2's Day

Remember that massage I was looking forward to this morning?

Well, I sure do, because right now it feels like somebody shot me in the hamstrings. But believe me, this is a welcome discomfort. The back of my legs have been pretty dang tight of late, but I believe Cathy and her evil elbow were able to work out most of my problems this morning. It's been a while since I've had my legs worked on, but with any luck, they'll be back to normal by Thursday. Hopefully, tearing around the track tonight at other-worldly speeds doesn't hinder the healing process too much. I'll find out tomorrow morning, I guess.

Upon arriving home from my hellacious hour on the massage table, I headed out for my standard Tuesday shakeout run around Pakachoag Hill, covering the five-mile loop in 32:55. Other than the aforementioned soreness in my hamstrings, this was a pretty good run. I didn't feel nearly as sluggish as the past few days which is hopefully a sign that things are on the up-n-up. I've been trying to get a bit more rest of late while making sure that I've been eating well and getting enough fluids, electrolytes, etc. in me. My energy levels are slowly picking up, so it seems to be helping.

In other news, it was announced that Alan Culpepper will be joining Meb as a member of the American contingent that will be running Boston in April. As I mentioned in previous posts, this is a great thing for the sport in general, American marathoning and the race itself. Hopefully others will continue to follow suit.

Lastly, I'd like to ask anyone out there reading this who also keeps a blog on this website what the easiest way to put a picture in my profile is. Is it absolutely imperative that I download the recommended software to do so? I'm a bit of a technological idiot, so if anyone out there can walk me through the process, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks a bunch.

OK, I'm off to take care of a few things before heading into Reggie for my weekly dose of speed. Take it easy all.

NOTE: Today's '10 Things About Me" list has been postponed until further notice.

Quote of the day:

"In a nutshell, I start just over there, run 12½ laps and I win over there."
-Australia's Craig Mottram talking after looking at the new track that is being built for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in his native land.

Evening update

As of 8:25 p.m. it's still a bit slow here at work, so I'll take the opportunity to ramble on a lil bit about the relative lack of inactivity that's transpired since my last entry.

After a feeble attempt at taking a short nap this afternoon, I dressed and headed out the door at 4:30 for a short jaunt up the hill to Holy Cross and back, finishing the four-mile roundtrip in a shade over 26 minutes and giving me 12 miles on the day. I was moving along at a pretty honest clip from the get-go and timed a mile on the track at 6:07, which felt fairly comfortable. Compared to my last few runs, this one went surprisingly well and I actually had some semblence of pep in my stride for the first time in a few days. I wolfed down a PB&J along with a cup of tea about 30 minutes before heading out the door, so maybe the carbohydrate-caffeine combo woke my lethargic ass up a bit. Either way, it was nice not to be dragging ass for once, even though I wasn't out there all that long.

Upon arriving back at my house around 5, I got in a quick stretch and did an abbreviated version of my 'abs & uppers' routine before hopping in the shower at exactly 5:31, getting dressed, grabbing my pre-packed dinner and making it into the office with four minutes to spare at 5:56. Talk about cutting it close!

Which brings me to where I am now - designing pages, cropping photos and fitting stories for the Tuesday edition of the T & G Sports page. Ahh, life as the layout editor, a position I have the misfortune of finding myself in three out of my last four days at work, minus a bastard desk shift. A few late nights, but all in all, not a terribly bad existence.

With any luck, I'll be out of here by 12:30 or so and home and in bed by 1. I've got a massage scheduled in the morning which will hopefully help flush out some of the shit that's been accumulating in my legs of late. And that's gonna do it for today, g'night all.

Today's 5 Random Things About Me:
(due to time constraints and lack of imagination)
1. I got kicked out of a bar during Cape Week my senior year of college for being belligerant. Hey, I thought it was pretty funny too.
2. I've never been fired from a job. Yet.
3. When I was an infant I busted my head open by charging full-steam ahead into the wooden TV on the floor at my grandparent's house. This might explain a lot.
4. When I was in eighth grade my school sponsered a Walkathon for Technology. The person who was able to walk the most laps of the school yard in an hour won a trophy. I ran. And I won.
5. On my first day of swim lessons in the second grade I nearly drowned. Needless to say, I never went back.

Mid-day musings

No long-winded intro today, just gonna cut to the chase and get a few things down while I have the chance:

- Ran for 52 minutes this morning, covering about eight miles or so. I was feeling pretty damn sluggish for the first five miles or so, but the last three didn't seem to be as bad. I'm heading into work tonight at 6 and plan on squeezing in a lil four-mile jaunt beforehand. With no race this week, I'm hoping to bring the mileage back up to around 90-95 or so as long as my body isn't feeling any more beat up than it has been lately. Trying to take things one day at a time right now. With that being said, the short-term plan is to get in a solid two weeks of training before racing a 5K at the BU Valentine meet on February 11th. 3.1 miles of good racing there will more than make up for the piss-poor 2.86 miles of combined ugliness the past two weekends.

- I've got a few little side projects I'm currently working on, including a feature on Katie for New England Runner and a mensracing.com interview with Jorge Torres. Neither of them will be released for another couple weeks, but keep an eye out for them nonetheless.

- Get your hands on this CD and give it a listen if you get a chance. Good stuff.

- Oh yeah, I might go to New York this Friday to catch Millrose with Hodge and friends. No, Millrose is not a Broadway play, but probably the closest thing to one in my little world. Just gotta find a way to squeeze my workout in and get my ass back to Worcester for work at 4:30 on Saturday. Stay tuned.

And that does it for now. More to come later, including today's Top-10 list, if I have the time. Right now, I'm gonna try and get in a quick nap before the ol' run-and-go-to-work routine. Later fools.

Quote of the day:

I was willing to be just a running bum for a couple of years. [Most guys now] think it's putting their life on hold. I hate that. How can they view that as sacrificing? They're living large.
-Hodge, from this article

Sunday's a long day

In many respects too, for that matter. For me, it started off with a lengthy run this morning of an hour and 55 minutes with Jimmy down at the Rail Trail in Vernon, CT. We just managed to beat the early-afternoon rain and even though the trail itself was rather sloppy, it beat having to pound out 17 miles on the roads. Afterwards, we grabbed a quick brunch at the Diner off Route 84 before I made the trek home to rest a lil bit prior to heading into work at 6 for a long night of inaction in the sports world. Which brings me to where I am now, 11:26 p.m., tired and finally getting around to putting together today's entry.

Not much else of excitement to report, really, but I would like to throw out some congratulations to Nate and Casey on running smokin' half marathons today down in Austin. Nate ran about a three-minute PR to take ninth in 1:03:44 and Casey bettered his best time by about two minutes, I believe, finishing 12th in 1:04:41. Way to roll fellas!

An update from yesterday's track action. Ryan and Justin were successful in their Sprint Medley quest yesterday at the Boston Indoor Games, as Team Raytheon took first in the corporate relay and scored eight Pats' tickets in the process. Not a bad day's work.

Also, I've added some more links to the side of this page, including some training logs along with other website I enjoy perusing from time to time. Give 'em a look when you get a chance.

Lastly, for today at least, kudos to ESPN2 for doing an admirable job covering the BIG. Granted it was a slow Sunday afternoon on TV, but they devoted two hours of coverage to the meet, spotlighted the distance races nicely, and the commentary wasn't all that bad for once, or so it seemed that way at least.

And that does it for this entry. I'm still feeling pretty run-down so I'm gonna head home and sleep till whenever I feel like waking up tomorrow. Hope everyone out there had a good weekend. Take it easy.

Today's 10 Random Things About Me:
1. I'm wearing sandals right now and it's January. That's awesome.
2. I'm allergic to bactrim. I really don't even know what the shit is to be honest.
3. I had broccoli for the first time ever two night's ago. It did nothing for me.
4. I still hold the mile and 5,000 records at Stonehill, but only for another two weeks, if I'm lucky.
5. I have the same birthday as Joe Dumars. Helluva basketball player. (Joe, not me)
6. I'm blind as a bat without my glasses. Take my word for it.
7. I got an A- in dance class while in college. All credit goes to my most awesome partner - definitely would've failed if it weren't for her. Trust me.
8. I ran 11:22 for 2-miles while drunk as a freshman in college. I had to kick to pull out the win over Papile.
9. The name of the village in Italy my family comes from: Fraioli. How cool is that?
10. I ate three triple-cheesburgers, two large fries and drank two medium sodas in one sitting at McDonald's my sophomore year of high school. I can say with certainty that I'll never do that again.

Quote of the day:

Look at how strong he was able to finish the race. That's a fall full of distance running paying off right there.
- ESPN2's Larry Rawson announcing the finish of the men's 600 meter's at yesterday's BIG

Anyone seen my wheels?

Because whatever was left of 'em seemingly fell off the wagon last night at BU. My race in the mile was, in a word, embarrassing. I ran - if what my legs were doing even resembled that - 4:24 to place next-to-last in my heat and 33rd overall. For the record, it was my slowest mile/metric equivalent since my freshman year of college when I ran 4:06 indoors for the 1500 meters. To reiterate: embarrassing.

I'm not sure what happened - in fact the more I think about it, the more questions pop into my head - but I fell apart so badly over the last two laps of this race that it made last week's disaster look like a work of art. Going in, I was hoping to run around 4:16, and despite a slow start, heavy legs and a lot of jostling, I was still on pace through 3/4's. I never felt good at any point of the race, but my legs locked up so bad over those last two laps that I don't think the Jaws of Life could have opened them back up. Kevin clocked (probably with a sun dial) my last 400 in somewhere around 70 seconds. For the third time: embarrassing.

Needless to say, my last two races have been rather frustrating, mainly because I know deep down inside me that neither are indicative of the level I know I'm capable of running at. It's disheartening to be running the same times I was running as a college freshman while knowing that I'm in a helluva lot better shape than I was back then. My training has been very consistent over the last few months and the way my workouts have been going lead me to believe that I should be racing faster than I currently am. But why aren't I? Wish I knew the answer to that question.

I've been feeling a bit run-down over the past 10 days or so, but I hardly view that as an excuse. Perhaps I'm still getting used to Kevin's system and running workouts twice a week with my new teammates. I haven't raced less than 5K, or on the track for that matter, in almost two years - maybe I'm just readjusting to the overly anaerobic demands of mid-distance races. It could just be one big mental block, but who knows for sure? All I do know is that whatever the reason for my recent racing woes, I'm definitely in a bit of a funk right now. I'm confident, however, that sooner or later things will start clicking and my times will start dropping. As Billy Mills used to say: Believe, believe, believe!

OK, enough whining about my misfortunes, they'll eventually sort themselves out. Driscoll ran a great race last night and obliterated my ass with a 4:15, dropping seven seconds off what he ran at the Armory a few weeks back. It was an up-and-down day for our Reebok Boston crew, as Ryan ran courageously in the 5K, hanging with the chase pack through a 9:03 2-mile before finishing up in 14:40. I really believe he's gonna bust out something sick on the track this year. He's due. Mark ran well in an earlier heat of the 5K, finishing strong in 14:54, while Joe Ciollo looked super strong as he ripped a 1:54 800 to place third in his heat.

After the races I headed over to T. Anthony's for some pizza with Oscar and his old pal Steve Slattery, who ran away from the field in the 3K with an impressive 7:51. He came back to rabbit the mile in 1:58 through 800 as Max Smith of Providence broke 4 min for the first time. Slatts said he's planning on running the 4K cross trials before heading back to Boston for U.S. Indoors, and I do believe that he's going to turn some heads at both races. Keep an eye out!

On my way home I was still feeling a bit hungry and reached in my pocket for a GwythBar, courtesy of Quinnipiac's own resident Betty Crocker - a.k.a. Katie Gwyther. While they haven't hit the mainstream market just yet, these tasty little treats are an excellent energy source for anyone looking for a quick pick-me-up and could be giving Mr. Clif a run for his money a few years down the road. On a side note, the same Katie ran like a badass today in the 3K at BU, finishing a close 3rd to Princeton's Clack Ferrell in a huge PR of 9:18. The official results haven't come in yet, but after this weekend I do believe that her and Driscoll can lay claim to the title of the Terrier Classic's Fastest Couple.

And it's now 11:43 and I'm set to head home from work. I'm feeling rather wiped, so a good night's sleep is in order before running long tomorrow morning at some point. For time's sake, I'm going to bypass on tonight's "10 Random Things About Me" list and put that off until the next entry. Take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

We are what we continually do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
-Aristotle

Fast Friday

That's gonna be the idea at BU tonight as I race the mile on the track for the first time in almost two years. The last time I contested the event, I finished DAL (dead-ass last) in my preliminary heat at DII Indoor Nationals in March of 2004, crossing the line in a disappointing 4:15. Although I ran a huge negative split of 2:12/2:03 that day, I still got my doors completely blown off over the last three laps, which was pretty embarassing to say the least.

Tonight, however, such a race (minus the DAL finish) would be rather encouraging. I know I'm not in the same kind of track shape that I was two years ago at this time, but I'm feeling pretty good about my current level of fitness and a good race would definitely be a step in the right direction. After being injured all of last winter, its exciting just to get out there and mix it up again in a competitive atmosphere. As long as I continue to stay in one functional piece and get some more races under my belt, I know the training will eventually take effect and my race times will start to drop. Keep checking back here as I chronicle my 2006 mission to run faster than I ever have before.

And that does it for now. I don't plan on getting back here till rather late tonight so a race report should follow sometime tomorrow. Hope everyone out there has a good start to their weekend. Take it easy.

Today's 10 Random Things About Me:
1. My favorite color is blue. Any shade.
2. I wear my watch with the strap on the outside of my wrist. Even my nice watch.
3. My socks always match. Always.
4. I got scared while watching Jaws when I was 7-years-old. I've refused to watch it again since.
5. I didn't start eating peanut butter till I was 22-years-old. I now eat it every day.
6. I was Steve Urkel for Halloween when I was 10-years-old. I even painted myself black.
7. I have bunions on both of my feet. Gross, I know.
8. I wanted to join the Marines out of high school just so I could go to boot camp. Looking back, I'm kinda glad I nixed those plans.
9. I hit an inside-the-park homerun when I was in Little League. They didn't give me the ball.
10. I may be the only person ever to have his RecSpecs broken in half while playing basketball. Not even Kareem can say that, I don't think.

Quote of the day:

It sounds corny, but they all had this dream...He was able to formulate his dream and then went out and accomplished it.
-Bob Sevene on Bill Rodgers

Twas the night before Terrier....

...and all around the track, not a miler was kicking yet, not even the top seed named Slatts. Spikes were in place, but their laces left untied - it would be 19 hours before the starter's gun was fired.

Back in Auburn this young lad sat in his bed, talking race strategy with his buddy Driscoll - Quinnipiac's flaming red-head. Seeded 29 and 30, the two were ranked last in their heat, but little did the eight others know that these two would not be beat.

The pace would be fast, of this there was no doubt, but when these two cats crossed the line 1-2, all the others would simply be left to pout.

*Yes, I realize I had way too much time on my hands to come up with that little jingle, but hopefully a lil prose goes a long way. That being said, tomorrow night is the Terrier Classic at BU and it looks as if both Driscoll and myself will be in the same heat of the mile. As of now, I'm seeded 29th and Big-Daddy Driscoll checks in at #30, making us the last two seeds of heat three. We at the WHTC are taking this as a slap in the face and are planning to silence the haters.

All kidding aside, it should be a great race and hopefully my red-headed friend and I can push each other to a great race. After last weekend's 3000-meter disaster, my focus is getting a good race under my belt and letting the time take care of itself. With that being said, I hope to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 4:16. I'll update with a detailed race report sometime on Saturday, but if you're feeling itchy and can't wait to see how the race went, check in here for results.

On another note, keep an eye out for the men's 3K and 5K results tomorrow night. I expect both races to be rather fast. My teammate Justin will be giving a 15-lap tour of the BU indoor facility at 3:25 while Ryan will toe the line at 5 p.m. for the Championship edition of the 5K. Both are in great shape and ready to rip an indoor PR.

And that will do it for the meat of this entry. Starting today, however, I'm going to list a "10 random things about me" at the end of each entry until (hopefully) I reach 100 - the goal is to fill some space as well as provide a lil bit of entertainment for those of you reading this. I got the idea from some other blogs that I've been reading of late and thought it was a fun idea. Enjoy!

Today's 10 Random Things About Me:
1. I'm the oldest of four kids.
2. I'm a 'Jr.' and have no middle name.
3. I wear contacts lenses.
4. I don't wear deodorant on race day.
5. I had a mohawk in the second grade.
6. I took ballet my senior year of college.
7. I have a tattoo on my right shoulder.
8. I've been speaking Italian as long as I've been speaking English.
9. I lived in Eugene, Oregon for six weeks until I went broke, got homesick and moved back to MA.
10. My first job out of college was at McDonald's. No word of a lie.

Quote of the day:

The more I hurt, the harder I ran. The harder I ran, the more wonderful it felt.
- Following The Flame, p. 384

Worn-out on Wednesday

And I'm not sure why really, but I rolled out of bed this morning feeling like I got run over by a Mack truck. I was planning on running early before going up to Lawrence to visit my mom in the hospital (she's in for a few days trying out a new experimental procedure for her ailing back), but my sis called at around 9:45 and said she was making the trek up there around 10, so I opted to tag along with her instead. It turned out to be a fortuitous turn of events, and I was able to get in an easy 10-mile jaunt before heading into work at 5:30. Surprisingly enough, I didn't feel too bad once I got going and my legs seemed to bounce back fairly well from last night's workout, which was certainly a welcome sign. Speaking of said workout, Ryan, Justin and I did 10 x 300m w/90 seconds recovery, hitting all of them between 46-48 seconds. Everything went pretty smoothly and we were very consistent throughout - except when Ryan decided he wanted to chase down Jen Toomey and brought us through 200 in 30 flat...something about Ryan and HBG's, I guess. Ahh, he'll never learn.

And that does it for tonight. It was quite busy here at work so I wasn't able to ramble on as much as I would have liked. OK, time for me to head home and get some much needed sleep. G'night all.

Quote of the day:

I have no regrets. Of course, you're always thinking, 'I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have run a little faster.' That mentality is what keeps an elite athlete going anyway.
-Bob Kennedy

Well said.

Early entry

I've got a little bit of time on my hands, so hopefully I can make good use of it with this entry. Today is Tuesday, and in my mixed-up lil world Tuesday is synonymous with track. Practice is scheduled for 7 p.m., and perhaps the only shred of good fortune about working out so late (for me at least) is that I essentially get the whole day to catch up on any outstanding little projects that I've neglected the rest of the week. I'm fortunate to be in a work situation where I have an understanding boss who graciously gives me Tuesdays and Fridays off so I can make it into Boston for workouts - and since the earliest I'll typically go into work is 5:30 p.m., having my weekend mornings freed up for races usually isn't too big a deal. When a conflict does arise, however, my supportive co-workers at the T&G are usually pretty good about negotiating a switch. It's a nice little situation to be in. I also happen to enjoy my job and the company of the people I work with, which never hurts either. Believe me, I lucked out on all fronts - everything just sorta happened to fall into the right places at the right time. Funny how life works out sometimes.

A few snippets of possible interest:

- As I mentioned earlier, I'll be heading to Reggie in a little while for practice. My legs are a bit fatigued from the combination of racing in spikes on Sunday and sliding around in the snow yesterday. I felt a bit sluggish on my run this morning so hopefully everything comes around for tonight's session. I'm not sure what Kevin has on tap, but with most of us racing again this weekend it probably won't be too much more than a glorified stride session. Here's to hoping, anyways.

- Some pics from the GBTC Invitational this past weekend courtesy of Alison. As always, she did an excellent job!

- When my head starts rolling around like this in a race, chances are that I'm in a world of trouble. No exception here - this was the beginning of the end for me this past Sunday.

- Major marathon announcement yesterday. I'm still trying to make sense of the whole thing, but on the surface it seems like a good idea. In my opinion, any efforts made to promote the sport on an international stage while fostering higher levels of competition can't be such a bad thing. It's almost like distance running's modern-day version of the Triple Crown, which is kinda cool in a way. Maybe Vegas will have fun with the concept...on second thought, probably not. Either way, it's a step in the right direction and hopefully will take on the same sort of significance that winning the "triple crown" of Boston, New York, and Fukuoka had back in the 70s and early 80s.

- In completely unrelated-to-running news, I'm currently watching Giada De Laurentiis do her thing on The Food Network. Hell, I don't even know what she's cooking, but I don't really care. Their slogan: More than just food. I couldn't agree more.

- OK, back to running. I'm racing the mile Friday night at BU. After Sunday's debacle, 4:16 would be a step in the right direction at this point. Entries will be posted here sometime this afternoon - solid meet shaping up, give 'em a look if you get a chance.

- I hadn't checked for a few days until just now, but it seems like all the Brandon Moen posts have been removed from letsrun. This is probably a good thing.

And that's likely gonna do it for today. Time to get my shit together and ride the Mass Pike all the way into Roxbury for some indoor fun. Maybe I'll have some more to add later, but I wouldn't count on it. Adios for now.

Quote of the day:

He quickly settled into a mesmerizing pattern of hard training, reading, eating simple fare, sleeping like a wintering bear and talking to the pots and pans. "I'm going nuts," he informed himself happily in the mirror one morning.
Once A Runner, p. 162

Manic Monday

I kid, I kid - just the opposite actually. Not much going on today because believe it or not, we got snowed on - again. Just three days ago I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt while running 200-meter strides on a clear outdoor track. This morning I trudged through my normal 53-minute, eight-mile loop in just over an hour. By mid-afternoon it was close to 40 and the shit was already starting to melt so I was able to run on clear roads. The moral of the story: Mother Nature is indeed a whore.

Other than the less-than-ideal weather conditions neither of my runs was all that bad today, really. My legs were expectedly a bit beat-up from yesterday's 15 laps of pure unadulterated torture, but not nearly as wrecked as I anticipated them being. I found myself in a bit of a quandary in regards to today's daily mileage, however, because I wanted to make sure I recovered from yesterday's race but still get in a little bit of volume without taxing myself for tomorrow night's workout. I opted for the 'ol 8/4 double, keeping the pace relaxed on both runs, and I believe that I was able to effectively accomplish what I set out to do. I'm not sure what Kevin has on tap for a workout tomorrow night, but with most of us racing at BU on Friday night I can't imagine that it will be anything overly taxing.

And really, that does it for today. Sadly, there was no real other excitement to speak of maybe except for my mom whipping up some homemade mac & cheese for dinner. Pathetic, I know. I'll have a bit of time on my hands tomorrow and will hopefully be able put a little more life into my otherwise dead entries of late. G'night all.

Quote of the day:

Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.
T.S. Eliot

Race report

Well, I said it was gonna be a slugfest and boy did I get walloped.

I finished 5th in 8:44.95 at the GBTC Invitational 3000m held at Harvard University. Going into the race I was hoping to run around 8:30 or so, but it just wasn't in the cards today. I'm a bit disappointed, but I guess ya gotta start somewhere. I don't think the time is indicative of my current fitness level, but as KcoachB would say: "It is what it is."

As for the race itself, it was kind of an odd affair. We went out a bit on the slow side (at least it felt that way at the time!) and the lead pack went through the mile in around 4:32 or so with Jeff Caron and myself about 2-3 seconds back. It stayed that way for another two laps or so before I quickly fell apart and Caron proceeded to gap me pretty good. I never felt good at any point of the race but those last four laps were just plain u-g-l-y.

No worries though, I'll bounce back.

Up front, Ryan had a great race and pulled away from Oscar and Nate on the last lap to win in 8:26. He's racing the 5K on Friday night at BU and looks ready to rip off a big one. I'll be racing the mile and am looking forward to avenging today's disaster. Justin had a good race today himself in the 'ol eight-lapper and ran 4:11 to nab an indoor PR. Watch out for him over the next few weeks! Former Brown standout Pat Tarpy won the race in 4:04 and led wire to wire to boot. It was pretty impressive.

And that just about does it for today - I'm pretty wiped. Until next time, take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

The real glory is being knocked to your knees and then coming back. That's the real glory. That's the essence of it.
-Vince Lombardi

No regrets

A rather uneventful day, not too much to say. Met up with Hodgie for an easy 50 minute run this morning on the Sterling Rail Trail, then headed home for a few hours of rest before heading into work. Quite a busy night here in the office, so not much time to write - I sincerely apologize.

GBTC Invite tomorrow at Harvard, 3000 meters - should be a slugfest. Just gotta run hard from the gun and see what happens.

No regrets.

Race report to follow tomorrow night sometime. 'Night all.

Quote of the day:

If I'm still standing at the end of the race, hit me with a board and knock me down, because that means I didn't run hard enough.
-Steve Jones

Free Wi-Fi!?!....Fuuuuuggedaboudit!

Reporting from the plush easy chairs at the Barnes & Noble Café in Millbury, but actually publishing from the more cost-effective comfort of my own already-paid-for internet connection at home, I bring to you the pre-weekend edition of the daily runaround.

I’ve received a good amount of feedback on recent posts – all of which is greatly appreciated, by the way – and wish to use this entry to expand upon some of the suggestions that have been made to me in regards to what people would like included in my blog. Luckily for those of you reading this, my aim here is to please - so as they say in showbiz, here goes nuthin’…

Paul left a comment on yesterday’s entry that he would like me to get “painstakingly detailed” about my training and racing – well, brace yourself then, cause this is gonna hurt.

With this being a down week in my current four-week training scheme, along with the first race of the season only two days away, my past few training sessions have been relatively low-key mileage/intensity wise. Today I had the fortune of not having to work, so I was able to utilize the extra time on my hands and get two runs in on the day. Upon waking up this morning, I downed a cup of green tea along with a chocolate chip cookie and covered my standard 4.25 mile road loop from home in 27:40. I felt unusually lively this morning, but I reckon it had something to do with the unseasonably warm 55-degree temperature and accompanying sunshine. About five hours after the completion of this morning’s little jaunt, I hopped in my car to meet Ryan at his house in Clinton for a quick stride session of 6 x 200m w/90 seconds recovery on the Clinton High School outdoor oval. After a 24 minute warmup on the (gasp) trails, we tightened up the laces on our trainers and got to work. The goal was to hit between 31-32 seconds for each half-lap circuit and we were very successful in our conquest, recording times of 31.95, 31.68, 31.59, 31.26, 31.14 and finishing up with a wind-aided 30.77 effort. We cooled down for 15 minutes back to Ryan’s place, capping off a roughly seven-mile afternoon session.

Tomorrow’s plan is for an easy 40-50 minute run with Hodgie-San in the morning to cap my week at 75 miles. Sunday afternoon will mark my first indoor track race in almost two years as I toe the line for a 3000-meter free-for-all at the GBTC Invitational hosted by Harvard University. My goal for the race is to shake off any competitive rust and hopefully PR in the process. I’m feeling good about my current level of fitness and believe that my current all-time best of 8:33 is in serious jeopardy. Just gotta go out, let it rip, and what happens, well, happens. Check back here Sunday night to see how it all went down.

Now, I dunno if that sort of detailed summary hurt any of you, per se, but it damn near killed me! I’m not sure if I have the time, energy, and/or patience to go into that many specifics about my training on a daily basis, but I’ll do my best to keep ya’ll informed enough to the point that you’re able to hopefully take something out of it. (n.b. I keep my daily log on athleticore.com – registration is free, so give it a whirl) Believe me, I’m not claiming that there’s anything revolutionary or inherently special about what I’m doing with my own running, but I truly believe that by sharing training ideas, etc. we can all help each other out in our efforts. As always, gimme some feedback and lemme know how I’m doing in that respect.

OK, enough with all this running talk….for now, at least. Time to move on to one of my other passions in life: The Boston Red Sox.

Theo Epstein is back in town - that is, if he ever really left in the first place. The team issued a statement yesterday saying that the former general manager will return to the organization in a “full-time baseball operations capacity” without releasing any other specific details. Apparently, we’ll find those out next week. So what does this mean exactly? Good question. Here’s my own disjointed take on the matter: Theo got sick of Larry “Legend In His Own Mind” Lucchino not letting him do his job as GM, so he “resigned” to show ’ol Larry his dissatisfaction. Here’s where things get comical. Lucky Larry, thinking he has all the answers, promotes two clueless ass-kissing schmucks to take over as co-general managers to carry out his will without fear of objection and/or criticism from a GM who actually knows baseball. Well wouldn’t ya know that after about three months of dismembering his band of “idiots” while yielding nothing in return (other than landing Josh Beckett from Florida in the midst of a fluke trade), Lucchino finally comes to the realization that neither he nor the two clowns he hired knows anything about putting together a winning baseball team. Theo, who entertains plenty of lucrative offers both in and outside of the baseball world while all this ridiculousness is unfolding, just sits pretty and enjoys his temporary stint of unemployment. Why? Hey, they don’t call him Boy Wonder for nothing. The bottom line? Theo never really went anywhere - he didn’t have to. All along, the young stud knew that it was just a matter of time before the real Idiot came to his senses. Genius, if you ask me.

Speaking of genius, I'm gonna wise up and get my ass to bed at a reasonable hour after working till well past 1 this morning. Here's hoping for a good start to everyone's weekend. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:

A minister once tried to get me to go to church, but I told him I am as close to God when I'm running around White Rock Lake as I'm ever going to get.
-Following the Flame, p. 329

Lets play "tag"

To be honest, I really don't know what this term means in blogging lingo, but Anne was kind enough to comment on yesterday's entry (I suppose this is probably what it means to get "tagged", but someone please correct me if I'm wrong) and suggested I produce a "list of 5" next time I'm looking for something to write about. Well, surprisingly enough, that next time is right now, so I'm gonna start off this entry with a few little lists of my own. Who knows where it will go from there...enjoy!

My 5 Favorite Songs of All-Time:
1. No Rain, Blind Melon
2. Here Comes The Sun, The Beatles
3. Lit Up, Buck Cherry
4. Ramble On, Led Zeppelin
5. The Sound of Silence, Simon & Garfunkel

Being sent to a deserted island for a year, the 5 things I'm taking with me:
1. Running shoes
2. Book of matches
3. Batch of mom's baked goods
4. Laptop
5. Once A Runner

5 movies everyone should see:
1. Forrest Gump
2. Rocky
3. The Matrix
4. Garden State
5. The Princess Bride

And due to time constraints placed upon me by the rigors of my job, that's gonna do it for this entry as far as listings go. Lemme see what else I got before I call it a night...

* For a good laugh - or scare, depending on how you look at it - take a gander at this clown's website: http://www.brandonmoen.com
- See related threads: here and here.

* The GBTC Invite is shaping up to be a good meet on Sunday. It looks as if I'll be in the Invitational 3000m, which will be a pretty solid field when the heats get lined up properly. Entries can be found here.

* Last but not least, a friend of mine sent me these pictures of Haile Geb breaking the 1/2 marathon world record this past weekend in Phoenix. Check 'em out!

And it's now 1 a.m. and time to get the hell out of here. Until tomorrow, take it easy.

Quote of the day:
Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody expects of you. Never excuse yourself.
- Henry Ward Beecher

Back in business

It's 10:14 p.m. and hopefully by holding off until now to administer this blog's daily dose of ridiculousness, I've armed myself with enough material over the past 30 or so hours to keep everyone entertained. Let's see what I got...

...starting with last night's workout. At the conclusion of yesterday's entry I was on my way into Reggie for some interval-laced fun on perhaps the country's fastest 200m indoor track - well, that is when its not being simultaneously inhabited by 45 people running anywhere from 23-5o+ seconds per lap. Believe me, it's a recipe for disaster.

Speaking of disasters, that pretty much describes how my own workout went. The assignment itself was pretty standard: 5 x 1000m w/3 min recovery, going through 800 at 5K pace and then picking it up a smidge over the last lap. Well, let's just say I failed miserably at the picking it up part. I made the unwise decision before we got going to try and run off of Ryan & Justin's pace, which was 2:16-18 through 800 and finishing up in around 2:49-50 or so. That works out to around 14:10-or-so 5000 meter pace, which is about 20-30 seconds faster than what I'm capable of running right now. Needless to say, I dug myself into a pretty good-sized hole by the third interval, running 2:56 after dead-on 2:50's for the first two. I took a bit of a shorter recovery to jump in with Mark for #4 and struggled to a 3:02, but managed to rally on the last one and finished up pretty strong in 2:54, which is closer to where I should have been from the get-go. Overall, it really wasn't that much of a disaster - I just need to be smarter about running my pace without getting caught up in what the other guys are doing. Live and learn, live and learn.

Which bring me to today's wacky weather-related running adventures. I'm not sure if I learned anything from them per se, but I am glad that I lived to share my experiences. I stepped out the door for my run this morning to unseasonably warm temps hovering near 60 degrees, along with Armageddon-like winds that hit upwards of 50 mph and rain that seemed to be coming at me from every which angle. There were points along the route where I was barely making forward progress, others where I was dodging branches like Patches O'Houlihan dodges hammers and stretches where I'm still awaiting ratification on a wind-aided world record for the 100m dash. It was actually kinda fun in a masochistic sort of way. So much so, in fact, I went out and did it again six hours later! On the second go-around I managed to power my way to a 7:59 opening mile and close in a 6:20 on the way back. I felt like one of those Emmanuel College track studs pulling their parachutes around Reggie last night, with the only difference being that there was actually a purpose behind my ludicrousness.

Moving on, I filled the time between my runs today with a little shopping sojourn to the Shoppes in Millbury, stopping at Barnes & Noble where I bought this book, written by one of my fellow cronies in the sports department of this newspaper. I also picked up a pair of these shoes for a paltry 30 bucks at Marshalls, which was a helluva find if I do say so myself.

At the present moment, I'm multitasking like a madman - working on this here entry, planning out my next training block, stopping every so often to read a few pages from one of the three books I'm currently reading, all the while listening to a little Simon and Garfunkel and finishing up a cup of tea/slice of mom's apple cinnamon walnut bread as Leno supplies the background noise with countless GW insults and bitchy remarks about how cold it is in LA today. Not that anyone out there really gives a shit, but hey, after yesterday's pathetic entry I needed to extend the life of this one somehow.

And that's gonna do it for today, thanks for bearing with me. G'night.

Quote of the day:

Bill is always a gentleman around his competition. What they don’t know is that later, we’ll be talking about some guy, and Bill will get this look in his eyes, and say, ‘I’m going to fucking hammer him.’
-Charlie Rodgers on his brother Bill

I gut nuthin'

Talk about drawing a blank. I've been sitting pretty for a few minutes now trying to come up with something to comment on but there doesn't seem to be anything even remotely interesting worth mentioning. So let's see, where to go from here?

Well, the most real-life answer I can give to that question is to the Reggie Lewis Center in Boston. We have a workout scheduled for 7 p.m. - our last solid effort before the GBTC meet this weekend. I'm not sure what to expect tonight, but my best guess is that Kevin will have us distance whores run 3-4 miles of intervals somewhere in the neighborhood of 3-5 minutes in duration. This, however, is purely speculation.

Speculating even further, I'm wondering what the over/under is on tonight's total attendance figure at the Reg. Last week there were no fewer than six teams and 35 people on the track at the same time. The odds out of Vegas this morning are a +/- 10 on last week's numbers, which in all likelihood means another three-ring circus in Roxbury. Who needs Barnum & Bailey?

And sadly, that's gonna do it for this entry. I need more material to work with in order to spruce up these entries a bit, so with the day off from work tomorrow, I'll make that my mission and try to stir up some excitement. In the meantime, any suggestions/recommendations are greatly appreciated. Off to practice, take it easy all.

Quote of the day:

You can have all the heart in the world, but it doesn't mean anything unless you've got the legs.
-Lance Armstrong

Monday musings

I've been finding it to be a fairly difficult task of late trying to figure out exactly what I'm going to talk about on a daily basis, so today I'm going to experiment with posting a random list of whatever happens to be floating through my head and comment on it. So without further adue, here goes:

1. It's still pretty damn cold outside. Things are looking up, however, with temps forecasted in the 40's over the next few days. After going from 50+ two days ago to single digits yesterday and today, I'll take anything above 20. With that being said, I'll end my incessant bitching about the weather of late and just deal with it from here on out.

2. The Pats are out of the playoffs - no third-straight Superbowl appearance for our beloved Belichickens. Along with everyone else around these parts, I'm pretty disappointed that things had to end on such a sour note in Denver, but hey, at least Peyton Manning's ass is sitting at home - again.

3. New world-record in the 1/2 marathon this weekend by the one and only Haile Geb. 58:55, or 4:29/mile for 13.1 miles - simply amazing. That pretty much sums this one up.

4. Speaking of 1/2 marathons, the U.S. Championship was held this weekend in Houston. Impressive performances all around, topped by Brian Sell capturing yet another U.S. road title. He's one tough bastard who doesn't get nearly the credit he deserves. Well done Sellbo. Word on the street is that he's running Boston in April, which adds some more depth to a developing American field that already includes Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflizighi. On the local front, two former BAA teammates of mine - Ed Baker (1:05:17) and Pat Moulton (1:05:28) - also ran very well this past weekend in the Lonestar State, finishing 18th and 21st, respectively. Both will be running the Austin Freescale Marathon in February with the goal of nailing down an early Trials qualifier. Best of luck to the two of them!

5. The GBTC 3K is shaping up to be a good one this weekend with Ryan Carrara, Jason Bialka, Oscar Ponce, defending champion Nate Jenkins, the aforementioned Ed Baker, along with a few other local open and college studs all rumored to be taking part. Kevin entered me with a seed time of 8:30, which is in the ballpark of what I'm looking to run, so here's to hoping I get into the Invitational heat and am able to duke it out with those guys for 15 laps. Stay tuned for updates as they become available.

6. Not sure yet how I feel about this. The changes seem almost sacrilegious in a way, but apparently need to take place for the greater good of Boston and the surrounding communities. Oddly enough, I don't think the following excerpt from the article holds any shred of validity whatsoever: "The waved start could address the perennial problem of over-hydrated runners relieving themselves on lawns and flower beds in downtown Hopkinton."

And that just about sums up the day's news and excitement. I kinda like how this format worked out, so I think I may use a similar one in future postings unless something absolutely earth-shattering develops and I decide to devote an entire day's entry to it. As always, feedback is greatly appreciated and encouraged. Take it easy.

Quote of the day:
If you add a little to a little, and then do it again, soon that little shall be much.
-Hesiod

Better late than never

And the blogging streak continues, barely. Today was a fairly hectic day, complete with a long run in the snow, an awesome brunch, a couple NFL playoff games, six measly hours of work and an hour or so of leisurely reading thrown in there for good measure - not a bad day if I do say so myself. Something had to give, however, and today's blog entry was the unfortunate victim.

Today's long run will go down as one of the more unpleasant experiences of 2006 thus far. After 50 degree temps and a light rain yesterday, three inches of snow and ice combined with a strong wind chill and single-digit temps was a rather large kick in the balls this morning. Ryan and I trudged through the unplowed back roads of Sterling, Clinton and Lancaster for an hour and 52 minutes, covering the same 15-mile course a whole seven minutes slower than we did four weeks ago. Despite the time, it was still a pretty solid effort, but I wouldn't go so far as to use any form of the verb "to run" in describing the activity we partook in.

Speaking of partaking, or lack thereof I should say, Hodgie conveniently bailed on us upon looking at the winter wonderland outside his window this morning. Since I know he now reads this blog every so often, now is as good a time as any to let him know that as a result of his absence, he missed out on Christy Mae's fantastic brunch of french toast, eggs, sausage and homefries. Your loss Bob, hope the pool was warm enough for you!

It's now 11:58 and while I've got some more to say, I need to publish this sucker to accomplish my daily blogging goal by the skin of my teeth. More to come tomorrow, I swear. G'night all.

Quote of the day:
I slept till noon, squeezed in my two runs or an indoor track workout before going to work at the newspaper. Life was good.
- Following the Flame, p. 210

Saturday night's all right

For the time being at least. The validity of the above statement rests upon a couple of outstanding factors: specifically, the outcome of the Pats-Broncos game and the impending bad weather. Let's face it, either one of these two events go haywire and this evening will be far from "all right" for us New Englanders.

As of 9:03 EST, the Pats are tied at zero and there has yet to be any signs of snow reported in Central Massachusetts, so no wrong to speak of yet. As with all things pertinent to this region, however, that could all change at a moment's notice, so stay tuned.

Jumping around a bit, a few ardent supporters of this blog started their weekends off right at the Gotham Cup held at NYC's world-famous Armory. Mark Driscoll made his triumphant return to the track for Quinnipiac, opening up his season with an impressive 4:22 mile to take second in the unseeded heat behind Nova's Bobby Curtis. Call him fast, or just call him Mark, but whatever you do, don't call it a comeback!...the kid's been here for years! After a long layoff that included not one, but two navicular stress fractures and many months of limited activity, its good to see Milford's main man back on the starting line. Keep an eye out for this guy over the next few months, as his times keep dropping and flaming red hair keeps growing! On the women's side of things, one Katie G., or K. Gwyther if you prefer, dropped a good two minutes off her 5K PR, finishing second to Columbia's Caroline Bierbaum in a smokin' 16:18 to provisionally get her name on the NCAA list...not too shabby!

Speaking of shabby, the aforementioned Patriots are looking a little worn out with 10:35 left in the fourth quarter, as the Broncos are holding steady to an 11 point lead and Troy Brown just fumbled a punt return. On top of this most recent mishap, Brady threw an interception earlier in the game and Vinatieri shanked a routine field goal. Plus, Rod Smith just scored a four-yard touchdown to make it 23-6 bad guys. Not to be the bearer of a pessimistic attitude, but this isn't looking good at all. Speaking of not looking good, the weather outside is taking a turn for the worse, as the winds have picked up and temperature took a 20 degree nosedive in the last hour or so. All of a sudden, Saturday night around here went from looking all right to down right terrible. Such is life in New England, I guess.

Unfortunately, that's about all I got time for right now. Business is picking up here in the office as this game wraps up and I've gotta stay on my toes with deadline approaching. I'll have plenty to say tomorrow, so check back at some point if you catch the urge. 'Night all.

Quote of the day:
I’d rather see a guy out there having a goal and falling short than being conservative right from the beginning. I hate those type of guys. If you lose, at least go down fighting.
-John McDonnell

Following the Flame

A novel by Greg Lautenslager, chronicling the story of an ambitious young runner who will do whatever it takes to achieve his goal of making the U.S Olympic team, including (in no particular order): working as a call taker in the sports department of his hometown newspaper, moving to Eugene, OR for a while, eventually ending up back home, all the while trying to see how fast he can run.

No, its not an early release of my future autobiography.

I ordered this book on Hodgie's recommendation, knowing nothing about the author or his running/writing background. Well, about 1/2 way through the novel I had to do a double-take and re-read parts of the last few chapters to make sure I didn't miss seeing my name in there somewhere. While not perfect parallels, the similarities between Greg's story and my current situation are eerily similar. I even had a few of my coworkers at the T & G read a couple of paragraphs and they literally laughed out loud. It was comforting, in a way.

Hopefully, I can continue to author my own real-life running story and cap it off with an equally successful ending. As they say, "its the journey that matters, not the destination", so stay tuned.

With all that being said, buy the book. It's kinda lengthy, a bit slow going early on, but a good read nonetheless for the aspiring runner. I wouldn't quite call it the second coming of Once A Runner, but it serves to show how a little dream, a big goal and a lot of hard work can go a long way.

Speaking of books worth giving a read...I'm almost done with Lance Armstrong's War by Daniel Coyle. It's a quick and interesting read with some good insight into Lance, Team Postal, the Tour de France and cycling in general, if you're into that kinda thing. Also, not to long ago I finished Mind Gym: An Athletes Guide to Inner Excellence, by Gary Mack. Normally, I shy away from these motivational self-help guides, frankly because I find most of them pretty useless, but this little book was very well written and aimed at the serious athlete. Mack does a nice job offering real world examples as well as some mental exercises that will help you to get your head in the right place. Plus, it got two thumbs up from my pal KG, so give it a look!

(For the record, I own all three of the above-mentioned books and didn't make 47 trips to Barnes & Noble to finish reading them in installments for free. Not that anyone really cares, but just to silence the haters out there. If it's worth keeping on my bookshelf, I'll gladly fork over the dough. Simple as that.)

And that just about wraps things up for today. I'm off to visit my pal Mr. McKeon in Brighton before heading into Reggie for a workout with my 'mates. Catch ya on the flipside.

Quote of the day:

To achieve the impossible, it is precisely the unthinkable that must be thought.
Tom Robbins