Come back home, Have to rumble in the alley

When I woke up this morning, I didn't plan on making any big decisions today. I was scheduled to be free from work but last night I picked up a shift from a co-worker for today. So basically when I woke up this morning, I knew I had to be at work at 3:00 p.m., that I needed to clean my room, and that I needed to complete some sort of exercise before going to work. I planned on coming straight home after finishing at Winnie's. This was to be a routine day with nothing exciting or out of the ordiany planned. Of course I don't plan on much of anything these days. And I guess I never really get up and sa y "I'm going to make some big decisions today".  But after a 20 minute conversation with my roommate I have made the very big decision of registering for the Routeburn Classic (http://www.goodtimesevents.net/). Click on the link and watch the video for a good visualization of the race. The Routeburn Track is one of the New Zealand Department of Conservation (DOC) Great Walks. From the DOC website:

"The Great Walks are the department's premier walking tracks, through areas of some of the best scenery in the country. The huts and tracks on the Great Walks are of a higher standard than other tramping tracks, and many of the Great Walks have booking systems to manage visitor pressure. The Routeburn Track traverses 32 kilometres of Mount Aspiring and Fiordland National Parks, part of Te Wāhipounamu – South West New Zealand World Heritage Area and is administered by the Department of Conservation on behalf of the New Zealand public. Located in the southwest of the South Island the track extends between the head of Lake Wakatipu and S.H. 94, the Te Anau – Milford Road. The nearest townships of Queenstown, Te Anau and Glenorchy have a full range of accommodation. Shops in Queenstown and Te Anau can cater for all your tramping needs, including equipment hire. You can walk the track independently or as part of a guided group. Ultimate Hikes hold the only DOC approved concession for overnight guided walks on the Routeburn Track during the peak walking season."

The DOC lists the time to complete the track as 3 days. On April 24th, 2010, I am going to complete it in 7 hours or less. That's a shade over 90 days away. Go big or go home.

This is very exciting for me. I haven't trained for an outdoor race since last year when I trained for the MS 150. I haven't been this nervous about an event since my very first road race: the Decker Challenge 20K in December of 2007. I remember signing up for the training group for that race and thinking that I had absolutely no business embarking on something as ludicrous as a 20K through the hills of Austin. Deja vu. I'm pretty sure I have absolutely no business embarking on a 33K through the mountains of New Zealand. But making it my business will be painful, challenging and rewarding at the same time in large doses. And hopefully it will help to limit my intake of pizza and beer over the next few months.

I better go to sleep and get to rest. Official training for the Routeburn Classic 2010 starts tomorrow. Shit, it's 12:50 a.m. here, training starts today...what have got myself into?

Short Circuits

• Everyone in the restaraunt besides the Americans pronounces the word tomato as "ta-motto". Americans say it as you know "toe-may-toe" or some similar variation. As a ruse, I pretend not to understand the other pizza chefs when they say ta-motto. For example, if one of them says "Can you get me some sun-dried ta-mottos out of the fridge?", I respond "nope, I don't know what those are". So the other day, I'm pulling this little stunt in the kitchen and I turn to one of my American friends and say "Kyle, he keeps asking me for ta-mottos, do you know what a ta-motto is?" Without skipping a beat Kyle responds "Yeah, it's like a to-may-to for morons." I thought this was hysterical.
• Winnie's pizza ovens and prep area is out in the public area of the restaraunt. The customers can watch us make their pizzas if they wish too. So when we are out front making pizzas we are forced to listen to the Winnie's soundtrack, which consists of about 200 songs that are played over and over and over again. Most of these songs are awful, "American Pie" by Don McLean, "Give it Up" by KC and Sunshine Band....you know what kind of music I'm talking about. Pop hits from the 70's and 80's that make for decent background music. Strangely enough, there are some really odd gems thrown into Winnie's mix like "Whiskey in the Jar" by Thin Lizzy and "American Music" by the Violent Femmes. But for the most part it's all crap. Listening to these songs all day as inspired me to compose a list: "The Top 5 songs I hate by Artists I Love". The theme of this list is that sometimes great artists put out shitty music. Sometimes great artists put out great music that mass communication rapes into something that you end up hating. Take "Under the Bridge" as an example. Brilliant song that has been absolutely bludgeoned to death by the radio. Without further ado, here's The Top 5 Songs I Hate by Artists I Love.
• Number 5 - "Here Comes My Girl" by Tom Petty
• radio didn't ruin this one for me I've just never liked this song. The lyrics are unoriginal and Tom's singing sounds winey. Frankly, I don't understand why it was ever released as a single.
• Number 4 - "You Can Go Your Own Way" by Fleetwood Mac
• OK, I don't really hate this one....yet. Winnie's is pretty much ruining this tune for me as I hear it three times a day and for some reason every female server thinks that when it comes on they are magically transformed into Stevie Nicks and they can just walking around the restaraunt belting the corus out. Tell em Lee: Not so fast my friend!!!
• Number 3 - "Hungry Heart" by The Boss
• No explanation required.
• Number 2 - "Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison
• Van Morrison is one of my all time favorite musicians and the fact that this is his signature song is a complete misrepresentation of his talents. Little known fact: the song was originally written as Brown Skin Girl, but the record label wanted something that would appeal to a larger audience.
• And the number 1 song I hate by an Artist I love issssssssssss:

SWEET HOME ALABAMA by Lynard f-ing Skynard.

Oh man, I can't stand this song. From the jingle jangle rhythym guitar to the dissing of Neil Young to it's association with the University of Alabama to it's mass popularity and drunken idiots singing along to it, this song is a complete trainwreck. I heard it three times today. Can I hear "Give me back my bullets" three times a day instead?