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
Friday, November 25, 2011
Thursday, November 24, 2011
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...
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...
Saturday, November 19, 2011
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
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
Sunday, November 13, 2011
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
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
Friday, October 28, 2011
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
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
Thursday, October 27, 2011
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...
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...
Friday, October 7, 2011
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
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
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