As I wrapped up my MBA degree, my first post-studying goal was to get in shape, so I began training for two different events: the latter is the Blog Jog on June 11, and the former was today, Ride Your Bike to Work Day.

I’d never made a 19 mile bike ride before, but I felt surprisingly good after the 2-hour ride to work. Alas, what goes downtown, must come back home, and that’s when I learned I live at a higher elevation than I work.

Making it home made me giggle with glee, but there was no gas left in the tank, so to speak, for actual jogging.

I’m a little concerned that extensive biking won’t translate into running, or worse, that it’ll take me out of training for multiple days. I can’t even sit myself in a chair right now without making pathetic ouchie noises. The Reds game didn’t help matters: being perfect and then suddenly giving it all up is no kind of inspiration for a person who’s been perfect in training to this point!

But dammit, I’m not going to let a little debilitating muscle fatigue keep me from having an awesome showing at the Blog Jog. If you’d like to bring your training stories and share them with likeminded blog readers, you can join in the fun, too. Just log on to http://reds.com/5k to sign up for the Redlegs Run, then email blogjog@reds.com to RSVP to the Blog Jog proper. You have to pay to be in the run, but you don’t have to pay any extra to chill with the bloggers.

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
Pirates (20-23)	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	0	5	9	0
Reds (25-19)	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	3	9	1

Boxscore

Now, I’m Free! Free-falling!

The Pittsburgh Pirates continued their domination of the Cincinnati Reds today. Behind the pitching of James McDonald, the Pirates cruised to a 5-3 victory.

Reds’ starter Johnny Cueto encountered troubles in his 3rd start, lasting just 5 innings. In that time, he allowed 3 earned runs, 3 walks, and struck out 5. He was back to his pitch-inefficient ways as it took him 94 pitches to go those 5 innings.

The offense for the Reds was provided by Jay Bruce, who had two homers on the day. He was clearly missed in yesterday’s shutout, when he sat out for flu-like symptoms.

The loss drops the Reds to 1-4 against the Pirates on the year. And thanks to a St. Louis Cardinals win, the Reds are no longer in first place. That was quick.

Of course, I’d rather dominate the Cardinals and be owned by the Pirates than the other way around. I think the former will play out better over the course of the season.

FOX Sports Ohio Picks Up June 8th Reds Game

ESPN has selected the June 12th Cincinnati Reds game for their Sunday night exclusive game, which means FOX Sports Ohio can no longer air the game.

As replacement, FOX Sports Ohio will televise in HD:
REDS VS. CUBS
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8

The game will begin at 12:30pm and will be preceded by Reds Live Pregame Show at 12 noon.

Geez, the Reds will be playing the Cubs again so soon? I’ll miss them if there aren’t any more Cubs games left after the All-Star break.

We’ve been training for over a week now, and though I’ve had to use my inhaler the last two nights (boo!) I can run for three minutes straight now (woo!)

It’s hard for me to believe that in just over three weeks I’m planning to run the entirety of 3.1 miles, but the progress we’ve made in the first three weeks has surpassed my expectations, so here’s hoping. I’d prefer not to be crying and vomiting at the fun Blog Jog events after the Redlegs Run.

If the idea of hanging around with me and other bloggers who aren’t crying and vomiting sounds like fun to you, you can join in too, and you don’t even have to jog if you don’t want to. Just log on to http://reds.com/5k to sign up for the Redlegs Run, then email blogjog@reds.com to RSVP to the Blog Jog proper. You have to pay to be in the run, but you don’t have to pay any extra to chill with the bloggers.

With no massage appointment to be late for, the speed was down today for our training run.

I was comfortable with 90 straight seconds of running today, so it might be time to notch up the speed. It would be nice to get the min/mile number into a range that’s considered faster than “strolling.”

Part of the fun of the Blog Jog is that blog fans are encouraged to dress up in wacky costumes or equally wacky blog-specific regalia. We’re working on a design especially for this event that we’ll be unveiling later, but we always have this classic design, available for the Blog Jog, Father’s Day, the All-Star Game or whatever special day is in your plans.

If you’d like to show off your RHM gear at the Blog Jog, log on to http://reds.com/5k to sign up for the Redlegs Run, then email blogjog@reds.com to RSVP to the Blog Jog proper. You have to pay to be in the run, but you don’t have to pay any extra to hang around with the bloggers.