Mixed bag

- Easy 5 miles this morning, 35 minutes. No pool running due to lack of motivation. Achilles doesn't seem to be any worse than yesterday, which I'll take as a good sign at this point. Easy does it, however, till that sucker is back to normal.

- I've reduced my consumption of Vitamin I to two doses and 1200 total milligrams a day. I'm hoping to ween myself off that shit by the end of the week. I've been walking around with heel lifts in my regular shoes but running sans inserts. The addition of the heel lifts seems to have helped reduce crepidation while taking some strain off the tendon during my daily activities. Thanks to Kemibe for the suggestion.

- Congrats to Ryan on his race yesterday over on the Emerald Isle. Brilliant!

- Another congrats to QU stud Mark Driscoll for coming back from the dead and splitting a 1:55 in the 4 x 8 at IC4A's, as well as his speedy sidekick studess, KG, for a 9:29 3rd-place finish at the ECAC meet. Way to roll!

- I briefly mentioned a conversation with one of my co-workers, Steve, in yesterday's QOTD. I'd like to expand upon it a little further while I have the chance. You see, Steve's grandfather passed away last week and I learned of his death on Saturday night while sharing the late-shift duties with Steve. Steve was extremely close with his grandfather; in fact, the way he described his relationship with him reminded me of the relationship I shared with my own grandfather, who passed away while I was a freshman in college. My Nonni was more than just my grandfather, he was also my best friend. Steve felt much the same way about his relationship with his grandfather. It was comforting in a way, for both of us, to share similar memories from our past that we will carry with us forever. Both of us realized how fortunate we were to have such a special person in our lives and the life lessons we learned from them. Steve summed it up nicely, and I apologize for repeating, when he said, "They don't make 'em like that anymore." Furthermore, the conversation Steve and I had on Saturday served to form a layer of common ground that was previously non-existant between the two of us, which is always an added bonus.

And that's gonna do it for now, with tonight being a rare (and short) call-taking shift. Take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

I’m now forced to do a four mile morning run because my usual six/seven mile loop has a dog on it that has come after me the last few times. I ain’t messing with no dog at seven in the morning, so I just cut the loop short and only do four miles now. I’ve yet to figure out how to deal with this problem. I might have to go to Walmart and purchase a shotgun.
- Henry Dennis (I may just quote him every day from now on)