Awesome Stuff That Came Through The Pouch: The Muscles from Brussels

By admin | Published January 9, 2013

December’s Vanity Fair ran an awesome article on the French Foreign Legion, which sent me into a frenzy of learning as much as I could about this fascinating military force. Because of the romanticism and mystery of taking an assumed name and leaving everything behind (to say nothing of the badass uniforms), there’s no shortage of literature on this subject so I downloaded a ton of books to my Kindle.

Beyond books, the story of la Légion étrangère has also reached the silver screen.   And as is always the case in Hollywood, Jean Claude Van Damme rises above:

The Muscles from Brussels

 

I made the order on December 27 and the DVD arrived on Tuesday, January 7.  I, for one, am anxiously anticipating the 99 minutes of awesomeness promised by the film.  The DVD case says Legionnaire is “powerful and visually spectacular…an adventure of one man’s journey into danger and redemption.” On va voire.

Posted in Military | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Awesome Stuff that Came Through the Pouch: Youkilis Finally Arrives

By admin | Published January 6, 2013

I ordered this bad boy on December 15, moments after the 27-time World Champion New York Yankees announced the signing of my all-time favorite major leaguer. The shirt finally shipped on Tuesday and arrived on Thursday.

YOUUUUUUUUKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!

In the interest of full disclosure, I had mlb.com send the shirt to my Virginia residence because I’m leaving Congo around the time the season begins and wasn’t sure when the Pinstripers would assign Youk a number. (I wonder why he chose 36, probably for the number of World Series titles the Yanks will have at the end of his tenure in the Bronx).

Regardless, I now have yet another reason to look forward to my return to the States in April. Let’s go Yan-kees!

Posted in Yankees | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

1,970 in 2K12

By admin | Published December 31, 2012

One of the nice benefits afforded by Brazzaville’s slow pace is the opportunity to work out virtually every day.  With this in mind, I set a goal in January to run at least 1,500 miles during 2012.  After 366 days, I’m happy to report that I blew past that goal and almost hit another major milestone, running more than 1,970 miles total.

What a Run

 

There’s some mileage missing from that final tally, reflecting times when I forgot to charge my watch or had trouble with locating satellites; regardless,  I don’t think I hit 2,000 miles.

The end of year tally has brought back some good memories and put the year in perspective.  For instance, I got a real kick out of the more than 85K feet of elevation gain, which is almost three times up Mt. Everest.  I also ran more than 12 whole days during the course of the year, clocking more than 300 hours of road work.  I ran in three hemispheres, north of the Arctic Circle (albeit on a treadmill at Barrow High School), and in exotic climes as varied as Ethiopia and Hawaii.

My favorite 2012 run was the Maui Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. It was an oddly-distanced 8.6 mile course and was supposed to be a race where you called your time before you began (I cheated and ran with a watch).  I felt great during the race, covering the distance at nearly a 7:30 pace, nailing a couple of the miles under seven minutes.  Plus, I was running in Maui.

My second favorite run of the year came during Brazzaville’s second annual “Demi-Marathon”.  After the race began about 3 hours late (ensuring the course had a chance to really heat up), I took on the course, dodging taxis (traffic control is not quite up to U.S. standards).  When I crossed the finish line, I was thrilled because I ran a sub-eight minute pace and knocked about 15 minutes off my personal best.  However, I don’t know if I can actually count this as a PR because my watch showed that the course was 11.56 miles and not the universally recognized half-marathon distance of 13.1 miles.  That said, a highlight of the race came after crossing the finish line, when I went around asking non-English speakers if they a) had a satellite watch and b) knew how to convert kilometers to miles.

I’m looking forward to the year ahead for a number of reasons, not the least of which is moving back to the States in April.  Between now and then, I have a series of short-term goals.  For instance, I’ve definitely put on a little holiday weight so I look forward to starting fresh on Thursday (I’m going to treat January 1 like a holiday and chug a bunch of Cherry Cokes and eat some Funfetti cake).  And as the old saying goes, you cannot outrun a bad diet, so I’m going to rely on my old standbys, water and canned chicken, to get me back into fighting shape.

I’m going to use the first quarter of 2013 to lay a foundation as I prepare to compete a full race calendar in 2013.  In addition to road races (like April’s Tar Heel Ten Miler or maybe even Pat’s Run, my favorite race of all time), I’m looking at a number of triathlons in the DC Metro area as well as on Strong Island.  In September, I have my eye on completing a Half Ironman in Montauk.

Finally, I’m looking forward to getting back on the blogging horse in 2013 as well.  I hope to have as much success with my 2013 resolutions as I enjoyed in 2012.

Posted in Running | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Up and Running

By admin | Published June 29, 2011

Alright, here is Take 2 at my reboot of Morganobrien.com (I lost my last first post on my Ichiro shirt, I’ll retype that over the weekend).  In the coming months, not only will I continue to write about Awesome Stuff that Came Through The Pouch (#ASTTCTP), but I’m also going to provide details on some of my other favorite pasttimes, like running.

Since I’ve come to Congo, I’ve run almost every morning.  This year, I’ve already logged more than 1,200 miles* (in just over 187 hours) and burned more than 200,000 calories.  It’s been a great way to stave off boredom and keep off the weight that one can gain from eating all my canned goods (I only eat food approved by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, I’m that patriotic.  I call it the Zombie Apocalypse diet).   I also use my morning runs to organize my day, hence why my team winces when they come into the office knowing that I’ve got a list of taskers waiting for them.

My goal for the last two months has been to bag 50 miles a week, which typically works out to 6 miles Monday-Friday and 10 each on Saturday and Sunday. I’m happy when I am pacing under nine minutes a mile. I don’t know what I’m training for, but during the summer of 2013 I fully expect to compete in every triathlon between Manassas and Montauk and will try to get a marathon or two in there as well.

Right now, I’m training in my Brooks Pure Grit and rocking the Garmin 310XT. The Pure Grits are a revelation — you need tough shoes here because of the road conditions (and we’re entering the rainy season). I love my watch because the ability to crunch numbers and analyze my performance/push myself keeps me going every morning.

To wrap things up, here’s a look at one of my favorite runs of the past year, which actually came on Tuesday. While I am happy being sub-nine, there’s nothing better than starting the day at sub-eight. (Note:  I mentioned I usually try to get six miles a day during the week, but I had an early day coming out of Labor Day weekend).

Sub-8 or Bust

 

*There is nothing better than telling a non-American that you’ve run 10 miles and then have to convert that into kilometers.  16, for those keeping score at home.

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment