Monday, October 19, 2009

Ok, ok, I'll post something.

So several people have inquired as to how my recent training has been going. After reading Jilane's guest post from Carrie I am motivated to share my new training secret. I have not run for the past week. Actually, it has more to do with a bad cold and a good friends wedding, and less to do with my new motivational influences.

I have a couple of additional tid bits of information to share with you. Since this blog update has been a long time coming, I don't care if I jump around and it doesn't make a lot of sense. I don't make a lot of sense.

1stly (is that a word? Is anything with numbers and letters a word?) a couple of weeks ago I called my old high school coach to ask him some advice about marathon running. He was a rather old schools coach/runner who had done some marathons. He asked if I wanted to finish one, or race one. I said race one. He asked how much I was running. I said about 60-70 miles a week (which was true at the time). He laughed and responded "Well, you're going to want to almost double that." Great. I responded by taking a week off.

Also in the last few weeks Ben Stern and I have developed a race plan. It has been a long time coming, so I am glad we finally hammered one out. Our goal, as of the moment, is to start training and enter a low key marathon sometime this winter where we can run it as a long run and run as slow and close to (without going over!) the Boston qualifier as possible. Then we are going to continue to train and race Boston, so we can say we've done it. Sounds like a plan. I, of course, immediately responded by hammering Ben on a 7 mile run, going to Pat and Ben Clark's birthday party, getting sick, and not running for a week.

This is the part where I say I'm going to run 70 miles this week and do a tough workout and get my shit together. But that would mean my next post is where I say I didn't do any of that. As such, I think I'm going to be more realistic and just take this week to get back to running everyday and try to end it on a high note with a nice run at VCP and feel good about myself. Maybe do some abbs, some push ups. Just have a good time.

Speaking of having a good time, I hope everyone is coming to NYC for Heps/Halloween/NYC Marathon. Should be a good time. I need a costume, so if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

More posts to follow (sooner rather then later, I think).

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Buck Fen Stern

So I claimed (or lied, depending on how you look at it) that I wasn't writing in my blog because I didn't want Ben to know what good shape I was in, so that I could surprise him at the Philly Marathon. However, since I'm not running it, and I'm not in good shape, I was actually just not updating this because I wasn't doing shit. Anyways, I'll give you guys a quick rundown of my last, well, month.

So for about 2 weeks I was doing some decent miles, occasionally running with Clark or Alex Brown and often with Becky. Even running up to 14 miles a day (once). Sick! Literally, then I got sick. I remember when I would get sick in college, it was usually because I was running 100 miles a week and not eating. I figured 60 miles a week while eating too much I would be fine, but I forgot that doing shots with Craig and Stevie B weakens the immune system about as much as running 100 miles a week and not eating. Whoops.

Was it worth it? Of course. I'm not really training for anything and you only get to black out with your good friends once (every few days). Anyways, I took a few days off, and felt a little better. That was until I went to Providence to watch Jokin beat Murat in an epic duel. That was extremely anti-climatic. Oh well, we celebrated early for Jokin. Like 24 hours early. Moral of the story, no matter what state I binge drink with Craiger in, I still get sick. 3 more days off next week and one solid 11+ mile run with Schmaloner - Brian and you're about caught up.

Saturday morning I was working the Manchester High School Invitational and I realized that Steve didn't live to far away. Sure enough, he was 25 minutes and one phone call away. Good run Friday morning, and a solid night out in Manch Vegas which saw me trade my only pull over for a ride home from a (hopefully) not too drunk girl. It was 40 degrees when I had to work the next morning. My B.

So that brings me back to today. Kev and I are rolling from Chelsea (our parking lot) in NYC to Hotlanta. No big deal, just 14 hours in the car. You know what would break it up? A 10 miler in DC with Ben, George and Dave Burnham. We ran a nice conservative pace for about 8 miles, then for the next mile and a half or so I decided to try and hammer Ben, you know, to make up for the 846389507037 times he's done the same to me. He told me he hadn't run much in the last month, I was ready to go. Only problem, I had no idea how far back to the finish.

Johnny G used to say you only had one move, so make it count. I apparently thought that only applied to being fit. I made my first move with about 2 miles to go. It just ended up making us pick up the pace. No worries, I thought, I'll get him in the last 400. Sure enough, with 400 meters (or so I thought left) I made a HUGE move (for my current state). I gapped the field as I turned the corner, I expected to see the grassy field near our cars. Unfortunately, what I saw was more bike path, a bridge in the distance and eventually Ben, and just about everyone else, passing me.

Now we are due to get into the Dirty Dirty at 3:15am, rather then 11:45pm. Moral of this story, is that I'm not fit, though I am at least ambitious, I will be up very late, and Dave (who I just met) must think I am a dumb ass, or just an ass. Either way, I got in a decent effort.

Note: Since starting this post, I have learned that our appointment in the morning was canceled, so we will be sleeping somewhere in one of the Carolina's tonight, and then finish the drive in the morning. Go me.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

I'm Kenny Powers, and You're Fucking Out

So, what's really funny, is that I haven't posted in like a month.  I'll be honest Lena's blog has intimidated me, plain and simple.  But honestly, sorry about all of that.  I think I've got my pitch back, though, so I'll get back on the figurative blogging horse.

So, where was I?  Oh yeah, I was talking about a workout I did 3 weeks ago.  Guess what, I haven't done one since.  Whoops, I have however had weekly mileage totals of 55 (in 6 days) and then 10 (in two days, I was pretty sick, and working, and I drank too much with Stevie B, Craig, Jeff T and Becky) and this week I am on pace to get in just under 70 in 8ish runs.  Yup, almost 70.  In fact I started reading this Lydiard training schedule that Mr. Crossin sent me, and guess what?  It looks pretty good.  I mapped out my runs for the next 2 months (much like I did at Ben's house, except this time I might actually follow it) and I should be running pretty decent mileage with a track workout every two weeks and a couple tempos and some hills, and three longer runs a week.  Damn.  What happened to me?  

Random side note, while writing this blog Kevin and I stopped at a Giant just outside of Arlington on our way back to Pa.  I bought a gallon of High C.  I immediately drank half of it.  My head now hurts.  Something about blood sugar.  I feel vaguely like Hamel looked during  the Vermonster challenge.  

So anyways, anyone going to be around the city this weekend and want to get in an easy 14 miler?  I know Clark is down for an hour or so, but if anyone else wants in, then let me know.  Don't call me right now, as I locked my phone in a cubby in the back of my trailer, but call me tomorrow, or leave me a message.  Anyways, for now I'm off to help Kevin drive, and by that I mean drink some more High C.  I'll update more about the specifics of my week of running this weekend, as kind of a weekly recap.  

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Workout? Why not?!

So, after reaching the 60 mile mark last week, I decided to hit the track and try out my new pair of Lunar Racers (They were new, because I haven't raced or run hard in over a year). Anyways, 8.0 was doing 14 x $.25 on the track and didn't want to be the only loser out their alone at 7:00am Tuesday morning, so I said sure.  I wasn't going to do quarters, of course, but I made up a workout I had been wanting to do a variation of for a few weeks, if I thought I could do it.  I did a 2 mile warm up, then hit the track for 3 x 2k with $.25 jog.  My goal was to run 5:30 pace and see what happened.  It actually went very well, I split 5:29 for my first one, and went on to run 6:50.  My next one was a bit slower, 5:30 split and 6:53.  I closed well with a 5:23 split to finish up in 6:45 for my last one.  Then I jogged a mile with 8.0 and called it a morning.

Now, I know that might not sound like a brilliant workout to some (any) of you, but to me, it was as good as anything I used to be able to do on the track.  It was good to get that burning in the lungs back.  Not to mention my stomach was upset with me all day, which sucked, but was also rewarding in its own sense of accomplishment.  

That evening, after work, and before judging a talent show (more on that in a bit) I got in another 22 minutes, to give me 10 miles on the day, and 17 for the (2 day old) week.  Sick, slowly (literally) but surely (hopefully) I'm getting back in shape.

So, for those of you who don't know where I am or what I'm doing at the moment, I am currently working with the XC Truck in Asheville NC at a Nike XC camp.  Last night I got to be a judge for a battle of the sex's contest, which included a game of props, a synchronized dance routine, and a pick up line contest, which included a couple I might have to save for a rainy day (You must be from Best Buy, because you turned my software into hardware!).  Also, I was not judging this contest as myself, but rather as track and field coaching legend, Roy Benson, who was kind enough to let me borrow his hat, and his Pretty Good Joke Book, with classics like 

"Did you hear about the restaurant on the moon?"
"The food is pretty good, but it has no atmosphere."

That just happened.

Moral of the story, my senior year theater experience back in High School paid off, and I've still got it.  Anyways, I took this AM off from running to grab a few extra Zzz's, so I'm off to get in a solid 10 or so in a few.  I think I'm going to keep making Tuesday my track workout day, so long as it works out with my schedule, so if anyone has any recommendations for some workouts I might like, let me know!

Sunday, July 26, 2009

The big 6 0

So, I know I said I wasn't going to pull this whole 20 day off in between posts thing anymore, but, well, I lied.  I'm currently residing at UNC Asheville, in lovely Asheville North Carolina.  I would say I'm back on the road for work, but that would imply I was ever off of it.  Anyways, I've been running a bit this week, and with my 89 minute long run this morning, I officially broke 60 miles for the first time in a while.  Like, a long while.  I've been lucky enough to do most of my running this week with Jason "8.0" Knight, Brian "Gov" McGovern and Kevin "No nickname yet" Starkes. Needless to say, we have been running a decent amount, by my standards, and I've been starting to feel it.  This week has been crazy, lots of work, lots of running, and lots of failing to sleep on dorm beds.  Freshman year?  Oh wait, I said lots of work, never mind.

Anyways, my new old job is pretty sweet.  I'm doing Gait analysis and Nike iD for High School runners.  Right now I'm going all over the east coast to different camps. In about 2 months i'll be visiting high schools and going to meets promoting NXN and just generally doing my thing. Sick.

Running has been going great.  The camps have been sweet, so far, and are really helping me get my run on.  I've lost 30ish pounds since February, so clearly I'm doing something right.  Most runs I keep the tempo around 6:45 pace, and I do about an hour a day, though some days, with the kids schedules, it differs.  Next week I even think I'm going to get on the track and do some 1k repeats at tempo pace.  Mostly because I'm not sure if I can do a tempo at tempo pace.  My best/worst run from this last week came when Gov took us on these trails at the North Carolina Arboretum.  We ran for about 67 minutes, and we were looping around when Gov goes "I think if we take this left it will take us back to the top of that last hill and we can coast down the last few miles.  It should be uphill right at the beginning, but then it will level off."  10 minutes of 10% incline later, I was totally redlining while watching the other guys pull away.  You know the scene in Titanic where Leo's body just sinks into the ocean?  It was like that, except more painful and tragic.  Moral of the story, I'm getting back in shape, but I have a long ways to go.  

On a related note, having a watch with an altimeter is sweet, unless you look at it in the middle of a run and realize you have climbed over 1000ft and that you are now high enough to where you should start noticing the effects of that height.  We were climbing one hill in particular and once I looked at my watch and saw how high we were, I actually started to feel worse, but not until I looked at it.  So now my brain is working against me too.  Great, first my body, now my mind.  Anyways, I'll try to keep updating my blog a little bit more often, maybe once or twice a week, but I make no promises.  

Monday, July 6, 2009

A Dangerous Addiction

Friends, I have something to confess with you.  Something I need help with.  I am addicted to facebook quiz's.  There, I said it.  The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem, and trust me, I have a lot of problems, and this is most definitely one of them.  Another one is that I'm too good looking, but thats another story (Hey Oh!).  No, but really, instead of blogging for the last like 2 hours I discovered what song of 2009 I was (Solja Boi, Kiss me through the phone), what periodic table element I am (Gold, of course), what Hogwarts Teacher I am (Madame Pomfrey, or however the hell you spell it).  I agree with the last two but apparently Facebook doesn't have a 100% accuracy rate.  

I have also discovered that I should live in NJ (false), visit mid century New York (sure), and drink Guinness (though it didn't mention in excess, I guess that is left up to my interpretation). Moral of the story, I need to get back in shape.  Why, might you ask?  Because, if I don't get back into shape, I am just sad fat dude who sits around taking facebook quiz's.  If I'm in shape, then whatever, at least I'm in shape, right?

I was going to talk a bit about some of my thoughts on the death of Michael Jackson, but I realized I didn't have anything nice to say.  So, onto my running for the last few weeks.  I haven't been doing much, I'll be honest.  I have run for the last half a week pretty consistently, but I was right in my last post when I said I would be supper busy and most likely miss a step in my training.  Anyways, I had a ton of work, got a new job, got to hang out with Becky for the first time in too long and drove to St. Louis from Antioch, Il (which is as boring as you would guess).  Anyways, I'm back in the game again, and feeling alright most days.  Also, I was in a hotel with a scale the other day, and it seems Big Mo's days might be numbered, I've lost almost 30 pounds in the last 6 months, so thats good.  The bad thing is, that I was so big to begin with, I still have a ways to go.  So don't worry Ben, you can still make fun of me for a while.  

Side note about Ben Stern, I heard you were going to jump in the Philly marathon and kick my ass?  Several things wrong with this chain of events:
1st)  Didn't I tell you to do that?  I thought I was the one encouraging you to do that exact thing.
2nd)  Don't think you're being sneaky, I saw you wearing you Nadal headband last time I was in town, I knew it was game time for something or another.
3rd)  I would hope you could beat me, my nickname is Big Mo.
4th)  If you don't beat me, that would actually be more embarrassing for you, then  it will be for me if you do beat me.  So I have nothing to lose.

Even with those points, here are my reasons, also in list form, for why you wont beat me.
1st)  I might not run the race.
2nd)  If I do run the race, I might enter under a false name, then you can never prove you beat me, and with no proof, it didn't happen.
3rd)  Before the race, I will either poison you, change your alarm so you miss the start, lock you in and or to a closet/room/car trunk/subway car/homeless person's box/telephone booth/Rocky/your brother/one of the girls you train with/Tushar's blog/Jacob/undersea cave/Hogwarts/my back/a copy of Sohachi Yamaoka's Tokugawa Ieyasu/an anvil/Ron Jeremy or something along those lines.  
4th) You will forget and not enter the race.

I feel I've proved my point.

Monday, June 22, 2009

Lets be realistic here

So, normally I say something like "My goal for the week is to run every day and get in 60 miles," or something along those lines.  This week?  Not so much.  I'm driving to chicago, my birthday is tomorrow, I have work for anywhere from 12 to 15 hours a day from Thursday through Sunday, and then Becky is flying into Chicago Sunday evening.  So I wont lie to myself and think I'm going to get in 60 miles this week.  I will, however, lie to myself and say I will get in 50 miles a week (again) and that I wont go too crazy on my birthday (Which I will be celebrating in Toledo Ohio, if anyone is around), I'll sleep well this week, and not eat too much crap.  Ha.

Anyways, as bad a week of training as this week is turning out to be, my last few days were pretty awesome.  Chris (who shares my disdain for leprechauns) and I went for a baller 9 mile run, which I mentioned before.  Yesterday I went for a 13 miler with Tushar.  It was pretty controlled and we felt great most of the way.  The last two miles I was pretty tired, but that was mostly because I hadn't really slept for the last 2 days.  Apparently my internal clock hates me when I have to get up at 5:00am for work on a Sunday.  It was a great refreshing run, and allowed for me to fall asleep sitting up on Tushar's couch.  Thus meaning I fell asleep at Tushar's as many times this weekend, as I did Heps weekend... 

Moving on.

As for my run today Chris and I are currently in Somerset Pa.  Which is apparently the never ending hill capital of western Pa.  We went straight up the first hill we saw, thinking it led to some trails, or something, because all we could see up the hill were trees, and more distant hills.  It did not lead to any trails, but it did lead to some neighborhoods and, more hills.  So yeah, I have no idea how far I ran, Chris was with me for 25 minutes, then I added on until I was at 40, then turned around and got back in 1:04.  I came straight back and didn't go into any of the neighborhoods.  So yeah, it was about 9, maybe, but it was hard as hell every step.  

Tomorrow we're of to Toledo, then to Chicago on Wednesday.  We're there for the next 10 to 12 days or so, then we head down to St. Luis for a week or so, then off to the Motherland, Portland.  

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Disappointing, kind of

I don't get it.  I am so close to being on pace to run as much as I want each week, but somehow, I manage to always will myself to come up short.  For example, this week, through 3 days I had run 25 miles.  I ran a hard 8.5-9 with Ben, and was pretty pleased with how it went.  I ran just under 70 minutes for 10 the next day then followed it up with an easy 6 the next day (I had work and had to run at 9:15 at night, and didn't feel like running past 10:00).  Anyways, no big deal, clearly on my way to getting an easy 60 miles this week, which was my goal.  However, things started to fall apart.  The next day, which was a Thursday, of course, I only ran 3 miles.  We drove to Philly and had a busy day and I went for a run at 8:00 on a treadmill, b/c it was shitty and very dark out, and I had no idea where I was.  I felt awful, apparently whenever I run on a treadmill now my body decides it wants to die.  Ok, no worries, I still have 28 miles through 4 days, 3 days to go and I only need 32 miles, 10, 10 and 12 and I'm fine, 60 miles.  

Shit, on Friday I  decide to go to a baseball game instead of run.  We have work in the morning, and we work fairly early, so running before hand is no an option, then we have to check into our hotel in downtown Philly.  We get into town, but can't check into our hotel for a while, and can't go running b/c I can't just leave the truck and Chris and run randomly.  No worries, we'll run when we get into our hotel.  We get checked in at about 5.  I'm getting ready to go when Chris says "Yo, lets go to the Phillies game."  I've never been to a MLB game before, so I decide, screw it, lets go to the ball game.  We get there, expecting to get tickets, no problem (They were laying the Baltimore) and find out the game is sold out.  After a few minutes of ticket searching, we find a scalper with 3 tickets to sell, sweet, except they are 2 and 1.  Since Chris is with his girlfriend they take the 2, and I get to sit and watch the game by myself.  Sweet.  That is until I read my ticket and see it is for a game from last week.

Whoops.  Luckily for me, I find the guy who sold it to me and get an actual ticket, which turns out to be dope as hell.

My seats were section 108, so right next to the 1st base line foul poll, and I was so close I could spit on Jayson Werth, if I had wanted to.  Anyways, going to a sporting event in Philly is awesome, because they are terrible fans.  The O's were playing well, and instead of getting behind the Phillies, the fans just start yelling and booing and leaving early.  It was so awesome to see.  I couldn't believe how terrible the fans treated their players.  Thank God I suck too much at anything to get paid millions of dollars to play in front of such ungrateful fans.

Anyways, where I'm going with this, is that I didn't run.  Shit.  Anyways, I had work again this morning, bright and early.  We were out at the Wissahickon trail and it started pouring.  Like everything got soaked and our computers barely made it out alive.  Chris and I were covered in mud, so we packed up, and went for a run.  Chris claims we were hammering on the way out, but we negtive split our run by 2.20 to run 57:40.  Easily over 8 miles, it was just way too nice a place to run, and it was pretty cool (mid 60's) and raining.  Best part, my nipples didn't bleed (F$%& you Ben).  I think that means I'm turning a corner.  

So, thats it for now.  Tomorrow, I'm getting in a long run with the one, the only, the Magush.  So read his blog, then wait a week and read my more entertaining version of the same story.  Sweet.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Week in review, HA!

So.  My last 3 weeks of running have gone pretty decently.  Both 3 and 2 weeks ago, I got in about 50 miles each week, at a decent clip, and I felt awesome.  The beginning of this week did not go so smoothly.  I started off going for a terrible hour long run where I felt like someone had decided to replace my legs with wacky inflatable arm flailing men.  I said to myself "Myself, you're just tired, no worries."  I hate it when I lie to myself.

(Side note, Family Guy just made a joke "Kobe brand condoms, for the protection you want.  For the sex she doesn't).

So yeah, I had a shitty week of training.  Oh well, that will happen.  Also, I was embarrassed by the fact that Tushar was updating his blog more often then me, but then I read it.

No, but really, well done Tush.  Also well done to the following people: Ari, Jokin, Meagan, and the random girl who beat me a 5k this weekend.

Also, if you haven't seen the hangover, do so.  Then agree to take me to vegas.  I'll bring the Jager.

Ok, I know this post kind of sucked, I'm tired and out of it, but I felt the need to write something once a week, so that I at least feel slightly less useless.  Anyways, if anyone is around DC for Tuesday, or Wednesday or Thursday and wants to run, let me know.  My goal is to get in about 60 miles this week.  Sick.

Friday, June 5, 2009

Getting back on the horse.

Ladies and gentleman, let me first start todays post with a brief description of life on the road.  Today I sat in a parking lot for 2 hours while my teammate Chris met up with his lady friend.  After that we drove from the Dulles International Airport to Richmond VA.  Only an hour and 50 minutes, right?  Wrong!  After 2 accidents and some good old fashioned DC traffic it took us almost 4 hours of me driving.  Sweet.  We get in at 8:15.  The restaurant at the bar in the hotel closed at 10, so I couldn't get in as long of a run as I wanted.  Oh yeah, and did I mention I was in downtown Richmond?  

So I check into my room and get changed, ready to get in anything I can.  I start out trying to get into the hotel workout room, I wanted to avoid running in the hood, and see how much I weighed.  Two birds with one stone, you know?  Anyways, the door wont open.  I try my card like 20 times, and even try to use it to pick the lock.  It doesn't work.  I walk down to the lobby and it turns out, I have the key from the hotel I stayed in last night... Damn it.  Anyways, now that I have the right key I go back up to the workout room and try again.  My new, real key, still doesn't work.  I go back down to the lobby, and they think I am an idiot.  They send a maintenance man up with me to show me how to use my key.  Anyways, turns out the door is broken and when I am heading up to my room, almost 3 hours later, it is still broken and they can't get in.  Haha, I'm not that dumb!

Anyways, my run.  At this point it's like 8:40 and I still need to run.  I decide running through the hood is better then not running.  I head out the door of my hotel and take a right.  For the next 4 minutes I think I'm going to get lit up a la a Biggie Small's song.  However, once I get about 5 blocks away (under a train and past the McDonalds) it turns into one of the nicest little suburban streets I've run on.  I then head into an awesome looking Civil War park.  I have to turn around, because as much as I like running, I also want to eat before I go to sleep.  I end up getting in about 30 minutes (29:57 for those of you keeping track at home) and feel like it is better then nothing.  

This was my 12th straight day of running, and I've been feeling a bit better every day.  I ran 50ish miles last week, and am on pace to run about 60 this week.  I just need to do a 12 miler tomorrow or sunday, then an easy 10 the other day.  I think I'm about ready to start running close to 10 miles a day.  I ran 9 miles with Owen, B Clark and Peaches and felt awesome (other then the fact that ever since I tried to assure Ben Stern that my nipples don't bleed when it rains, they bleed when it rains).  Anyways, I'm off to bed because I have work all day tomorrow and then all morning sunday, so I should go to bed.  

Shout out to Tushar for starting a Blog as well.

Shout out to Becky for mailing me those books, and for being my girlfriend.

Monday, June 1, 2009

Oh shit, I only updated my blog once last month.

So...
This is awkward.  I know I haven't really been posting much lately.  My bad.  Anyways, in the last month a lot has happened.  I don't remember all of it.  What I do remember is that I'm still not in shape, but I did run over 50 miles last week, while running every day.  So thats sweet.  Rumor has it a bunch of our crew is going to race Philly and I don't want to be the scrub who gets last, so I had better actually run.  I was hanging with the Sterns last week, and Ben brought out his old Oregon training logs to show his bro.  It got me thinking, and I wrote out training for myself through August.  It's nothing complicated, but I feel like having it hanging over my head makes me more likely to actually run.  Also, Becky discovered these sweet rails next to our apartment, across the GW Bridge, so now I have another tight place to run.  Also, as of July, I will be back in the job hunt, so I should have time to train as well.  Sweet.
Another funny story, I was running with the DC crew the other day and they nicknamed me "Big Mo," because I possess more momentum then the rest of the crew.  Sounds good to me.  Anyways, I'm out for now, but I promise I will update more often.

Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Oh shit, I lost to Jilane in a long run.

Well, I guess I don't care that much, considering I let her win.  So I know I haven't updated in a while, I've been exceptionally busy.  After running the Providence Half Marathon Long Run at 6:39 pace with Ari and Mad and Jilane I went back to campus and hung out for a few days with some of the guys.  It was a lot of fun and a good way to cap off my highest mileage week (55ish) in a while.  However, over the next few weeks would prove difficult to maintain this new milestone of training.  And by that I mean, I've hardly run in the last week and a half.  Not because I haven't wanted to, mind you, but because I haven't really had much time.  

Not that he reads this, but, I want to give a shout out to Matt Jasmin.  Watching him win Heps this past weekend was one of the coolest things I've ever seen.  Last race senior year, it had evaded him a couple of times so far, it was great to see him get a title he truly deserved.

With that smooth transition, how about the Heps meet last weekend?  It was good to get to see all the guys out there busting their asses off this weekend.  I've been to a ton of track meets since I've graduated, but there is something to say about the Heps.  It might not be the best conference, but it's home to me, so if I hadn't been so hungover I'm sure I would have gotten a little teary eyed.  So yeah, congrats to everyone who competed and all of that stuff.  

Next up, I'm off to DC for the weekend, Owen, Ben lets jog.  Then from there back to NYC for a day or two then to Providence for The Campus Dance and the BTBBM (PR????).  Sweet.

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Oh shit, I might lose to Jilane in a long run.

So, I know I haven't been updating very frequently, and again, this is a combination of I am still out of shape and I am still working like a banshee.  I have no idea how much banshee's work, but I hear it's a lot.  Anyways, first off, props to my blogs name sake, Jokin, who smoked the OKC marathon, and as such justified my naming of my blog after him.  Good work.  Nextly (is that a word?  Is now!) I have realized a couple of interesting running things. 

I am definitely getting into better shape then I was.  I've been able to run about 6-10 miles a day, depending on the day, but I cant seem to have enough time to run more then about 5 days a week.  As such I am trying to do the whole quality over quantity thing.  Of course, that was never really my style, so it is tough getting used to.  Also, since I am getting more into shape (note, I'm still not in any kind of shape, but I was in negative shape before.  So now I am back to ground zero.) I am regaining some enthusiasm for the whole running thing, and look forward to being able to race again.  So as of right now I have several races on my radar for the next year.  I plan on running the Utica boilermaker this July with some of my friends back in upstate, it should be fun, and I have no expectations, just to have fun.  Next I plan on running the Blue Ridge Relay race in september with a bunch of the guys.  That is, I guess, my actual goal.  To be back in shape so that I can run 6:15 pace or so for the approximately 16 miles.  Now, I would not be worried, minus the fact it is at elevation, and last time I ran at elevation, I got burned.  So we'll see.  The next race on my schedule is an 8k xc race at Deal's wedding.  He should have a pretty good top 5 if everyone shows up, and we are racing some decent college teams, so I hope to not get embarrassed.  This race is also at elevation.  I wish I had the opportunity to train at elevation at some point and time, but since I don't I'll just try to breath less from now on.  My last race, and this one is not as solid as the rest of them, is the Philly marathon.  I have been interested in running it since I paced Becky for the last half a few years back, but Owen said he would be interested and I would like to run it with a friend more then I would like to run it alone.  

Additional note, I am planning on running the Providence half marathon this weekend.  I am not racing, Ari and I are merely doing it as a hard long run.  If Jilane beats be, it doesn't count, because I'm not racing.  

So just to put my recent training in perspective, I've lost a few lb's and have been generally feeling better running.  Deal likes running with me now because I "Don't slow him down anymore."  Sweet.  Last week I did a 10 miler from my apartment over and under the GW bridge, out another few miles then back.  I went out in 34 and came back in 31 and change.  Plus the whole way back was uphill.  It was a hard as hell effort, but I felt good and wanted to really push myself.  A few days before, I had run about 9 miles with Deal in just under an hour.  So needless to say, every now and then I have a good run.  However, today I ran 5 miles and almost passed out at the end from the heat.  FML.  

Anyways, the rest of my week should be good for training.  I'm going to get up relatively early tomorrow and get my run out of the way.  I just want to do an hour to 70 mins.  I originally wanted to do it a bit faster, but after how hard the heat hit me today, I might just get in a quality 10 miles.  Thursday I'll be back in Prov, so hopefully I can get in a good run with some of the guys, that would be sweet.  Saturday Deal and I are working the race expo the whole day, so I might just try and get in an east half an hour before the half marathon run the next day.

All in all, I've been keeping busy and trying to live the dream, to some degree.  Hopefully by next September I'll be in decent enough shape not to let everyone on the relay down.  If not, I'll just buy the first round after the race.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

Back in upstate.

So Mass was great.  It was awesome to see Becky, and go for runs with Ari and Graddy and spend time with all of my friends.  A very good couple of days all around.  

I don't remember what I had said about my running in my last post, but I'll see if I can't do some catching up.  Last week I got in about 30 miles in 5 days, as I felt kind of sick for a few days.  I would have taken 3 days off but Becky guilt tripped me into running with her one day, so that salvaged my week as far as days of running was concerned.  My last week was also capped off by a 10 mile run with Ari and Ryan.  We went out Saturday night, and things got a little sloppy, but Sunday we got up and went for a run from my hotel.  It was crazy how much fun it was to run with those guys.  Lots of making fun of Jacob ensued.   Monday night Ari came over and started my current week off on a good note as he hammered the pants off of me.  We did 8 miles in 51:58.  It wasn't a particularly hard effort at the time, but I felt like shit the next two days, and I will accredit that run and my weekend extra curricular activities with my legs deciding they didn't want to move.  

Tuesday Brian and I had to leave Boston, and drive to West Hartford Ct for work.  We got in kind of late, so I just hopped on the treadmill and ran a couple of miles before our delivery food got in.  Not exactly training, but I think I want to try and run all 7 days this week, even if it is just a couple of miles when I feel like shit.  Brian once told me, when I felt awful, that I just need to run through it.  Now that seems more feasible now that I am running with some consistency, then it did when I received that advice, 2 weeks into my "comeback."  Anyways, yesterday I got in a decent 5 miles with Deal up a good hill then around a cool old cemetery.  Like crazy old, we saw a grave from 1776, a good year, I've heard.  I think the plan for today is to go back through the cemetery and ink up with another park for a longer run.  We were going to double today, but both of us haven't slept past more then like 6 hours a night for a while now, so we didn't get up in time.  Oh well, I don't know if doubling is acceptable when you are trying to run like 45 miles a week.

Goals for this week, and maybe the next few.  This week, 6-7 days of running and 45 miles.  Next 2 weeks 6-7 days of running and 50 miles.  4th week, 7 days of running and 55 miles.  That would give me 200 miles in 4 weeks.  I forgot why I planned on doing that, but I talked to Ari about it, and he thought it was a great idea.  By the way, funny Ari story.  When he, Graddy and I were running we thought we were close to our hotel and Ari said "It should be just on our left, I think it's behind those buildings."  We run for a few more minutes and Graddy goes "Wait, isn't that it right their (pointing due right, out in the open)."  The answer was yes, the hotel was in the exact opposite direction that Ari described.  This coming after we ran an 8 mile run (It was 10).  Somethings never change.  Fucking Ari.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Hotel room in Worcester. Or however you spell it.

So, my last week actually went pretty well.  None of the runs were too memorable after my venture to Green Lakes, but my week ended well.  6 runs and 40 miles.  I finally have bested the elusive 40 mile barrier.  Sweet.  My running was also more impressive when you consider the 2nd half of my week was in Providence, so needless to say, my motivation to run relative to my motivation to drink was down.  Anyways, my goal for this week is to run 6-7 days and get 40 miles in again (if I run 6), or 45 (if I run 7 days).  I hope it's doable.  I ran 4 miles monday, easy on a hotel treadmill in Danbury Ct, in 26:50 and then this morning I ran 3 miles in 21:03.  I planned on getting in another 5 this evening, but work and driving and dinner decided that wasn't going to happen, so I will start my week a little behind.  I'm going for an 8 mile run with Ari tomorrow, though, and I have the whole weekend off, so those three days should get me some good mileage.

On another note, being on the road all the time can get kinda boring.  I like Brian and all, but I am running out of stuff to make me not want to drive our truck off a bridge.  Other then the fear of hurting myself.  If anyone travels a lot and has any suggestions, let me know.  Anyways, at least I'll be in the Boston area for the next week or so.  I've always liked Boston.  When I was a kid my mom had to go see a specialist in Boston, and my parents told my brother and I that we were going on a vacation.  So Boston to me was what Florida was to everyone else, a sweet get away spot with cool stuff.  Just replace beaches and sun and sand, with an aquarium.   Emperor penguins rock.

Also, this may be both random, and surprising, or randomly surprising, but I've never done a fantasy baseball league before, but my friend Brian talked me into it, and it's really sweet.  I don't actually have a baseball team that I openly root for, being from Syracuse and all, but I think I like the mets because my team has Johan Santana, and Carlos Beltran.  Thats a good enough reason for me.  Burke (who am I kidding, there is no way in hell Burke reads this) I also have a bunch of Detroit players, but I just can't see myself rooting for the Tigers, I just remember like 5 years ago when they lost 120 games or whatever, and thats crazy.  

Anyways, if anyone is around Boston, and wants to grab a beer (or run), or other adult beverage this weekend, let me know.  Should be a good time, Becky is going to be in town, as are other 08's Lena and (adopted 08) Mad.  Not to mention the mainstays of Ari and Hannah.  

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

That got out of hand. I mean that really escalated quickly.

So I know I haven't posted in like a week.  It's not actually because I had a bad week of running, but because I had a crazy week of work where my schedule was made up wrong, so I had to work multiple events in one day, several times.  Then the transmission on our truck broke down.  And by that I mean, did you know if you don't screw the gas cap on tight enough you can create a vacuum in your engine?  And that said vacuum will turn all of the warning lights on your dashboard and prevent your car from shifting gears?

Me neither.

Anyways, what I'm getting at is that I was busy, and not necessarily in the mood to post.  My bad.  Anyways, other then working a ton last week I did manage to do some decent running.  I wasn't able to reach my goal of running 6/7 days, but I ran 4 and biked 20 miles another day.  All in all I got in about 30 miles, plus 20 miles of biking in 5 efforts, so I feel pretty happy about it.  I even ran one really hard run on a treadmill in Indiana.  

My goal for this week is again, to run 6 days and get in about 45 miles.  I am off to a good start as I have been in Syracuse for the past 2 days, and have taken my friend Brian to Green Lakes State Park.  The best running park I have been in during my travels.  So, GL (as we in the biz like to call it) is pretty tight.  You can do a solid 15 miler without repeating much and it has some awesome views.  One of the things I used to love most about it is how hilly it is.  Back in high school I ran hills every day because the only other alternative was run on the Erie Canal.  Needless to say, I was good at running hills.  Now, however, I suck.  Brian, my friend Fox (a mid 2:30's marathoner) and I went for a run Monday and I was soon deep in the hurt tank.  It was good, though, because I was so happy to be running back at GL that it was cool.  I died a bit on the hills, but ran the flats with them and finished up decently.  About 8 miles in about 58:40.  Not awful.  

Tuesday was a similar, but different, story.  Brian and I met up with my friend Luke to go for a jog.  We wanted to go a bit longer, and Luke was kind of pushing the pace.  Which was cool, except that i couldn't push back.  He and Brian went out and got in about 12 miles in 1:16.00.  Nice.  I got in a 10 miler in 1:12.58.  What I also got was a crazy conversation from a 52 year old man who saw me getting dropped by Brian and Luke.  After they pulled away I tried to loop back and find them.  I bump into this guy wearing a blue Fila track suit, whom we had passed before.

Me-"Have you seen the other two guys I was with running with?"
Him-"Yeah, they're long gone."
Me-"Oh, thanks."
Him-"Yeah, I thought you had a bit too much body mass to be running with those two.  They looked pretty serious."
Me-"Haha, yeah..."
Him-"I mean, it looked like you had a lot of heart, but just too much mass."

Burn.

Needless to say he then proceeded to talk to me for about 10 minutes about how I could lose some weight and maybe run with guys like that sometime.  Apparently you need to run consistently and eat healthy.  Crazy, I know.

So, that was my last run at GL for a while.  Today Brian and I are hitting up the Erie Canal, then driving to Providence.  Sweet.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

I should rename my Blog after Tarpy

So I haven't updated in a few days thanks in part to the fact that I've actually had something to do.  Sweet.  Brian and I got into Atlanta, GA (his hometown) and he has been showing me around and kicking my ass in NCAA 09, so I haven't spent too much time on my computer.  Anyways, since we have been in one place for about a week, I actually got some decent runs in and, other then today (for reasons I'll get into in a bit) I've felt really good.

So 5 days ago was Wednesday, and one of my first runs north of Florida in a while.  I still hate Florida, even if it was really really nice out all the time.  Anyways, Brian wanted to take me on his staple six mile run around his house.  I was game because, well, I didn't know where the hell to go and because apparently to get into shape I need to run more often.  Anyways, it was a nice little lollipop, and we picked it up the whole way and finished in 39:37.  He says it is a hair over 6, and his Nike+ says 6.3, but I bet it is pretty close to 6 even, just because I am not used to feeling pleased with anything I've run in too long, so I'll assume we were going slower then we were.  Either way it was a good run and I was pushing the pace once i figured out how to get back.  (I did not lead, because I did not know where I was going.  4 Years at Brown and that was really all I took away.  That and  that Jacob will succumb to peer pressure if you try hard enough).

Thursday Brian and I met up with his old HS coach, Tillery (sp??), who is racing a marathon next weekend.  He was going for an easy 10 and Brian talked me into jumping in for some of it.  I agreed and ended up sticking it out.  We ran 1:05.1, so again, I assume it was short and not quite 10.  Either way, I hadn't run that far in some time and the effort prompted me to drink 3 Gatorade's and fall asleep early that night.  I am so much fun.  

Friday came along and Brian and I had work most of the morning and early afternoon.  It wasn't that bad except that it was during the 'Cuse game. For those of you who know me (and if not, why are you reading my blog and how did you find it?), you know I enjoy Syracuse basketball.  So go Orange(men).  From what I hear it was a sloppy game where we knew we were better the SF Austin.  But, as I always say "a 'w' is a 'w'."  I do say that too.  Anyways, where I'm going with all this is that Brian and I had work at 5 am Saturday morning and there was College Basketball on CBS all day.  But I ran anyways!  I went out and ran a decent 5 miler (give or take) in 35:26.  Brian didn't run, so I went out for 18 minutes and turned around.  Sweet.  

NCAA bracket side note.  How the hell is Tushar winning the group I'm in?  He didn't know that Brett Favre signed with the Jets last year, and he is from Long Island.  This guys is beating me, really???  My one condolence that was (up until today) I was beating Tarpy, but even that fell away.  

Saturday, got up at 4:30, took a shower and couldn't put in my contacts because my eyes were so dry and refused to cooperate.  Great start to my day.  Anyways, Dal and I do our thing all morning and get out of the Atlanta's women's 5k a little after 12 and have to go drop some bags off at a local TSA.  We stopped at some sports bar and got lunch.  I ate a ton, as I as starving and had not ben eating much lately.

Random aside:  I lost my credit card a little while ago, no big deal, except that I cant buy apps for my iPhone anymore.  So I often peruse the free section.  While doing this one day I found one that tracks my calories consumed and burned in a day and allows me to set goals.  It is sweet, and has helped keep me somewhat in check, in fact, since I've had it, I've only ate unhealthily once.  That day was Saturday.  And by eat unhealthily, I mean drink a lot of beers and not run.  So Saturday night Brian takes me out with some of his friends to a Journey cover band concert (I think they were called Faithful).  They were awesome.  Real Journey most likely wasn't as good.  I should also note I was hammered drunk.  Or, as they say down here "Out of town drunk."

Sunday morning rolls around and I wake up in Brian's friends Charlie's apartment with a bit of a headache, but more just tired then anything else.  Now, for another painful reality, when I was in undergrad I could get plastered wake up bright and early and hammer 18 and laugh about what a great life I lived.  Now I jog 6 miles by myself and feel like death.  46:40.  Ouch.  Maybe Deals loop from the other day was long, not short???  Oh wait, most likely not, I was just running 7:30's and feeling it.

Anyways, my week started off pretty strong, and although it ended a little poorly, all in all I am actually starting to like running again and feel a bit less like a normie (although, I still am) and more like a runner (which I once was).  My last 7 days I ran 5 times for about 35 miles, so thats 7 miles a day, when I was running, or 5 miles a day total (F*** you math 10) last week.  Not great, but really not terrible all things considered.  Goal for next week: 6 days of running, and 40 miles.  The big 40 mile a week barrier, I bet only a couple hundred high school girls would dare run that much next week.

Next stop, Chicago, then the 'Cuse, then P-Town.  Get excited North East, I'm almost back.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

1st time in 4 years I ran more miles then the number of beers I drank on St pat's day

(Disclaimer:  This entry is not for pregnant women or dizzy people, as it jumps around a lot, and is very poorly written, even by my standards.)

Typically that would be an indication of how many beers I drank, not how few miles I ran.  This year, however, it is not.  

So last Sunday evening Deal and I decide to go for a run together.  I normally hate running with him, because he is fit and he runs pretty hard, and you know, I have been known to complain even when I'm feeling good, let alone when I'm sucking air.  Anyways, luckily for me, Brian wasn't feeling in the mood to hammer, so we ran an easy 45 mins or so, and I added on another 15 afterwards.  Keeping to my schedule of running an hour a day.  Thanks to this run, I got in just about 29 miles in 4 runs last week.  So lets pretend that I could run all 7 days a week, that would mean I was on pace to run almost 50 miles.  Sweet.  Thats almost real high school girl training.

During my add on I was lucky enough to watch a space shuttle take off.  Random, but, really sweet.  Did you know those things go all the way in to outer space?  Crazy, I know.

Monday was going to, and in hindsight, did, suck.  We had to make it from St. Petersburg Florida to Atlanta.  Sweet, except that we had to get up at 5 and teach a clinic on Nike shoes at a local TSA first.  Spoiler Alert!!!:  I didn't run.   Apparently working/driving from 6am to 8pm isn't conducive to me wanting to run in the rain of Atlanta.  I couldn't have guessed.

Tuesday was St. Patrick's day.  I've heard that Savannah GA does St. Pat's day pretty hard, too bad I was in Atlanta, and too tired to go out.  Not to mention I only know one person here, and Deal wasn't getting crazy.  Instead we did my first "workout" of my "training."  Brian took me to a local park and it started out as just us running together, but you could tell he was a little amped being back home on his old stomping grounds.  Anyways, he runs pretty fast most days if he can, so today I just tried to hang with him.  We ended up running just about 7 hilly miles in 46 minutes.  Now if that doesn't keep Jacob up at night, I don't know what will!  Regardless (or irregardless, speaking of Jacob) I am starting to like hurting again, which is awesome.  Baby steps, right?

This "workout" reminded me of how I used to run back at Chitt.  Everyday we just kind of ran hard to beat up on the kids who couldn't hang with us.  It was fun.  It made me think, though, to a question Coste raised in his blog.  "Could I beat HS freshman me?"  Or something like that.  I could not, it wouldn't even be close.  It would be a funny race to watch, though.  One of the two of me's would throw up, not sure which one, but one would.  A better question, could I ever in my life beat the 8th grade Sarro in anything?  The answer, is no.  If I recall he long jumped 26, ran 45/147/348/810.  Solid all around for a 13 year old.

In closing, congrats to Tarpy for an awesome race.  And a sweet picture where he looks like he actually has muscles.  
http://www.southcoasttoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090315/NEWS/90315001

Sunday, March 15, 2009

FML (Inspired by Fmylife.com, check it out).

So I'm not sure how often is appropriate to update my blog.  Tarpy seems to do it after workouts, or races, or good efforts, but I never have any of those, so that would be a boring blog.  Jokin seems to update it everyday, and I forget and or don't want to write "Didn't run, I'm a bitch," so thats out.  I think I'll just do it when I remember, or when I have something cool to relate.  Or when I think I should let people know I'm still alive.  Which, I am.

Side note.  I was supposed to be in DC next weekend, but, this whole concept of scheduling is foreign to my job and of course, everything got changed 5 days ahead of time, so I'm going to Atlanta instead.  Sweet.  At least Hotlanta is, you know, hot.

Anyways, so I think my last post was about how much running in Florida sucks when you are an overweight Irish kid (how old is too old to call yourself a kid?  Am I that old now?) from the northeast.  Well, I ran the following day and decided, screw it, I'll just run for an hour and see how I feel.  Shockingly, it was sweet.  I ran for about 4 miles (28:03) and came upon a track.  I ran a mile around the track to check my pace, it was 6:56 and change, so I'm guessing I had run about 5 miles by the end of it.  Then I decided to run another mile a bit quicker, not fast mind you, I am incapable of that, but quicker.  So, I started decided to run about a 6:15, just to see how it felt.  Note, I used to run 10 milers at this pace.  Also note, after my one mile at 6:12 on the track, I was tired.  FML.

But honestly, it felt good to kind of feel like I ran something other then just a jog.  After my 2 mile middle school girl level tempo on the track, I ran back to my hotel and counted it as 8 and a half miles (1:00.48).  Sweet.  New game plan, just run an hour every day.  That should get me back in shape twice as fast.

Next day:  Didn't run.  I'm a bitch.

Next day:  Ran a little over an hour again, so 8ish miles (I felt like crap and wont pretend I was running 7 min pace, even though I want to pretend that I was.  At least I'm not lying to myself. Also not lying to myself, I can beat Jacob in a marathon right now.  Fact).

Anyways, I managed to not run yesterday either, and today I only had work from 5 to 11:30, so I plan on getting a decent run in this afternoon/evening with Deal.  I feel like I just need to guilt trip myself into running more, but I don't feel guilty because no one is counting on me to be fit, and, unbeknownst to myself, I have much less self motivation then I thought I did.  Especially since my only real goal is to beat Jacob in the marathon, and I could do that with no training for the next 5 years, so I'm not too worried just yet.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Oh Yeah, I Forgot. Florida Sucks.

So I'll start my post out with a little story.  Some time ago (my frosh year) I was lucky enough to run pretty well and was asked to go on the spring break trip to USF.  I was very excited and wanted to show that I deserved to be there.  I had never been to Florida before, and I thought a break from the cold northeast would be good for me.  I was wrong.  After a couple days of getting dropped by the guys in the 90 degree/80% humidity weather we have a workout.  I am doing a 12 mile progression run where I go out 6 in about 6min pace then come back and negative split.  My last 2 miles were at about 7 to 7:15 pace and my coach at the time, John, pulled me aside and said "I don't know what happened to you since indoors, but whatever it is, you need to change it."I hadn't changed shit, except for my geographic location.  Needless to say, I hated Florida.

Why would I think it was great all these years later?  Apparently I assumed the couple (dozen) extra pounds I am packing would provide me with good insulation from the heat, and as such keep me cooler while running.  

Nope.

So the day after I start my blog and feel so gun-ho about running again my friend Brian wants to go for a run.  Just an easy 6 miles or so.  I'm excited and agree.  about 4 miles later I remember I'm still a goofy white Irish kid from upstate NY who thinks 65 and overcast is the nicest weather on the planet.  Damn.  Anyways, I thought 2 things.  First I can't believe I forgot how much running in the heat sucks.  Secondly, how the hell can I ever bitch about running 6 miles?  What happened to me.  Needless to say my next run, on Monday, was an easy 4 miles inside on the treadmill with the AC on.

I came to Florida and choose to run inside on a treadmill to avoid the weather.  What is wrong with me?

On a random note that some running nerds might enjoy.  Years ago I had my gait analyzed and it was determined I was a severe over pronator.  My new job requires me to analyze gaits myself, so I got mine done again, just to give an example of a severe over pronator.  Guess what, I don't over pronate at all.  In fact, my stride is almost perfectly neutral.  So I have been wearing stability shoes for who knows how long for no reason.  Needless to say I gave a bad example of an over pronator, and I also have wasted a bunch of money.  Oh well, at least now I can train in the Lunar Trainers (sweet).

Moral of the story, I have a week left in Florida then its off to either DC or Atlanta.  I hope DC, but Atlanta is a pretty chill city as well.  From their it is back to the glorious north east for a month.  I will be in Boston, Providence, and of course NYC.  Sweet.

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Preface to a blog

So I want to start a blog about my running so that I'm not the only person I've ever met not to do so.  Also, because I heard Jacob will be running 95 miles a week by the end of the month, and right now I am running maybe 30, so this should be some motivation.  When we race the marathon, if I lose, I will never be able to talk to any of my friends again, and that would suck after a while.  Before I get into my half ass comeback stories I want to give a little background.

So right now I'm working as a mobile marketing rep for Nike in conjunction with Sports Authority (Dedicated to the Dedicated).  Essentially I drive a Toyota FJ Cruiser and air-stream trailer all over the east coast, and occasionally across the country, to train and educate TSA employees about Bowerman line Nike products.  I also have to work road races and other "events."  This doesn't sound so bad, except to do this I have to unpack a 400 pound treadmill from my trailer and set up several cameras and computers, not to mention trial shoe cubbies, to preform gait analysis.  It takes my partner, Brian Deal, and I about an hour to set up and as long to set down.  Now on extra special days I also have to set up a tent and a whole area display.  The tent is 20x30 feet and, according to directions, is 4-6 people required for set up.  Brian and I can set it up in about 45 minutes now.  In total, the tent, area set up, and gait analysis set up takes Brian and I about  2 and a half hours, then about 2 hours to take down.  So, to put it into perspective, brian and I are working between 8 and 15 hours a day, depending on number of "events," 5-7 days a week while being on our feet the entire time.  

The point of my sob story is such; I don't have a lot of time to run, and when I do I am exhausted.  So bear with me.

For the past few weeks I have been running when I could, about 30-45 minutes a day.  No abs, no lifting, no stretching.  Too much eating.  Appropriate amounts of drinking.  For the last few days, leading up to yesterday I haven't run at all.  Still too much eating.

Yesterday:  I worked from 5:30am to 8:30pm.  I ate one meal in that time, a lamb gyro from a sandwich shop in Miami.  I got back to my hotel and went for a run, 4 miles in 28:02.  I used a treadmill, hence the exact time for my run.  I am at least fairly proud of my ability to still do most of my "runs" at a decent pace, sub 7's or close.  Thats nice.  I just wish I could run more then 5-6 miles at a time.  I guess thats the point of building up, right?  After my run I did my first lifting/abs/stretching session since I graduated from Brown last spring.  I am still not strong, nor ripped in the abdominables, nor flexible.  So at least not everything has changed.  I actually felt pretty good.  My legs were crap, but that is to be expected.  

More to come.