Visions of races past

Yesterday was the hardest long run I've done in a while. I had 16 miles on the training plan, but this is my first full week getting back on regular training, so it felt like I was on week one and starting out with a 16 mile training run. Thanks to the 72 hour snow storm we had this week there was snow and slush and ice everywhere and basically the only clear stretch of running space was Central Park. I'm cool with running 16 miles on 6 mile loop...when I'm listening to music. And what did I forget to do yesterday before leaving the apartment? Yup, I forgot to upload a playlist onto Fenny.

So I had a silent 16-turned-into-15 miles, running circles around Central Park, in cold and snow that just wouldn't go way. On top of that it was warming up yesterday and the thick snow was melting off the trees. So throughout the run clumps of snow were falling down on me. Most were tiny clumps. But every now and then I'd get a hefty baseball sized one on the shoulder or arm. One clump landed square on eyebrow getting snow all up in my face. I guess the feeling is mutual: cold weather doesn't like me either.

Instead of continuing to be a Debbie Downer on the weather, I had to distract myself during the 2.5 hours spent battling the elements. As normally happens during a silent run my mind started wandering off to past races, which are always a source of pride and "if I did it then I can do it now" mentality. It helped that yesterday I was actually rerunning parts of the NYCM course.

I found it interesting yesterday that there are particular scenes from certain races that I constantly turn back to. They were mostly:

• Miles 17-25 of The Flying Pig, when my race strategy had collapsed and it felt like the finish line would never come within sight or within reach
• The last 1.5 miles of The Breakers Marathon where I chopped 20 minutes off my PR
• The sprint to the finish at the Great Bay Half-Marathon
• The hills section of the Boston Half-Marathon, where I learned what distance running meant
• Every mile of the NYCM after Queens

It's funny that I completely blank on Baltimore (or as some will remember: MY FIRST MARATHON EVER) and the slew of Half-Marathons I have under my belt. It's also funny that the parts I pick to play over and over are usually the most challenging parts of the races. It's like I know I'm doing something hard now so I think of another time I did something similar and prevailed. I guess that's a healthy strategy to have, even if I did end up cutting the run short by one mile.

Here's hoping that next time I 1) can muster it up for the last mile and 2) remember to bring music with me. (I guess there is an unmentioned #3: stop running in the cold, but alas, that is not an option for now.)

Getting back in the groove

I'm starting get back in the swing of things with running: I've pretty much stuck to my schedule for the past week, and now that we are getting rain for the next four days all the snow and ice are melting away. On top of that, the sun is starting to rise earlier, so much that Monday morning the sun has almost mad it over the horizon by the time I finished my run.

If this training cycle has taught me anything it is that I really do not like running in the cold. It's cumbersome to deal with all the clothing. It's uncomfortable to breathe and move when it is sub-freezing. It's dangerous to run when there is snow and ice on the ground.

I feel like I can't run as fast because I don't want to get any colder. And I really hate being sweaty in the cold. Even thinking about all this makes me unhappy--it's like the hardest form of mental cross training you can imagine.

It was nice last year when my only outdoor run was on the weekend, because then I only had to deal with this once a week and I got to at least run during daylight hours. I think I have learned my lesson and will definitely be joining a gym for next winter. The trade off there will be having to do my weekday runs on a dreadmill. Yikes.

All your internet are belong to us

We finally have internet service at home! For some reason Time Warner (the occasional bane of my existence) cancelled our appointment last Saturday with no notice whatsoever. We ended up going a week without cable or internet service. Fortunately, Wifey was smart enough to check if there was some kind of signal on the existing wire, and sure enough we were able to pick up the broadcast networks through the cable line--so we have been able to keep up with the Olympics.

On the running front, I'm finally started to get back into training. A week of no running was horrible--as yesterday's 12 mile run proved. It is not going to be pleasant getting back up to speed. However, I did register for the National Half-marathon this morning, so that is set for March 20. Now to figure out accommodations.

Life in chaos

These past two weeks since the eye injury have been rough. If it wasn't being short staffed at work, then it was painting or "snowpocalyse." To top it all off we are on the last day of our move weekend. We got everything moved over in one day (thanks to two very dear and now tired friends) but after spending all day yesterday unpacking we stil have piles of stuff to go through.

And running? Well, between a big ass now storm on Wednesday and having no idea where my running clothes are, I have been not running for almost a week now. The good news is that DC is still over a month away so I should still be in good shape for that...I hope.

Off to keep unpacking.

Something new on the training plan

Now that I'm a couple weeks into training for DC/Wilmington I thought I'd share my fancy-shmansy training plan (click for the full size):

For those of you keeping detailed tabs, this is a lot like my NYCM training plan, except for a few small tweaks:

1. For each week I added a second "mileage" row. This helps standardize my actual runs and makes it easy to find that week's actual tally.

2. I kept my altered schedule from NYCM where I swapped Monday's rest day with Wednesday's easy run. (Originally had it the other way around.)

3. I increased the long run distances (per Higdon's Intermediate II), but kept all other mileages the same as NYCM.

One other thing, and it probably stands out the most: the bright red boxes that say "EYE INJURY." Yeah, that is a first not only for my training but also a first eye injury for me--does that mean I automatically get an eye injury recovery PR?

What happened? Well, we got our new apartment with the killer terrace. The landlord was nice enough to give us the keys now, even though we're not moving in until February 13 and we're not paying rent until February 15. With all this time between when we signed our lease and our move in date, we decided to paint the bedroom and living room before moving in because 1) it's easier without furtniture etc. in the way and 2) it's a fun weekend activity.

Last Saturday we rented a Zipcar in the morning and headed over to The Home Depot in our neighborhood to get paint and supplies. When we walk into THD we spot a stack of cardboard boxes ideal for moving. We grab a couple and try to fit them in the cart. No luck. So we decided to leave the boxes and grab them on the way out, but when Wifey took out the boxes from the cart she jammed one of the corners of the box under my glasses and right into my left eye.

OH MY GOD: the pain! The absolute pain!!

I hurried over to the bathroom to wash out the eye, because it was stinging like hell. In the bathroom I finally got a look at my eye. No bleeding, but man did it hurt. It hurt to open it and it hurt to close it, and it to move it in any direction. I hurried out and told Wifey that we had to leave and get to the hospital.

But when we get to the car and we sit down we realize a HUGE problem: Wifey doesn't know how to drive. We could call a cab or ask very nicely if someone could drive us, but then we had the problem of the Zipcar which had to be returned by 1:30PM. We couldn't just leave it in THD's parking lot because someone was scheduled for the car right after us.

I attempted to drive and got about a quarter mile away from THD before having Wifey call one of our friends to meet us. I just couldn't drive with the pain in my eye. However, none of our friends were dressed or any where near us. In the time it took to get people on the phone, explain the situation, describe the random street corner we were on, I had started to feel better. I felt good enough to open both eyes and look at Wifey and look at the street. I convinced myself I was good enough to drive to the hospital and our friends could meet us there.

Ten seconds into driving I regreted my decision. I had to drive with my right hand on the wheel while my left one covered my bad eye. I also could only look straight, moving my eyes left or right was tremendously painful. I closed my eyes at red lights and Wifey had to tell me when they turned green. I stuck to side streets and by some miracle made it to the hospital without getting into an accident.

The ER process was quick and rather painless. The PA told me I had a "fairly large" corneal abrasion--but he was trying to put it nicely, when he showed Wifey my stained eye she reacted with an "ooooooooh myyyyyy Goooood!" Essentially, I had gotten a paper cut in my eye. Fortunately it didn't seem that deep because the PA didn't see a need to patch my eye. He gave me antibotic drops and had me set up an appointment with an eye doctor.

I spent the rest of the weekend bed ridden, unable to do anything: I didn't realize how much I used my eyes. After the hospital we went to lunch with our friends who returned the car for us. I could barely eat because I couldn't open my eyes to see the food. Needless to say, we did nothing in the new apartment. Also needless to say, I did no running until I got the OK from the eye doctor on Monday afternoon.

Pop bits 3

A somewhat regular non sequitur where I take a break from running and share bits and pieces of pop culture.

_________________________________

North Shore Animal League. Ok, this is kinda out of the realm of pop bits. However, with the new apartment (we move on February 13!) we are finally going to get a puppy after five years of wanting one. In our hunt to rescue a dog we discovered the NSAL. It's only a few miles away from us on Long Island and it is one of the premier animal rescues in the world--and the largest no kill shelter in the world. For any one looking for a pet in the NJ/NYC/CT area, this is the place to go.

This is an interesting thing I found on the internets. As a person, I find this funny. As a blogger, I find it freaking hilarious. After the first paragraph or two scroll to the comments and it gets even better.

This is something eerily similar to the previous item. Oddly enough, after seeing that post I found this video doing essentially the same thing, but for TV news:

The bane of the semi-colon. Having read "Eats, Shoots and Leaves" I have become a (bigger) fan of grammar. I've also have a growing confidence in my semicolon usage. For those of you who are scared to hit that button on your keyword next to "L" without also hitting the shift key here is a cheat sheet. A cheat sheet that involves bears.

The best thing to ever be made by the cast of MAD TV. This is not safe for children, but piss your pants funny for adults. I almost died this morning from laughing. Please, watch:

An addendum to my 2010 goals

Facing a shrinking time window to be timely I kinda of just spat out my goals for 2010 a few weeks back. Now, with more time (and now that I'm back into training) I'd like to revisit those goals and add a few more.

1. Continue filling up states on the map. In 2009 I passed the 1/5 mark on my goal to run a race (Half or Full Marathon) in every state plus DC. I'm up to 11 states and have four out of town races on the calendar for 2010. (Of course, there is still plenty of space to squeeze in a fifth race this year....)
2. Keep bringing down my times. The Marathon and I are on good terms again, so I'm going to keep shooting for a PR and crawl closer to a BQ. 3:40 is the next time goal I have in mind, let's see if I can make it happen in Wilmington or Maine. As for the Half-Marathon, my next benchmark is 1:45 and given that my HM times are still on a long-term downward, I think I will definitely hit that this year.
3. Get a dog. We are finally moving to an apartment that not only allows dogs, but has a gigantic terrace that we can use as a dog run. After 4.5 years of living in this city without a dog, we are going to get one. (BTW, does any one know a good terrier breeder?)
4. Try shorter distance races. This one I add half-heartedly. For some reason I just don't really care about races shorter than 13.1 miles: I ran five HMs and a Marathon before my first 5K or 10K--and I've never run those distances again! But that nagging voice in the back of my head keeps saying that I should be better rounded and start playing around with the shorter distances.
5. Run a relay. This one is really pie-in-the-sky because I only have one real life runner friend (oddly enough, who I met via this blog). However, I would love to run in one of those crazy 12-person, pack up everything in a van, run overnight for 200 miles relay runs.

Baby pics

No, not my baby. That's still a ways off. This is my nephew, Dominic. I promised pictures a few weeks back and here they are. And let's be honest, who doesn't like looking at pictures of babies?

Wifey and Dominic surprised by the flash:

Dominic learning how to feed himself (it's about time he started pulling his own weight around here):

Uncle and nephew:

Wifey holding Dominic at the beach. He has his adorable face on to attract the ladies:

Happy to be outside:

Christmas morning on his Great-Grandmother's lap with a ridiculously long hat on:

I swear my mom and Dominic were not posing when I took this, the cuteness was all there naturally:

Something had to give

...and unfortunately it was the blog.

It's been very busy in sRod land ever since coming back from Christmas break in sunny Miami. With so many balls in the air, one was bound to drop, and the metaphorical ball was this here blog.

First, there's been the running. I've been sticking to my training plan for Washington in March and Delaware in May, but I hate cold weather running. I would take a hot and humid run in the middle of August over any sub-freezing pre-dawn run in January. Unfortunately, I have only had the latter since January 4. It's hard enough getting back into the training groove after a two month break, but throwing in the cold weather just makes the experience awful. These runs are hard enough on their own, but then I start thinking about how nasty is is out there, and then when I do finally convince myself to go out and run there are a slew of factors fighting against me that I don't even realize: the cold makes me unconscionably breathe short breaths through my mouth and shorten my stride (in order to keep my legs close and warm).

Second, there's work. In the first two weeks of January I took cabs home nine times--and there were only ten work days during those two weeks. So there was only one day in the pass two weeks that I got out of work before 8p. That has left me with no time to catch up on blogs or really do any fun running related stuff during the work day. Boo.

Third, there is the apartment hunt. (This is the blight of every New Yorker, so forgive me as I indulge for a bit.) Our lease runs up on March 1 and despite saying every year that we are going to look for a new apartment, we actually meant it this year! So we've been apartment hunting every weekend. It's been pretty exhaustive scouting out the neighborhoods that have the right mix of accessibility, reasonable rents, and community (i.e., grocery stores, diverse restaurants, parks, etc.). We narrowed our choices down to Astoria (our current 'hood), Long Island City (due south of us and one stop outside of Manhattan), and--believe it or not--JERSEY (Jersey City and Hoboken).

LIC was ruled out after we realized that it pretty much isn't a neighborhood, but more of a collection of luxury condos for people priced out of Manhattan. We found real bargins in Jersey City, but realized that it on the fringe of no where. And Hoboken was priced as if it was Manhattan, which we found no advantage in. We just couldn't find one that nailed it for us.

While we love our current 'hood, we didn't decide to stay here until we found our near-dream apartment last weekend. The space is roughly the same as our current place, however the building is only two years old. There is laundry in the basement and an elevator to make doing laundry in said basement a breeze. Also in the basement is a storage closet included in our rent and bike storage (for Wifey, who has wanted a bike, but has lacked a place to put it, for years). While we will have a smaller kitchen and smaller bedroom, the apartment makes up for it in brand new appliances, a dishwasher (my hands jump with joy), and a really nice bathroom.

But the selling point for us was that this apartment was that it included the feature that most New Yorkers consider the holy grail of NYC apartments. It is so rare that it is often mentioned in the same breath as Nessie and Bigfoot. In fact, many have conjectured that it is fabrication of the Freemasons to promote their mystic. But if all goes well when we sign the lease tomorrow we will be the renters of an apartment with a private roof top terrace. I'm not talking about a 1'x3' concrete slab that a landlord uses to charge $400 more on the rent. I'm saying this is a legit 700+ square foot private terrace with space for a BBQ, a picnic table, a small garden, AND lawn chairs. (If you have ever looked for apartments in NYC, you understand the gravity of what I have just said.)

Yeah, we're a little excited about the new place.

So that's what's been going on for the past few weeks around here. And because of the next apartment I can't imagine myself getting any less busy. However, once we're up and running at the new--ahem, just in time for the summer terrace season--I definitely be blogging from the terrace.

The free money made me do it

I used to have word verification on this blog. Then I got rid of it because I hate filling it out on other people's sites and you can't criticize what you yourself do, right?

The drawback has been that every month or so I get a comment from some comment machine saying how I have a wonderful blog and that I might be interested his in money investing site. Or I might be interested in his HAWT AZIANS. Or I might be interested in his extensive collection of vaginal birth videos.

However, in recent weeks the comments have become much more frequent. It's actually to the point where every day I get a little notification that all of a sudden some one decided to comment on one of my posts from forever ago and just so happened to leave a link to a porn site.

Frankly, I'm tired of it. So I've turned on word verification to mostly save myself from having to play comment cop, but also to save your poor unsuspecting eyes from vaginal birth videos. You're welcome.

Pop bits 2

A somewhat regular non sequitur where I take a break from running and share bits and pieces of pop culture.
______________________________________________

The Jesus shot. Before it was found out that Tiger Woods had hoes in different area codes he was actually a golfer (who knew!). He was such a good golfer that EA Sports created a whole video game series named after him: Tiger Woods PGA Tour. In the 2009 edition there was a "glitch" where Tiger could walk on water and hit a ball that landed in (or on, in this case) the water. This was called "the Jesus shot." What I found cool was that EA made a response video (below) that proved that this was not a glitch at all:

Egg House. Who would choose to live in this, I don't know. However, it would answer the age old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? It's obviously the egg, since I don't see any giant chickens lurking about.

You too can be a blue alien! I haven't seen Avatar yet, but I hear it's pretty much a big deal--and essentially a reskinned version of Pocahontas or Ferngully. I came across this video and thought it was hilarious. Apparently there is a whole category of YouTube videos focusing on makeup application tutorials. This girl below, though, was inspired by Avatar to create this gem:

Is that the Washington Monument or are you just happy to see me? For all of you heading to DC this weekend, consider yourself warned.

There, I fixed it

I was in a bit of a conundrum with the running/gym/cold weather situation. I don't like running int he frigid cold and my running wardrobe reflects that (i.e., one pair of tights, one running jacket--not enough to sustain a full training schedule). I've always had a gym to retreat to during cold weather, but since I did away with my membership this past June I've been fearing the onset of winter. Now, here we are in the throes of an Arctic onslaught and I'm still gymless.

Since I was in job limbo for a couple months I completely ignored the situation until after Thanksgiving when someone turned the dial from crisp New England autumn to bleak Alaskan ice box.

With the cold temps I finally started trying out the gyms near my new office, but realized that while I can easily fit a three mile run during lunch, I would have a hell of a time fitting an eight mile tempo run during lunch. That meant that I would have to run before or after work. After work is unreliable because my hours can get erratic. And before work would be tricky because I'd have to pack up everything and come into the city at 5:00am--and Wifey is none to happy about the prospect of me leaving her home alone four days a week.

Of course, I could go back to my old gym, the one five minutes from our apartment. But even that's tricky. First, I told them that I moved to Florida (in order to cancel my membership without penalty). So going back would be suspicious. And even if I came up with a story for them they would force me to sign an annual contract. I don't want an annual contract because I don't intend on using the gym once it warms up in April/May, but also because we are looking to move this February and there's a good chance we'll move out of our neighborhood then.

Continuing on the moving bit: there is the possibility of us moving into a building with a gym in it. In this case there would be no need for a gym membership at all.

I was fine putting this off until New Year's, but now I have a training plan and I have races that I'm working toward--I need to get running. Moreover, I can feel all the effects of not running on my body: I don't sleep as well, my clothes are tighter, stress compounds easier, my metabolism doesn't know what to do.

Such is my situation.

Somewhere in the middle of this discussion with Wifey, it dawned upon us that the money I would spend on a gym I could just use to buy winter running clothes. I'm already used to running during dark mornings thanks to NYCM training. And even though I don't like running in the cold I know I can do it (remember this?). And this would completely solve all the problems and whatifs above.

So I'm off today to buy a pair of tights and a jacket. Sometimes the simplest solution is the hardest to think of.

2010 goals

No flourish here, just a straight up list of wonderful bullets.

Goals--keep doing from 2009

• Write over 100 posts. Ideally I'll write more, hopefully closer to 150, but life tends to get in the way pretty often.
• Train outside as much as possible. I just feel better when I run outside/not on a treadmill. For the next couple months of Winter I'll have to do most runs indoors, but the second it gets back into the 40s pre-dawn, I'll cancel my gym membership and will be out on the roads again.
• Stay happy in my job. I'm very happy where I am now. Thanks to the recession I've been through enough employers that I now have a much better sense of what is a hiccup and what is a long-term problem.

Goals--new for 2010

• Have a 50-mile training week. I'm just curious as to how that feels.
• Integrate HR into my training. For Christmas I got the HR monitor for Fenny, so I can now join the chest-strapped elite. I've been curious about measuring my HR for a while and now have no excuse.
• Run 1,500 miles. Once I added in the balance of my December runs the official grand total mileage for 2009 is 1,318. Another 200ish miles shouldn't be that hard, especially since I'll log about 650 per training cycle.
• Keep up with Pop bits. I've only got one installment under my belt, but I'm hoping to make it a regular part of the blog.

Nothing too exciting, but I hope that's a sign that I've got lots of things going in the right direction.

First day of 2010 is all about 2009

Time for a little reflection before seeing what I want to tackle over the next 365 days.

Let's see how I did on the 2009 goals:

1. Log 1,000 miles for the year. EPIC WIN! Not counting runs from the past two weeks--because they are still in Fenny and not in my log yet--I have run 1,286 miles. The distance from my apartment in NYC to my parent's house in Miami? 1,293.
2. Get presents for family members' birthdays. EPIC FAIL! I actually did better on this one last year. Ugh. I will get there.
3. I want to be happier in my job. UNEXPECTED WIN! If anything went completely opposite to what I planned it was my career. Worked my tail off only to lose my client. Ended up getting laid-off on my first day back from vacation. Took a freelance job at an agency that people would die to work at. Interviewed for a job 500 miles from New York. Finally took a job that was a promotion and raise (in this economy!). And now I am actually happy with my job--and I don't remember the last time I could honestly say that.
4. Get more involved in the running community. DOUBLE FAIL! I didn't rejoin my running group: my excuse was always that the group started runs too late in the morning--wah wah wah. Although I have to say that my running didn't suffer because of this. I also didn't volunteer at a single race, which I have no legitimate excuse for.
5. Move to a new place. NON-FAIL FAIL! We didn't move, but I can't call this a real fail. Our landlord raised our rent only $25, so I didn't actually lose that much by staying put.
6. Become an uncle. FOREGONE WIN! This kid is absolutely adorable. Once we get back to NYC I'll post some pictures.
7. Run at least five races. FAIL, BUT ALMOST A WIN! Due to the economy and shifting jobs travel and racing plans were put on hold. Actually, the only reason I did a fall Marathon was because the race was in my backyard. However, even with all that I ran four races this year, got two states off the list, and got a redundant state (NY) off my list.

What else went down in 2009?

• After a year and a half of running with the Super Runner's Shop weekend running groups I finally got my free shoes.
• After about 10 attempts, I finally had a successful 20 mile run.
• PR'd in the HM distance by five minutes.
• Did an entire training cycle outdoors and it felt really good. Getting off the treadmill felt like dropping junk food from my diet. I felt like I got more bang for my buck on every run and that everything just worked better.
• Ran my first Marathon that I had to fly to--which proved to be a great experience
• Had my first celebrity sighting while running.
• Surpassed 100 posts in a calendar year, 106 to be exact

Looking at this 2009 doesn't sound all that bad. But were definitely plenty of things that can make 2010 better.

Not dead

I'm still here. It's just with the constant run around associated with visiting my family in Miami I've haven't had a moment to sit down and blogicate. Heck, I've barely been able to get a run in these past two weeks (Saturday I did three miles, and before that I think I went for a three mile run the week prior). Can I really call myself a runner still?

One thing is for sure: when we get back to New York I'm diving headfirst into training.

Pop bits 1

Part of my work is to stay on top of consumer trends and be abreast of all things pop culture. While normally this involves broad ideas like knowing the percent of homes using DVRs and how to use Twitter as a marketing tool, there is are a thousand smaller bits of popular that I'm exposed to in the process. I'll come across a cool blog or interesting Google anomaly or funny picture and have a great laugh to myself--and then that's where it usually ends.

But that stops today.

I figure I have a lot of interesting stuff to share and this blog (while mostly running focused) does needs a little diversion. Well. It needs that much more than it needs another five part race report. So every now and then, probably weekly, I'll be sharing Pop bits that I think are interesting.

That's the whole plan I've got for now. Let's see where it goes.

_____________________________________________________________

• Cake Wrecks - this is hands down one of my favorite sites on the interwebs. It's basically a site about baking gone wrong: horribly, horribly wrong. Admitedly the concept doesn't sound that funny, but there are some bad cakes out there and the commentary is f*ing unbelievable. I can no longer look at this blog at work because I get so many stares from the laughter. For example, scroll down to the 12/17 post on Santa cakes and look at the second cake. Hilarity will ensue.

• Google confirms: one is the lonliest number. Here's a neat trick: go to Google and search for "the lonliest number." Look at the results. Specifically look at the very first result from Google Calculator.

• More Google Fun--this time in French! Here's another Google trick: go to Google and search for "french military victories" and then hit "I'm Feeling Lucky." The result is brilliant.

• No man could measure up. A church in New Zealand is causing a stir with this billboard.

• Martha, did you really not know? Craftiness incarnated Martha Stewart had Snoop Dog on her show this week. Who thought this was a good idea? And who--who--had the cruel humor to have them bake brownies together?
  
  

• Octopuses just got cooler. In addition to their color-changing abilities, shape-shifting bodies, suction cup covered legs, and all-around bad ass demeanor, octopuses have now learned how to defend themselves with coconut shells. The article is here, but you know you just want to see the video. For some reason, I feel like this is one of the bosses from Super Mario Galaxy:

Gym carnies: Yo Adrian!

Gym carnies is an irregular series about the curious characters and intriguing individuals that people my gym. After a summer away from the gym, I'm heading back, but this time to a gym by my new office with a whole new set of gym carnies to rant about.
_______________________________________________

I showed up at the new gym knowing that I'd have to put up with some kind of membership representative first. You know these people: they look jacked on the juice, are super-excited about everything, and have the cunning ability to back you into a corner to sign up for a two membership because they "like you so much, I'll give you my friends and family discount." I don't like these people. I know exactly what I want in a gym and I don't need you to force your gym down my throat thankyouverymuch.

When I presented my one-day pass at the front desk they immediately call up a membership representative. The guy who shows up could not have fit the profile any better. He wore a skin tight t-shirt and had pecs like balloons. He shook my hand right, flashed a coverboy smile, and instantly started dropping words like "bro" and "dude." For some reason Rocky Balboa saying "Yo Adrian!" flashed into my head, and it stuck. I was calling him "Yo Adrian!" in my head for the rest of the day.

He took me on a tour of the facility, which I have to admit was pretty nice. Although I always find the locker room portion so friggin awkward. Here we are, two fully dressed guys (me still in my jacket from outside), walking into a room full of bucknakedness. And me, charged with the role of attentive potential member, have to look around examining the place's details like the ample rows of lockers and the old men who walk around without a towel. Ew.

At the end of the tour we sat down at Yo Adrian!'s desk and he gave me the run down of what membership costs. I immediately thought: all you did was walk me around the place and you're already talking money. Jeez. Fortunately, a while back I discovered the trump card to get you essentially out of any uncomfortable situation, just say the words "I have to talk to my wife about this." Bam. It's over. No one can come back to that.

After that I quickly changed into my running clothes and hopped on a treadmill. During the whole run I felt like I was cheating. It felt so artificial and cheap, as if I was used to eating Kobe steaks and then suddenly someone slipped me a hamburger. I didn't like it, but I knew that it was pretty much my only option for winter running.

Afterwards I took a shower and headed back to work. The whole ordeal lasted 90 minutes (including Yo Adrian!'s spiel), which I could probably get down to 60 minutes and fit conveniently within my lunch time. Ha, after all these years of thinking it was impossible, here I am seriously figuring out how to get my runs in during lunch.

That evening I go home and actually do talk about it with my wife. Turns out her office has a killer deal with another gym--one that has locations close to my office AND her office AND our apartment. So we opted for that one instead, which meant I had to let down Yo Adrian!--not easy.

Yo Adrian! started calling me the next day. First he called during a lunch with clients, then he called a second time while I was in a meeting--how he managed to call me twice when I wasn't available is beyond statistical probability. I tried calling him back, but he had left for the day and this gym didn't have a voicemail system. So I wrote him a Dear John (Dear Yo Adrian!?) email telling him that another gym worked out better for me and Wifey; it wasn't his fault, it was our's. He was great and the time we had together was really special. It's just that we like this other place better, and yes it's cheaper, but we hoped someday he would be able to forgive us for our weakness and price conscientious.

A whole lot of nothing

Basically, I have been sitting on my ass for the past three weeks.

I was doing pretty well after the NYCM: I took one week off and then started running again and noticed some marked improvement (I always see the most improvement after a race). I was going out for runs twice during the week and then a long run on Sundays. But then the week of Thanksgiving I took off because of all the traveling. And then last week it finally got too cold to go out in the mornings (hello pre-dawn freezing temps!).

The decision last summer to cancel my gym membership has come back to haunt me. It made sense when it was 70 degrees and sunny when I woke up for a run, but now it's dark and below 30 degrees at 6am--and homey don't play that. Now I have to join a gym, but I can't go back to my old gym. I told them I "moved" so that I could cancel my membership without a penalty--and it would be mighty suspicious to unmove.

I could always find a gym near my office (there are a few), but Wifey and I are thinking of moving come January--and there is a 50/50 chance we'll end up moving into a building with a gym in it. I really don't want to enroll in a gym to only have to cancel in a couple of months.

And so I perpetuate this cycle of gym or no gym, all the while I just end up running less and less (and lose the fitness I gained from training). At least I still manage to get out on the weekends and muster up a very respectable 8:00 pace on 6-8 mile runs without too much huffing and puffing.

Meanwhile I'm still trying to figure out the 2010 race calendar. I really want to round out New England in 2010 and finally get Maine off my list, so I'm forgoing big races like Chicago and Marine Corp in order to do one of the Maine Marathons in October. Also, the Delaware Marathon is pretty well timed right at the start of spring in mid-May. The good news is that both of these races are within driving distance, so they'll be affordable AND easy to schedule into work. Besides those races I'm eyeing the National Half-Marathon in March and the Virginia Beach Rock 'n' Roll Half-Marathon in September.

If all goes according to plan I'll get three states and one District of Columbia off my list. The bad news is that after that I'll basically have to fly to get any other state off my list. Anyone have extra airlines miles they can throw my way?

Paparazzi, evacuate; the empire state is on fire!

After being out of town and on the road for just over a week, I'm finally settled back into the swing of things.

The weekend before Thanksgiving Wifey and I visited some friends in Boston. I didn't realize it had been over three years since I had been to Boston. Gosh do I miss Boston. It is still my favorite city--and if it wasn't for the crazy winters I would probably be living there now.

I also forgot how many runners there are in Boston. I don't think there was a single moment that we were outside that there wasn't a runner somewhere within view. I forget how strong an impact this city had on creating my love of this sport.

On Saturday morning we had a culinary revelation at Zaftigs. Apparently I lived within two miles of this restaurant for three years and never knew it existed. How I managed to do that despite the mob outside forming a 45 minute wait we will never know. But this place was unbelievable. I had the banana French toast and it changed my world. I tried Wifey's eggs Benedict--which were served on a cheddar biscuit instead of an English muffin--and my mouth just about exploded. If you are in the Boston area--or anywhere else on the Eastern Seaboard--go to this restaurant, your stomach will thank me.

I was pretty much in a food coma for the rest of the Boston visit. When I came to I had the distinct taste of Wagamama's in my mouth and a box of Mike's cannolis in my hand.

Then we drove the 14+ hours (over two days) south to western North Carolina to see Wifey's family and spent a rather long Thanksgiving Week with them, helping out at their bakery, and making way too much food for Thanksgiving dinner--which I didn't think was possible with the appetite her brothers have.

Finally, last Saturday we headed back to New York in one marathon 15 hour driving session (including fuel stops and one scenic detour). We spent our last day with the car buying way too much at Target, doing tons of groceries at Super Stop & Shop, and picking up a Christmas tree from The Home Depot.

I guess my body had enough from all that driving because Sunday night I came down with a nasty stomach bug. I spent all of Monday parked on the couch...dying...slowly...until 8pm when I magically started to feel better. And after one day back at the office where I found my computer sans mouse (who steals a mouse?) here I am.

(Oh, and the post title? It's a mash up of the four songs that were played about 40 times each during the 30+ hours of driving I spent last week.)

Wrapping up the NYCM

We’re still not done with the NYCM! I never got to post my playlist prior to the race and immediately afterward I was too consumed with my five-part race report to write up the ol’ list of play. [Side note: FIVE part? Geez, I wouldn’t think that was necessary unless I wrote it. Screw self-editing, right?]

I slapped together my playlist at the last minute—literally. In the last hour before I went to sleep on Saturday night I took out all my race day stuff and added two hours worth of music to my last Half-Marathon playlist (i.e., Grete’s Great Gallop). I’m not proud of it, but it was the only time I had.

Funny thing is that the music worked out really well during the race. I only listed to about two-thirds of the thing (accounting for pauses to check my pace), but I was really happy every time a song started. Perhaps I have been over-hinking my music selection—Marcy haunts me from beyond the blog-grave!!

• Proud Mary; Tina Turner
• Brandy Alexander; Feist
• Bennie and the Jets; Elton John
• Ulysses; Franz Ferdinand
• Boston; Augustana
• Chocolate; Snow Patrol
• Under Control; Parachute
• Lucid Dreams; Franz Ferdinand
• Bulletproof; La Roux
• Tears Dry On Their Own; Amy Winehouse
• Heavy Cross; Gossip
• Losing Touch; The Killers
• PYT; Michael Jackson
• Spaceman; The Killers
• Always Where I Need to Be; The Kooks
• Lisztomania; Phoenix
• No You Girls; Franz Ferdinand
• Tick of Time; The Kooks
• Dog Problems; The Format
• Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground); The Jacksons
• Heads Will Roll; Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• Jump In The Pool; Friendly Fires
• Resistance; Muse
• Can You Feel It; Michael Jackson
• HAPPY Radio; Edwin Starr
• Paris; Friendly Fires
• Blinded By the Light; Manfred Mann's Earth Band
• Barracuda; Heart
• Canned Heat; Jamiroquai
• I Saw It on Your Keyboard; Hellogoodbye
• Human; The Killers
• My Moon My Man; Feist
• Read Between the Lines; KSM
• Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough; Michael Jackson
• Uprising; Muse
• The Love You Save; Jackson 5
• I’m Bad; The Last Vegas
• Zero; Yeah Yeah Yeahs
• I Kissed a Girl; Katy Perry
• Beat It; Fall Out Boy
• American Boy; Estelle
• I Don't Feel Like Dancin'; Scissor Sisters
• I Want You Back; Jackson 5
• This Ain’t a Scene, It’s an Arms Race; Fall Out Boy
• Reptilia; The Strokes
• Times Like These; Foo Fighters
• Shockwave; Black Tide
• Let's Dance to Joy Division; The Wombats
• The Pretender; Foo Fighters

Onto lessons I learned from the NYCM, now that I’ve had time to decipher them:

1. I really did try to have faith in all the training I had done—and while it might not have produced a 3:40 finish time, I still finished very strong and repeated my PR. So the strategy worked! I will be keeping this in mind for future races.
2. My hamstrings were mysteriously NOT fatigued. I thought it was just a post-race fluke, but then the week of recovery they were never sore. I’m not sure why this happened. I need to investigate this. I’m wondering if I didn’t use them enough during the race.
3. I really liked my training schedule. It worked well with my work/life schedule yet managed to incorporate an extra day of running. The only thing is that I stepped up the mileage without setting my alarm clock earlier—so toward the end I had to cut runs short since I was running late.
4. I used to like Tempo runs, but now that I’ve gone through a training cycle having to do Tempo runs outside I no longer like them. In addition to having to run these outside, I lowered the pace for Tempo runs A LOT. I may have been too ambitious this time around, but should be OK using these paces for the next training cycle.
5. I knew my stomach was sensitive in the morning, but I never realized just how sensitive it was until I moved out of the gym, far away from any bathroom. I may have to start drinking coffee first thing in the morning just to get the constitutional out of the way before I start running.
6. The NYCM forces you to get to the starting line early. Ridiculously early. I’m normally a “just in time” type of runner, getting to the starting corral within minutes of the gun. So sitting in Ft. Wadsworth for over an hour was very different. But all that time let me prepare correctly, both mentally and physically.
7. Focus! I doubt there is any runner who can’t stand to focus a bit more, but I felt I had an incredibly hard time on the course focusing on my race. I suspect this was mostly due to the huge crowds. However, I think I could stand to devise some kind of mental process to stay focused during a race.
8. I can’t forget to stretch. My IT bands got really tight toward the end of the training cycle—and that is purely because I wasn’t taking enough care of them. Now that I’ve had time to rest I’ve been able to stretch more before and after runs and use heating pads to help loosen the muscles—I need to carry this through to the next training cycle.
9. It was strange, but I was very sore after this race. After Newport and the Pig I just kinda sprang back to life the next day, but I was tapped out by the NYCM. I didn’t get back to 100% until the following Thursday. Not sure what lesson to take out of this, but it’s worth keeping in mind.

Last, but not least, my time. I still don't have a resolution on that. I've sent pictures to the NYRR and long emails explaining what I think happened, but they're still trying to figure out what to do. There will be a final update on that, one day.