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Thursday, January 9, 2014
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
First Marathon Bid: Failure
Okay, so I'm going to keep this short and probably flesh in the detail later. There were 30,000 people running the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon with about 90% running the latter. Leigh, Doug, Carrie, Adam and myself wake up at 5am on Saturday morning, lube ourselves up (this prevents chaffing and is a funny ritual in itself), eat some GU (this provides gas build up in one's intestines), eat bananas (this prevents soiling) and stretch (this provides us with a rationale that with a little stretching everything will be fine). Then we head downtown to run 26.2 miles. Well the short story is that after 21 miles the race official divert all runners to the finish line with some cock-n-bull story about tornados and huge lightning-throwing thunder clouds. So despite the fact that tornados did touch down somewhere and there was a hell of lot of lightning, I think that letting the idiots who volunteered to run 26 miles in the first place should be allowed to run under conditions of potential mortality. We were keeping to our decided pace and felt pretty good when we crossed the finish line after 22.5 miles in 3:24. The paltry offering of an MDG 64 (some new yellow beer) did little to ease our anger, although we did quaff a few of them.
April 21st
Last run before the big day... 2 miles seemed long enough. 3 days to Nashville!
April 20th
Snuck up on a bunch of turtles and cormorants basking in the sun on Lake Carnegie. That was cool.
April 19th
Sat on ass.
April 18
Was supposed to run 8 miles today, but did you see that 4 days ago I ran 20?
April 17
Was supposed to run 5 miles today, but did you see that 3 days ago I ran 20?
April 14th - 20 Miles!
This is to be my last long run before the big day. Felt like hell the first few miles, warmed up a bit the next, struggled the next 3, felt great the next 8, could barely run the last two. My neighbor saw me flopping home the last 20 yards and looked concerned enough to think about calling Dr. Hawkeye Pierce, or choppering in help. But now I know, with 10 days left... that I can run 80% of a marathon. So that is something. I'm so excited I'm not even gonna break out the baguette-o-meter.
April 9th - AUSTEN"S BIRTHDAY!!!
My sweet little baby girl turns 1 today. She got cake and her first girly doll. Didn't like either too much, however our dog liked the doll, and our son liked the cake. As a team it was a winning day. Oh yeah, ran today.
April 8th
10 miles out to Herrington Woods, beautiful morning and first big run since tweaking my knee/ankle. Everything felt fine, except the running part.
It is Friday night and I am running hills?
This is what running has done to my life. Running hills at 10.30 pm on a Friday night. Not that I'd be out doing anything exciting, leigh and I would probably be in bed by now, but here I am running up Linden Lane hill, and walking down it.
April 21st
Last run before the big day... 2 miles seemed long enough. 3 days to Nashville!
April 20th
Snuck up on a bunch of turtles and cormorants basking in the sun on Lake Carnegie. That was cool.
April 19th
Sat on ass.
April 18
Was supposed to run 8 miles today, but did you see that 4 days ago I ran 20?
April 17
Was supposed to run 5 miles today, but did you see that 3 days ago I ran 20?
April 14th - 20 Miles!
This is to be my last long run before the big day. Felt like hell the first few miles, warmed up a bit the next, struggled the next 3, felt great the next 8, could barely run the last two. My neighbor saw me flopping home the last 20 yards and looked concerned enough to think about calling Dr. Hawkeye Pierce, or choppering in help. But now I know, with 10 days left... that I can run 80% of a marathon. So that is something. I'm so excited I'm not even gonna break out the baguette-o-meter.
April 9th - AUSTEN"S BIRTHDAY!!!
My sweet little baby girl turns 1 today. She got cake and her first girly doll. Didn't like either too much, however our dog liked the doll, and our son liked the cake. As a team it was a winning day. Oh yeah, ran today.
April 8th
10 miles out to Herrington Woods, beautiful morning and first big run since tweaking my knee/ankle. Everything felt fine, except the running part.
It is Friday night and I am running hills?
This is what running has done to my life. Running hills at 10.30 pm on a Friday night. Not that I'd be out doing anything exciting, leigh and I would probably be in bed by now, but here I am running up Linden Lane hill, and walking down it.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Some one else's running
I feel so self-centered always writing about myself... so today I'm writing about someone else.
Someone else got up at 5am this morning, ran 12 miles at 7 minute pace. That someone else loved every minute of the run, saw the sunrise - considered themselves blessed. That someone felt like a million bucks at the end of it, and was looking forward to doing it all over again, tomorrow.
... that bastard.
Someone else got up at 5am this morning, ran 12 miles at 7 minute pace. That someone else loved every minute of the run, saw the sunrise - considered themselves blessed. That someone felt like a million bucks at the end of it, and was looking forward to doing it all over again, tomorrow.
... that bastard.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
These long runs are getting longer and Leon is getting larger
French Baguette-o-meter = 31,680, which means I ran 18 miles this morning in a beautiful Palm Springs morning. Actually we are in Rancho Mirage, California. I ran under the shadow of the beautiful snow capped San Jacinto Mountains. The temperature was perfect 60 degrees when I started and a balmy 80 when I finished just under 3 hours later. My beautiful Leigh joined me for the last 8 miles, and so did Lightening McQueen and Chicks Hicks as band-aids on my nipples. Thanks Pixar Animation and associated officially licensed products of the animated movie CARS – for geting me through another run without chaffing on those totally superfluous male body parts.
The run also featured a big horn sheep nature reserve, a few humming birds, and a burning question of who won this year’s Super Bowl. I knew the Colts lost it, but for eight miles all I could think about was NFL teams who might have won it. I finally passed a morning walker who said “…morning…” my reply was “Sir, do you know who won the Super Bowl this year?” He said, “the Saints.”
I’m making a lot of new friends here in Palm Springs.
March 19, 2010
How many miles can Ollie run and not get bored of chasing geese off the banks of the D&R canal? Answer: at least nine. And how annoying does it get when a peaceful Friday morning sunrise run is constantly ruined by the honking of geese? Very annoying. On a scale of 1to 10 its about a 7.2.
Oh yeah and when Ollie cuts me off at the end of the run to chase a squirrel and I wipe out on the sidewalk, bruise my knee and shoulder, and can’t get up but for the help of two older ladies out for a morning walk… well you know… just adds another dimension to why its not a good idea to run.
March 18, 2010
I forgot to bring running clothes to work to day so I was dressed like a 1950's priest enjoying the beach for the first time in a decade. Maroon shorts, a yellow t-shirt, long brown dress socks and bright white running shoes. I unfortunately didn't have a thick black strap hooked to my Buddy Holly black-framed glasses. I was a sight and although I didn’t hear any beautiful ladies whistling at me, I’m almost positive that it was because all those ladies didn’t know how to whistle loudly, and were just giving it the old brisj puff of air leaving the mouth without shaping their lips properly. SO there was probably a lot of “phiiif, phiif…” going on. In addition to my running clothes, I also forgot to run the last 6 miles of my run today and opted for 3 miles run relatively slowly, versus 9 miles really, really slowly. I took advantage of a huge hill to run my first mile in 6mins, 30 seconds... the uphill version took a few minutes longer. :)
March 17, 2010
Early morning run to Mountain Lake State Park with Ollie. It is true what they say, there is nothing like a early morning run - leaving before sunrise.... sadly it is hard as hell to convince myself to get out of bed in order to go running.
March 14, 2010 - Squat Thrusts
So when was the last time you heard the phrase squat thrust? Unless you are an avid fan of WWE, American Gladiators, or to the subscribe to the monthly newsletter "Super Pumped Up" from Globogym, it has probably been a long time since you've heard that phrase. How about it being thrown in casually into a conversation while on a nice long Sunday run? Who could easily slip that into an ordinary conversation... well friends from Burlington Vermont know that the only person to throw around such super-charged language is... that's right Mr. John D'Agostino.
Today's run was hard for me. It was supposed to be an easy week, but I really couldn't ease into a rhythm. All joking aside, thanks goodness John drove down to help me along the way. We ran throughout Princeton, eschewing the normal towpath routine in order to see the destruction wreaked by the massive storm the day before. Every street we ran down there was a fallen tree, or toppled electric lines, or damaged houses, or fallen trees on damages houses, or fallen houses on damaged electric lines made of former trees. It was one of those events that was sad but really interesting. A 75 year old American Elm, one of the last of its kind, and one of the few to survive various elm diseases that have plagued the species in the past 6 decades, came down on my street against a neighbor's beautiful house. We shed a couple of man tears. We ran through the Institute for Advanced Studies a home to brilliant scientists in the past and present including Albert Einstein - guy with hair, J. Robert Oppenheimer - blew up the world, and Jimmy Dean - maker of deliciously good, seasoned meatlike products.
Despite the fact that John had run 28 miles in the past 24 hours, donated blood, and probably drank a few beers the night before... i did notice him try to speed me up a few times. Sorry for the pace John, but thanks for the motivation.
When we finished, we had dinner with the kids and the mandatory VodkaTonic with the wife. It was like the good old days on Colchester Court, with the exception that this time my nipples were chaffed like a longshoreman’s hands.
The run also featured a big horn sheep nature reserve, a few humming birds, and a burning question of who won this year’s Super Bowl. I knew the Colts lost it, but for eight miles all I could think about was NFL teams who might have won it. I finally passed a morning walker who said “…morning…” my reply was “Sir, do you know who won the Super Bowl this year?” He said, “the Saints.”
I’m making a lot of new friends here in Palm Springs.
March 19, 2010
How many miles can Ollie run and not get bored of chasing geese off the banks of the D&R canal? Answer: at least nine. And how annoying does it get when a peaceful Friday morning sunrise run is constantly ruined by the honking of geese? Very annoying. On a scale of 1to 10 its about a 7.2.
Oh yeah and when Ollie cuts me off at the end of the run to chase a squirrel and I wipe out on the sidewalk, bruise my knee and shoulder, and can’t get up but for the help of two older ladies out for a morning walk… well you know… just adds another dimension to why its not a good idea to run.
March 18, 2010
I forgot to bring running clothes to work to day so I was dressed like a 1950's priest enjoying the beach for the first time in a decade. Maroon shorts, a yellow t-shirt, long brown dress socks and bright white running shoes. I unfortunately didn't have a thick black strap hooked to my Buddy Holly black-framed glasses. I was a sight and although I didn’t hear any beautiful ladies whistling at me, I’m almost positive that it was because all those ladies didn’t know how to whistle loudly, and were just giving it the old brisj puff of air leaving the mouth without shaping their lips properly. SO there was probably a lot of “phiiif, phiif…” going on. In addition to my running clothes, I also forgot to run the last 6 miles of my run today and opted for 3 miles run relatively slowly, versus 9 miles really, really slowly. I took advantage of a huge hill to run my first mile in 6mins, 30 seconds... the uphill version took a few minutes longer. :)
March 17, 2010
Early morning run to Mountain Lake State Park with Ollie. It is true what they say, there is nothing like a early morning run - leaving before sunrise.... sadly it is hard as hell to convince myself to get out of bed in order to go running.
March 14, 2010 - Squat Thrusts
So when was the last time you heard the phrase squat thrust? Unless you are an avid fan of WWE, American Gladiators, or to the subscribe to the monthly newsletter "Super Pumped Up" from Globogym, it has probably been a long time since you've heard that phrase. How about it being thrown in casually into a conversation while on a nice long Sunday run? Who could easily slip that into an ordinary conversation... well friends from Burlington Vermont know that the only person to throw around such super-charged language is... that's right Mr. John D'Agostino.
Today's run was hard for me. It was supposed to be an easy week, but I really couldn't ease into a rhythm. All joking aside, thanks goodness John drove down to help me along the way. We ran throughout Princeton, eschewing the normal towpath routine in order to see the destruction wreaked by the massive storm the day before. Every street we ran down there was a fallen tree, or toppled electric lines, or damaged houses, or fallen trees on damages houses, or fallen houses on damaged electric lines made of former trees. It was one of those events that was sad but really interesting. A 75 year old American Elm, one of the last of its kind, and one of the few to survive various elm diseases that have plagued the species in the past 6 decades, came down on my street against a neighbor's beautiful house. We shed a couple of man tears. We ran through the Institute for Advanced Studies a home to brilliant scientists in the past and present including Albert Einstein - guy with hair, J. Robert Oppenheimer - blew up the world, and Jimmy Dean - maker of deliciously good, seasoned meatlike products.
Despite the fact that John had run 28 miles in the past 24 hours, donated blood, and probably drank a few beers the night before... i did notice him try to speed me up a few times. Sorry for the pace John, but thanks for the motivation.
When we finished, we had dinner with the kids and the mandatory VodkaTonic with the wife. It was like the good old days on Colchester Court, with the exception that this time my nipples were chaffed like a longshoreman’s hands.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Hill Training?
So John tells me that I need to start doing hills and that is the only way I'm going to survive the marathon without 1) being in pain 2)hating much of the race. So this is what I do today... sprinting hills in the cold rain. It brought me back to running track for St. Joseph's School in Aston PA. I was probably 10 years old, doing sprints on the hills at Neuman College. That experience is probably why it has taken me 20-plus years to start running again.
Hills suck.
March 10, 2010
Ran 8 miles today up the tow path of the D&R canal. Saw my first red-wing blackbird of the year. Saw a new beaver lodge, newly fallen trees (thanks beavers) and some trees where they tried to fell and then just said 'f-it.' I thought my watch was broken for awhile on the run because I couldn't believe that after what seemed about an hour I had only run 3 miles. Turns out the watch was right, i was running really slow.
March 9, 2010
Four hard miles today. Hard mainly because about 45 minutes prior I shoved a banana and about a 1/2 cup of peanut butter down my gob. Tasted good going down, but definitely had a different effect on the run.
March 8th
On bike in gym. Read a great article about how people exert less effort when paid to do things they would have done for free like helping someone move.
March 7, 2010
16.5 miles
Add another 2200 hundred baguettes to my former person record for longest runs. This was a great run in Burlington Vermont. Ran along the bike path along Lake Champlain. Then through the woods and Intervale (a floodplain of farms and woodland once owed by Ethan Allen). Ran up from the Winooski River to the top of Burlington, which seemed like a 5 mile hill, but only turned out to be 1.5 miles long. Ran straight down College street, middle of the road 7am on a Sunday morning, staring at the snow covered Adirondacks, and Lake Champlain. How could you not love Burlington? As I was trotting up Church Street, music piped from the speakers... it seemed like the whole town was cheering me on... until some jackass real runner with tights and water bottles, and fancy shoes and headphones and sub-atomic socks and extreme nacho wind-resistant wristbands, and probably thigh-lube with microbeads... sprinted by me and just happened to be going the same way I was for about the next 3 miles, until he was out of sight. bastard.
Despite him... great day, great run. Ended with bouncy castle time with Sayre and Josie!
Hills suck.
March 10, 2010
Ran 8 miles today up the tow path of the D&R canal. Saw my first red-wing blackbird of the year. Saw a new beaver lodge, newly fallen trees (thanks beavers) and some trees where they tried to fell and then just said 'f-it.' I thought my watch was broken for awhile on the run because I couldn't believe that after what seemed about an hour I had only run 3 miles. Turns out the watch was right, i was running really slow.
March 9, 2010
Four hard miles today. Hard mainly because about 45 minutes prior I shoved a banana and about a 1/2 cup of peanut butter down my gob. Tasted good going down, but definitely had a different effect on the run.
March 8th
On bike in gym. Read a great article about how people exert less effort when paid to do things they would have done for free like helping someone move.
March 7, 2010
16.5 miles
Add another 2200 hundred baguettes to my former person record for longest runs. This was a great run in Burlington Vermont. Ran along the bike path along Lake Champlain. Then through the woods and Intervale (a floodplain of farms and woodland once owed by Ethan Allen). Ran up from the Winooski River to the top of Burlington, which seemed like a 5 mile hill, but only turned out to be 1.5 miles long. Ran straight down College street, middle of the road 7am on a Sunday morning, staring at the snow covered Adirondacks, and Lake Champlain. How could you not love Burlington? As I was trotting up Church Street, music piped from the speakers... it seemed like the whole town was cheering me on... until some jackass real runner with tights and water bottles, and fancy shoes and headphones and sub-atomic socks and extreme nacho wind-resistant wristbands, and probably thigh-lube with microbeads... sprinted by me and just happened to be going the same way I was for about the next 3 miles, until he was out of sight. bastard.
Despite him... great day, great run. Ended with bouncy castle time with Sayre and Josie!
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
15 miles – check.
15 miles is the farthest I’ve ever run. It is about how far my first car a lime-green Buick Regal went on a gallon of gas. It is the length of about 26,400 baguettes laid end to end. 15 miles is about 1/15 the distance between London and Paris, and it is 264 lengths of a football field. It is a distance that world class runners cover in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. I covered it in about 2 hours and 20 minutes… meaning I’m twice as good as world class runners.
It was nice to wake up early on a Sunday and run on empty streets. It was nice that we were visiting my parents for my mom’s birthday, because other than the class A breakfast that was awaiting me after the run, I was able to run new roads, get lost for about an hour, revisit some old haunts (like the field I played spring soccer at as a teenager; the store I bought baseball cards from, and my cousins’ old swim club). It was also hilly, which is supposed to be a good thing when training, but that’s hard to remember as you are struggling up a long steep road. The run was long enough that I got to run by my cousin’s house (twice), my sister’s house (twice) and my aunt and uncle’s house. It was a long enough run that I got to eat two packets of Gu, and a pack of Little Mermaid gummy mermaids.
Took a snow bath at the end of the run, and only had a little calf tightening the next day.
For those of you keeping score and care about birds (meaning no one reading this) the cute little blue posse of birds I saw the other day wrestling around were Eastern Bluebirds… google image them… cute as hell.
It was nice to wake up early on a Sunday and run on empty streets. It was nice that we were visiting my parents for my mom’s birthday, because other than the class A breakfast that was awaiting me after the run, I was able to run new roads, get lost for about an hour, revisit some old haunts (like the field I played spring soccer at as a teenager; the store I bought baseball cards from, and my cousins’ old swim club). It was also hilly, which is supposed to be a good thing when training, but that’s hard to remember as you are struggling up a long steep road. The run was long enough that I got to run by my cousin’s house (twice), my sister’s house (twice) and my aunt and uncle’s house. It was a long enough run that I got to eat two packets of Gu, and a pack of Little Mermaid gummy mermaids.
Took a snow bath at the end of the run, and only had a little calf tightening the next day.
For those of you keeping score and care about birds (meaning no one reading this) the cute little blue posse of birds I saw the other day wrestling around were Eastern Bluebirds… google image them… cute as hell.
Thursday, February 25, 2010
An announcement... and an embarrassment
It is a little early to raise money... since I am only about halfway thru training, but if I do get to my 18-mile long run, I'll be sending out the call-for-cash people. I'll be running the Country Music Marathon for an organization called ROMP, which stands for Range of Motion Project. They provide amputees in the developing world with prosthetic limbs and braces. They have changed the lives of hundreds of people in Guatemala and Ecuador by providing mobility among other things. This organization is totally awesome. Run and founded by a great friend of mine Eric Neufeld
(see http://www.rompglobal.org/). Go to the website and watch the ROMP documentary, if you don't tear up then... well... are you human? I'll tell you more about ROMP in the fund-raising call.
...and now an embarrassment.... on my 13 mile run the other day, I was dragging about mile 9, but guess what picked me up totally for the rest of the run - Beyonce's "Single Ladies." Thanks Beyonce.
(see http://www.rompglobal.org/). Go to the website and watch the ROMP documentary, if you don't tear up then... well... are you human? I'll tell you more about ROMP in the fund-raising call.
...and now an embarrassment.... on my 13 mile run the other day, I was dragging about mile 9, but guess what picked me up totally for the rest of the run - Beyonce's "Single Ladies." Thanks Beyonce.
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