outskirts: life and times in charlottesville

The poll this week has drawn quite a bit of attention from readers that dropped me email. Some have requested other NBC29 people get added, and others have let me know a few tidbits of info about some of the NBC29 celebrities.

More info will get posted this weekend…developing story…

In other news, don’t go outside on Saturday unless you want to get taken down by 30,000 drunk people going out to stand in 80+ degree heat and thunderstorms, watch horsies jump around (caution: death of horsies is possible), eat barbecued pigs, and drink till they pass out in mud. That is what makes the south the place to die young (as life expectancy here in the south plummets).

Instead of spending hours driving out there, the locals should just walk/jog out there. It really isn’t very far you know. Of course, you would then stand a good chance of getting run down. They love doing that to pedestrians around here.

Update: Won’t get around to posting new info until Monday evening.

Looks like (or should I say feels like) a week of hell took me down. Snot is shooting out of my nose like breeder results from C-Ville breeders. I can feel the tickle in the nose and throat. It woke me up.

A pity I’ll now feel like utter crap for the next few weeks. Everyone that has gotten sick in this plague-infested/ground zero village has been taken down for at least 2 weeks.

I avoided it all year, but one week of true hell seems to have shut down my immunity. Say hello to nights full of kleenex and days full of blurry functionality. Guess it is time to go try to spread the plague at hoity toity (aka Harris Teeter) while buying my week of food for $25 or less (that is all I can afford after the village has sucked me dry by raising property taxes by 14%…can you say recession?…not in the heart of the village).

I ran the Run for Life 5k this weekend. I got there rather late and after getting registered I had 30 seconds to get my number pinned on my chest and get to the start line. I’d been in DC for most of the week and hadn’t exercised at all (other than miles of walking). Morning of race… No warm up. No water. No breakfast. No nothing….except for 4 martinis the night before. Needless to say, the run didn’t go very well. Right around 22:40. My thighs still hurt a bit. Not a good sign.

The 10 miler is this coming weekend. Everyone in C-Ville runs it. I haven’t yet registered. I wonder if they have sold out of bibs. I’ll try to register, but if not possible I’ll just run my standard 10 mile course that morning…which just happens to follow that same course If I can get under 88 minutes I’d be happy. That would be my worst time ever in the race. I’m really not in very good running shape right now. Oh well.

I’m down to 157. Slowly working down to 150. I don’t feel very lively though. I think it is spring allergies that do nothing but make me tired every spring. A few sneezes…but 99% is a body attack. Fall is the sneezing season for me.

Almost 50% of the breeder results here in the village are classified as fat pigs. We crush (so to speak) the national average. I though this was supposed to be a really fit city where everyone bikes, exercises, walks through nature, etc. At least that is what the village promotes. In reality, as I’ve said many times, this place is full of obese people of which a good chunk smoke. The model view of health.

Of course, I’m also a fat pig at 159. I have 9 pounds left to lose in the next 8 weeks (or so). Running 25 miles this week was helpful. Hitting the gym twice was good (another 5 miles of running and one more trip to the gym are in store for the weekend).

The running season here in the village got started with a 5k on Saturday morning. It was a pretty good temperature, but the wind was rather gusty. For my first timed run of the year I came in at 22:30. Not great…but under 25, so I get to live for another year (first year I can’t get done in under 25 is when it all ends).

Upcoming races: MJ8k, Run for Life, 10 miler, half/full marathon (not sure if I want to try the full one over the hills around here), and the Kiwanis 5k. That takes it to July 4.

I signed up for the NYC marathon and hope I get in via the lottery. Will try to run one or two other marathons this year…but I really should go see the knee guy in town one of these days.

As for my weight loss gameplan. Last Saturday I weighed in at 163. Now down to 160. Working towards 150. I see a salad for lunch tomorrow…plus a run, since it will be 70 degrees (sure is tough in the winter here…has snow day written all over it).

I’d post some news from the village…but lordy…nothing ever happens here. I really wonder why local news folks don’t all flip due to boredom. I bet alcoholism is really high among them. More on this topic on another day. Boredom has drained my brain.

I hadn’t stepped on a scale since before I ran the marathon back in November. I have been feeling a bit “heavy” lately, so I dusted it off and took a step on to it. Not a pretty sight. I’m almost 10% overweight.

I have to drop an even dozen (pounds that is…not eggs). I’ll give myself a ten week deadline. Although optimistically I’ll go with seven weeks. We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be posting weekly updates.

If it works I guess I should write a “Diet with Outskirts Guy” book. Chapter 1: Eat less. Chapter 2: Workout more. Guess that is about it.

Let’s face it, you should never try to cross 29. As a kid in Miami I learned to cross on pedestrian overpasses. That was in the 70’s. I guess 70’s technology hasn’t quite made it to the village yet.

Our politicians have once again decided to do nothing about trying to ban smoking in restaurants/bars (I wish I was in politics getting kickbacks from the VA cig lobbyist…big bucks baby). Virginia really seems to like needless death.

The plague continues to pound the local area (aka UVA). It is the worst since Prince wrote a song in 1999.

I continue drinking enough alcohol to kill the germs that are trying to attack me.

Seems as if UVA is ground zero for a biological attack from the dreaded clan called Orthomyxoviridae (aka influenza).

Will this be 1918 all over again?

I had a little bird,
Its name was Enza,
I opened the window,
And in-flew-enza.

Last week 32% of the students from a local school got attacked by the norovirus. This is definitely not the place to be if you want to stay healthy.

I wonder if The Hook or C-Ville might have a cover that looks like this in the near future. Perhaps I should go by some hand sanitizer when I head out shopping (at some place away from ground zero).

Update: As I type this my throat is starting to feel a bit swollen, and for the first this year I turned my heat over 64 since I feel pretty cold…so maybe a fever is kicking in. Ugh. I’ll be sure to tell you all about it. I should never have gone shopping at Hoity Toity yesterday.