The Rowe Family Blog

Yesterday, Sunday July 29th, John and I set out for an 18 mile long run as part of our training for the 2007 Rochester Marathon. We decided to follow Fleet Feet’s 18 Canal Days course.  It’s the longest 18 mile course you’ll ever run.  We encountered polite people and even polite ducks.  Only the “goo mm nn” people could be perceived as impolite. Read the rest of this entry »

    Last night you decided to dine in my garden.  I have not had you visit my garden over the past 3 years.  You decided to visit this year and steal away some of my favorite veggies.  Yeah, the zucchini.  I’ve never heard of deer eating zucchini before, but I know it to be true due to last night’s events.  You ate the leaves off of my zucchini plants and then ate portions of two of my zucchinis.  They were the perfect size too.  I couldn’t believe it!  You didn’t eat the oversized ones that I didn’t want.  Nope…you ate the good sized ones- perfect for frying.

You think you are innocent?  Oh no…I have evidence.  Your DNA is on the zucchini and your prints are in the garden as shown in exhibits A and B below:

Do not come back to visit my garden again or you will be sorry!  I am not a violent person, but you’ve tampered with the wrong garden!

I participated in the Epson ink lawsuit settlement.  For each of my two qualifying printers I received a $25 check and a code worth $20 at the Epson Store.  Since my Epson printer rarely works correctly I wasn’t interested in buying $23 ink cartridges.  Besides, that would cost me money out of pocket.  Instead I wanted to purchase a scrap-booking album for my wife that cost around $35.  I wanted to combine the two $20 codes so that I would be out of pocket for only shipping (as I doubt the settlement code covers shipping charges).  The Epson store would not allow me to use two codes.  I assumed this was just a technical glitch that customer support could resolve so I emailed their customer support.  They replied and told me I could not use two settlement codes in a single purchase.  They told me I had to use one code per purchase.  I wrote back saying that was not acceptable.  They pretty much wrote back again saying I was out of luck.  They provided a phone number and recommended I speak to the president of Epson.

Sure, like I’d ever get put through to the president of Epson Corporation.  I called the number anyhow and was promptly patched through to Epson Store customer service.  I explained the issue and again they told me I was out of luck.  They also told me that I was not the only one complaining about this.  They said they only thing they could do for me was to patch me through to customer relations.

I spoke with Tara from customer relations.  She told me that there was nothing she could do for me.  It sounded like she was annoyed that Epson Store customer service reps kept sending calls to her department.  She wasn’t able to offer me any help.  Her only recommendation was that I write a letter to John Lang the CEO of Epson America.  I asked her if she really thought  that would make any difference. Her response wasn’t convincing.

I’m not going to waste my time writing a letter.  I’ve already wasted enough time.  Instead I’m writing this blog entry and I hope to draw attention to it.  I’m not sure it will get anywhere but I filed a complaint with the New York State Attorney General (this links to the complaint form).  I also attempted to contact Rust Consulting the administrators of the settlement.  I’d like to contact John Lang, CEO of Epson America to complain to him but I haven’t been able to track down any reliable contact information yet.  It may be jlang@epson.com.

Last night, Tuesday July 24th, I set out for a 7+ mile run. It was about 6:50 PM when I started. I ran my usual route, The Rowe Quarter, and added on an extra loop to get in more than 7 miles.  I planned to run it fast so I pushed myself.  My legs felt tired for most of the run but after about 4.5 miles they finally loosened up and I really picked up the pace.  I finished the run in 1:00:13, an 8:20 pace.  I’ve run faster before but that’s still a great time for me, especially for the course I was on.

Along the way I ran over railroad tracks that were being rebuilt.  There was a about a 1.5 foot drop off between the tracks that was challenging to run over.  That same night some idiot got her car stuck on the tracks and a train destroyed her car all apparently because she was afraid she’d run out of gas taking the detour.

Along side of those tracks I was the closest I’ve ever been to a hawk.  It was less than 10 feet away.  It was busy pouncing on a nest of baby mice.  Even though the hawk was huge I might have missed it but I heard the mice squeaking.    I had turned off my headset while crossing the tracks to be sure that I didn’t get killed.

I’ve been icing my shins each night.  I won’t be running again until Sunday morning when John and I will do an 18 mile run.  I’m excited to do distances like that again.  It’s so much more fun running with someone.  It takes a long time to run that far but it doesn’t drag on because there’s someone to talk to.

This morning I ran 2.2 miles with Corey.  We ran it at just over a 9 minute pace.  That was maybe slightly too fast for me since it was supposed to be a recovery run and I ran 16 miles yesterday but I felt good with it.  Tuesday I will run 7 miles at a fast pace, hopefully below a 9 minute mile.  Then I’ll take a long break and not run again until Sunday.  Sunday is an 18 miler!

Although I haven’t been posting much lately I’ve still been running.  I’ve been too busy to get posts written and I’m not finally catching up.

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On Saturday July 14th I participated in the first (annual?) RGBa Duathlon.  Myself, John, and Steve did the full duathlon.  Corey joined us for the final running leg which is why the ‘a’ in RGBa isn’t capitalized.  It was the inaugural Rowe, Ghidiu, Buck, Andalora Duathlon.

Earlier this year John, Steve, and I decided that it’d be fun to have an unofficial duathlon designed for nothing but fun.  I’m not a cyclist and Steve isn’t a runner so we agreed to a “no man left behind” policy.  Therefore the running and the biking was slow!

Read the rest of this entry »

Wow. I don’t know how else to start this entry. I had a great time this year at the Boilermaker. Read the rest of this entry »

My shins took a beating from the Boilermaker (the post about the boilermaker is in the works) but I was able to put in a few miles this week anyhow.

On 7/10 Corey and I ran the 3.2 mile loop.  We ran it in 31:25 which is a 9:50 pace.  It was hot but it was a nice easy run.  After that run I headed to the gym on my bike for a late workout.  On my way home I saw someone standing in the trees near the end of the street.  We’re pretty certain that later that night the person I saw stole Mary’s bike from our garage.  The police caught the person and the bike was returned.  Stupid me accidentally left the back door open.  …But this is supposed to be about running!

On 7/12 John and I met for a 6 mile run along the Canal Path.  This time we headed west getting on the path near Winton Road.  The path is nice there but not as nice as heading east.  It’s a little bit hillier too.  That’s not saying much though because there isn’t much for hills along the canal.  Waterways are relatively flat (generally).  John made us maintain about a 9 minute pace.  If he hadn’t I suspect we would have gone at about a 9:30 pace.  My shins were hurting pretty badly.  We finished the 6 miles in 54:16, a 9:03 pace.

On Saturday 7/14 John, Corey, Steve, and myself participated in the first annual RGBa duathlon held at my house.  That is a story that deserves its own post!

This week the training plan is calling for a 2 mile run on Tuesday, a 6 mile run on Thursday, and a 16 mile run on the weekend.

Well, I have finally gotten back into my workouts. I have been walking pretty regularly since Cassie was born. In the past 3 weeks or so I have been walking with our friend, Marie, one or two nights a week. That has been good for all 3 of us. Marie and I both want to get in better shape, so we’re going to try to tackle it together. Our goal is to build up to a run/walk and then just run. I know it’s going to be tough, but I want to get back to my pre-pregnancy shape.

Yesterday I did my first step-aerobics class since Cassie was born. The step-aerobics portion was difficult but not nearly as difficult as I expected it to be. I was out of breath but so was everyone else. The challenging part of class was the ab work. I could do crunches just fine but once we started adding some leg lifts and lower ab moves, I really felt it. I took it easy and only did as much as I felt I could do. I am going to do the moves but I’m going to have to take it slow.

This morning was big progress for me. I went out for my first run! I don’t know if you could call it a run because it was more of a slow jog…but I’m going to call it a run. I ran 2.2 miles in a pathetic 30 minutes (but I didn’t time it…I just eyeballed it from about when I left until about when I got back) It was as fast as my incision would allow me to go without pain. By the time I reached our neighbor’s mailbox, I knew it was going to be tough. I was proud of myself for running beyond the end of our street. I made it almost to Davis Park and then walked until I reached Chestnut Ridge. From that point, I ran for a little while. By the time I reached the first mile, I didn’t really feel like I needed to walk much anymore. I probably walked every quarter mile from that point in. My sprint to the mailbox was pathetic, but I did it. I hope not too many people saw me while I was out running today because I’m sure it looked sad. My form probably stunk…but I’m just so glad that I got out there!

Here is my plan for the next few weeks:
I plan to run at least 2 days a week. I’ll be walking with Marie one or two days a week. I am going to do aerobics on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings. If I can while I am off of work, I may also try to do one additional aerobics class during the weekdays. I’d also like to do some weights at least a couple of days per week, but we’ll see how time goes. I enjoy time with Greg and Cassie so much these days that I want to allow enough time for us to spend together.