FISTFULAYEN

Just home from running the LA Marathon. I’m showered and, thankfully, walking again. When I walked in the door I could barely pick up my right leg to take a step, the combo of an injury from today’s run and being overly chilled.i

I started out as many do, feeling great, running too fast. I registered too late to get a corral seed so I crossed the starting line about five minutes after the gun. I was hoping to run with the 3:35 pace group today (my scheduled training run was a 20-miler at 8:11 min/mile pace). I ran fast at the beginning and after 8 miles I chased down my pace group. I ran with them, more or less, until around 19 miles, when a pain in my right leg was getting too intense. I walked. I ran. It hurt. A lot. I walked some more. Ugh. I walked most of the last 5 miles. My 3:30 finish turned into 4:04. Humbling.

Now I’m wondering about my BQ goal. 3:15 in May? At 40? With a PR of 3:23 and a fail after 20 at 3:30 pace? Seems damn unlikely.

But tomorrow is a new day. The list of things I need sleep on is long.

ian

I’m running the LA Marathon again this Sunday.

My goal this year is to qualify for Boston. As a 40 year-old man I need to finish a qualifying marathon in less than 3 hours and 15 minutes. My personal best is 3 hours and 23 minutes. I have work to do. I’m training.

My target race is the Ojai Marathon in May.

I’m running LA Marathon this weekend as a training race. My scheduled training run is 20 miles at 8:11 min/mile. I figure I’ll run 26.2 at 8:15 min/mile instead. Or something. My plan is to run with the 3:35 pace group.

I registered last minute and didn’t want to hit you all up for money again. Truth be told, I’ve only sent out about 1/2 of the thank you cards from last year’s attempt. I’m sorry.

But I am on Team Pablove again this year and if you’re looking for a reason to donate to a good cause, please do. Donate to Pablove via my StayClassy page here.

Thanks!

ian

I’ve been answering my phone, “Rock n Roll Doctor, can I make a music recommendation for you?” all day, asking people what they’ve been listening to lately and attempting to steer them to something they may like but haven’t heard before. Why?

This weekend was Music Hack Day in SF. I participated along with Team Daisy. I was planning to just pitch in a little on one of my fellow hackers’ projects, but seeing the API demo from Twilio I was inspired to build something small on my own.

Using the Twilio and Topspin’s Artistliink APIs, I scripted a small phone tree:

Option 1: Get a music recommendation (just rings my cell phone)
Option 2: Leave a message for your favorite artist (allows you to choose an artist, leave a message, then get a thank you from the artist and a rare/unreleased track both via phone and text.

I reached out to a couple artists on Saturday afternoon asking for help and both Mike D and Trent Reznor and came through with a drop. Trent included an unreleased track from the upcoming How To Destroy Angels album, too. So there are only two artists on the “leave a message” option. Sorry. That’s what 24 hour hack days are all about!

Give it a try: (310) 299-8756

To get the free tracks, choose option 2 from the main menu, leave a message, then hit #. Your free track comes from there.

The Twilio APIs are awesome and so easy to use even I could pull this together, and the Topspin Artistlink APIs give access to content uploaded from verified artists (very useful and cool).

There were a ton of hacks at Music Hack Day this weekend, every last one of them cooler than mine. Check out the full list here: https://www.hackerleague.org/hackathons/music-hack-day-sf-2013/hacks

ian

In town for the GRAMMYs? Join us for a long run Sunday morning, from my house in Santa Monica to the beach.

8:30am – 5 miler
9:30am – 8 miler

If others have kids maybe they can party with a sitter at our house?

If you’d like to join, leave a comment here or an @reply to @iancr on Twitter.

Hope to see you Sunday morning.

ian

You’re invited to join us for a life-changing 8-week challenge, The Whole Life Challenge. It starts February 16th, 2013, sign up and join the FISTFULAYEN gym right here. As always, there will be prizes for the winners (last challenge we gave away two fancy Blendtec blenders and a Fitbit + Scale package for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place). There are some special levels this time, so if the big challenge is more change than you can stomach you can pick a smaller challenge and shed a habit or two without biting off too much. Read the rules for this spring’s Whole Life Challenge right here.

PLEASE USE THIS LINK TO SIGN UP, IT WILL AUTOMATICALLY ADD YOU TO THE “FISTFULAYEN” GYM.

This will be the fourth time I’ve participated in The Whole Life Challenge and I’ve written quite a bit about it on this blog. If you’re wondering if this is for you, read this post and hear from the last Challenge’s winners in their words. It works. It works because it’s simple, it keeps you accountable, and there’s a community of support. Not everyone loves it but I know I speak for more than just myself when I say it’s oddly fun and every time I’ve found a new set of positive habits to replace less desirable ones. There’s value to doing it a couple times a year.

I don’t make any money from doing this, but the joy of sharing the experience with others is among the most rewarding things I’ve ever been a part of. Once again, we’ll be donating the proceeds to Pablove. We sent them more than $3,000 after the last Challenge. Your support is appreciated.

Please feel free to pass this along to anyone you think would enjoy it. I strongly recommend roping a couple of friends in to participate with you. It’s fun to have someone to share compliant meals with. But even if you’re participating and the rest of your friends are drinking Diet Mountain Dew and eating Doritos, you’ll do fine. Join our Facebook group. It’s active during Challenge time with recipes, answers to questions, and commiseration.

So please, sign up now, and get as many people as you can to do the same.

ian