www.beckinabox.com

Added a new video to the artwork section. It was a video I started in 2013 and then gave up on. I revisited it today and finished it off. It’s alright. I guess. At least it’s short.

Due to some injuries (knee, shin) and the way my training was going I didn’t expect to repeat last year’s performance. It was a cold, rainy day and the towpath was muddy and slick. I was hopeful to get under 90 minutes, shooting for 85. Ended up finishing under 80 minutes. Not too far off from last year’s run. Even though it was painful at times the race gave me confidence and made me hopeful about future races.

I updated many pages on www.beckinabox.com. Most notably added a new painting and a new video under the artwork section. I also fixed many of the pages under the artwork: video section to reflect embedded video from YouTube. The unfortunately part is that not all of the videos are on YouTube, either YouTube removed them due to copyright or I just never uploaded them to begin with (and probably never will). Those pages that I didn’t embed the YouTube video will resort to using an obsolete QuickTime plug-in. I will someday modernize those pages.

I also updated many other pages. Fixed some formatting errors. Updated general info and links. And stuff like that.

Let me know if anyone encounters any errors and your thoughts on my latest video. Thanks!

Ran the Naked Bavarian 40 miler trail race over the weekend. I didn’t train much for it. I tore my MCL back in September and slowly got back into running. In January I really started piling on the miles which started giving me shin splints so I had to cut back on my miles and even stop for a bit. So I went into running a difficult 40 mile trail race with my previous longest run at only 9 miles. A long way off from 40. Anyway, I hung in there, got just ahead of the cutoffs and actually passed a few people in the last 15 miles to finish 91st out of 99. There were over 40 runners who actually gave up after their first 20 mile lap. My teammate Keilynn ran the 20 mile version of the race and wrote this great recap, I hope you all check it out. It has some great pictures in it: http://natureorbust.com/2016/03/07/naked-bavarian-marathon/

A few years ago I started becoming interested in men’s personal grooming. I’m not exactly sure what first got me interested in it. Maybe I didn’t like the way my skin reacted to these 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 overpriced 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 prepared using a little bit of Vick’s VapoRub. 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 if 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 it’s own unique scent but for the most part they’re spicy and ready to liven up a party, I use Pinaud’s bay rum or Layrite No.9 bay rum. I will also splash them on for my daily going ons as well as a few others that I use regularly too. During summer I tend to use Lucky Tiger, Aqua Velva and Florida Water (another aftershave that has been around since the early 1800’s). Other aftershaves in my rotation are Old Spice Classic and Brut Classic, 2 scents that are recognizable, relaxing and great for the daily grind.

There are so many aftershaves available, like I said, everyone has their own tastes as to what they wear. There are a few aftershaves that I would love to get someday; Canoe, English Leather and Stetson. If anyone cares to gift me a bottle of any I would be forever grateful! Thanks 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!