WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!

My team lost.

AC Milan 2, Liverpool 1.

Now I'm sulking.

In response to Brownies derogatory comment about "soccer", I would like to respond as follows:

Football, to give it its correct name, is by far the most superior sport for a number of reasons:
1. The players do not have to wear ridiculous skin tight knickers or knee length shorts - you actually get to see their sexy legs.
2. They do not wear helmets or shoulder pads as they are not gay or stuck in the 80s.
3. They are physically fit and can actually play for a 45 minute period without having to take a break. And they play for another 45 mins. And sometimes extra time.
4. The clock doesn't stop every time play stops so you know exactly how long the game will last and you don't get any annoying tactical plays in the last 30 seconds of the game.
5. Its name of football is justly deserved as 95% of contact with the ball is with the foot. IT IS NOT CALLED SOCCER.
6. The football assoication was founded in 1863 in England. Was America even a country then? Anywho, I think we own the term.
7. The Football World cup is actually a competition between different countries all around the world. Now isn't that a novel concept. Where the heck did baseball get off with calling their stupid competiton the World Series?
8. Finally it is by far the most popular sport in the whole wide world.

Nuf said.

Go LIVERPOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!!

Today is the final of the European Champions League and my team are in the final against AC Milan. It's on ESPN at 12:30pm, but I am going to McCabes to watch it tonight at 5:00pm. So don't tell me the result!

Running shoe recommendation.

While I have previously extolled the virtues of my Nike Air Max 360's (see below), on Friday I bought a new pair of running shoes. I went up to Colorado Running Cub with the intention of replacing my 360's but with half a size bigger as they are a bit tight and make my feet go numb when I run (not good). When I got there I noticed they had the Nike Triax 10 which I had read about in Runners World. These are designed especially for women, narrower in the heel, wider in the front and with a special 'roll' on the heel to account for the fact that women's hips are generally wider then men's. Hopefully this will cure my knee problems! Also the extra width is more comfortable. While the 360s have excellent cushioning they are very narrow (and I don't have particularly wide feet). Other benefits of the Triax 10 is the extra stability, which is good for someone prone to sprained ankles, and the better then average grip for a road running shoe, which means they can double as trail shoes as well (no point buying new trail running shoes now that I am moving to DC!). They are also light weight and very breathable and only $90, compared to the $160 price tag of the 360's!

I ran on Sunday and Monday in my new shoes and they didn't hurt one bit, which is very unusual, as new shoes usually take a while to break in and I will get a bit of foot cramp initially.

Anyway, if your interested, check out the Nike Triax 10 running shoes here. (I just noticed that they also come in narrow and wide fitting).

What is a budgie?

In answer to @ssgaggers question "what the F is a budgie" (on NHW's blog), courtesy of Wikepedia:

The Budgerigar (Melopsittacus undulatus, nicknamed budgie), the only species in the Australian genus Melopsittacus, is a small parrot belonging to the tribe of the broad-tailed parrots (Platycercini); these are sometimes considered a subfamily (Platycercinae). In the latter case, the budgerigar is sometimes isolated in a tribe of its own, the Melopsittacini, although it is probably quite closely related to Pezoporus and Neophema.[2] Though budgerigars are often called parakeets, especially in American English, this term refers to any of a number of small parrots with long flat tails. The budgerigar is found throughout the drier parts of Australia and has survived in the inlands of that continent for over 5 million years.[3]

Just for Dani....

An update to my blog to keep Dani happy.

Something interesting:
As you asked, these are the running shoes I use. If you go to the Nike web site you can customize your shoes with any color combination you like. It's fun to play with but cheaper to get them from Colorado Running Co.

http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jhtml?sitesrc=uslanding#pdp,running,_6169724d61783336304949303730315f77,female

[BTW: how do you compress the hyperlink into one word like everyone else seems to be able to do except me!]

Something funny (and seasonal):
What did the hurricane say to the palm tree?
"Hold on to your nuts baby this is no ordinary blow job!"

Tee! Hee! That joke must be 30 years old but I still love it.

Garden of the Gods 5 miler

I ran this race on Saturday and was a little disappointed with my performance. Last year I ran it in 44:58 and was determined to beat my time this year. Last year I also won the Athena category and wanted a repeat. According to my Garmin I ran 45:00, but my official time was 45:06. What is really frustrating is that I had to stop to tie my shoe laces and that few seconds could have made all the difference!! I also came second in the Athena category by about 30 seconds. There are a couple of turns in the race and I could see my competitor for the Athena title but I just didn't have any extra umph to catch her. I felt I was running harder then last year, but obviously not. I seem to run better when DH runs the race as well as he pushes me to start hard, whereas this time I took it pretty easy on the first hill. Being about 4 lbs heavier this year probably didn't help either!!

Ironically I did better overall and in my age group this year then last. Overall 41/166 (45/133 in 06) and age group 8/26 (12/35 in 06).

It was still a great race and the rain stayed away until after we had finished.

Then it was on-on to the stinko de mayo hash which was lots of fun and I was sorry to have to leave early for a very boring retirement party.

Ha-Ha-Ha!

Going home....

Booked my flight back to the UK for the summer. Headed out on July 2 and returning on July 28. That pretty much sets our moving itinerary (see left). I'm excited about going home and seeing friends and family. I haven't seen mum for 3 years and she's getting old now (78?) so it will be good to see that she's doing OK. Also looking forward to reliving my regular Friday nights out 'down the local' with my friend Amanda.

We are also going to go across to France & Holland to retrace my father's wartime footsteps. Maybe I'll find one of his mortar shells (he was mortar platoon commander). Of course we will also do a little wine tasting along the way as well!!

Hashing again.

I went to the DIM hash on Monday. My first hash in 5 months. DH is doing an exercise for three weeks plus having to complete his research paper for his MA by Friday. So this means I get to go out and play a bit more. He's actually being pretty cool about it. Hopefully I will also make it out to the hash on Saturday.

The DIM was great as always. By far my favorite hash. I ran an extra half mile just to avoid the water crossing. I made out it was because I didn't want to turn my sore ankle on the rocks but it was really because I had my good, expensive running shoes on as I had forgoten my hashing shoes!

I also went to Jack Quinns last night after a couple of weeks abscence and did an easy 5k in the rain.