Sunday Funday

I got up bright and early today to help with the HMRRC-Marine Corps Half Marathon. Having been a fixture in the Capital District running community for 15 years I saw tons of people I hadn't seen since I untied the laces of my New Balances and racked my bike. That meant lots of hugs and kisses from old friends many of whom I have run hundreds of miles with over the years.

Imagine the horrified looks I got when people asked me for the time and I said I'm not wearing a watch. What kind of runner doesn't where a watch? Most runners and triathletes are slaves to their Timex Ironmans (with 50 lap counters) and their Polar Heart Rate monitors. But not IG. No IG lost her Timex Ironman when her faux Kate Spade or Prada purse spit it out somewhere right before her trip to Vegas.

I have worked packet pick-ups and race registrations for years and runners are a funny bunch. They are either very friendly and socialable or they are completely socially inept. Why are long-distance runner's lonely you might ask? Because some of them haven't got a clue and act like they just crawled out from under a rock still wearing running clothes from the original running boom. Who wears cotton and short shorts in this day of Microfiber wicking materials and got forbid lycra? It never ceases to amaze me how many people cannot completely fill out a race application. Today I didn't have to worry about day of race registration because we were sold out. No room on the bike path for day of race registrants.

I took the job on because my dear friend Ed asked me too help. I can never turn Ed down because he's been a source of NY Jets tickets and SPAC shed seats for DMB and the Dead over the years. Plus I did it as a favor to Elaine and Jim the current Race Director's who took the race over from me.

I stepped back into RD mode without missing a beat. I even kept a straight face at the stupid questions I got asked.

Clueless Runner #1: Which bus do I put my bags on?

IG: The first one.

Clueless Runner #1: Which bus is that?

IG: The one with the two behind it? Duh!!

Clueless Runner #2: Are their Portalets on the route?

IG: No, you will have the Hudson River on your left for a good part of the route. I smiled nicely and stated a simple fact there is no way of knowing where you might need to go over 13.1 miles. (Come on people we are talking a run of 1 hour 15 minutes for the fleet of feet and three hours tops for the penguins.)

IG ten minutes before race is to start: OKAY PEOPLE START MOVING YOUR BUTTS TO THE START LINE AND GET YOUR SHIT ON THE BUS IF YOU WANT IT AT THE FINISH----OOPS!! Lots of laughs with that one.

This mystery of why would you do that always horrified me when I was racing directing: The people who put their bib numbers on their backs. Why would you pin your number on your back when you cant reach it and probably have to have someone do it for you. And when you look at everyone else with their bibs neatly pinned to the front of their singlets or t-shirts doesn't that tell you that just maybe you are an idiot? My gut feeling was anyone who did that in a race longer then say 5 miles had no business even running that distance.

I wasn't feeling to poker-ish today. I played a $5.50 45 person sng on Full Tilt only to donk out really early when my straight on the turn got flushed or boated on the river. I then sat down at a .10/.25 Pot limit Omaha 8 table with no cap (living dangerously) and promptly proceeded to work my $15 up to $34.55 in about two hands. I told myself I would grind out bonus and leave when I got down near $30. I got up as high as $37 only to give back some when a short stack flushed me and another big stack on the river and we split the low. Sucks but that is Omaha 8. I left with a $15+ profit for the short session but if you subtract my $5.50 donation in the sng I was only up $9.50. I then got bitch slapped in a $3.30 turbo 0maha 8 10-person SNG on riverstars a few hours later when my opponent rivered me. I did horrible this week in online MTTs and SNGs. My winnings came from ring game play (WOO HOO a first) and from my live play. Actually when all is said and done I had a break even week unless I can eek out a win somewhere later tonight.

I logged into Titan to find lots of cancelled league games. Not enough players to get the tourneys off the ground since they are shutting down to the USA and most of us have pulled our money. I think they have just banned deposits and new customers because I was able to use some of my accumulated player points for a point buyin. Didn't have much luck their got my KK cracked on the river by A2 hitting their A. Another Donkfest.

Probably because of everything that went down this week with losing rooms etc, online poker especially MTTs has lost some of its charm for me and Im glad I made the move into live play. I'm more confident at the ring game tables especially Omaha 8 and feel that this will be my real money maker. Now to just win one of those $20 buyin 180 person sngs on stars. Better yet make it two.

I'm 9-3 in this weeks football picks with two games to go. Had two mediocre weeks during weeks 3-4 so this should make up for them. APL update still to be posted.