<p>I can&#39;t believe the summer is basically over. August was spent running. So...much...running.</p>
<p>At the beginning of August my training for the 2022 Philadelphia Marathon began. I went from running regularly, if not intermittently, to running 4 days a week. My legs were yelling at me all month with having to run longer and longer distances. Thankfully my body is finally catching up and the runs have gotten a bit of easier. The long runs every Saturday are still tough, but this whole thing is a challenge so as far as I&#39;m concerned, it&#39;ll be worth it! 5 weeks in, 11 to go!</p>
<h2 id="various-events">Various Events</h2>
<p>I started the month going to a Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs (Phillies AAA affiliate) baseball game with my family. It was a fun time, but not for the Iron Pigs as they got smoked. Later in the month I went to a Phillies game that went far better for the home team. I also ended up going to a whiskey tasting dinner later in the month that has gotten me to start trying some new whiskeys and bourbons. That could be dangerous.</p>
<h2 id="new-project-at-work">New Project at Work</h2>
<p>I ended up getting (temporarily?) put on a new team at work. I&#39;m now working with <a href="https://identityserver4.readthedocs.io/en/latest/">Identity Server</a> and it&#39;s a nice change of pace and a new thing to explore which is exciting.</p>
<h2 id="changing-how-i-journal">Changing How I Journal</h2>
<p>Over the last 6 months or so, I&#39;ve been trying to journal what I do every day and whatnot. I started out using a Moleskine notebook and pen, then I moved to Notion, then to my local Dropbox folder full of markdown files, then back to pen and paper...well, needless to say I&#39;ve had a hard time deciding how I want to do it. I&#39;ve started using Goodnotes on my iPad with the Apple Pencil and feel like I&#39;m getting the best of both worlds with regards to physically writing with the ease of technology and &quot;undo&quot; the iPad provides. The only thing I don&#39;t like, which is no better than paper and pencil, is that there&#39;s no real way to journal from my iPhone. I can view the notes, but since there isn&#39;t Apple Pencil support (if I even had it), I can&#39;t do much more. I definitely enjoy keeping track of what I&#39;ve done, just need to find a good way to make it easy for myself.</p>
<h2 id="new-dining-room-piece">New Dining Room Piece</h2>
<p>When my wife and I bought our house in 2015, our dining room was outdated, but it had an &quot;okay&quot; set of built-ins next to the fireplace. They weren&#39;t anything to write home about, but they were functional. When we found the wood paneling under the wallpaper and decided to gut the room, we ended up losing those built-ins. Since then, that area has been kind of useless. We&#39;ve also needed a pantry and some more storage, so we decided to hire a local woodworking company to build us a new set of built-ins. Only this one came with beautiful black walnut sliding doors. Needless to say, they turned out awesome and am so happy that we have a nice piece that is also functional.</p>
<p><PostImage
    src="/images/posts/2022-09-07-august-2022-check-in/closet.jpg"
    alt="beautiful black walnut sliding doors next to my fireplace"
    width={1080}
    height={1440}
    centered
    shadowed={false}
/></p>
<h2 id="monthly-roundup">Monthly Roundup</h2>
<p><strong>🏃🏼‍♂️ Running &amp; Biking</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Running:</strong> Marathon training had me hit 86 miles in August.</li>
<li><strong>Biking:</strong> Nope</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>🏋🏼‍♂️ Lifting:</strong></p>
<p>Lifting 1-2 times a week, not really going for any PRs at this point, though I am trying to inch my way back towards a 400 lbs. deadlift.</p>
<p><strong>📚 Reading:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><ExternalLink href="https://bookshop.org/books/walkaway/9780765392770" title="Walkway by Cory Doctorow">Cory Doctorow - Walkaway</ExternalLink></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>✍🏻 Writing</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Continued with my <a href="/posts/2022/08/05/reading-list">weekly</a> <a href="/posts/2022/08/12/reading-list">reading</a> <a href="/posts/2022/08/19/reading-list">posts</a> every <a href="/posts/2022/09/02/reading-list">Friday</a>.</li>
<li>Wrote about my <a href="/posts/2022/08/03/marathon-training">marathon</a> <a href="/posts/2022/08/29/marathon-training-update">training</a></li>
<li>Wrote about <a href="/posts/2022/08/18/upping-our-coffee-game">Coffee</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>🎮 Gaming</strong></p>
<p>Been playing WoW a bunch. Trying to get ready for Wrath of the Lich King in September.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/wowclassic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">WoW: Burning Crusade Classic</a></li>
</ul>


August Check-In

<p>July was mostly a good month for me. A small medical mishap, but otherwise a good month.</p>
<h2 id="a-quick-trip-to-urgent-care">A Quick Trip to Urgent Care</h2>
<p>My attempts to break new PRs for deadlift and squats ended up getting delayed thanks to a mishap with a garden hose. I had to replace the end of a hose since it got damaged and unfortunately sliced my finger open on the metal ring holding the new hose end. I ended up needing stitches so lifting was basically out of the question. I definitely did not want to bust the stitches open by twisting the skin or anything else that might happen when you&#39;re lifting hundreds of pounds of weight. I ended up condensing two weeks of lifts into one at the end of the month in an attempt to hit my goals before starting my marathon training. I was able to set a new squats PR at 365 lbs., but ended up failing in my quest to deadlift 400 lbs. I&#39;m disappointed, but will try to hit 400 in the next one to two weeks before lightening my lifts for when the marathon training really ramps up. I don&#39;t really want to be going super heavy and setting new PRs while I&#39;m trying to also put in 30 miles of running in a week. My plan is to lift two days a week, but with less volume than I&#39;ve been doing for the year. Keep my strength up, but focus on running.</p>
<h2 id="hockey-tournament">Hockey Tournament</h2>
<p>In mid-July, my ice rink hosted their yearly tournament. I formed a team last year and played and it was fun. This year though, I just joined a pre-formed team so I didn&#39;t have to worry about gathering enough players which took a bunch of stress away from the event. Our team went 0-3-1, but we played competitively despite never having played together before. For anyone who hasn&#39;t played hockey before, it can be challenging sometimes to play with a new team since different players have different tendencies. Learning those tendencies and quirks can make teams and players more effective. Not knowing those same tendencies can make things a little more difficult. At the end of the day though, it was fun. Met some new people, played with people I&#39;ve played both with and against previously, and got plenty of exercise.</p>
<h2 id="journaling">Journaling</h2>
<p>Over the last couple of months, I&#39;ve been trying to keep a daily journal of what I&#39;ve done, read, and anything else that might come to mind. I&#39;m just not sure what kind of format I want to use. I&#39;ve been making a new markdown file every day, but I&#39;m also considering just using my Moleskin notebook and a pen. To make matters more complicated, I&#39;ve also considered using my iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. I&#39;m still not sure what format will end up winning out, but I find it relaxing and interesting keeping track of my days. With how crazy things often are and how the days seem to blur together, it&#39;s nice to have a little log to write down my activities and thoughts.</p>
<h2 id="monthly-roundup">Monthly Roundup</h2>
<p><strong>🏃🏼‍♂️ Running &amp; Biking</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Running:</strong> Only ran a little under 13 miles this month. The 90-100 degree days did not make running all that appealing. Marathon training starts in August, so might be some early-morning runs in my future.</li>
<li><strong>Biking:</strong> Nope</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>🏋🏼‍♂️ Lifting:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Hit a new PR on squats - 365 lbs.</li>
<li>Failed a 400 lbs. deadlift</li>
</ul>
<p><strong>📚 Reading:</strong></p>
<p>Finished 3 books this month.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/project-hail-mary/9780593135204" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Katie Mack - The End of Everything</a></li>
<li><a href="https://bookshop.org/books/project-hail-mary/9780593135204" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Albert Bourla - Moonshot: Inside Pfizer&#39;s Nine-Month Race to Make the Impossible Possible</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.manning.com/books/unit-testing" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">Unit Testing Principles, Practices, and Patterns</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>✍🏻 Writing</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Continued with my <a href="/posts/2022/07/08/reading-list">weekly</a> <a href="/posts/2022/07/15/reading-list">reading</a> <a href="https://kpwags.com/posts/2022/07/22/reading-list">posts</a> every <a href="/posts/2022/07/29/reading-list">Friday</a>.</li>
<li>Wrote about <a href="/posts/2022/07/31/updating-my-likes-page-with-feedbin">connecting to Feedbin to populate my likes page</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>🎮 Gaming</strong></p>
<p>Been playing WoW a bunch. Trying to get ready for Wrath of the Lich King in September.</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://worldofwarcraft.com/en-us/wowclassic" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer nofollow">WoW: Burning Crusade Classic</a></li>
</ul>


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