Epic effort, epic gluttony
So I started my 24 hours of epic exercise at noon on Friday with a version 2.0 300 work out at lunch. Part two of the trilogy was Saturday morning we started running at a crazy 6am start time on a 10 mile jaunt.
Saturday morning was the most humid conditions I have attempted a 10 mile run in, it definitely had an effect on my performance. The humid air did a good job of bringing fatigue around a little quicker than I would have liked.
I actually ran a decent portion of the route with Ali before I pulled ahead during the last few miles. Up until this 10 mile run, each subsequent attempt was a little more manageable than the previous. That streak ended Saturday. I covered the distance about a minute slower than my PB that I had set 2 weeks prior.
After the run they had a burrito breakfast set up. I ate one of the burritos, something I regretted later as it felt like cement in my gut.
We drove back home since the pool wasn’t available until 10:30. Ali was exhausted and immediately went to the bedroom to catch a mini-nap before we had to go right back out the door again. I was quite tired myself and was finding it hard to find the motivation to go swim. Still, I woke up Ali and we piled back in the car to go swim.
We were swimming at a pool that is a full 50 meters long. I was looking forward to swimming Olympic style laps. Unfortunately they had the pool configured for 25 meter lanes to accommodate more people. In retrospect it was good they did as there were probably 15-20 NATS members there swimming away.
When I swam around Christmas I was surprised how much my swimming endurance had faded in two months. At that time I did 500 meters and felt pretty spent. I wanted to try to do better this time around.
In the lane next to me was a guy that made me look like I was treading water. I would start my lap ahead of him and each time he would blow by me and finish 10 meters ahead. I think he was actually enjoying blowing by me as he did this again and again and again.
I decided to do 1000 meters of swimming, it felt like a good number to go along with 10 miles of running work. I did the laps at an 8:15 per 400 meter pace, about 15-20 seconds off what I was doing at my best a few months back. I was happy to compete my exercise trifecta.
When we got home Ali was even more exhausted and again retired for additional napping. I certainly could have used a nap but I had stuff I wanted to get done, as always.
Saturday night we had a group couple dinner planned in downtown Naples. It was with several women in Ali’s local sorority group along with their spouses. I was seated right next the elder member of the group and her husband. She had a ton of interesting stories, the two biggest were her daughter was in the tsunami (and survived) and the Volvo new car buying experience.
Evidently when you buy a new Volvo you have the option of being flown over to Sweden on Volvo’s dime where you will take delivery of your new Volvo right at the factory doors. They will then ship your car to the United States. No, I am not kidding. I guess this speaks to the profit margin in these vehicles but hey that is pretty damn awesome none the less.
Dinner was nice but I got a bit of sticker shock when our portion of the bill arrived. Despite Ali and I both getting entree’s that were in the mid-$20 range our bill topped out at a pretty crazy $111. I tried to keep my jaw in place as I quickly surveyed the bill, trying to find out how we managed to get up to such a high figure. I saw such niceties as $10 salads, double digit glasses of wine, stadium beer pricing and a desert price (that we split) that could pay for meal for four people at McD’s.
I wish I kept the itemized bill because even with all those pricey add ons, $111 seems high. I am suspect that since we had a party of 8 that they pulled they mandatory gratuity bolt on. If so I really got screwed since I threw a $25 tip on top.
When I mentioned the extravagant bill to Ali after dinner she immediately dismissed it, saying that we very rarely go out for an expensive dinner so it isn’t a big deal. Although I agreed with the basic premise there is a line where it crosses over from expensive to ridiculous. For me, we crossed it.
By the time we got home I was utterly exhausted from my day of exercise, no naps, followed by a high calorie restaurant meal. I was so tired it literally felt painful to be awake. I fell asleep in no time at all.
Sunday morning Ali was meeting up with Christie to do some more swimming. I stayed behind and did the majority of the house prep for our Superbowl party. We had invited probably close to a dozen people but the invite didn’t go out until last weekend. As a result we wound up only having 3 people RSVP.
Despite the relatively small gathering we made enough food for many more mouths. As a result our fridge is jammed with left overs today. I think I will be eating bagel bites and spanikopita all week for dinner.
Despite the small attendance we once again set up the betting board where daring souls can place 50 cent bets on any/all of the 16 available wagers. I made out surprisingly well, winning far more bets than I lost.
The game itself was entertaining although I really didn’t have a rooting interest despite wearing my number 83 Louis Lipps jersey. I was really fine if either team won as I like them both to a degree. The Steelers were my team when I was VERY young since they were so good at the time. The Packers became more likable after Troy and my trip to Green Bay when we were exposed to some of the nicest people in the country.
As a fan you can’t ask for much more than to have a team with a chance to win on the final drive. Unfortunately for the Steelers , big creepy Ben just didn’t have any magic left this time around.
As always the commercials are one of the highlights of the event. There are so many of them they become a bit of a blur. I missed some of them, so I need to review a few. Out of what I did see I had a few highlights/lowlights.
A lot of the the commercials relied on physical humor to get a laugh and it worked pretty much every time. Someone getting hit in the head or plowed over just always seems funny.
The Kia commercial was pretty funny. I had no idea what brand of car it was until the end. My initial guesses were Saab (which makes no sense since they are out of business) and then Ford. It’s a sweet looking car. In the car genre I thought Chevy had some nice spots. Of course I most appreciated the two Camaro ads. The Hyundai “Don’t Settle” spot was pretty damn creative too. The VW one where the kid is Darth Vader made everyone in the room laugh out loud, it was very cute.
There were a lot of movie trailers shown. Of course I was all about the the action / super hero genre. Cowboys & Aliens, Thor and Captain America are all on my “want to see in a theater” short list.
Of course the beer company ads were all funny, they almost always are. Doritos once again had a strong showing too. There were a bunch more creative/entertaining/good spots but you don’t need me to tell you that.
There were some fails of course. I thought Coke’s spots were weak, very weak. Also godaddy really needs to come up with a fresh idea. What is this, the 5th year in a row where they tease you with T&A that is supposed to tantalize you into going to their website to see a totally lame conclusion to the the tv spot? I mean really, it has run it’s course. There were other fails as well but with 91 commercials who has time to go in depth about them all.
If you would like to review all the spots yourself go here.
A few more random thoughts about the game…. Christina Agulierra f’d up the national anthem. Sure there is a lot of pressure singing in a spot like that but wtf, she is a pro, there is no excuse for that in my book.
The half time show was a bit of a mess too. It was amazing that they didn’t have Fergie’s mic turned on at the beginning and the lights on the V on the LOVE stage were 75% out. How does that happen? WTF was the point of bringing Slash and Usher in? Slash to make the performance more manly and then Usher to appeal more to the urban crowd I guess? Odd.
All together it was an enjoyable evening although it was filled with far too much consumption of junk food. I had the perfect storm of crap, salt, fat, sugar and alcohol. No wonder I feel so rotten today. I will be spending the week trying to beat that junk out of my system.