor party in Vegas or some other thing, and wondered what if anything you're missing, I'll recap the top three good and bad things I've learned about St. Louis in my short time here. Some is gleaned from personal experience, some from the local news.

Here goes, with both some comical and serious observations...
Top three GOOD things about St. Louis, so far:
3) Very easy to get around. This place has good roads and minimal traffic for a city of 3 million. Boring stat but important to everyday living.
2) Blatant 'homer' Cards announcers. Matt and I have an issue to resolve over my sports allegiances, and he may expound on that in some future post. But we have tentatively agreed that it is OK for me to cheer for the Cardinals and learn about them and *possibly* become loyal to them. Having 'homer' announcers helps, though I'll never understand how Bruins fans can like their color guy no matter what.
1) Everything is cheap. Really, really cheap. I can actually live here and save money for vacations or ill-conceived plans such as marathon running in other cities. Or casino trips. Suffice it to say, some smart developers basically built a casino in downtown St. Louis with a moat of Mississipi River water around/under it to get around some state gambling rules. Brilliant!!

Top three BAD things about St. Louis, so far (aside from obvious fact it is 1,000+ miles from nearest real beach):
3) This is a very small big city. People are just as likely to ask what high school you went to as any other question. This question doesn't matter in life unless you're trying to get accepted into a fraternity at a big state school. Even then...really??
2) Crappy pizza. For some reason, the locals love thin-crust pizza with some sort of citrus-y cheese. If there's a silver-lining, it's that a Chicago chain, the trendy 'Pi' restaurant, has a couple locations with deep-dish pizza. De-lish.
1) Violence. Don't look at anybody the wrong way within the city limits, it doesn't matter the time of day. You might have a bullet graze your ear, or worse.

I Hate Moving (But I Love Morristown), Minor Setback & Links

So things have been a bit busy over the past week. In addition to catching up on work, I was presented with the opportunity to move out of my apartment near the hood, and move into a pretty sweet apartment in Morristown. Anyone who knows Jersey, knows Morristown is quite a fun area, so obviously I jumped at the opportunity...in fact, if the opportunity were a person I would have hugged it very tight and very long, to a point of borderline awkwardness. Seeing as I'm swamped with weddings a month or so from now, and I have no allegiance to my current living quarters, the next couple weeks will consist of work, training, and moving tons of stuff 15 miles up the road. Some people who haven't been to my current place may ask, 'What's wrong with where you live now?' To that, I present you with Why I Gotta Get Out Of Here:

-I'm directly between downtown Plainfield and Scotch Plains. Downtown Scotch Plains is fine, but not too much is there. Downtown Plainfield is brutal. It's like the worst of Baltimore with a dusting of New Jersey attitude.

-The 60+ year old lady above me was smoking a blunt out front the other day. No joke. I'm fine with doing what you please, but that was a shocker.

-I think you can equate the quality of where you live by the ratio of women that have tattoos on their boobies. Let's just say there's many a booby tattoo where I live


On the training side of things, I had a minor setback. After horsing around this weekend (whether it was a giant slip and slide, playing with my friend's kids, or my sisters dog, who knows), I was running today and felt some soreness in my right leg, which as I kept pressing, I realized was a pulled groin muscle. Thankfully I noticed it early, and just have to rest it for a couple days. While I wish I could make some fun dinner plans for the next couple nights, I'll probably just be packing boxes.

Here's some links to kick off the week:

-I promise to never post about the economy again, but this is worth looking at, and get very worried about

-Fine with me I guess. How about we get a little more than the McGahee trade though?

-Here's something that'll excite teenage girls and infuriate any girl over 25. Guys across the country won't care.

-Get ready for that Fantasy Football Draft boys and girls!

-Oh silly Kanye. Nobody thinks you're Hitler. They think you're a pompous ass, because well...you're a pompous ass.

Catch up with everyone in the next day or so,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Diving In Head First, Recovery TV & Gym Reflections

So even though my body clock is all discombobulated, I have tons of work to catch up on, and my apartment needs a serious cleaning (more on this in my next blog), I've jumped right back into my training. When I returned Monday, I intended to bang out a long run, however I took a nap immediately after work. By nap, I mean went to bed at 6:00pm (woke up at 9:00, had water, used the facilities, tried to figure out if it was am or pm, then went back to sleep for another 9 hours). So my schedule got a little truncated this week, but so far there's been no ill effects. I was able to let out a solid 8 mile run at an 8:48 pace. Today I took off from running, but had a solid lift session (despite frequent distractions...more to come on this too), then got in a 10 mile bike ride. Tomorrow's another run day (although a short one with hills...followed by a swim), Friday is an off day, then Saturday I get to pay for a $20 guest pass at my sisters gym so I can get in a long run and relax by the pool afterward (for a one time guest pass, I'm certainly hoping there's complimentary pool side massages and smoothies...hoping, but not holding my breath).

One pleasant surprise you get upon returning from vacation (thanks to modern technology), is a full DVR of TV to catch up on. While this certainly gave me plenty to watch while relaxing after the gym, it doesn't say much about my taste that the first show I put on was the newest Real World/Road Rules Challenge (and don't think if Jersey Shore had premiered last week, that it wouldn't have been first...sorry Curb Your Enthusiasm, forgive me Larry David). So, no matter how my next few workouts go, at least I can feel better by watching Gordon Ramsey yell at people for a few hours (pretty legendarily collection of crappy cooks on Hells Kitchen by the way).

A 10 day break gave me a fairly fresh look at some goofy things at my gym. Here's a few:
-Nothing will distract guys from a workout more than a yoga class finishing up (guilty as charged).

-If my gym doesn't allow members under 14, why do they still have the urinal so low it makes you feel like you're peeing on your feet.

-Three different guys had the same superman tattoo today (two on the bicep, one on the calf). If three people in one place have the same anything (other than cell phones or iPods) doesn't that automatically make it cliche?

-My new favorite person at the gym looks like Kenny Powers dressed as Andre Agassi circa 1991. I'm not making fun of this guy, right? I have to be laughing with him...

-Alright guys, wear whatever crappy shirts you want, show your nipples, and flex in the mirror. But please, stop having loud cell phone conversations in the gym. I give up on the earlier stuff, but I'm holding my ground on this one. (Ladies, I can't hear whatever your texting, so no worries on your part).

Hope everyone closes out there week on a high note,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Getting back in the saddle...very gingerly

So, as anyone who knows me (which is 99.9% of the readers I have) knows, I just got back from vacation. As much as I love random travels, this particular one holds a special place in my heart. My family has been going to Lumina on the Lake Of Bays for 29 years. Over that time, I've made friends that I will have for life, and it seems like I meet new people every year that feel like old friends. The week basically consists of an exhausting amount of water sports, occasional golf, and copious amounts of caesars, beers (which are stronger than our beers here), caps, and events that result in regrettable costumes (see any facebook pics I may have).

Anyway, this year was a bit better than the years past as we were fortunately (relatively) injury free (Momma, at 60 years old, decided to try kneeboarding. Well, that kneeboard decided to give her a pretty sweet shiner. Not saying don't try new things at 60, just beware, and make sure it's not wakeboarding). The weather this year was also considerably better than in years past. Other than my atrocious play on the links, and going to bed way to late, it was pretty much a perfect vacation (don't regret the late bed time, but having to get up early afterwards). Between said late bed times, and waterskiing like I was 16 again, I'm a solid mix of sore and overtired. So, that said, I'm back at work, and finally on my official training calendar (lovely combination to go with my mental state...which I've titled, The Lumina Hangover). It's a little modified to account for my schedule, but that's why I'll have something else up here tomorrow. I was able to get a run in while up there, and while not that long, had some brutal hills. That along with waterskiing and some tennis kept my legs in pretty solid shape, so thankfully I didn't go backwards.

See everyone back tomorrow for an update and some gym revelations.

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

My Silly Parents, Goals and Falling Off The Grid

As stated in my last post, I'm headed off for vacation next week. Actually, I'm already off. I'm writing this from my buddies apartment in Toronto. This may get a little scattered, as I'm a bit tired from 9 hours of driving the past two days, and we're heading out soon anyway. When I stopped home last night, I relaxed in the living room after dinner with my mom and sister. I was pecking away at my computer, and my mom asked me what I was up to. I replied that I was responding to a comment on my blog "ya know...the one you don't read". She laughed, and my sister suggested I read her the post where I make fun of her a bit. I did, and she was amused, however objected to a couple facts, which led to this little back and forth:
"I did not say that" - Mom
"Uhhh, you did" - Me
"That conversation never took place" - Mom
"Yes it most certainly did" - Me
"HAHAHA" - Sister
"Why didn't you object sooner" - Me
"I don't do blogs" - Mom
So there. That conversation, just as the previous one, took place. I don't want to solely pick on my mom, because my dad wasn't without his highlights this weekend. For some reason, as he's added some years, he's become an over explainer. He's always been an over organizer, however a simple conversation about homemade iced tea will now lead to an explanation of how it is made, where each ingredient was purchased (Wegmans for those interested), and why they weren't purchased elsewhere (BJs, Topps, Sams in this case). I also needed to "teach them how to buy and replace ink cartridges for the new printer". Next year, instead of buying them a nice Christmas gift, I'm just going to get myself a bunch of Advil. All that said, it does bear repeating, that even at 60, my parents kick ass (sorry about the language). Over the next week, we'll be waterskiing, tubing, golfing, playing tennis (if tennising was a word, that would have fit so well there) and sharing a few cocktails (not out of the same glass, ya know, each have out own but share the moment). Not many people can say their parents are interested in that stuff at 60 years old...maybe it kind of makes up for the printer.

Two weeks back, after donations for Donate For Life stalled a bit, I throughout a challenge to Facebook Nation. If I get up to $1000 (total goal is $2620) by the end of the month, I will enter one of those races where you have to wear costumes, and I'll dress as a super hero of the donators choosing. I thought it had a chance, but with over a week left, we're at that goal. So now I get to dress like an idiot and run around, but it will certainly be well worth it. So keep those donations coming. Every dollar matters as every single bit goes 100% to research.. Anyone who donates by the end of the month will get to vote in what the costume will be (and Borat in his speedo is not a super hero).

In about 15 hours, I'll be "off the grid" for the next week. There isn't great cell service on the lake, and roaming up here is a bit pricey anyways. From a business standpoint that sort of disconnection can be disconcerting, but things are going pretty well, and it will be nice to recharge a bit heading into August (which is about when my industry gets pretty busy). The workout goal is not to go backwards. I got in some good runs this week (about 12 miles so far), did a fairly crowded 5K last thursday and played 2 hours of soccer Saturday (which I'm counting as 3-4 miles...maybe more because I was exhausted and sore for two days). While there's no weights up there, I'm sure I'll be able to squeeze in two or three runs to at least keep the muscles moving. Upon my return my "official calendar" starts

That's all for the month. Some good stuff is coming up from my buddy Andy, and my friend Meg, in addition to my normal musings.

Enjoy the week/weekend

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

The Cost Of Clerical Disorganization

If you asked me a month ago, "How do you think that week before you leave for vacation will go?", my response would have been very simple, "Not good". For some reason, the week before I leave for my families annual trip up north is always a comedy of errors (well at least a string of errors, most aren't all that funny). Work usually gets busier than normal, not so much from a business being great, but lots of paperwork to shuffle through; and everything in my personal life feels like its put on some sort of rushed clock. This particular week has had an extra dose of annoyance due to the fact I misplaced my boating license, and due to requirement changes, had to completely redue the course and test. Therefore, instead of working out, catching up (or getting ahead on work), and preparing for vacation, I spent the last two nights an hour north of my place taking a boating safety course. Honestly, if one more thing goes askew this week, I may be headed for a Jessie Spano level breakdown.

All that said, I like to look for silver linings, and after my frustrations with this current week dissipate, I will look at this boating safety course as one of the most hilariously ridiculous things I've ever had to attend. Let me hit you all with some highlights:

-For starters, let's just say the instructors weren't exactly educational savants. I hesistate to give them any grief, because they were after all volunteers, however, I'd suggest they not constantly throw their arms in the air and say "What's up with that?" after every example picture of an unsafe boating practice.

-One thing that became abundandly clear in this class, is that adults make absolutely horrible students. I should already known this after trying to teach my parents how to use a wireless printer, but now it is fully engrained. Even more annoying than inanely ridiculous questions, were the middle aged folks who felt the need to raise their hand and offer an additional point "for the benefit of the class". Last I checked, you went to one of these courses because you don't actually have a boating license, which automatically makes you not an expert. Please put your hand down and be quiet...for the benefit of the class.

-The annoying little cousin to the class know it all, is the person who has a joke for every single point made in the class. I get it, believe me, nobody loves more attention and enjoyes horsing around more than I do. That said, more often than not, I hope I know what settings are appropriate for it, and a four hour class of 60 people is not that setting. If your funny enough that a room of 60 people have to hear your hilarious material, you should be a stand up comedian. I've been to enough open mic nights (as a member of the crowd) to know that most people are horrendous at stand up comedy. The four people at this class were no exception (especially the dude that repeated the same joke five time, "now that guy shouldn't be allowed to drive a bicycle"...ha ha ha, please shut up). Quick note-I was very much this annoying little cousin in high school. To my former teachers, I'm so sorry. This is nearly a tearful apology.

-The last considerable point of contention (and may be a little bit of a stuck up one) is that apparently adults have completely forgotten what appropriate class attire in. I'm not saying that you should dress like you're going to court, or a job interview, but doesn't the fact that the word "class" is in the title of what you're attending, imply you should wear sleeves? One guy was even in violation of my rules for proper gym attire (while looking like he hadn't seen a gym since the time of the Saved By The Bell reference I had).

-I'll depart on one quick humorous note of personal embarrassment. At the beginning of the first class, the instructor did a quick survey of the classes experience. When he asked "has anyone had a boating license or safety certificate before?", I was the only person who raised my hand...which left the entire class thinking I had it revoked for a DUI. Consider personal embarrassment an added cost to the inconvenience of my disorganization.

That's all for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a training update and some links. Hopefully there will be one or two guest blogs that get put up during my vacation.

Take care,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

I'm Back, My Mom Doesn't Read Blogs, and Links

Well today went considerably better. I ate better, drank plenty of water, and had myself a great run this evening. Overall I legged out 6.5 miles in under 55 minutes. Not setting the world on fire, but it was a comfortable pace, and I was just happy that yesterdays crappy workout was most likely a solitary bad day. As anyone on facebook knows, today was quite a hot one though. When I went out to my car around 7:30, I thought to myself, "Wow, it's perfect out". Immediately after that I though, "Ohhh no, its still early, its gonna be brutal later"...and brutal it was. That said, I caution those of you who like to complain and post pictures of your cars thermometer on facebook, that winter is around the corner. You can't have it both ways. As much as I love skiing, I'll take the summer. I get to go boating, lounge on the beach, play golf, play tennis, and as for the aforementioned facebook, beach pictures often accompany the pics of your cars dashboard (if you know what I'm sayin'...).

While spending some time with my mom at the wedding this past weekend, we had the following conversation.
"How's the training going for that thing?" - Mom
"You mean the marathon" - Me
"Yeah, that. What's for dinner at this thing?" - Mom
"Pretty good, don't you occasionally drop in on my blog to check up. I have no idea about dinner" - Me
"Nope." - Mom
"Are you serious, I think its pretty good, and I'm not a terrible writer. You might like it" - Me
"I don't do blogs. Did you see The Voice finale?" - Mom
And that was that. So I don't confuse anyone, let me say, my mother is an amazing lady, a fantastic mother, and someone I admire greatly and love very much. But, she is also very direct and produces some classic awkward interactions. Also, as she clearly stated, she "doesn't do blogs". So, for what audience I do have, get ready for a lot more making fun of momma (and as I found out later in the weekend, you can add my dad and grandma to the list as well. I actually have a doozy about grandma all queued up for early next week).

Here's some links to peruse:

-Got a nice little 5K in Morristown Thursday night. Money goes to the New Jersey Battered Women's service. Happy to take part, but really bummed that we still have battered women (c'mon dudes, seriously? When I rule the world, you hit your lady, you fight Anderson Silva)

-Depending on which NFL team you root for, this article is either amusing or depressing. As a Bills fan, I was amused. Even though there were two on the list, at least it was only two. Could have easily been five.

-Love the Yanks, love Jeter, loved the 3000th hit this past weekend. Yes he should have gone to the ASG at least to tip his cap. But can't we just move past it already? (seriously, who cares about this game?)

-Mila Kunis scores some major cool points...to add onto her collection of major hot points.

-Netflix went from being super cheap, to, well, still pretty cheap (if you watch a movie a week).

-Somewhat epic airport security fail (that deserves a massive 'C'MON SON' (warning...dicey language in that one). Especially since I got five minutes of questions on my last business trip for traveling with two computers).

-Mother Nature apparently doesn't give two hoots we are about to go into a second recession.

That's all for today,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Wedding Weekends, Bad Dancing & Worse Workouts

Sometimes when you're on a roll, you're on a roll. Upon returning from the holiday weekend in Ottawa, the work week was a bit of a struggle. However, this weekend was another great one, and hopefully I can carry that momentum through the week and into what should be another great weekend. I had the pleasure of attending a long time family friends wedding this past Saturday. My sister and mom were there as well, so it was a good weekend with the fam, to go along with two nights of an open bar (after Ottawa though, I enforced Moderation Matt, one of my alter egos, and played DD both nights). I tried my best to get a solid workout in, however between a scaled down hotel fitness center, and an old lady taking an hour to do something I call the "ass out power walk" on the only working treadmill, it was a mediocre workout at best (way too hot to run outside for those wondering). I haven't been to many weddings recently (which will change come the fall when I have a three in four weekend stretch), and I had kinda forgotten how great they are for not just a good time, but unintentional comedy. While this wedding lacked the 'uncomfortably bad speech that everyone is afraid to talk about', it had a fantastic wedding band, which means some fantastically bad white people dancing (I'm in that group, don't worry). As the night progressed, and the guests trips to the bar became more frequent, one thing became apparent, the only thing better than 'middle aged white people dancing' is 'hammered middle aged white people dancing'.

Today I headed back to the gym for what was supposed to be a hard workout. However, after days off Thursday, Friday and Sunday, I just didn't have it. I didn't feel like getting off the couch, and the entire ride to the gym all I could think was, "this is gonna suck, I gotta pee, and white people are really terrible dancers". It didn't help that I had eaten like garbage for three straight days, and, as I found out halfway through the workout, was kind of under-hydrated. They say food is fuel, and I stupidly went out with a somewhat contaminated tank, and got what I deserved (better now than when training really kicks up...lesson learned). So, after a crappy workout, and somewhat frightening dizzy spell, I made a somewhat late trip to the grocery store to stock up on some quality food for the rest of the week. On that note, there is no place that has a wilder collection of people than a grocery store at 10:00pm. You have no idea what kind of people you'll find there (and that includes employees. I worked at a grocery store back in the day, and one of the night cashiers was having an affair with her step father...for reals). This particular trip was highlighted by a 40-some woman in her pajamas saying "OH YEAH" after seeing something she was going to put in her cart (I had to leave the aisle because I was laughing too hard).

I'll be back tomorrow, for hopefully a much better report.

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Running With Sunburn, Late Night TV, and Links

While relaxing at my friend's cottage on Sunday, I figured since we got there after 1, I could forego sunscreen. For those that don't know, I have the genetic makeup of a vampire when it comes to sunlight, and I stupidly earned myself a pretty nice sunburn. While everyone knows this will make your skin more sensitive, most don't know how that would effect you while you run. Let me clear this up. Basically until the sunburn goes away your whole body itches and your skin get super sensitive. Because most males relax in the water with their shirt off, this also makes your nipples considerably more sensitive (are nipples the most useless part of a man's body? I think so, but that's a different story for a different day). So after a couples days of working out, I'm happy to report my sunburn is finally starting to go away, however not without logging quite a few uncomfortable miles.

As stated in my last post, I was quite exhausted on my return from up north. After basically sleeping on and off for 48 hours, I have basically sabotaged my regular sleep schedule for this work week. Not to say this doesn't have advantages, movies like XXX (with Vin Diesel, not a porno) and Cop Out are considerably more enjoyable when you can't get to sleep. If a good movie, like Super Troopers or Bourne Identity comes on? All the better. The disadvantages are somewhat obvious, but at least now I know, if need be, with the assistance of an extra large coffee, I can get through a work day on less than five hours of sleep.

Here's some links to kickstart your work day:

-Seriously, why are we still talking about Charlie Sheen?

-Quickie list of who you should follow on Twitter

-Hopefully these MLBers never took steroids, but really, who knows?

-As if you needed a reason not to screw with bears

-Facebook keeps adding new toys

-If you like funny videos, you will greatly enjoy this

Long Weekend = Long Recovery, and quick thoughts

As stated in my last entry, I went up to Ottawa for a nice little four day weekend. By nice little weekend, I mean the first three days resembled an episode of the Travel Channel show Three Sheets. Throw in tons of red t-shirts, a quick view of the royal couple, a few well timed naps, and some much needed Booster Juice, you have yourself quite a whirlwind 72 hours. It wrapped up at my friend Heather's unbelievably peaceful cottage for some relaxation on a lake, and post dinner tea, while listening to old records. As I told my buddy JP on the ride home Monday, I don't think I could have pieced together a better weekend with better people (although six people asked me various annoying Jersey Shore questions, so I guess there is always room for improvement). One nice, and unexpected, detail of the trip, was that it didn't really break up my training too much. I was due for a rest day or two, as well as some cross-training, so fortunately I was able to squeeze in a round of tennis as well as my first water-ski run of the year (which is a major workout).

All that fun though, equalled being relatively exhausted since Monday morning. So exhausted that I had to take a nap in a McDonalds parking lot on the ride home, a nap once I got home, went to bed before 11, and a nap after work today. Hopefully tomorrow, I'll be nothing if not well rested.

The jump back into training went pretty well. Was able to bang out a few miles, along with some light lifting. On the downside, neither of the three good looking girls that work the front desk were there today. Instead I got the jacked dude with the mohawk who always looks mad that he's not a personal trainer. He doesn't really do anything other than wear a shirt that's two sizes too small, grunt at members, and text while he scans you in. Unfortunately he's probably texting one or more of the cute girls that I'd prefer were working the desk.

Quick thoughts:
-The big news of the day was the Casey Anthony verdict. Guilty or not, its a pathetic statement on society that this woman stands to massively profit off the death of her child.
-For everyone's benefit, a couple of the Kardashians decided to chime in. I wonder if they were this shocked when OJ ran free (their birth father defended him, for those that didn't know).
-I was put through about 5 or 6 minutes of random questions at the border on the way home. Some of which were just ridiculous. Customs agents should have a "shot clock" or 120 seconds when questioning their own citizens...don't give a stupid answer, then WELCOME HOME!
-Canada was a much cheaper destination before the US Dollar went in the toilet. For real, beware on your next trip.

I hope everybody had a fun and safe 4th of July. Thanks to all the troops that continue to fight for our freedoms.

Be back tomorrow,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Diverse Health Stores, Rocky IV, and Canadian Holidays

Since I've started this little venture, the most frequent question I've been asked (other than "are you crazy" and "won't your nipples bleed") is "what kind of changes are you making to your diet"? So far, all I've really done is try to eat healthier. I'll have maybe a meal or two a week that wouldn't be considered healthy, but the rest is whole grains, salads, veggies, fruits, lean protein and depressing bowls of Kashi (I love Fruit Loops...sorry Toucan Sam, we'll meet again down the road. FYI, I actually own this T-Shirt, don't judge).
The only big change I've made so far, is my first ever trip to the Vitamin Shoppe (most European name you'll see in Union, NJ). Apparently I had forgotten how out there these stores are. When you walk in, if you look to the right, you'll see a wall of protein and aisles of products that seem to be named after car parts (apparently they get you ripped). However if you turn to the left, the car part names yield to the names of leaves and green things I've never heard of. It's basically like the store is geared towards people who either wear their shirts too tight, or those who don't want to wear shirts or shoes at all. The most interesting products were 'body system cleansers' (if you don't know what that is, google it). They all claim to be 'fast-acting' and 'gentle', however if there's anything I know about that process, those to are diametric opposites. Anyway, when all was said and done, I walked about with a supply of multi-vitamins, green tea extract, fish oil pills(all of which I actually think make me feel pretty good), and a bonus card (what can I say, the atmosphere intrigued me).

Training this week had been fantastic. Since I have a mini-vacation the next few days, I really pushed it Sunday-Wednesday with no ill effects. I was able to log a pain free 18 total miles, and two hard lifting days. What was interesting however, was I was set for a 5 mile Wednesday run, however at the 5 mile mark, the famous song from the Rocky IV training sequence came on. Now I don't know about you, but if Rocky can run up a mountain, beat up a Russian, grow a beard in 8 days and end the Cold War, I can leg out another mile. So...Wednesday became a full 10K.

For this long weekend, I will celebrate the 4th of July by hanging out with some great friends in Ottawa, celebrating Canada Day. I've always heard its a great time, and I'm quite excited about my four day weekend. Hopefully I'll be able to catch some fireworks on my 8 hour ride home Sunday.

That's all until Tuesday,

Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Belated Father's Day, Did You Know?, and Links...

When I was growing up, Father's Day was a day that I knew I had to say something special to my dad in the morning, sign a card, have steak for dinner, and act excited while my dad opened something my mom bought (until I got a job, then I had to pay her back). After I left for school, I started to realize the importance of thanking my parents for everything they have done. Now that I've been out of the house for quite awhile, and don't see my parents that often, I see the "parental holidays" as something I really get excited about. They are the days I work the hardest to think of good gifts, and look forward to our Sunday phone conversations. This year, I got to take my dad on his first trip to the new Yankee Stadium. We got there nice early, hit monument park, and took in batting practice. Seeing how excited he was to be there made me even happier than I am to receive gifts (and I love getting free stuff). We had a great day, and a great family weekend overall...even though I decided while playing Apples-To-Apples I was going to pick whatever card would drive my dad the craziest.

I got some pretty interesting add-on facts from the people at the NJ Share Network today. Did you know that:
-40.3% of US residents over the age of 18 are registered organ donors
-That is a 9.7% increase over the previous year
-Approximately 32% of NJ residents over 18 are registered organ donors (step your game up New Jersey)
-Want to make sure you are registered? Click here.

To be totally honest, it's beyond me why you wouldn't register. If you don't think it makes a big difference, spend your next eight minutes watching this. Make sure you have some tissues.

Here's some links to lighten things up a bit:

-From today's I Didn't Need To Know That department...tisk tisk Mrs. Brady

-Don't tease us Floyd. Speaking on behalf of boxing fans, we need this.

-As a Sabres fan, I was quite excited about what the did in this trade and the draft

-Bet you didn't know Matthew McConaughey and Renee Zellweger were in this little number. I haven't bothered reading the reviews, but my money's on 'It Sucks'.

-This is why you don't let your grandma play flip cup.

That's all for now. I should have something satyrical and light-hearted tomorrow evening.

-Matt
twitter.com/mstendardi

Guest Blog - Marathon Parter in Crime

Hi everyone – This is my first blog post as Matt’s friend who is (trying to) complete the marathon with him. The first thing I’ll do to keep you interested is tell you that, at times, Matt has referred to me as ‘the dumbest smart person I know.’ I may not dispel that idea in my guest blog posts.
Here is a brief history of our friendship. I’ll preface by saying there will be no Rocky/Apollo-esque embrace at the race’s end. I will need a wheelchair, a body-sized foil bag, and some fruit. Those will come after my hand gesture to the adoring crowd. Keep reading for more on that.
THE HISTORY:
1) Circa 1992: First met by being in the same Boy Scout troop. Didn’t like each other. Not sure what changed that. A combo of when I realized that his sense of humor is hilarious, or his seeing my dad’s sense of humor (who was known to drag late-sleepers out of their tents, sleeping bag and all), or us realizing there is a mutual interest in hockey.
2) Circa 1994-1999: An absurd amount of hockey watching. “Top shelf where mama hides the cookies” is the best hockey play-by-play phrase ever. Almost got stitches due to a wrestling match that ended with my head meeting a ping pong table.
3) Circa 1997-1998: A lot of hockey at this bush-league rink called ‘Spinners.’ It could be the name of a Gentleman’s Club.
4) Circa 1998: Shouting match with Matt over a carpool mix-up for a town fair. Shortly thereafter, reconciliation and discussion of how to get dates with the girls working at Wegmans.
5) Circa 1998-2000?: Many trips to the Stendardi vacation spot, Lake of Bays’ Lumina Resort, in Ontario, Canada. I still have and wear the resort t-shirt, and yes it’s old enough there are some irremovable pit stains. I withhold any apology for that.
6) Circa fall 2000: Visited Matt at Lycoming. Introduced to Yuengling before it was a national beer. Delicious. Thank you, Central PA.
7) Circa 2005: Matt visits me in Madison, WI. Highlights include Brat-Fest and chugging a “Fishbowl” at Wando’s….the type of place people go after last call.
8) Circa 2007: Visited Matt. Met or re-met some of the Lyco crew such as Gene, Dave and Trevor. Obviously good people. Introduction to Espresso vodka.
9) 2009: Visited Matt during a huge road trip. Viewed the third period--at Hooters after a round of golf--of Game 7 of Washington-Pittsburgh. Worst Game 7 ever.
10) Early 2011: Matt calls about the Marathon. I figure why not. It would be nice to cross it off the bucket list and if its thug sports fans don’t rob you, Philly is a nice place to visit in the fall.
11) Late 2011: If/when I cross the finish line, I will hold up my hand with the #1 symbol. I will be equating it to winning the Superbowl no matter how many people just beat me.

Add it to the register of reasons I am the ‘dumbest smart person’ Matt knows. More to follow…Andy G.

$9 Socks, NJ Driving, and 30th birthdays

Hey everyone. I wanted to post earlier this week, however I had some home internet issues (don't worry Dad, I paid my bill). Anyway, its late and I don't have much in the way of cohesive thoughts, so this is gonna be Aaron Karo style ruminations/rumblings.

I went for a bit of a distance run this past Saturday (7.5 miles) with mixed results. My pace was good throughout (8:57...which is what I'm shooting for in Philly), my legs felt great, my playlist was superb, but my feet decided to be a party pooper. I've always had "soft feet", so whenever I run myself into shape, I can get some wicked blisters (anyone interested in a gross pic can hit up my twitter @mstendardi). Around mile 5 my feet felt uncomfortable, and it just got worse from there. I was finally out there again today after a few days rest (from running, still lifted and hit the bike), and a purchase of $9 socks (sad face).

One interesting trend on facebook is seeing everyone's status hate on the driving in NJ. I've been traveling almost every weekend of late, and let me tell my limited audience; you all have your issues too. Have you ever driven through Pennsylvania? You could drive through it on Friday, and people are moving like they don't have anywhere to be until Sunday. People in Connecticut drive on the shoulder, Marylanders never learned the left lane is the passing lane, and in New York there's a different thing to whine about every five miles. The point is this; pay attention, put on some good tunes and relax. You can only control what happens in your own car, and updating your facebook with a whiney status ain't helping you make positive contributions to the traffic situation (especially if you're updating while driving).

I think someone at NYSC might have seen my last post, because they were unofficially sponsoring 'Hot girls in yoga pants day' today. It was athletic apparel karma, and I loved every bit of it.

My friends Nick and Kerrilee had a joint 30th birthday party this past Saturday. It was quite a good time. I always love seeing my friends from college in a group setting. Lots of laughs, good company, and someone is always picking up a couple fresh pitchers. That said, 30 is something of a landmark birthday, and not one many look forward to. It's almost like a finish line for doing "young people" things on the "bucket list". My 30th is 10 months away, and come November I'll be able to cross another one of those items off. And while this past saturday I learned that my bowling game isn't what it used to be, at least I can afford $9 socks.