I know I mentioned back in December that I was training for a half marathon. That was on January 10th. So in true jiglet dot net style, I’m only now reporting on it.

I didn’t have time to stretch in the beginning, because just like my last run, I was hanging out in a port-a-potty when the race started… I sprinted straight from the toilet over the starting line. Everyone wears running chips that register when going over the start and finish lines, so I could have slowed down a bit and stretched before beginning the race, but adrenaline got the best of me, and I didn’t want to be behind the pack… I would have definitely not paced myself in attempting to catch up with the rest of the runners.

Anyway, I really started hurting around the 11th or 12th mile of the run… I believe that this was due to my lack of stretching. I seriously considered stopping to stretch out because it felt like my knee was going to explode, but I was too close to the finish to stop. When the finish line became visible, the adrenaline became almost overwhelming, and I took off, passing a good 10 or so people. It felt awesome. The pic to the left was taken probably 10 seconds before the finish line, and I look like a robot or something, but you can tell I was really booking it.

My goal was to finish in under two hours, and I finished in 1:57:49, so I’m happy with that. My average pace was 8:59.2, and I came in 489/1056 in my gender (724/2442 overall). The reporting on my Nike+ is a little different, but that thing lies.

There is definitely something to be said for choosing the proper running music. I perfected my playlist over the course of several months during my training runs… Excerpts of Disco Biscuits jams provided the soundtrack for the majority of the half marathon, and they really kept me going.

I was pretty excited when someone sent me a link to a trailer for an upcoming Mega Man movie. You can see the trailer here.

A year of fail in review – There are some pretty ridiculous clips in this compilation. While watching it, I remembered back 3-4 years ago when I had hundreds of video clips (.mpg and .avi files) on my hard drive. People would upload them to directories and send them around on IRC and etc. I probably still have them all somewhere, but I’m sure every single one of them has made it’s way onto YouTube by now.

By the way, I thought that the Mega Man trailer was pretty awful. The trailer itself was boring and uneventful, so imagine watching the entire move… I had my hopes up, but I have zero desire to see that movie after watching that.

One last thing. Is this real? If so… I think I’m done with the internet for the day.

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I know that this image of Megan Fox and an adoring fan is all over the internet right now, but I still thought it was worth sharing. Some of the variations I’ve seen are pretty funny, too.

Don’t Even Reply is my new favorite site. This dude basically takes the concept of prank calling people and applies it to Craigslist classified ads. Almost every post on the site is hilarious, but I especially liked Camry Killer, 420 Friendly, Vintage Liquor, Kittens for my Tiger, and Ride to Bonnaroo. If you don’t like these, your sense of humor probably sucks.

I haven’t had much time for the site lately, I’ve been training for a naked duathlon. Actually, I haven’t been running at all for the past 2 weeks or so… I fell while rock climbing and landed on my ankle at a weird angle, so my physical activity has been kind of limited. It definitely sucks. Rock climbing is still relatively new to me though, and I love it. Anyway, that’s all for now, I really just wanted to post that Don’t Even Reply site on here.

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Have you ever wondered what it would sound like if 60 belgian women sag Radiohead’s “Creep”? Lord knows I have. You can find out the answer to your question here.

So since I completed the Broad Street Run, and I haven’t had any knee problems since (I was pretty convinced that I would) I feel like I need to move on to something bigger. HURT 100 Mile Marathon, here I come!

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As I mentioned before, it was kind of a gametime decision for me. I had no idea I was going to do it on Friday, so I did a bunch of leg stuff at the gym – Stuff I hadn’t done for at least a month. So naturally, my legs were sore as hell on Saturday, and into Sunday. Even going up and down stairs sucked. I was kinda worried about this, but I didn’t let it stop me.

Signup for the Broad Street Run was at Lincoln Financial Field. They ended at 5 pm on Saturday afternoon, so I left my house at 3. I figured it shouldn’t take me more than 45 minutes to get there and sign up. Unfortunately, I didn’t take into account the fact that there was a Phillies game at Citizens Bank Park, and a Dead concert at the Wachovia Spectrum. The hippie traffic was unbelievable. I hit a ton of traffic on 76, and moved about 2 miles an hour onto Broad Street. I parked illegally around 5:10 pm and ran as fast as I could to go sign up.

When I got into the Linc, they told me that they were sold out, which I definitely didn’t anticipate. The lady told me (and the others in line) that we could stick around and see if they were able to locate any more race bibs. So I waited, and she was able to find 5 more. I was 5th in line, so I lucked out.

I ate a huge pasta dinner a little later that night (supposed to “carb load” before a race), but it didn’t “come out the other end” at any point during the night, or the next morning… So I was a little worried about that.

When I woke up (at 5 am) it was pouring outside, and chilly to boot. I decided to stick with shorts and a t-shirt though. I parked my car at Citizens Bank park, and hopped on the Broad Street line to Central High School, where the race was set to start.

I found some portapotties about 10 minutes before the race started, but the lines were ridiculously long, and there was no toilet paper left. Fortunately, I found someone with a single tissue in her pocket, and she also informed me that the race tag I was wearing on my shoe would be activated when I crossed the starting line, so it didn’t matter if I started right at 8:30. I’ve never made better use of a single tissue in my life.

I believe the final count for participants was something like 26,500, so it wouldn’t have been possible for me to start right away anyway. I was probably in the first 10,000 though.

When I started running, the rain slowed down to a slight drizzle, and after the first mile or so, I felt great. I had Between the Buried and Me (“Colors”) in my ears, and as lame as it probably sounds, I was definitely “in the zone”. I felt like was running with a pack of wild animals or something. It was a strange (but very cool) feeling to be running in the middle of the road through all of these areas of the city that I recognized.

I did a great job pacing myself this time. I’ve had issues with that in past races, so I kept reminding myself that it didn’t matter if people passed me, since my main goal was to finish the race without walking. And I did that, so I felt pretty damn good about myself.

After we passed City Hall (probably around the 6 mile mark), the rain started getting heavier, but it was perfect timing. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated rain more than I did during this race. It felt amazing.

Due to the rain and overall weather conditions, it was hard to see very far ahead, but when the finish line was finally in sight, I took off. It was around this time that the rain started to pour down. Four lanes of (human) traffic bottlenecked into two, so it became much more difficult to pass people, but I was doing my best, and I even made a couple of leaps. I was amazed by how much energy I had during the last few minutes of the run, it was definitely an awesome feeling.

I ended up finishing in 1 hour and 32 minutes. That link says that I placed 10289 out of 23093 – I guess some people either didn’t finish or just didn’t show up? Either way, I’m happy with the outcome, and know that I can do better next time if I actually train for it. Maybe I’ll beat some Kenyans?

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If that video made you feel even slightly good about yourself, or life in general – Here’s something on the opposite end of the spectrum. What happens when Popeyes runs out of chicken? I wonder if Jewverine shows up?

So I had no intentions of doing the Broad Street Run in Philadelphia. I’ve only been running like twice a week, three times max lately, so I’m really not ready for it, and I definitely haven’t been training. Oh yeah, and it’s tomorrow. Last night, I think I got talked into doing it. It’s a ten mile run, and I usually go about 5 (haven’t run 10 in like a year and a half) so it should be interesting. Hopefully I shit my pants or get attacked by one of these things or something. I’m heading into the city in an hour or so to sign up. Wish me luck!

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“Hack your brain” – Want to hallucinate without taking drugs? Read up on some rather interesting methods of “opening the doors of perception” without ingesting mind-altering substances.

Wouldn’t it suck to get shot in the arm? It definitely would, especially if you were minding your own business. Say you were in a movie theatre… On Christmas Day. Damn. A little late on reporting that one, I know, I forgot about it until now.

Check out the second paragraph of the Wikipedia entry for “Graham Cracker”. How is it possible that I never knew this until now? Usually I indulge in sinful activities while eating graham crackers, and sometimes I just smash them into my face.

Since I’m “catching up” anyway… I spent this past New Years in Wildwood, NJ with a small group of friends. It was different, since not many people were around, but I had a good time. I think there were 8 of us there. Last year I was in a crowded bar/club in Montreal. I hope you all enjoyed your New Years in the US, because according to this dude, we only have about 2 of them left.

An Ohio teenager killed his Mom when she took away his copy of Halo 3. I’m really not sure what to say about this story – There are a few obvious video game jokes that could be made here, but they’d be in extremely poor taste, and it’s a pretty sad story to begin with.

I ran my first 10k this past Sunday. “Shiver By The River” in Reading, PA. It was freezing cold out, and I was a little underdressed, but I still enjoyed it… Until the last mile or so, when I started getting terrible stomach pains. I don’t know if it was because of something I ate the night before or what, but I thought I was going to make a mess of my pants. I started walking when I had about half of a mile left. Some guy ran past me when I slowed down and said something along the lines of “come on man, only half a mile left, you can do it” – As lame as it may sound, he inspired me to push through the doo-doo brown pains and finish up the race at a decent pace. As soon as I started running again (about five seconds after I stopped) I took off and flew past this guy, and about 10 other people. I finished in 100th place (out of 350+ people) with a total time of 52:11. I can definitely do a faster 10k than this, but considering the conditions I think I did pretty well… Regardless of the fact that I got smoked by a bunch of 60 year old dudes (no homo).

Check out this basejumping video. That looks absolutely incredible. Where do I sign up?

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I wrote before about how I was having knee problems that were getting in the way of my running. I stopped running completely for a little bit, and I’ve gotta say, I didn’t realize how much I enjoyed running until I wasn’t able to do it. Anyway, I figured it probably had something to do with the fact that I was running in somewhat crappy shoes. They were Nikes that ran me about $50, but I bought them at Kohls or something. I decided to go to a real shoe store and talk to someone that might know what they were talking about. So I did that, and a dude at The Finish Line suggested the Asic GT 2130s. They felt comfy, so I bought them. About 2 miles into my first run, my feet started to hurt… In the same place on each foot. After 5 miles, I felt like my feet were cut open. So those shoes sucked. I returned them and got a pair of Nike Air Max Moto 5+ instead. These shoes are much better. I ran 3 days in a row this week with no problems whatsoever. I realize this probably isn’t very interesting to most of you, but I’m pretty damn happy to be running again.

These photos of Antelope Canyon in Arizona are absolutely amazing. I can’t imagine there are many other places in the US that can match the sheer beauty of that place… Although I’ve never seen it with my own two eyes. Then again, 11 people died there in 1997, so maybe it’s better that way?

I don’t know if any of you were fans of Kids in the Hall, but I loved that show. If you’re a fan, check out their new sketch, it’s pretty funny. This, on the other hand, isn’t so much funny as it is just downright disturbing. That’s definitely a dude.

The “metal mashups” on this site are pretty interesting, although they’re definitely hit or miss. “Whole Lotta Sabbath” was pretty damn cool. Metallica’s “Eye of the Beholder” mixed together with Michael Jackson’s “Smooth Criminal” was actually difficult to listen to, to the point where it was almost disorienting, if that makes any sense. I liked the Iron Maiden/Public Enemy mashup (“Hallowed Be Thy Enemy”), and hearing the Ghostbusters theme mixed together with AC/DC’s “Thunderstruck” was pretty cool. Oddly enough, “Stayin Alive” vs “Another Brick in the Wall” also worked out very well. I would have never thought of combining The Bee Gees and Pink Floyd, but its actually a very logical pairing. The guy is no Girl Talk, but it’s worth checking out if you enjoy mashups.

I’m a national shark rodeo champion… Although I’m currently suspended due to my refusal to wear that cowardly chainmail suit. And this dude is a little bitch.

I don’t post music on here nearly as much as I’d like to. I’ll hear a new album and tell myself that I’m gonna post it on my site… But by the time I actually have some free time, the album has been out for a month already, and most people who would potentially be interested in hearing it probably already have a copy. I’m a big fan of MP3 blogs, and if I had more time I’d like to have one of my own. Unfortunately, I can tell you right now that will never happen. Hell, if I had more time, I’d probably start off by revamping the site, as half the stuff on here doesn’t even work, and the layout looks like crap. Anyway, getting back on topic here… Here’s a bunch of random MP3s for you that I had on my computer at work. I’m not gonna bother with descriptions or anything, check them out if you feel like it, maybe you’ll find something you like. Don’t get caught downloading them though, or the RIAA might take away your home.

I’m heading to another small festival this weekend (the last one was a blast), so naturally its pouring down rain, and there are flood warnings… In retrospect, I probably should have gone to visit some friends at Shippensburg or Penn State for graduation, since most of the people that I know who are still in college are graduating now. Oh well – Hopefully the weather will improve a little bit tomorrow. This guy’s got the right idea. Have a great weekend everyone!

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I have checked out parts of their sets at a few festivals (most recently Langerado) but as I said before, I was never really able to get into the music. This band has a huge (dedicated) following, and I almost felt like I was being left out or something. I’m open to all kinds of music, so clearly I just didn’t “get it”.

Illicit Drugs:

At some point, it dawned on me that the reason that I wasn’t able to get into this band was because I’ve never taken ecstacy. At some point in high school, I saw how people acted when they took it, and I decided that, in direct conflict with my burning desire to put holes in my brain, I had no interest in ever trying it. It should have been obvious to me… The bands name is a direct reference to the drug, and “molly” is all over the place at their shows. Anyway, it became apparent to me that the majority (or at least a good amount) of the band’s fanbase were so into the music because they were rolling at the shows.

This may or may not be an unfair statement, I’m sure the band has fans that have never touched the stuff, but I formed my opinion. So essentially, if you disagree with me, you’re wrong.

Cardio:

I’ve been running on and off since my freshman year of high school. I was never even semi-serious about it until college, and even then my running was sporadic… I’d go 4 times in 1 week, then skip the entire next week, you get the picture. After I graduated, I realized that I needed to get rid of a mild beer belly that I had cultivated, so I started to get into a routine, and I realized that I actually enjoyed it. Since I graduated in December of 2006, I’ve been running pretty consistently, although some knee problems have forced me to cut it from 5-6 times a week to 3 times a week.

Anyway, I’m a huge music fan, and I waste a lot of time putting together playlists for my runs. Most people probably just put their iPods on shuffle and go. I, on the other hand, spend much more time than I probably should putting together these playlists. A few weeks ago, I came across the “Hippie Workout Mix”, which is comprised of selections of live Disco Biscuits performances (put together by Live Music Blog, which is a pretty cool site). I usually run to metal, but I thought I’d give it a try.

To my surprise, I really enjoyed running to this. It had a pretty consistent beat, and due to the nature of the music, I found myself spacing out a little bit, and therefore not concentrating on how long/far I had gone. My only complaint was that, at just under 33 minutes, it was too short. But I knew that the guy who put that podcast together was on to something, because it was great to run to.

Due to continuing knee problems (which really, really suck, and most likely mean I won’t be able to participate in this) I’ve been forced to find alternatives to running. So at the gym tonight, I decided to give the elliptical another shot. It doesn’t look much like that, but that chick using it is smokin’. I’ve used it before, but it was boring as hell. I don’t like running in place; I’d much rather be running outside, where there’s stuff to look at.

Anyway, I was putting some music on my iPod at work, and I thought I’d give this Disco Biscuits nonsense another shot. I found a song on the Live Music Archive that was about 36 minutes long, and put a few songs on the playlist before it so I’d have an hours worth of music.

I stand firm in my opinion that the elliptical sucks, and in my opinion is no replacement for a good old fashioned run, but that hour went by ridiculously fast. The improvisational techniques employed by the band (and their overall style) is perfect for running, in my opinion. After my workout flew by, I realized that the Disco Biscuits exist for a reason… They need to start playing in gyms. The only problem with that idea is that their fans would show up, and within minutes, people would be trying to plug molly and smoke DMT in the gym, and I don’t think that would fly. If you’ve been to music festivals before, maybe you just got a mental image of a bunch of drugged-out zombies “raging” in a gym. Maybe you laughed.

So what was the point of this post? I have no idea, really. Maybe I’m in the minority since I was able to “overcome the odds” and find a way to enjoy this band without the assistance of mind-altering drugs. I realize this is a weird post. I’m exhausted (as usual) which may have something to do with it, but I know I’ve been neglecting the site, so I told myself I’d sit down tonight and wouldn’t get up until I wrote something. So there you have it.

This actually kind of scares me, and I’m not sure why. Maybe because it reminds me of the mechanical hound in Fahrenheit 451? If one of those things was following you around, I bet you’d be pretty freaked out, so don’t call me a pussy for being scared of a robot.

My 500 GB external hard drive (this) is giving me “cyclical redundancy check” errors, and not allowing me to access any of the files on it. I’ve spent an insane amount of time gathering/organizing the music on here, so to say that this sucks would be a bit of an understatement. Anyway, I’m gonna see what I can do about that now, so wish me luck. Or don’t, it really doesn’t make much of a difference.

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