T-shirt Love and Podrunning

My brother Mike (a.k.a. Mambrino) has launched a new blog. The new blog is to help him commit to several life-style changes. The goal is to get fighting fit again. He's tied this into his love of T-shirts, and I've been having some fun recommending T-shirts that would make ideal gifts for Mike (you'll have to read the comments to see the recommendations).

I applaud Mike's effort, and should make a similar effor. I should definitely avoid the junk food. I tend to be very good about this for around a month. After a month, I find that I'm sneaking a bag of crisps here and a can of Coke there. Coke? Why would I even drink this stuff? I don't like the company. I don't really want to support them. And yet, there have been some weeks when I have one every day. That certainly needs to stop. I'm right there with you Mike. No more Coke.

Mike also wants to get to the point where he is running again. Joanne and I have been doing this lately. I'm not going to lie. It's been hard. One thing that has helped us along has been Podrunner. David, who knows a thing or two about running, introduced us to it. Joanne started using it immediately, but I didn't. Let's just say that it's not the sort of music that I would listen to. Eventually though, I tried it, and found it really helpful. I had been listening to Modest Mouse's new album. I absolutely love We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank, but there were two problems. The first is that I was tempted to stop running when a song finished. The second was slow songs: I just didn't keep up the pace. Podrunner helped with both of these issues. I'd definitely recommend trying it, especially if you're just staring out running. I seem to be able to tune out the music and just focus on the beat (we're up to 144bmp).

And finally, a shameless plug. Joanne and I will be running a 5k in less than two weeks. Hopefully all our hard work and podrunning will pay off. You can help us out by donating some cash (if you haven't already), which will go to Trees for Cities.