Taste of Cleveland

I went up to Buckeye Brewing Beer Engine in Lakewood, OH this afternoon with Brian and met Bob up there. Brian and I both got the breakfast burrito which came with potatoes and 4 pieces of toast for $6. It was delicious! I also got the Buckeye Yuppie, a blueberry beer and the Buckeye 76 IPA. Bob called and said he would be a bit late since he got a flat tire and had to change it on I-77. Soon enough though, Bob and his son Shamus showed up.

When we left Buckeye Brewing, Bob said he would follow us to downtown Cleveland. We got on the street and he floored his rental car, went speeding past us, then made a sharp 90-degree turn. It was definitely the highlight of the day. Brian and I couldn't stop laughing because it looked so funny with the donut tire in front.

Anyways, the main purpose of the day was going to Taste of Cleveland and seeing Big Head Todd play at the Tower City Amphitheater. Something pretty weird that happened as we walked in was the music that was playing. It was the same Hawaiian version of the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" that we played at my Grandfather's funeral. Brian and I were talking on the way to Cleveland how we wished he would give us a sign.

They had a bunch of tents set up with all different types of food. We walked around for a bit then went to listen to BHTM. We had standing room tickets, but some guy came up to us and gave us seating tickets up closer. Awesome! Big Head Todd put on a good show as always.

We stayed till about 8:30. Some of the food I tried was Bubba's Q World Famous BBQ pulled pork sandwich, a quesadilla, an Irish egg roll from Claddagh Irish Pubs and an apple strudel from Evelyn's Hungarian Café. It was pretty cool during the day because the Blue Angel's Air Show was going on. Every once in awhile you would see a fighter jet roar by. Here's some pics and a video of some of the planes.

Here's a few pictures of Cleveland that I took throughout the day:

West Branch and Kent State Game

Today I met my parents over at West Branch State Park to relax at the beach. I've run on the trails at West Branch and have enjoyed them, but we just recently found out about the beach on the opposite side of the lake. The beach isn't huge, but there's a nice grassy area behind it with some trees. You also get a great panoramic view of the lake.




Later on, I went to the Kent State-Boston College football game at Browns Stadium with my friend Marc. We met some other people up there and they had some free tickets. Our seats were great, right in the Dawg Pound, and it was pretty cool watching Kent play in such a big stadium. Even though we lost 21-0, we played pretty respectable against a good team.

Can't wait to run!

I've been off running for quite awhile now and haven't posted in a very long time. Tonight I decided to go to the rec center and start strengthening my quads. I went to my dad's physical therapist for his hip and he told me my problem was because of weak quads and bad flexibility.

I did some various exercises on the machines at the rec. I did 4x10 sets of leg extensions using one leg and then two. I also used a machine with a platform that simulates doing squats. The therapist also strongly recommended using Flex Bands for strengthening.

Something like this has happened to me before in my right quad when I was running at Clarion. I did some lifting and stretching and it got better. So hopefully I'll be back on the roads (or trails!) soon and I'll keep up the lifting to prevent this injury again in the future.

Arlo Guthrie Concert

Tonight my dad, Brian and I went over to Akron to see folk singer Arlo Guthrie in concert at Lock 3. Arlo played at Woodstock and is the son of Woody Guthrie. His songs often make a political statement such as his most famous song Alice's Restaurant. This song jokes about how he got arrested for littering when he was younger causing him to be rejected from the draft later on. When the Sargeant asks him if he has rehabilitated himself from his littering incident, he says "you want to know if I'm moral enough join the army, burn women, kids, houses and villages after bein' a litterbug" You can view the entire song's lyrics here.

Beforehand, we went to the Ohio Brewing Company/Damon's Grill to eat. We got the Beer Pizza which had mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, green bell peppers, red sauce and a touch a beer. We waited about 40 minutes when our server came out and said the cook dropped our pizza. Long story short, the server gave us a free pizza plus a Damon's Appetizer Sampler. What a deal!

When we got to Lock 3, Vienna Teng, the opening act, was playing. She played the piano and acoustic guitar and had a nice soft voice. Vienna finished around 8 just as some dark clouds were moving in. Arlo got on stage quickly after and started playing. He has a very distinct voice similar to Bob Dylan's and is great at telling stories. Arlo played for 2 hours with off and on rain throughout. I really enjoyed this concert and highly recommend seeing him if you get the chance.

Sand Run Run

I went over to Sand Run to test out the leg tonight. It's been a couple weeks since I've run. I went a couple miles and started feeling it strain. Looks like I'll have to take it easy and wait till I get to Kent to lift. My dad also mentioned getting a stretch band to strengthen it.

Fishing

Today I went fishing with my sister Jamie at Mosquito Lake. My grandfather passed away last Thursday and we used to go fishing here, so I thought it would be good to go.

We rented a boat with a motor from Causeway Sporting Goods. I made the mistake before of getting one with just paddles and got a workout paddling back against the wind. The lake was pretty rough on the south side of the causeway, but pretty calm on the north side (which it usually is). So we went under the causeway and fished on the north side.

We fished for a little over an hour and didn't catch anything. It was still relaxing, but it's always nice when you catch something. As we were just about to leave to ride around the lake for a bit, I felt a tug on the pole. It starting tugging harder and harder. I thought it might just be caught on seaweed or something, but knew it was a fish as I reeled it in. I was really excited because it felt big! As I was reeling it in, my reel fell off the pole, so I quickly put it back on, grabbed the line and pulled it in the boat. It was a catfish! This was definitely the biggest fish we'd ever caught since we usually just catch bluegill.

I had a great time today. This was the first time I had operated a small boat like this, but I got used to it. I can't help but think that my granddad helped us catch that fish. Afterwards, Jamie and I got ice cream in Mecca.