Sunday, January 23, 2011

New Personal Best

Jeff Irvin, you can't step to this one, brother.

Today I mowed and edged my yard in 25:38, besting my previous record of 30:04 by 4 minutes and 26 seconds.  It was one of those days when the stars were aligned and I had a rock solid focus on what needed to be done.  Being that I was so on my game, I seriously doubt that this record will be bested anytime soon.

THE MOWING:  I was out the side door and to the garden shed fast.  I grabbed the mower, got it positioned in the back yard, checked the gas and oil levels and primed the engine.  She started up strong with one pull.

I mow the back by starting on the perimeter and cutting on inward circles until I am in the center of the yard.  This went fast, and when I was done I immediately transitioned to the front yard, stopping only to empty the clippings bag into the green waste bin.  I mow the front with a series of linear cuts parallel to the house, working my way curbside.  This too went quickly.

I then rolled the mower back to the garden shed and grabbed the edger.


THE EDGING:  This is where I made my first and only mistake.  I had left the edger's battery in the charging cradle.  The charging cradle is in the garage (see diagram above), so I had to go get it.

Perhaps because I was so very confident that I was on track for a personal best, I decided to stop by the coffee maker (see diagram above) to warm up my cup after I grabbed the battery.  This only took a few seconds and I was quickly back in the yard.

I grabbed the edger, slammed the battery in place, and started edging.  I'm probably better with the edger than I am with the lawn mower, so I knew that if I kept things steady and consistent, I would not lose any time against the clock.  I made clean cuts against the retaining wall. I was cautious around the aloe plants and took caution around the cactus.  Soon I was done.

I hit stop on my Garmin and saw confirmation that I had just beaten my previous record by an eternity.  Victory was mine.  I had covered just under a half mile.

Lawn Mower Porn

Edger Porn
I made these two watch...
Later in the day I went out and ran 12 miles in 1:40 or on a 8:20/mile pace.  Good but not good enough; I want to run the Surf City 1/2 Marathon in under 1:45.

32 comments:

Stacie said...

Loved it :) Congrats on the new PR. You totally rock. I do believe the bikes were blushing.

valen said...

that Bianchi makes me envious

KC (my 140 point 6 mile journey) said...

Awesome on the PR. I'm pretty sure there is some cross over effect on that training so you should be able to go well under 1:45 in the half mary! Also, I feel bad for Jeff now. He is going to have to really do something spectacular in his mapping/diagraming to top this.

KovasP said...

51:16 pace! Dude, you were on fire. If only Surf City had an edger division.

Kate Geisen said...

This is hilarious. If you care to do additional training, some edger repeats perhaps, we have a big ass yard.

Big Clyde said...

More shots of the edger, please.

Also, you might consider upgrading your mower's flywheel from the stock plastic to the titanium flywheel. It's lighter and will improve your time at Surf City. Just saying.

Johann said...

Great pacing! Pity my great training route for you is so far away.

DRog said...

training 12 in 1:40 translates to race day half under 1:45

D

Tri-James said...

Too funny - I try to PR all sorts of stuff as well.

Unknown said...

Awesome PR! Way to go! :)

Anonymous said...

Hilarious!! Thanks for my first laugh-out-loud moment of the day.

Christi said...

Awesome!

misszippy said...

Most impressive! Can't wait to see what you'll do with a little more training...

Shannon (IronTexasMommy) said...

This is so hilarious! Love it! We live out on an acre... if you want to try your endurance skills, let me know!! I'll even set you up a transition zone and do Gatorade hand-ups.

Anonymous said...

This is greatness.

And if that was your long run pace, you'll kill that 1:45 goal with race day adrenaline.

TRI714 said...

Really ?? you are nuts !!! LOL.
P.S. i DON'T REMEMBER THAT SEAT POST ON YOUR TRANSITION ????? WTH ?

Dude your runs are getting awesome. envy !!!

Emz said...

I'll
Kick
Your
Butt
In
A
Mow-off
Any
Day.

RockStarTri said...

My yard is under a foot of snow. Some may think this will never melt.

Unknown said...

Wanna try to set a new shoveling PR?

Sara said...

I'm so jealous that you can even SEE green grass right now!!

Jennifer said...

Great race report! Makes me think I might be doing myself wrong by having a lawn-guy do mine..... Nah.

Q said...

This post was surreal to me. Where I am the only contest right now would be a snowplowing contest.

Chris K said...

This is a very inspiring story. Really gets me pumped up for Feb 6th.

Glenn Jones said...

A new sport for EAP? Hilarious. he sad thing? My kis don't even know what a lawnmower is except that it comes out of the back of the gardener's truck.

Unknown said...

Congrats on your PMB (personal mowing best)!!

Unknown said...

I love the map. It was totally necessary.

Congratulations. This is HUGE news.

:-P

Jess @ Blonde Ponytail said...

hahahaha! Thanks for the "porn" fix! Well done on the PR. You must be an exhibitionist, if you made your bikes watch.

I should track my snow shoveling times around here :P

Aimee said...

Ha ha...awesome! I have to say though that I am so jealous that you even have grass to mow! Ours is dead and covered with snow! Booo!

Caratunk Girl said...

This is freaking hilarious!! I think one of the best posts ever...HILARIOUS. LOVE it. Where is Jeff's comment back??? :)

Love the mower/edger porn - and that you made those two watch...so FUNNY!

Lindsay said...

hahaha. congrats on the pr! a different version of a duathlon, but just as heavy on the competition. i should do this when i cut the grass next spring/summer/fall...

Black Knight said...

Italian bike... sounds familiar. Under 1.45 is a reasonable goal: good luck.

Unknown said...

Freaking hysterical! That MS Paint work is a thing of Beauty!

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