Welcome back to CU Dogfish!

So I was recently running errands during the work day and happened to drive by Piccadilly on Neil St. I noticed they had updated their sign and that sign made a wonderful proclamation that Dogfish Head had once again resumed distribution in the Champaign-Urbana area.

Now, I've never known Dogfish to ever distribute in the area to begin with so when I saw this sign I instantly remembered my one and only experience with 60 Minute IPA. I quickly pulled in the parking lot to go make a purchase.

As remembered, 60 Minute, is the gold standard which all IPA's should be judged by. It's amazingly crisp and smooth without being at all over bearing. The hops are most definitely its calling card, but they won't make you pucker over how bitter it can taste. I also realize this is subjective as it just may be the best IPA experience I have had to date.

The purpose of this post however, is to review the other Dogfish selection I made, Midas Touch. As of recently, I haven't been too adventurous in my beer selection sticking with the choices I know I will enjoy. So when I saw the packaging I decided to give it a shot.

The original craft in Dogfish's Ancient Ales line claims Midas to be somewhere between wine and mead. Not being much of a wine drinker and having only a few unsuccessful attempts with barley wine and mead, I had my doubts about this beer. What I ended up trying was delightful.

Midas is extremely light and crisp and very much so similar to a champagne or a moscato. Based on most of the reviews I read, it tastes of grapes and honey which is easily identifiable. I didn't quite pick up on it. What I tasted was very citrusy, almost like the grapefruit taste one experiences while drinking a Squirt and thus, the champagne/moscato taste.

You definitely taste the beer but are also given the pleasure of the incredibly refreshing bubbly sweet wine. The smell is amazing as well and enhances your drinking enjoyment.

As for a food pairing, unfortunately I can't think of much to eat with it at present moment. I very much so picture this as a summer grill out beer. I would love to have this while making some sort of lemon herb chicken on the Weber, maybe some white fish, and definitely with a few ears of corn. Would I use it as my go to BBQ brew, no. I would definitely recommend it when you're trying to grill something a little more upscale though.

Dogfish Head Midas Touch comes in at 8 bottles out of 10.

Look At Me, I'm on TV!!!

One of the coolest things about running is the different opportunities it opens you up to. In this case, my running and want to provide a healthy example for my son Jack landed me on the local CBS affiliate as a Face of the Race, a 3 month weekly series preceding my next half, the Illinois Marathon.


Face of the Race - Run for Baby - IllinoisHomePage.net

Back in the Saddle Again...

Well, well, winter is still in full swing and an end doesn't seem likely any time soon. Despite the non-stop pounding Mother Nature keeps doling out, I promise there is a light at the end of the tunnel. For that reason, I'm choosing to place my focus 70ish days into the future at the 6th annual Illinois Marathon. After all, one has to imagine that we'll at least be able to see temps consistently above 0 in ten and a half weeks, right?

After participating in the 10k last April, I've chosen to participate in the Half Challenge this year. For those that aren't aware, that's Friday night's 5k followed by the Half Marathon the next morning. I still haven't decided if I'm going to try and shoot for a certain pace in the 5k or just use it as a nice little tune up. Regardless, at 10.5 weeks out, I'm officially into the training schedule.

Following last fall's Purdue Half in which I chose a 16 week training routine, I decided to settle on a 12 week program for this race (well, it's actually a 13 week plan since I ended up skipping a week on the calendar). It was a bold choice considering I spent most of November hobbled by my knees after extending my shoes well past their prime, followed by strict orders from my Doctor to do absolutely no running during December and the early part of January as I recovered from my Paniculectomy, and then finally missing the mid portion of January welcoming my little boy into the world (zero complaints there, Jack Jack is amazing and has changed my life in more ways than I could ever imagine).

That's all behind me though, after 6 weeks of absolutely no running we're back in the saddle and two weeks into the training program. Getting back into the groove hasn't been easy as having a newborn definitely makes things a little more challenging. I've run mid-day, late night, early in the morning, about the only thing I really haven't done is ran on a full tank of gas. This doesn't keep me from setting goals however.

Last fall my only goal was to finish, and if I did so in under 2.5 hours well, that was just gravy on the cake.  After crossing the finish line in 2:24:36, I'm much more ambitious this go around. The goal is to shave 5-10 minutes off of Purdue and set the PR somewhere between 2:15:00 and 2:20:00.

My other goal is to hopefully drop 25 pounds or more in the next 10 weeks. It seems like such an easy thing to accomplish when you consider how much running you do each week, but training for a half turns me into a ravenous cow. I actually gained two pounds throughout my 16 week program for Purdue. The good news is if I can find a way to keep my eating in check and not use my training as a get out of jail free card, those 25 pounds should melt off.

Hope everyone else is finding a way to stay sane running on the treadmills. For those of you braving the chill and sub-zero temps...you're crazy.

This weeks training motivation: