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.