Ramsayings

It’s been a slow year for new video games for me. I bought Grand Theft Auto 4 at midnight, then barely played it. I bought Madden 2009 and love it, but I’m rarely in the right frame of mind to be actively challenged by it.

Now there are some decisions to make. I’m looking forward to Gears of War 2, but am unsure about titles like Dead Space and Left 4 Dead. Both seem to be up my alley; I like third-person shooters just fine, especially with the horror twist to keep it interesting. My main gripe is that it’s not as obvious as last year’s crop of outstanding games that are fun to pick up and play whenever.

What games are you looking forward to as the holidays near? Chris, if you’re reading this, help me out!

A few weeks ago I started writing a post about how Web 2.0 fails folks like me. I’m glad I didn’t publish it. Why’d I draft it in the first place? Well, for people like me who were getting out of high school and into college in the mid-nineties, just before the Internet went wild, it’s tough to see the value in a lot of social media.

It’s taken three generations of major social networking sites to even scratch the surface with my former classmates, but Facebook seems to have accomplished something neither Friendster nor MySpace could: I’m in touch with folks I haven’t been in touch with for over a decade. Does it make me feel old? A little, but I can handle that when a social network does something more than delivering tailor-made ads.

In the past few weeks, I’ve reconnected with swathes of people from my past. I say “swathes” because once you’ve connected with one friend, you’re bound to find five to 10 more. Last week I opened a memory wormhole that put me in touch with people from my exchange year in Denmark. It’s been amazing sharies stories and photos and also to catch up with people. Now I’m making plans to head back to visit with Helen next April. That should be a ton of fun.

So while it would’ve been nice to have kept in touch with everyone via email and IM, I’ve found new perspective. Maybe we’re the last generation to grow up “disconnected.” For me, it was a chance to distance myself, literally and figuratively, from my hometown. It was a time to gain some perspective. Now it’s time to reconnect, catch up, and reminisce, and that’s not so bad.

This was a terrible week for workouts. It all started with last Saturday’s late night Phillies win over Tampa and got tougher from there. I managed Sunday’s run okay, but then the dreaded Monday night rainout that ended with me drunk and sleeping on the couch. (Helen was traveling, and I don’t take care of myself very well while she’s away.) I spent Tuesday recovering as best I could. I woke up a ran a speedy ten on Wednesday with every intention of running five on Thursday, but it wasn’t meant to be. Everything was thrown out the window after the Phillies clinched the World Series Wednesday night.

That’s okay. Shouting like a maniac at the corner of Broad and Shunk was well worth it.

I was sufficiently rested Saturday morning to pick up with a 10 mile pace run. That started out great and went downhill, owed to a few factors, including sleep deprivation and the fact that I only ate a hoagie and a few Reese’s cups on Friday.

Yesterday I was able to get in a solid 20 mile run in 2:36 and change. I dropped about five minutes off my last 20 mile time. I was aiming for an 8 minute mile average, but felt good enough on the run back to bring that down to 7:49. My last mile came in at 6:42 seconds. Not too shabby after running 19, right?

I think I’m at a good place in my training and expect to see my times drop now that Rob and I have completed the bulk of the mileage. We have just one week of short training runs before the taper begins. I have a feeling that once our bodies get time to recover, we’ll drop up to 15 seconds per mile.

I think I’m on target to run a Boston qualifier in my first marathon, an improbable goal I set for myself back in June. I’m in a state of nervous disbelief. I think I’m just going to make friends with whomever is running pace for a 3:10 marathon and stick to his or her hip.

I can’t believe the marathon is only a few weeks away. I would’ve never imagined feeling this good and confident when I started twenty some odd weeks ago.