Saturday made two weeks since my marathon. I made myself take a couple of weeks off to heal my joints up a little. We went to Middlesboro to see my family. I decided to jump back into everything with a ride up the Pinnacle. It’s a huge climb – 4 miles up the mountain and the elevation change is well over 1500 feet, reaching 2440 at the peak.

This was my third time up the mountain on a bike and by far my best ride. It’s a beautiful view of three states at the top – Virginia, Tennessee and Kentucky (clearly the better of the three). On the descent I reached 39 MPH. It’s such an awesome ride. It’s actually short, too, logging in at only 12 miles round trip from my parents’ house.

Here’s the elevation chart of the ride. I was averaging about 5 MPH up the mountain.

I’m still debating doing a triathlon. I’ve only ran once since the marathon and it wasn’t pretty. I hope I have a better run on Friday. I need that confidence boost.

So journalism gigs aren’t every day things for me anymore. Even if they still were, again, this is the CEO of Yum! we’re talking about.

The assignment was for the London Financial Times. It’s a very large publication with over 300,000 print subscribers and 4 million online. A couple of years ago I shot an assignment for them down in Fort Knox. The only similarity between this assignment and that one was that the pictures would end up in the same publication.

The biggest difference was the subject. Yum! is opening an average of 1.4 KFC stores a day in China (last I read, anyways), not to mention their other brands. So Novak’s time is hard to come by. I was told I would have about half an hour to setup and 15 minutes to shoot. This is not a lot of time at all, but I thought I could work with it. I decided on a two light setup and knew exactly how I was going to set the lights, the only thing that would change would be according to his office layout.

When I arrived, it became 10 minutes to setup, and I got less than 10 to shoot. I just rolled with it, because that’s what you do in those situations. There’s nothing I could have done to get more time and I’m sure it was the best they could do. I know the publication wanted more photos, but I just didn’t have time to keep moving him around. I moved him once, but it’s kind of funny because his office is literally covered from the baseboards to the ceiling (as in on the ceiling) with awards and certificates of appreciation, so every wall looks exactly the same in a photo.

My biggest regret is that my light in the back was a little hot. I had a homemade gel to put on it but I had left it out in the hallway with my equipment bags (I was short on time so I had to setup light stands in the hallway while waiting to get into his office). Even then, I should have realized it was hot and turned it down a little more. I did once, but it just wasn’t enough in some of these. Given that, I’m pretty happy with what I was able to produce in less than 10 minutes of shooting and 20 minutes total. They’re not the best portraits I’ve ever taken – not by a long shot – but I hope they’re satisfying for the publication.

Since I knew a lot of the shots were going to look the same, I tried to nab a few good detail shots because the guy literally has more strange awards and accomplishment pieces than anyone I’ve ever seen. Apparently Yum! executives give all kinds of different of these things to each other, always in the form of something unique. So I tried to capture that, I thought at least the pub could use a few of those. The one of the tuba is a gift from the Yum! board members for Novak’s book becoming a best seller. I have no clue as to the significant of the tuba.

I did this on my lunch break, and while I have no intentions to start picking up more freelance it was fun to get out and do a shoot again. I still do a ton of weddings but these kinds of shoots are different.

A little over a year ago I had never run a race.

In fact, as of January of last year I had never gone further than about 4 miles, and that was one time. Before that? Never more than those 1 mile runs you had to do in gym class. The one time I ran the 4 miles with my friend, my toe nail fell off and I didn’t run again until college. But don’t get me wrong – I’ve never been slow. When I was a young kid in tee-ball, I was the fastest on my team. Going through middle school sports and high school running, I was never among the absolute fastest guys but I was always second or third. The fastest mile time I ever logged in high school was a single 6:15 mile. So I don’t want to make it sound like I’ve been sedentary my whole life, but I did not run cross country or anything. I wish I had though.

I’ve said it already, but in short, after a Christmas back in Middlesboro, I was feeling the weight from homemade Christmas candy just hanging on my body. I decided to go running. After doing that a few times, I did a couple of assignments for the Courier-Journal about runners. I was intrigued, and one guy convinced me that there was nothing greater than running a race. I signed up for my first 5K, and I ran it just under 24 minutes or so. I was pretty proud of my time, and felt good, so one race led to another, those led to finishing my first Triple Crown, then I decided I could do the Kentucky Derby Festival half-marathon in Louisville. That race left me feeling great about my time (1:42 I think), but limping with what was probably a stress fracture on my foot. I ran another half last fall, and despite hardly training for it, I was only a few minutes slower than my first time.

Then, I decided to step up to the plate. I had friends who had run marathons, I had covered the IronMan competition, and I wanted the challenge of doing it for myself. On November 28 I signed up for my first full marathon, and 151 days later, I was crossing a finish line after 26.2 miles.

The best part has been the support of my family. Sometimes, I think, “It’s just running, what’s the big deal?” But then my parents drive 3 hours to watch me run a race and tell me they’re proud of me, my mother in law buys me a gift card so I can get new running shoes, my friend, Julie, comes to all of my races and my brother and sister-in-law (and Gibson!) come to my races with the best signs in the race and have amazing plans to maximize the number of times I get to see them. Even better, the best feeling I’ve gotten from all of this was when my wife said she was proud of me, then told me I was a good long distance runner. Yes, seriously. All of this reminds me that it is a big deal. Running a marathon is something that fewer than one percent of the country will do this year.

As I started my taper I had a lot of fears : Would my Achilles pull on race day? Was I in shape to do this well? Would I meet my goal? Even the night before some family members questioned whether or not I should be running a marathon when I wasn’t 100 percent, but there was no way I was going to stop after all of the training. 151 days of dedication. I spent nearly five full months of my life training for this thing, which included early rises on most weekends, icing my knees all the time, talking too much about running to my wife, spending enough time at Tom Sawyer Park to be the Foursquare mayor for months now, 1 pulled Achilles and a lost toenail or two. There was no way I wasn’t running.

So after all of that misery, why would anyone want to do another one, right? I don’t know, but I do. I don’t think I’m going to get one in this year. I’m going to focus on one half marathon this fall, and maybe I’ll do the KDF full or Flying Pig full next year. For the next couple of weeks I’m not running, but giving my joints a rest. Then training starts again. I have a new goal in mind, though. I want to run my half marathon in 1 hour and 30 minutes. Flat. That’s about the pace I would need to maintain for a full marathon to qualify for Boston.

It seems really ridiculous to think about, but I’m not sure it’s anymore ridiculous than my dream of completing an IronMan. A year ago running a full marathon seemed pretty ridiculous, I’m sure I never would have guessed a year later I could do it in 3 hours and 40 minutes.

Life is short, but ridiculous things happen all the time. I just want to get in on as many of those moments as possible.

My wife, Mary Margaret, and I love to look at the puppies when we’re at Petsmart. We’ve been doing it for around four years now. It’s where we found Ernie, too. We adopted him a year and a half ago because he was the first dog we had ever seen that we both said we couldn’t live without.

Today we found another one that we both loved. He’s a small, shaggy white dog. He’s so calm he almost looks wise, especially with his white beard. His temperament is as good as it gets when it comes to a puppy. He’s around 7 months old according to his name tag, and listed at 10 pounds. I would guess he’s a little heavier than that, but it’s no more than a pound or two more. When you walk up to the cage he just stands and leans against the cage, hoping you will take the time to pet him through the bars. In between petting him and telling him how adorable he is, he drops the bomb – those cute puppy eyes.

Slugger isn’t the first dog to give me those puppy dog eyes since we adopted Ernie. He’s just the first to get them to stick with me. While I may not adopt him,  I can help him. I always say you can’t save them all, and pat myself on the back for having adopted one dog, but I want to help Slugger find a home.

Slugger is up for adoption through the Woodstock Animal Foundation. He’s currently at their Petsmart location on Westport Road near Tom Sawyer Park, but they rotate the dogs quite a bit so he may not be there next week or even tomorrow.

If you’ve been considering adopting a new friend, please consider Slugger. I don’t see how he wouldn’t make a fine companion, and I think if you’ll just drive out to see him you’ll have to agree.

Just got my first canoeing trip in for 2012. I had never gone canoeing before in my life when I bought my first canoe last year. As much as I love all things water, I knew I would love it. I’ve got quite the boat setup – 14′ canoe with two seats (I took out the third for space), 4 rod holders and a trolling motor on the back. It’s a beautiful thing. I actually have dudes in little john boats asking me all about my setup. They’re jealous because I can get back in creeks and areas they can’t maneuver in. I love their envy, and that I’ve only got about $500 or $600 in my whole setup.

I’m really excited for this year. I’m hoping me and a few buddies can find some new places to explore on the water. If you have suggestions, I’ll take them.

My canoe pretty far up into Harrods Creek. This day I was with Brian, Mary Margaret’s brother.

With a few of the guys down at Harrod’s Creek before a drop in.

Deer along Harrods Creek.

Taken on Floyds Fork.

What’s a tool?

Is a shovel just a shovel? Just a tool used to remove dirt or put it back. Use it until it breaks, then just replace it, right?

I’ve been doing a lot of work to our backyard. We had really neglected it since we moved it, mostly because we have so much landscaping to take care of. The first year we just focused on what you could see from the street. Honestly, we’re still trying to get that to where we want it, but it’s passable.

Last year we built our deck. Other than that we had never really made much effort to do anything to the backard. This year we’ve made a lot of headway, and I’m proud of how things are shaping up. Next up is either building a hammock swing or a tiki bar. I haven’t decided yet.

Above is a shot of my mattock. Dad gave it to me, and his father gave it to him. While busting up some roots last year I broke the handle, so I had to replace that. But the mattock head is still the same. Chipped and worn, but it’s still reliable and strong. It’s my favorite and most-used tool. I use it to do these rock walls, plant anything, bust up roots, sow grass, plant those boxwoods you see below, build my fire pit, and at least a dozen other tasks.

Papaw J died almost five years ago, and it’s really nice to have something of his that I use all the time. Mary Margaret’s grandfather gave me a ladder once and said, “It’s something to remember me by.” I laughed at the time, and thought it was such a strange thing to say. But when he died in November, immediately all of these things he had given me were no longer things, they were keepsakes. I think of Walt every time I use that ladder (and every other tool he gave me), just like I think of Papaw J every time I use my mattock.

Just tools? No. They don’t just build, they rekindle.

It finally happened. And I was there for it.

Sort of. I was in Lexington when the Cats won their 8th National Title. I said I would be at the beginning of the season. I even told my boss that I would not be at work that Monday, and possibly the Tuesday after. While I made it into work today, it was a sluggish day for me. Oh so worth it.

We watched from Pazzo’s, and after it was over it only took a few minutes for the streets to be flooded with blue. It was an amazing night, one I will never forget. I got to watch the game with Mary Margaret and Julie, and we met up with several other good friends after, including Blake, who I’m pictured with below.

In college, all we talked about was this moment. While it never came under Billy Clyde, last night it came. I’m glad I was able to be in Lex with thousands of other proud Wildcats.

Blake and I were trying to meet up after the game, and then all of the sudden I heard his loud, booming voice. He picked me up like a child, it was kinda awesome.

Did you know I have a nephew? Because he’s awesome.

He’s also turning 1 year old soon. Courtney had some great ideas for a photo, she and poppa Brian brought Gibson over to my house and we made this happen. It probably took ever bit of an hour or more, and it was a lot of orchestrating. At first I wasn’t even going to use a flash then Mary Margaret asked about it. I figured if I was going to try and light it, it may as well be what I want out of it. If there’s one thing I’ve come to know about babies, it’s that they’re impossible to shoot photograph. They never listen, constantly move around, whine all the time.

But Gibson was good. Once I got the lighting setup, we plopped him down, and really the only thing he did that was hard to control was attempt to eat the balloon (we just knew if he popped one it was all over). We took about 45 with this lighting and this competition, and right towards the end he leaned up on his knee, put his hand down and acted like he was about to give us some investment advice.

Happy birthday, Gibson. It was a rough year, but we’re all so glad you were here for us.

This bathroom has been haunting me since we moved in. It was probably in the worst shape of all the rooms in the house when we moved in. Holes in the wall, a terrible paint job over an already bad one, a really stupid trim job around the shower, bad caulking jobs, it went on and on. I started working it almost immediately, then our basement flooded. I never really picked it back up until recently (yes, two years later).

Don’t judge me. It was the basement bathroom and we’ve only ever used it to give Ernie a bath, then it was recently converted into beer storage for our homebrews.

Well, no more! I’ve cleaned it up, painted it, done the trim, caulked and it’s looking great. Now Mary Margaret is working to find a shower curtain that will pull our blue and red theme into the bathroom as it is through the rest of the basement.

Now onto the guest bathroom and bedroom upstairs…

You all knew Ernie was named after a celebrity, but now he is one.