What a Weekend!
What a weekend it has been. Just full of craziness! On Friday the band started laying down their parts to the drum tracks I put down a couple of weeks ago. So I brought my computer into chicago for them to use. Set it up, went downstairs and did some voting for the MTV2 contest. After about an hour of that, I packed it up and headed over to see Jackie. Its so sad, she has officially moved to Ottawa. I'm going to have to make a weekend trip one of these days and see how she likes it there.
On Saturday I picked up my Half Marathon race packet. A buzz of excitement fill the Chicago Hilton as the expo hustled and bustled all day long. Plenty of booths with give aways, merchandise to purchase and advice on how to prepare on race day. Went over to bill's where the guys were continuing with the recording, did more voting. Hey we had to make sure that we kept ourselves in a solid second place. We practiced for a bit in the middle of the recording and I went home to get some rest for race day.
I woke up at 3:00 o'clock on Sunday morning to be greeted by the sound of thunder and drenching rain. The first thought that crept in my mind was OH Fuck their going to have to cancel the Half Marathon because of the Lightning and I won't be able to run it after all the training I've done for this. But luckily everything cleared up in a couple of hours and by 5:30 the things were already starting to look a bit drier. As everyone gathered the sound of excited and nervous chattered filled the air as everyone nervously awaited the beginning of the race. Pace groups gathered for what could be the last time and exchanged well wishes and last minute race plans. The coaches and program reps offered up words of encouragement and advice on how to be enjoy the experience and day. After gathering as a big group for the last time our coaches and reps sent us all to the starting line. At the starting line John Bingham (The person who coordinates the race every year, also known as "The Penguin") was giving his speech of encouragement. As he finished the crowd prepared itself and before we knew it we were off.
The run itself was a nice enjoyable run. I somehow found people that I knew from training throughout the run and even meet a couple people on the way. After a grueling 13.1 miles I finally finished in 2:25 Not bad for my first half marathon. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the race. Part of me wonders if race day conditions had been different or if I had started my run off differently, If I could have shaved another 10-15 minutes off of my time. But all and all I think I can be pretty proud with my finish. I've never run that far before this year, but I do have a new found respect for long distance runners.
As I was running the half marathon, the band was finishing the vocal track on our latest song. They mixed it down and mastered it by the end of the day and the song has been officially uploaded onto the myspace and is currently under review by MTV2ontherise and will shortly be posted up there.
On the home front tom, pdiddy, keith and chad were at the apartment making sure that IIwII stayed in second place. When we decided to do this, we thought that there was going to be a fierce battle for position on the last day, but it seems that everyone conceded to whatever position they were in by sunday and the four of them just increased our hold on second. we didn't even attempt to overcome Wet Thing who was in first because they a) suck and b) were some 50,000 votes ahead of us, I don't care what kind of army I tried to amass, there is no way we were going to catch them.
I am very pleased to report that we are in a strong 2nd place today and looks like we will remain there until the end of the day when voting officially ends. Now all we have to do is hope that our songs show up there again by the end of the day and that whoever is judging the 5 finalists chooses us over places 3 and 4 (5th place is also a non contender in my opinion).
Thank you soo much to everyone who helped vote for us in this process. Without everyones help, there is no way that we could have gotten into the top 5.
On Saturday I picked up my Half Marathon race packet. A buzz of excitement fill the Chicago Hilton as the expo hustled and bustled all day long. Plenty of booths with give aways, merchandise to purchase and advice on how to prepare on race day. Went over to bill's where the guys were continuing with the recording, did more voting. Hey we had to make sure that we kept ourselves in a solid second place. We practiced for a bit in the middle of the recording and I went home to get some rest for race day.
I woke up at 3:00 o'clock on Sunday morning to be greeted by the sound of thunder and drenching rain. The first thought that crept in my mind was OH Fuck their going to have to cancel the Half Marathon because of the Lightning and I won't be able to run it after all the training I've done for this. But luckily everything cleared up in a couple of hours and by 5:30 the things were already starting to look a bit drier. As everyone gathered the sound of excited and nervous chattered filled the air as everyone nervously awaited the beginning of the race. Pace groups gathered for what could be the last time and exchanged well wishes and last minute race plans. The coaches and program reps offered up words of encouragement and advice on how to be enjoy the experience and day. After gathering as a big group for the last time our coaches and reps sent us all to the starting line. At the starting line John Bingham (The person who coordinates the race every year, also known as "The Penguin") was giving his speech of encouragement. As he finished the crowd prepared itself and before we knew it we were off.
The run itself was a nice enjoyable run. I somehow found people that I knew from training throughout the run and even meet a couple people on the way. After a grueling 13.1 miles I finally finished in 2:25 Not bad for my first half marathon. I was definitely exhausted by the end of the race. Part of me wonders if race day conditions had been different or if I had started my run off differently, If I could have shaved another 10-15 minutes off of my time. But all and all I think I can be pretty proud with my finish. I've never run that far before this year, but I do have a new found respect for long distance runners.
As I was running the half marathon, the band was finishing the vocal track on our latest song. They mixed it down and mastered it by the end of the day and the song has been officially uploaded onto the myspace and is currently under review by MTV2ontherise and will shortly be posted up there.
On the home front tom, pdiddy, keith and chad were at the apartment making sure that IIwII stayed in second place. When we decided to do this, we thought that there was going to be a fierce battle for position on the last day, but it seems that everyone conceded to whatever position they were in by sunday and the four of them just increased our hold on second. we didn't even attempt to overcome Wet Thing who was in first because they a) suck and b) were some 50,000 votes ahead of us, I don't care what kind of army I tried to amass, there is no way we were going to catch them.
I am very pleased to report that we are in a strong 2nd place today and looks like we will remain there until the end of the day when voting officially ends. Now all we have to do is hope that our songs show up there again by the end of the day and that whoever is judging the 5 finalists chooses us over places 3 and 4 (5th place is also a non contender in my opinion).
Thank you soo much to everyone who helped vote for us in this process. Without everyones help, there is no way that we could have gotten into the top 5.