K. Todd Storch

Why Training is Good and Boston Law Enforcement Looks Dumb

Had a good swim this morning.  Curt and I met at LA Fitness and did a 400 warmup, followed by 20 100's.  Each 100 was some type of drill or concentration on technique.  I was pretty tired this morning and probably would of thrown in the towel after a 1000 or so.  But, training with someone else, keeps you focused and competitive (for me it does...).

By the way, spend one minute and 26 seconds watching this video "Rock Your Face".  I think you'll realize just how stupid the whole Boston "terrorist" shin dig really was...

The Weather and the Absurd

I feel like this infamous character in relation to the weather right now...

Yeah!  I got to ride outside this week! Wow...I wasn't going to let the day go by yesterday without getting in a few miles.  Late Tuesday, I went out for a 20+ mile ride.  Wind was out of the North and it was in the 40's. 

The ability to get outside and off of the stupid trainer was fantastic.

Now, on to the news of yesterday.  The city of Boston was shut down yesterday due to a marketing ploy gone bad.  Are you kidding me?  Wow...this just proves that we are out of touch with what the "kids are watching" on TV and our sense of fear (actually, you should be watching SO many shows on Adult Swim...pure greatness...)

You're telling me out of all of the police/FBI/ATF, there wasn't ONE SINGLE PERSON that recognized this was from a Cartoon Network TV show?

Ugh.  Funny...in a "I feel bad for the innocent people of Boston" kind of way.

p.s.  This whole Boston "terriorist" thing is really pissing me off.  The two men are being paraded around like they are horrible, horrible people.  Why aren't the news companies having interviews with Time Warner Turner Broadcasting to ask them why they did this type of marketing campaign?  Actually, Time Warner Turner should pay the city of Boston the $500,000 that was supposedly spent "reacting" to this problem.  They've gotten much more in free advertising from the media...here is a good follow up read

Where Have I Been?

I have been "away" from blogging for a while (thanks to all that keep reminding me...!).  Want to know why?

Read here.

Fun Fact

On Wednesday of this week, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00PM the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06 

This will never happen again in our life time.

Thanks Matt for the heads up!

What a Great Birthday!

  Birthday Loot! 
  Originally uploaded by K. Todd Storch.

What a great birthday!  I am so thankful for so many great friends and of course, my wonderful family.

I got to eat lunch with Tara today at a favorite place called Thai Chili.  Went to dinner with the family at our favorite mexican food restaurant, Guero's.

Had to wear the big sombrero while Happy Birthday was sung by the entire restaurant; the excitement on the kids faces was priceless!

Tara and the kids got me the awesome swim .mp3 player, a 2006 Discovery jersey, a new cycling mag, suntan lotion for my tri bag and one of funniest gifts, a "big bag of nothing" (family joke with the kids).

Also received a very cool book, a cycling statue and race wheel bag from Matt and Beth and the $'s from family will go directly to the new carbon race wheels (info coming soon).

Family and friends definitely have me pegged for gifts.

I'm very blessed and thankful!

Hurricane Rita Updates via SMS

Radio station, 99.5 the Wolf/KPLX has been using text messaging to keep their listeners updated and informed on all types of things.

The latest is hurricane Rita.

Text in "RITA" to 94525 if you would like the SMS updates.

Disclaimer:  KPLX is owned by SRC, the company I work for

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tags:  sms | 99.5 the wolf | kplx | hurricane rita

Vocal Chord Surgery

Yesterday I had my 6th vocal chord surgery.  I've been having issues that lead me to get extremely hoarse and I have to have a laser procedure to clean off the chords.

All went well and I'm on strict voice rest for 2 days (no talking at all) and very, very limited speaking for about a week.

Believe me, this is nothing compared to what others have to deal with, so I send even more emails at work and carry around paper and pen to write out my thoughts.  It is really more of a mental challenge than anything else.

Not being able to use your voice, when you technically can, causes you to really understand how important body language and eye contact is day to day. 

"Talk" to you soon!

Hurricane Relief Efforts: How You Can Help

Information changes by the second with the disaster in the Gulf region.  The main question many of us are asking is "how can I help and make a difference?".

KRBE, a Top 40 station in Houston (Susquehanna Radio Corp.) has just launched a blog to help get this type of information out to their listening audience as well as anyone that needs this info.

[link] to 104 KRBE Hurricane Relief Blog

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tag: hurricane relief | hurricane katrina | flood aid | krbe

White Rock Marathon 2004 recap

Click here for pictures!

The day started with the greatness of hanging out with the members of Dallas Athletes, my running/triathlon club.  Tom Ryan, once again, got a great area for the clubs' hangout tent; right on the steps of the AAC.

It was probably 15 degrees warmer this year than in 2003.  Start time temp was probably close to 50 degrees.

It really was a 4 phase run.

Phase 1 was the first 15 miles.  I ran with Todd Luther, Curt Leonard and Matt Sunshine (all 1st time marathon runners!) until about mile 18.  For the first 15 miles we were having fun, joking with the crowd, talking and having a blast.  The miles just flowed by and we were right on pace for a 3:40 marathon.  Great job to Clif Bars for having the pace leaders with their balloons on the course!

Phase 2 was 15 to 18 by the lake.  Not as many people, so it got more quiet between us. 

Phase 3 was 18 to 21.  I began to get a little stiff and sore around 18.  Now I had to play mind games to not worry about the "wall" that was soon to come.

Phase 4, 21 to finish.  Mile 21 was when I was really stiff and I felt every step.  We had fallen behind the 3:40 pace and my thoughts of shaving 15+ minutes from last year marathon were in the past.  I knew I could still beat my 3:57 from last year, but I had to keep running and ignoring how bad my legs felt.  Curt had gone on ahead of us and Todd, Matt and I kept each other going only by seeing each other and the occasional "I'm walking at the water stop" comment.  It was quite disappointing to see the 3:50 pace leader pass me around mile 22...

Thanks to Matt's Brother-in-law, Barry, for joining us at mile 23 to run us in.  Just having "fresh legs" there was a big help.  It also allowed me to focus my anger on him since I knew he wasn't in pain!  Tara and the kids, along with Beth Sunshine and their daughter's were ever present!  If I remember correctly, they were at mile 4, 7, 18, 23 and the finish.  It is so awesome to see your family and friends with signs cheering you on!!!  Running with Matt, Todd and Curt was fantastic and I'll never forget the experience.

The 3 of us finished side by side and it seemed to take all my energy to smile and raise my hands in the air.  We finished with a 3:54:41 time.  Congrats to Curt with his blazing 3:39:30!

However, knowing I beat last year's time and finishing with friends was absolutely amazing!

Chilling out with all of the DA's after the race was a blast.  From first time marathon runners, to others setting Personal Records, to others there just to lend support; the group really makes this event all the more special.

Olympic Triathlon on MSNBC!

Just got this info from the eNewsletter of USA Triathlon.

Olympic Triathlon airs in primetime
Athens, Greece (August 25 & 26, 2004) - NBC has announced that cable station MSNBC will show the men's triathlon event live at 4 a.m. EDT on August 26, 2004. For those who are not early risers, it will be rebroadcast that evening, either in Primetime or late night on NBC. The women's triathlon is still scheduled to be shown on August 25 in Prime Time on NBC. Keep your eye on www.nbcolympics.com for the latest schedule.

[read] via USAT's website