"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strongman stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."- Theodore Roosevelt, Sorbonne, Paris, April 23, 1910

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

NO. This blog isnt dead....

SO I have not posted anything of value since December 8th, 2010.  Wow....what have I been doing since then you ask?   Good question.   Since the last post I've managed to build a floating arm trebuchet with my kids in the back yard.  Hey its always good fun to fling stuff!  
       In other build type projects I lucked into a AK-47 parts kits from a friend.  I never built a battle rifle before and the premise seemed to be a interesting proposition.  After doing some basic research online I decided to skip the traditional rivet construction ( high tech for 1920's ) and weld the parts together.  I know, traditional AK lovers hate to here this; but I am much more of a competent welder than I am a riveter.   Besides, welds when done correctly should be stronger anyway.   I then painted the rifle with high temp BBQ paint for the short term.  I am moving toward sanding it all back down and painting it with DURA-Coat.  A much better solution.   What does a $150.00 AK-47 look like?   Better than one would think, but I'll let you guys be the judge.  
The big thing that has taken up a majority of my time this late winter and early spring has been the Potato Creek Trail runs.  Its has not been since 1993 that a trail race has taken place out at Potato Creek State Park.   My wife and I decided last September that we felt as though we had to put this race on.  We wanted to donate the proceeds of this race to the scholarship fund at the kids school.   I can say now in hindsight it is much easier to run the race than it is the manage it.   It was a great experience for me and I learned so much about how to manage a race, deal with difficult people, and work crazy hours for no pay.  A real character builder.   :-)   For those of you who want more info on the race surf on over to the blog.  Potato Creek Trail Runs.
This past weekend I was fortunate enough to run the Dances with Dirt relay with my brother-in-law and his friends down in Gnaw Bone, Indiana.   This is the funnest ( is that a word?) run I do all year.  Imagine people in costume covering 5k-10k distance thru some of the worst ilk possible.  Its great!   This run has also helped me get back on track with consistent run mileage.   I hope to take the training leading up to this and funnel it into more training for a fall 50 miler.  It all depends on what kind of time I can chisel out.   I am looking at a few 50 milers  right now and have not committed to anything yet.  Once I am able to nail down more of a schedule I can then move forward with getting ready and training.   I'll keep up on the posts as well; and get some photos up of the t-bucket as time permits.   I have to get that thing on the road.  Right now I am shooting for July. 
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