2010 Person of the Year

One of my favorite parlor games is trying to guess who's going to win sundry "Person of the Year" awards. Earlier today, Drew Brees of the Saint's was chosen as the 2010 Sportsman of the Year. He was among my top three guesses, along with Coach K and LeBron James (for mostly the wrong reasons). I think Coach K should have gotten it but Brees is a good and fair choice.

So, on to the next - Times Magazine's Person of the Year. My guess is either Mark Zuckerberg, Julian Assange of Wikileaks or dare I say - Sarah Palin. I'm giving the nod to Zuckerberg.

Let's hear what you all have to say -- anyone else in the mix that I might be forgetting?

Quad Dipsea

So, the 2010 Quad Dipsea is in the books. And for the first time in a while, I'm pretty stoked with my race result. Finished in 6:14; a 34 minute improvement versus last year (editor's note: I had no business being out there last year - I was completely undertrained).

This year, my strategy was to have a good solid race while leaving something in the tank for the North Face 50 next week. I think I accomplished my mission, through my legs are pretty thrashed.

My strategy was to power the uphills (and with 9200 feet of climbing over 29 miles, there are a lot of uphills) and run the downhills hard. My first two legs went fair - had some congestion in my chest that I was dealing with - but my third went great. And the fourth, as always, was a grind. I debated going for sub six similar to my boy Payro (who had an AWESOME race, going 5:53) but in the end (middle, actually) decided to take my foot off the throttle and aim for sub 6:20 instead.

So, I'm stoked, especially considering how incredibly tough this course is. It is literally one gigantic, endless climb and descent (there are no flat sections).

Anyway, one down, one to go.

Long Time No Post

Just realized it has been a while since my last post; things have been pretty hectic building up to Thanksgiving. We had a real nice day yesterday; a Turkey Trot run in the morning (10k for me; mile for The Girl, 1 mile and 5k for the Boy and 5k for the Wife). It was a final tune up for tomorrow's Quad Dipsea and I only hope that tomorrow goes a bit better. My chest was congested and I felt like crap. I also messed the poorly-marked course up and ended up falling a little shy of 10k. Anyway, tomorrow is the biggie. WIll send a report post-race.

In the meantime, hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. I am thankful for many things in life, including each and every one of you.

Swim Meet Weekend

We spent a good majority of the weekend - Saturday and Sunday - at an at times wet and cold swim meet in Oakland. Didn't matter much to the Little Girl though; not much gets between that girl and the water. Boy does she like to swim. And she's getting pretty darn good too. She swam eight races and probably would have done more if she was allowed. Im learning that it Ian easy being a swim parent but the reward - watching your kid do something they love, and seeing it build their self confidence in the process - is well worth the time investment. Anyway, here she is swimming 50 free. Go Little Girl, Go. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtjyWyXB7tc&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Sent from my iPhone

Posted via email from Howard Solomon

Bar Mitzvah

Hard to believe that two years from yesterday my baby boy will have his bar mitzvah. In the Jewish religion that marks his passage into manhood.

Well, I don't care what anyone says. Damn kid will always be my little boy. But pretty soon I'll be his old - really old - man.

Regardless, I'm really looking forward to November 17, 2012.

Posted via email from Howard Solomon

Goatee

So, November marks an annual fundraising effort called "Movember" which is designed to heighten awareness of men's cancer. For reasons I can't explain growing facial hair (beard, mustache, goatee) is part of the effort. And for reasons I really can't explain, I got talked into participating by a colleague and three of us are giving it a shot.

Without further ado, here's what mine looks like 15 days into it. It's a big, fuzzy, itchy mess.

December 1 cannot come soon enough.

Posted via email from Howard Solomon

So Long, Marty

SPOILER ALERT. IF YOU HAVEN'T YET WATCHED SURVIVOR, STOP HERE.

So, my man Marty has been voted off the Island. What a bummer, most especially for my kids (our daughters are best friends). Our friendship aside, I thought Marty was the most interesting character this season and by far the smartest. I think what got him in the end is he played the game a bit too aggressively and was at times a bit unyielding in his position(s). Oh well, though, that's how the Survivor cookie crumbles. I would not be surprised if we see him back in another season.

The one thing that really galled me though were Jane's words at the end. She crossed a big line by bringing his family into it. Regardless of what anyone might feel about Marty, I can tell you this based on fact: he is an amazing dad - honestly, one of the best I know - and his three children (and his Wife for that matter) are awesome. I hope I do half as good a job as Marty at raising my own kids.

Jane is a raving idiot - truly - who has no understanding that it would be a privilege for her to be invited to the Piambo household.