Category: John Beck

A few years ago I started to become interested in men’s personal grooming. I’m not exactly sure why; maybe I didn’t like the way my skin reacted to those overpriced quadruple blade systems, maybe I actually cared about my skin. Maybe I didn’t like spending a fortune for new blades every month. Maybe I didn’t like having to charge up some cheap plastic electric razor. Maybe I wanted to feel like a man.

I am far from knowledgeable or even experienced but I look forward to shaving every day and want to share my limited experience. Every morning I make sure that I give myself a little extra time to do it right. Sometimes I go as far as lighting a candle (for that extra bit of relaxation, candles will be another blog entry). If I don’t shave right after a shower I try to relax my skin with a hot towel that I prepare using a little bit of Vick’s VaporRub. I use Taylor of Old Bond Street shave soap. I’ve been in love with their lavender scent but I haven’t yet used a scent by them that I don’t enjoy. I will on occasion use other brands of shave soaps, such as Geo F. Trumper and Proraso. I use a generic ceramic shave mug to hold the soap and I use a new pure badger hair shave brush from the Art of Shaving. I had a cheap brand when I first started out and it fell apart. Upgrade to a better shave brush. Your skin will thank you! As far as my razor goes I use a long handled Merkur safety razor. I originally used Merkur double edged blades but now I use Feather brand. Some blades are sharper than others, and no, sharpest isn’t always better. I find that it depends on your shaving style and skin type.

As for aftershaves, this is completely up to you. Back to my reasoning of shaving this way, it’s because I want to feel like a man. Therefore, I exclusively use the manly “old school” aftershaves, musky and spicy. In fact, I don’t think I use a single contemporary aftershave. The aftershave I use the most is Clubman Pinaud. Clubman has been around since the early 1800’s and it was one of the first aftershaves I used and is my goto when heading to events. If I have an evening dinner date or small party I’ll use a bay rum, bay rum from different brands does have its own unique scent but for the most part they’re spicy and ready to liven up a party, I use Clubman Bay Rum or Layrite No.9 Bay Rum. I also splash a little on for my daily going outs as well; during Spring and Summer I tend to use Lucky Tiger, Aqua Velva or Florida Water (another aftershave that has been around since the early 1800’s). During Fall and Winter I find myself using Skin Bracer or Stetson. Other aftershaves in my regular rotation are Old Spice Classic and Brut Classic, two scents that are recognizable, relaxing and great for the daily grind.

There are so many aftershaves available, like I said, everyone has their own preferences as to what they enjoy. I would LOVE to get the following aftershaves someday; Canoe, Musgo Real, Osage Rub, British Sterling, Gabels Bay Rum, Royall Lyme, Muelhens, Clubman Lilac Vegetal, Clubman Lime Sec, Tabac, Proraso, Jovan Musk, Royal Copenhagen and English Leather. If anyone cares to gift me a bottle of any I would be forever grateful! Thank you in advance!

I had just posted after a long break and noticed the design of my blog and other things just weren’t right. So I updated everything so it should look a lot better and easier to navigate. Enjoy!

I haven’t been posting much lately. Just updating my Race Schedule. Here’s some hi-lights from this past fall.

I received a pretty significant knee injury during a local OCR 5k mud run. I was in the lead and lost the lead because I took a wrong turn. By the time I got back on track I was near the middle of the pack. So I ran extra hard trying to regain the lead. I was slowly reeling in the leader. I had him. But because I was running so hard I was also very reckless. I ran beyond my ability. I ran up to the top of a 7 foot hay bale ladder and leaped from the very top. Everything came crashing down on my knee. It started swelling immediately and I was unable to bend it. 

I missed a week of work and kept and aggressively treated it. I never went to a doctor or got an MRI taken. I’m assuming at worse it was a torn MCL. I was more depressed than anything. I sat around and instead of working out I ate ice cream and watched TV. I slowly got back into running again, albeit a bit painful, and only recently have I started strengthening again. I did do a couple of races, a 6k and a 5 mile race. I felt faster than I thought I would be but a ways off from where I was. 4 months later my knee still hurts at times and gets stiff often. I have increased my running and overall I feel great. Bending the knee is still an issue but I feel myself coming along nicely.

In other news, my 1998 Honda Civic EX finally bit the dust. For the past few years I stopped spending money on it. There were many issues and I just didn’t want to take care of it anymore. Besides the normal oil changes. It was time to get a new car. I bought a brand new 2016 Honda HR-V EX AWD. It’s a beautiful car. It’s considered a crossover. A mini-SUV. I am absolutely in love with it. Can hardly wait to take it on some road trips!

It was tough to see my Civic go, I was so sad. I loved that car. Once I started driving the HR-V I never thought of the Civic again! Bye 1998 Civic!

 

3 weeks later a rock would hit the windshield of my HR-V. I made the mistake of getting the windshield repaired instead of replaced. There is an awful looking blemish there. Most likely always will be. 🙁

That’s all for now!

Over the weekend I ran a 24 hour ultramarathon. I’ve received many comments on Facebook and just had to share this one:

I’m so proud of you. I told my son what you’ve been doing. He asked if you’re a hero just practicing. I said practicing for what? He said heroes practice just to practice because heroes make us want to be better like them.

That was so touching to read and really kept me going during the race. It made me think of the 2nd time that I did the Spartan Race World Championship in Killington and my friend sent me this message later:

Impressive! And you still had the spirit to smile at us as we passed over you on the gondola as you were decending from that hellish summit. *my son* said “John is my best friend” several times this weekend.

It feels so good to be an inspiration to these kids. Motivating them to go outdoors and be active and enjoy nature makes me feel so great. Our planet is beautiful, I wish that I had spent more time enjoying it as a child, but I feel even better inspiring other kids to do just that. Go outside!

 

I’ve mentioned this before but I’ve been working on this project on Pinterest. It’s a little photo project of the different beers that I drink. You can see the difference in the earlier pins. Wish I had started the idea sooner.

Follow John’s board Beer on Pinterest.

I started 2014 off with a PR (personal record) at the annual Hamilton Hangover 5 Mile race on New Year’s Day. Then race after race, I collected PR after PR. In May alone, I ran a 10 miler in 76 minutes, finishing 25th out of 246 racers; a 5k, coming in 9th out of 116 and top of my age group; and another 5k, finishing 42nd out of 1123. They were all a PR! It was great start to the year!

But my record year was derailed at the end of May, when I sustained a serious knee injury playing Ultimate Frisbee. I was on defense when my legs tangled with the receiver. My knee bent outward and sideways and it hurt a lot. My knee swelled and I was immediately out of commission. I could barely walk. I never got it checked out. I feared a torn MCL, or at least a very bad sprain. So I sat. And sat. Icing. Resting. Depression began to sink in. It was the most beautiful time of the year and I could barely walk. I missed a bunch of races that I was looking forward to, and all I could do was show up and cheer on my teammates. It was heart breaking.

After resting and taking it easy for nearly 2 months, I started to get moving again. I ran my first Spartan Race of the year in June. The knee hurt and it began to swell again, so I didn’t push hard. After that I ran my first ultra-marathon; a 12 hour race up and down the mountains of Vernon, NJ. Still in pain, but slowly getting better.

In August, I tried again to run a bit more competitively. My times were still way off, but my first competitive race back I finished 2nd in my age group and won a prize.

Though I still took it easy, I continued to get better, completing two more Spartan Races, while earning my 2nd Spartan Tri-Fecta at the Spartan World Championship in Killington, VT. The 2014 World Championship course was arguably more challenging and more grueling than its 2013 predecessor, and was in much harsher conditions. Despite that, and despite re-injuring my knee early in the race, I finished nearly an hour faster than last year.

I recovered quickly and ran another PR at a local 5k, finishing top of my age group and 10th overall. This time I even won some cash! A week after that I ran my first ever marathon! Not knowing what to expect, I took the marathon on the cautious side and, in retrospect, I wish I ran much harder. I’m confident that I could have taken a half hour off of my time.

I finished with my 23rd and 24th race of the year, a 5k and a 6k in freezing conditions in December. Finishing 7th and 5th respectively, and earning two 1st place medals for best team and tops in my age group.

I can only hope that I have no setbacks from my knee injury in 2015. It’s not great, but it’s a lot better than it has been. Although I’m afraid that the pain will linger for the rest of my life, I will continue to push myself. I will not always win my age group, or even finish well, but I will always try my hardest.