Sweet Victory

Race #1 this AM - I did the Lancaster Red Rose Run (5mi) in 33:48. I forgot how tragically hard this course is. Myself and Dave & Christine each blew our goal time by a minute. However, there are many good points: Last year, I followed up a 35:29 Red Rose with a more honest 34:10 only a month later, so the course is at least a minute slow, meaning my 33:48 is probably comparable to a 32:45ish. Here's how my splits compared to last year - 6:22 this year - 6:34 last year 6:19 - 6:34 7:55 - 7:16 7:21 - 7:46 6:59 - 7:19 So my biggest net gain came on the brutal 4th mile, which is pretty much a 1 mile hill. All in all, I'll take it.. this is a gutsy race. You have to be willing to run hard on the first two miles of downhills, knowing you'll pay for it on the 4th mile. So I did and I did. Results posted when available, but more than anything, this means I'm currently tracking 20 seconds per mile faster than I was last year at this time, which is a very good thing. One mor...

I've been meaning to bump up this comment from a few weeks ago: I was at that race (ed. note: The Brave Run). I was the one shooting the race, with the yellow lab. My girlfriend was running the 1/2M, but was nowhere near as fast as the rest of you. I think I got a few picts of you. You're more than welcome to view my photos in a public gallery. All my photos are free for download, but I do appreciate any small non-deductible donations or gifts, just so I can pay for gas and some time to cleanup the photos. Its not about the money. Just trying to offer a near-free service to the runners. If you want: take a look at http://picasaweb.google.com /BadDog8Cat Please pass it along if you know of anyone who ran the Brave the Race and also the Pickle Runs at Ridley Creek State Park. It doesn't look like Oct.High School is going to post anything soon. Thanks and Good Running Matt Thanks, Matt, for the pic - the best of which I've uploaded here. I don't remember you or the dog...

So I'm racing 3 times in the next four weeks... This wasn't intentional, but there are 3 races I really want to do. Moreover, after this month, marathon training takes precedence over weekend racing whims, so this is it. Here's the line-up, with goals. May 31st - Lancaster Red Rose Run - 5 miles. Last year, I had a miserable blow-up in that one. This year, I'm in much better shape. My 5 mile PR from last year was 34:11 and this time around, I'm going hard for a sub 33 on a tough course. Based on last year's time, this still would put me two minutes off an AG award. However, I'm running on a swift team, and we're going hard for the Corporate Team Award. June 15th - Smith's Challenge 10k Trail Race - Tough course - here's last year's blog post . I'm going for something bold here - 48-something if the Gods are willing. Two things: first, I'm in way better shape. Second - and more important - in the past year, these trails have pretty m...

Hehe... boy golly, have we gotten old.

Via Marcy , we learn that those who buy 3 pairs of sneakers per year are more likely to be leaders . Given my habit of running shoe consumption, I reckon I should have enough "leadership" in me to pilot a small third-world nation, at the very least. And yet - I have to scream to get the kids to the table for supper. Clearly, something is amiss with the data.

Truth is, I don't really *love* NY. Frankly, it's too much of too much for my taste. And on this particular trip, which included a cabbie that didn't know where Ground Zero was (????) and a botched hotel reservation, I really got my fill of the city mighty quick this time. However, there was a bright spot. Most trips, I stay up-town and run Central Park. This time, I stayed downtown, which gave me the opportunity to run Battery Park. What's amazing to a small town runner who rarely sees other runners except in races is HOW MANY people run in these relatively few place in NYC. I must've seen 75 runners in my six miles today (a good bit less than what I see in Central Park, but still a lot). I'm the world's worst photographer, but I always take the cell phone w/ me when I run in different places as a way to document new sites. I had a great view of the Statue of Liberty but took a horrible photograph, but here's a fairly decent one of the Brooklyn Bridge t...

.. .calling the jury line three days in a row and never once having to report. God bless our clogged legal system. :) In other news, I've had a good week of running - 4 days in a row. Tomorrow's an off-day and Saturday's a big 15. Monday, I go up to NYC - hopefully will get to prance about the Village. In other news, I'm within 24 hours of getting the last contractor out of my house. All of which goes to say, the light at the end of the tunnel is oh so very close.

In the past month: So, the basement is finished. That contractor was awesome. A dishwasher was replaced. The replacement had a dent, so that required a second visit. Thanks, Sears. Furniture was delivered. Instead of a couch and a love-seat, they delivered two love-seats. Another apology. Another re-delivery. Today, the Firedog guys are installing two tv's. Well, they would be, but they don't have the ability to put the ends on the cables my contractor ran for them. Huh? Don't you think if you were Firedog, putting ends on cables would be a skill you'd have. Any jackass can plug them in when they have ends for crying out loud. So Firedog is doing everything EXCEPT plugging in the cable, which means I won't know if any of this worked until after tomorrow morning when my contractor comes in and puts on the ends of the cables. When I told him my dilemma, he said, "I'd be a little concerned if your TV installers can't put ends on your cables." I give h...

Like the King of Rock-n-Roll, April's gone. Let's do a recap: 147.8 miles of running. My second best month to date and only two schedules days of running missed. A difficult half marathon, but a hard-fought one. Long runs up to 14 miles. The best parts? A good 40% more mileage than last April, when I was finishing training for a triathlon. Heading into May, here are the goals: Keep the long runs up, at least two 15 milers. If I think I'm ready, slowly try to sneak in a 6th day of running per week. I'm concerned about this one, but aim to start low and slow with the 6th day. Start pushing the tempo - doing 1 tempo run per week. Keep the miles up. The end of May, start of June will bring 3 races, which will inevitably cause mileage to dip. Put the miles in now so it won't matter later.

Just three days after Jamie warned me I'd be getting a new meter from Medtronic, mine showed up. Kudos for Medtronic for not making me wait, since I'm still not over the Global Heroes mess. (Sidebar: Realizing it's May 1st, this means you now must turn the calendar page of your Medtronic calendar and says Goodbye to me, Mr. April. It's been a fun month of staring at myself, but it's time to move on. This month's star? Abigail H. She's cuter than me, but considering she looks about 4, I think I could take her in a triathlon. Well, maybe not on the bike.) Anywho - the meter. Medtronic did the right thing for once, partnering with the leading meter company and not those goofballs at BD, who haven't seemed to be able to provide consistent quality at anything diabetic except alcohol swabs, sugar tablets and syringes (in other words, things that don't require technology). This time around, they partnered with LifeScan. What does it do? Basically, the mete...