The end of unemployment

I am rejoining the workforce tomorrow!

I got a freelancer gig at an agency that I've liked for a long time. Since it's a freelancer position it's not permanent (I'm contracted for four weeks, give or take based on the workload), but there is a chance the position could turn permanent. And even if this place doesn't work out for the long-term, I have two other interviews in the works for permanent positions.

That's the good word for now. If only my chicken-shit brother-in-law wasn't wussing out of his semester aboard in China life would be much better.

Unemployment: Day Eighteen

I guess nobody wondered why my last post was titled "Bloody Sunday." I was going to write about my long run last Sunday, but didn't have enough time. While I did delete what I started writing in the body, I completely forgot to change the title.

So now here is what happened on this past "Bloody Sunday."

I headed out for my 15 mile long run on a familiar course: cross the Queensboro Bridge and then do 12 miles in Central Park. Seeing that it was a humid day I made sure to use Body Glide on my man parts to avoid the painful chaffing that normally occurs in such weather. However, a mile into the run, with the wind kicking and the sweat already rolling down my chest I realized I forgot to put Body Glide or bandages or anything on my nipples. I could already feel them rubbing against my t-shirt so I panicked, but I also remembered the numerous times I've been out without nipple protection and have returned home fine. Knowing that I really couldn't stop and buy bandages I kept on trucking.

Miles one through seven went pretty well. There was no significant increase in pain in the nipple region. I glanced down once during mile four and didn't see any sign of bleeding. So I cruised along as if the worst was behind me.

After mile seven I noticed a change not in any physical sense but in that ever runner I crossed looked at me. I've always described New York City runners as stoic, blind to the world, etc.. Essentially the only two things that will grab a runner's attention is a cyclist cutting him off or a maimed and bloody body. I looked down at my t-shirt since I knew for sure I wasn't the former.

Sure enough two dark red circles the size of oblong silver dollars had formed on my t-shirt right over my nipples. I knew I needed to stop but the nearest bathroom was over a mile away, so I stopped at the benches at the runner's gate (which were less than half a mile away).

At the benches I lifted up my t-shirt and saw a horrible sight. My t-shirt had completely rubbed away the top layer of skin from my nipples and deep red drops of blood were coming out of each nipple.

After the initial freak-out I wiped away the blood with my hands. The drops came back. I took off my t-shirt and held it up to my chest to absorb the blood, which seemed to stop the bleeding.

Now I had a problem. I wasn't far along enough to scrap the run. I also couldn't finish the run with the t-shirt on: the bleeding had stopped but would start again--or get worse-- if I put it on. Running topless (as any other recovering fat kid will tell you) had never ever crossed my mind, particularly in Central Park where only the cockiest and fittest guys run without a shirt, but it quickly became the only option.

I bundled up my t-shirt in my hand, grabbed my water bottle in the other hand, looked down the long stretch of East Park Drive, and started running...shirtless.

At first it was awkward. Things were jiggling and gyrating all over the place--the inner workings I don't normally care about because it's all sheathed by a t-shirt. I corrected my posture and lengthened my stride because if I was going to make a fool of myself I was at least going to do it in good form.

Oddly enough, parents did not shield their children's eyes and dogs did not start barking. Actually, you would never know anything was unusual. After a few minutes I completely forgot that I was sans t-shirt.

The rest of the run went beautifully: I finished 17 seconds under my goal pace and any trace of blood had dried up. When I unrolled the t-shirt at the end of the run the blodd stains had gone, most likely washed away by the sweat. I slipped on the t-shirt (ouch!) and hopped on the subway to go home.

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On the unemployment front there have been developments. But that'll be for another post this weekend.

Unemployment: Day Fourteen--bloody Sunday

I wanted to answer Biscuitman's two questions on my training calendar.

First, The two consecutive rest days are forced. See, I like starting the week with a Tempo run--which means I need to have at least one rest day between the weekend and the Tempo run (I also don't like running on Mondays). Then, since I alternate long runs between Saturday and Sunday based on life happenings, I need one of the rest days to be on the weekend. This means the calendar looks like I have two consecutive rest days, even though that doesn't always happen.

But now it looks like I'll be changing that. This past week I decided to swap the Tempo and the Easy runs since I was having difficultly doing Tempo runs as the first runs of the week--probably due to the slower long run pace I'm using for this training. It worked out really well since the Easy run let me transistion back to the shorter distance. If I make this change permanently I can start running on Mondays, push back the Wednesday run to Tuesday, and have Wednesday as my oasis rest day int he middle of the week.

Second, the Yassos the week of the Marathon are a bit odd (I definitely thought twice about it). The only rationale I have is that I was carrying through the pattern of Thursday workouts--but a last week speed session has never hurt me before.

Today I have an interview for some freelance work in the afternoon. The project is for about a month and there is a possibility the position could go permanent--but I take that with a grain of salt. I haven't heard back from the interview from last week, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Unemployment: Day Ten--the big reveal

Every time I start a training cycle I spend hours creating my training plan, or the grid as The Laminator calls it. I reflect back on the previous training cycle, consider what my weaknesses were during the last race, reread old blog posts, and consider any note-worthy training advice from Runner's World and bloggy peoples (like yourselves). Then I start filling out the grid. I keep in mind what worked and didn't work, and what I looked forward to and what I didn't.

Now, for the first time ever, I'm posting my grid. It actually took me a while to figure it out because the document is so friggin big--if I printed it out it would probably span three pages. But over the weekend I craftily took screen shots of the Excel document and overlaid them to make one large seamless picture.

So for your perusal, here is the grid (click for the larger version):




I've made this document super easy to understand so that several weeks in I can easily see the rationale behind it all. First, across the top is are the days of the week and the corresponding activity for that day (tempo, long run, rest, etc.), then the total mileage for that week, and finally a yellow progress bar that is extended down once that week is complete.

Along the left hand side are first the stages of training (base, ramp up, peak, and taper). These are organizational tags that don't really mean anything but make the chart look neat and orderly--the original purpose was to demarcate lengths and paces of certain runs, but I've basically moved past that. The next column over marks each week, followed by three sub-headers for each week: plan (what I'm supposed to do), mileage (the total mileage for that planned run, not including warm up or cool down--these numbers sum to the right in the total mileage column), and actual (which is what I actually did that day...which doesn't always match the plan).

From there, it's essentially a calendar that I fill in daily. Let's take the first week as an example. Monday was a rest day, so I put in "rest" for the actual workout that day. Then Tuesday was a five mile tempo run at a Tempo I pace, which was 8:00/mile (I have a separate chart that lists what my goal paces are). In the actual row you can see that I did the five miles a little bit faster at 7:57/mile. Wednesday was an easy recovery run with some pull-ups, push-ups, and crunches at the park. Thursday was a hill workout--although Thursdays are workshop days with a rotation of hills, 1600m repeats, and Yasso 800s. The first week I was still trying to figure out how to do hill repeats and how many I should be doing, so I only did three 400m repeats at about a 7:10 pace. Friday was a five mile run at marathon pace (MP), which is 8:24. Fridays alternate between MP and regular run, according to the Hal Higdon Intermediate I training plan, which I also used to for the long run schedule. Saturday was the scheduled day for the long run (at a long slow distance [LSD] pace of 9:15/mile), but I was on a road trip that morning, so I pushed the long run to Sunday, which is normally down as a rest day. (Even Saturday is the set day for long runs, about half the time I end up doing the long run on Sunday due to weather, travel, or just life happenings.)

Most days have the plan and mileage row filled in blue, but if they are filled in orange that designates a holiday (Independence Day, Labor Day) or event (birthday, anniversary). This helps me anticipate life events that I'll have to work the schedule around.

You'll also notice that I'm not too consistent with how I record runs in the actual row. I pretty much just try to get the time in there and I'll for sure include the distance if it's any different from what was planned that day. I figure I shouldn't be too concerned about how I record the actual runs (unless I deviate from the plan) since I have Fenny.

And that is the wonder of my grid.

On the unemployment front things are in a lull these days. I'm waiting to hear back from Tuesday's interview (they had a couple other candidates for the position and aren't having second rounds until next week). I'm also following up with a couple people today to see if any new leads have popped up.

Also, I'm starting an unemployment reading list starting with Pride and Prejudice. There are a bunch of classic books that I felt I never read in high school that I'm going to take time to read now since I have the largest public library in the world at my disposal. Also on the list: 100 Years of Solitude, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Where the Red Fern Grows, and King Lear. I doubt Don Quixote will get on the list nor will anything Russian since I would like to make progress on this reading list and not get stuck on one book for six months.

Unemployment: Day Nine

So I made a bit of a mistake in yesterday's post. I had started writing it on Monday night...but didn't finish it until Tuesday morning. While I thought I had changed all the references to "tomorrow" to "today" it looks like I missed the first (and most major one). This means that I had my interview yesterday, not today.

It went really well--so I think. The position is perfect: the agency is awesome and is actually having a good year, the location is perfect, the client is brand new to the agency so they are still in the honeymoon period, and--here's the big selling point for me--they allow dogs in the office. Wifey and I don't have a dog, mostly because our landlord doesn't allow them. BUT, if the dog is with me all day then there shouldn't be any yipping or barking during the day for neighbors to get annoyed. So I'm in love with this place right now.

The drawbacks? Well, there is the issue that the cap salary for the position is $5k less than what I made at my old agency. Which sucks, but it's not the worst of things. The other issue, which might become a sticking point, is that I'm pretty senior for this position. I have the right title, but I've done so much at this level that I'm on the cusp of being promoted. And since my immediate supervisor at this place was just promoted there is no growth room for the time being.

I'm hoping this position works out, but I'm still looking furiously for something else.

Unemployment: Day Eight

Good news people: I have a job interview set up for tomorrow! This unemployment bit might be shorter than I expected. The agency is one I have admired for a long time and been trying to get into pretty much since I graduated from college. The account, as far as I can tell, seems interesting. The catch? I'd have to take a small pay cut. Blah.

But I'm still positive because I met with two recruiters today and already have two job leads coming out of those meetings. So I might not have to compromise on the salary.


Anywho, on the running front, I had a 14-mile long run this weekend during Heatwave 2009--as the local news likes to call it. I met up with a friend and his friend who I hadn't met before to cruise down Park Ave (thanks to Summer Streets), over the Brooklyn Bridge (yeah those knees are goners), back up Park Ave, and then a final loop in Central Park. It was a sweaty and muggy run--made even more sweaty and muggy because we went at an 8:30 pace instead of the leisurely 9:15 I've been doing during this training cycle. While it was fun, there was so much chafing afterward, which resulted in the most painful shower ever. Well, second most painful shower ever--there was that shower after the half-marathon in Philly when I learned why guys put bandages on their nipples.

Unemployment: Day Four--who needs knees?

First, thank you to every one for your support. Unemployment continues to suck, but mostly because I have nothing to do. I'll spend about four-five hours a day doing job search related stuff, but then I'm bored out of mind for the other 20 hours. Fortunately, I have lots of people that are helping me out and passing my resume every which way. I'm really hoping that I'll have a couple interviews lined up by next week so that I can relax a bit and enjoy the time off.

Meanwhile, training for the NYCM is coming along. Last week in South "flat as a pancake" Florida messed me up a bit. No hills meant I temporarily lost all the climbing strength in my legs. Then, with the oppressive heat and humidity I allowed myself to slow down by 10 seconds on each run. I don't know if that made the runs easier but I did end up drinking far less water than anticipated.

You can imagine the hard time I had doing my fast tempo run in hilly Astoria Park.

However, now with ample time to properly execute all my weekday runs I made it a point to correct my lazy legs. For yesterday's hill repeats I went to the Queensboro Bridge, which I thought would be a great setting because it's the hill at Mile 16 of the NYCM--and it's the only uninterrupted 400m stretch of uphill nearby. But instead of taking the subway there I had the brilliant idea to do a "warm-up" two mile jog to the Bridge. It sounded like a good idea at the time.

The repeats went really well and I managed to cut my 400m uphill sprint time from 1:57 to 1:41. Save for the occasional biker who would wander into the pedestrian lane, the repeats were pretty uneventful...but then I had to return home.

I accidentally left my MetroCard at home so I had to repeat that two mile jog back to the apartment. Halfway through I started getting heart burn, but at the same time it started raining, so I would cycle through running until the heart burn would flare up and then walking until I could take the rain any more. Ugh.

Today, I followed up that hill workout with a hilly Marathon pace run. I took the same route to the Queensboro Bridge, then ran over it into Manhattan to finish up with a three mile loop in Central Park. I.e., hills, hills, and more hills. My knees were not happy at all when I was done--but I did get my climbing legs back!

Now to work on speed.

Unemployment: Day One

That big project that I was working on all those weekends in July? Well, we were defending our biggest piece of business. It didn't work out so well and we lost the business. And in these economic times losing business means lay-offs.

Honestly, I thought I was safe. I had been told that my job was secure because of how little work my department received from this client. Well, two weeks after losing the business (and my first day back from vacation) HR called me up to their office where my President was waiting to deliver the news.

I suspected that this might happen, but it still sucks. It sucks because of how much hard work I put in during July. It sucks because there didn't seem to be a business reason to let me go. It sucks because they are releasing me into the worst possible job market in the past 40 years.

I took today easy. I woke up with Wifey and went out late for a very difficult tempo run. Then I watched The Price is Right (Drew Carey is no Bob Barker) and went to the park for a bit before coming home and hitting the ol' job search regiment. There are some prospects, but for now it's pretty sad looking out there.

Sweat and tears

The past week basically boiled down to two things: sweat from running and tears from baby Dominic. Well, truth be told, Dominic didn't really shed any tears while I was there, but I liked the title for the post.

Running in South Florida the past week was hot and sweaty. Every night I told myself I'd be running at 6:30am before the sun went up and every morning the earliest I could wake up was 7:30. By the time I would be on the street the sun was over the trees, immediately kicking the temperature into the low 90s.

But it wasn't the heat, it was the friggin humidity that got me. Every single run was an exercise not in running, but in bodily secretion management. You should have seen my clothes after the 12 mile long run I had last Saturday: every square inch was soaking wet, so wet that I could hear my shorts sloshing during the last four miles of the run. And I won't even begin to describe the chafing that went on down there.

You South Florida runners have my highest respect.

Now, onto the other part of the trip: the new baby. I swear, you are never more documented than when you're a newborn baby. Five minutes didn't go by without someone whipping out the camera and snapping pictures. Which I really don't understand because honestly you don't do anything as a 15 day old. But nonetheless, here are some fantastic pictures of Dominic from the past week.

Distracted

Wifey and I are in sunny (i.e., hot and humid) South Florida this week to, among other things, meet our new nephew Dominic:



I know newborns are cute, but he's exceptionally cute. I mean look at the shirt he's wearing, it even says "cute" right across his chest. He doesn't do much except eat, sleep, and poop, but man is that enough to keep my sister and brother-in-law busy. Look forward to more pictures later this week.

The assortment of things that happened on yesterday's long run

Finally (!) the big project at work is over--all the late nights and weekends are done, for now. I updated my timesheet this morning and I was appalled at the total for last week: 66.75 hours. It sucked, but what made me feel worse was that I got the better end of the deal. Some people pulled 100 hours last week. Sigh. Such is advertising.

I officially wrapped up my part of the work on Saturday night at 8pm. Which left me free and clear to destress during my scheduled 11 mile long run. While I didn't completely destress, several curious things happened and some unconnected thoughts floated into my head:

• I wondered if I could live a day without verbs. (After confering with friends later the consensus was that I could, but if I only said "yes" or "no" all day.)
• It was the first time in a long time that I ran with music--and I'm not sure if I missed it. It was nice to have the music to entertain and distract, but it felt unnecessary.
• This was the first run in months that I needed to bust open a gel pack while on the run--those CLIF Shots aren't so hot, I miss GU.
• A twig/small branch fell from the sky and landed directly in front of me. It frightened the bejesus out of me.
• During this run I ran over three bridges: the Queensboro, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Bridges. Each one of these bridges is over 150 feet high and 1.5 miles long. Last time I did this run I had shin splits for a week. This time I conquered the three bridges pain free and in top condition.
• I almost got hit by a car...I should probably pay a little more attention to where I'm going.
• Summer streets are almost here!
• My goal pace was 9:15--which still sounds so painfully slow--I finished with a 9:13 pace.

That long run concluded week four of NYCM training. Only 14 weeks to go until race day!

Uncle sRod

Yesterday was a very exciting day around here! My sister was induced into labor yesterday at 6am. I spent the entire morning checking my phone, calling my mom for updates, and getting IMs from aunt. After what sounds like a very quick labor she gave birth to (not so) little Dominic, weighing in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. and measuring 19 inches tall.

Below are Dominic's first pictures shared with the world.










Welcome to the world Dominic! Wifey and I will be there in a couple of days to say hello in person--and maybe take you on your first tempo run. (Ha ha, yes, I know it's too soon for that--I should start him on the long run.)

Random thoughts

Some things I'm thinking about while waiting for my boss to show up for this 2pm meeting he called (yes, it's Sunday, and yes, it's 3pm right now):

• FML
• I should have planned to go to the beach yesterday. Mr. Weatherman you lied about the rain on Saturday--it was perfect summer weather. I need to place less trust in your forecasts.
• I really, really, really want a dog. Particularly this one. Or this one. Stupid landlord and his no pets rule.
• I would prefer a job that rewarded me for the amount of work I put in.
• I really need to sell that table from our kitchen and those shelves we don't use and donate some random stuff lying around the apartment.
• I'm very curious about how life would be if I wasn't in New York
• My in-laws' bakery seems to be having a good summer, I hope they can keep the business going through the winter.

That's it for now.

Muted running

I think it's been pretty well established that I like listening to music while I run. So I find it very odd that I have taken Liam on a run exactly once during the past three weeks of Marathon training (about 15 runs). I realized this on Thursday when I went to the track for Yasso 800s--which usually require music--and didn't even realize I forgot Liam until I arrived back home.

I have to say, I'm starting to see some truth to all that stuff about "listen to your body, not your music." Without music I'm finding it a lot easier to manage my pace. I'm also having a better time controlling my breathing--and training myself to inhale/exhale with my left step as to avoid stitches. I don't miss the music and I don't find myself getting bored either.

That said, today is going to be my first long run by myself in about six weeks. And I'm putting together a playlist now (borrowing heavily from our recently purchased, 50+ track, Michael Jackson Essentials albums) to accompany me on the run. Old habits, right?

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So my job continues to kill me slowly--this has been another hectic week with crazy hours and mad dash work. I'm just trying to get to July 28 at which point I'll be a free (and very tired man).

Unintentional cross training

It's been almost two weeks of training for the NYCM and everything is going great. Despite interference from work* and my first gym-free training program in years, I've done every run so far according to plan (at the right pace, on the right day, at the right distance). Actually, I've found a few benefits of taking the gym out of the equation. I now have to warm up and cool down for .6 miles--the distance from my apartment to Astoria Park. I can get up later because I don't have to walk to and from the gym. Also, every run now has a hill component because I've realized that there is no way to run more than three miles in this neighborhood without coming across a hill.

But there was one aspect of outdoor training that I was not expecting: the pigeons.

Those rats with wings are everywhere. At least once a run I end up running through a handful of pigeons picking food off the ground. The little f!ckers don't start to disperse until I'm right on top of them, but then they start flying forward--so I wind up chasing the virus bags for a couple yards before they realize "oh, I can turn left and avoid this guy."

It's annoying, but I'm considering it a type of unintentional cross training. It's getting me mentally and physically prepared for those similarly annoying opening miles of a race. Those miles when you're stuck behind people that have seeded themselves way too forward and you have have to bob and weave your way around them. And you don't want to step on them because they might give you E. Coli. (Ok, the last one might only apply to the pigeons.)


*Note: my life is in suckage mode for the entire month of July: a major project at work means that I'm working late nights and now I'm working this weekend. So if I'll be a bit MIA until July 28. My apologies now if you're still getting comments from me on posts older than your mother.

What's that in the air?

It's that time of year.

The time of year when get an extra spring in my stride. The time of year when I consume food by the shovel. The time of year so exciting that the jasmine trees in Astoria Park burst with their sweet smell (it's true!). Why, what time of year is it? Fall Marathon Training Season, of course!

As is no surprise my fall marathon this year is none other than the Grand Dame of Road Races--the NYC Marathon. I've wanted to run this race pretty much since I learned that I could run for more than five minutes, and after two unsuccessful lottery bids I'm finally in.

Ever since I got my email confirming my entry, I've been researching training plans, analyzing what was weak in my last training schedule and what worked really well. After lots of back and forth, I think I've nailed down what will help me avoid stitches on race day yet hold on to the green shoots of speediness I've found. Now that we are 18 weeks away it's time to start the slow/painful/delirious/sleep-depriving experience of preparing for the 26.2 mile jaunt through the five boroughs.

Here are the changes I've made to plans to help ensure success on November 1. Some are minor and some are quite drastic, starting with:

• No gym. That's right, the guy who brings you Gym Carnies will not be going to the gym for the next 4.5 months. That Hatsumomo post was 100% timed. Why? My gym is damn expensive. Almost $80 a month (plus another $80 for Wifey) to use a treadmill and sometimes the weight equipment--this was actually long overdue. What do I want this to achieve? I'm hoping to see gains in overall running performance since I'll be working 100% for all my runs now.
• Combining cross training with an easy run. Why? I introduced a day of cross training into my schedule for Flying Pig training. It definitely helped in the overall fitness department, but I didn't notice any running benefits. So I'm stripping it down to push-ups, pull-ups, dips, etc. and using the rest of that day to do an easy run, bringing my weekly run total up to five for the first time ever. What do I want this to achieve? Allows me to focus on slowing things down with an easy run without completely neglecting cross training.
• Speeding up tempo runs. Why? Because I'm good at them. I'm starting with 5 miles at 8:00 pace and will end at 8 miles at 7:30 pace (ouch!). What do I want this to achieve? This is specifically to help carry speed into the later miles of the race and get a 3:40 PR (there, I'm calling it!).
• Adding in Yasso 800s. Why? They seem to be all the rage, but I'm really just curious to see if they work. What do I want this to achieve? Help improve speed and temper my expectations for race day.
• Adding in Marathon pace runs. Why? The night before the Pig I was going over my race strategy and noticed that I'd have to run a 8:24 pace for a 3:40 Marathon. I had no idea what the hell an 8:24 pace was. All my runs were either faster or slower than that. This was a huge flaw that I never realized while training for any of my other races. What do I want this to achieve? Teach my body what the appropriate race pace is before the race.
• Slowing down the long runs. Why? Because I know I should do it and because I never have actually done it. I always get suckered into some super happy sprint halfway through long runs and then end up burning out 3/4 of the way through. I think I've been stuck thinking that long runs are supposed to be race day simulations--which I realize now is not true. They are just a different type of work out targeting a different set of muscles/skills that you will need on race day, much like a tempo run or hill run. What do I want this to achieve? Not burn out on long runs so that I can actually benefit from them and better prepare against stitches on race day.

So that's my plan. And it's laid out in the sweetest Excel spreadsheet you could image--it's all color-coded and formularific. I would post it here for you to see if I could figure out how to do that. Although I probably shouldn't, because I don't think people should be exposed to that much Excel awesomness at once. (Can you tell that Excel is my video game?)

Gym carnies: Hatsumomo

Gym carnies is an irregular series about the curious characters and intriguing individuals that people my local gym.
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It's no surprise that when I go to the gym I usually use the treadmill. The gym is where I do my tempo runs and hill runs and serves as back up on rainy days. So being that I'm on the treadmill so often I've gotten to know other treadmillites (treadmillers? treadmillians?). FOM was the first treadmillite I became acquainted with--and not by choice. Since then I've recognized other treadmillites, some were brief spats of fitness, others have stuck around for the long run (pun intended).

One of the newer treadmillites I have come to call Hatsumomo. Now, for those of you who haven't been suckered by pop culture/your wife to read Memoirs of a Geisha, Hatsumomo is a geisha in said book who is beautiful and famous. She also happens to be one bitch-ass ho--but that is beside the point. The name stuck out in my mind because once I figured out how to pronounce it I couldn't stop saying it. I especially liked saying it like a dirty old Japanese business man who is looking for more than just company from a geisha (I get very specific in my humor). Then, I saw this woman at the gym who happened to look like Li Gong, who plays Hatsumomo in the movie. The name has stuck ever since.

There are two reasons why Hatsumomo has received designation as a gym carnie. First and oddest for a neighborhood with three sushi restaurants, four Thai restaurants, and umpteen Chinese take-out places (including a Tex-Mex Chinese place), Hatsumomo is the only Asian who regularly visits my gym. My 'hood is pretty diverse, but for some reason the Asians don't hit the biggest gym in the area, at least not in mornings. So Hatsumomo stands out in that respect.

The second reason for her carnihood, is that Hatsumomo is one of those rare treadmillites that has a death grip on the treadmill for her entire run. Not just for stretching, not just for slowing down--but for the entire four or five miles of her run she holds onto the machine for dear life. Sure, I have my weird habits while on the treadmill--I run with the TV off (which apparently is unusual in my gym)--but holding onto the machine? What is that?

Now, I should say that Hatsumomo runs with some Velcro contraption around one of her knees, so at first I thought she was running through an injury. So as a fellow runner I admired her for trying to get through her runs while injured and using the machine as a crutch. But it's been several months by now. The injury is either permanent or non-existent--and in either case it would be silly to continue running so.

What really boggles my mind is that Hatsumomo is a good runner. Usually the death grip is employed when the runner is a novice, but Hatsumomo cranks out miles at about a nine minute pace and usually runs four+ miles at a time. The woman can run--even if has has handicapped herself.

Also, she has a very particular way of bracing the machine. She'll have the TV on and with her right hand grip the screen, which is attached to top of the dash board. With her left hand she'll hold onto the side rails. It looks like her arms are stuck mid-hurdle-jump.

Of course, in my mind, I don't understand this. Mostly because I'm as much of a treadmill purest as possible. I don't do running starts (get the 'mill going before you step on it) or running pauses (leave the 'mill going while you take a breather). I only hold onto the rails if I'm stretching. I feel like holding onto the machine--especially in an asymmetrical way like Hatsumomo--just throws off your stride and makes you do a lot of unnecessary work that could be damaging. But, hey, that's just my two cents.

Finally!

After a year and a half of group runs with The Super Runner's Shop I finally made it to my tenth group run and a free pair of shoes! (Insert angelic chorus here.)

Here they are, my brand new, 100% free Brooks Adrenaline 9s:



Things are just prettier when they're free, aren't they?

Now, while these shoes came at no dollar cost, there were definitely not without frustrations. In the middle of yesterday's group run the group leader/pacer asked how far along everyone was in their quest toward free shoes. The other two people with us were at three and seven times. I mentioned that this was my eleventh group run of the year and probably my 20th ever with the group--and that I was still waiting on my shoes.

The group leader suggested that I tell them at the store that I've done the 10 runs so that they can check the sign in sheets--which I had asked them to last week. Turns out they won't check the sign in sheets unless you ask them to. Then one of the other runners chimed in and said the store staff is very disorganized when it comes to tracking your runs and that my best bet would be to come in with the dates I ran with the group so that they can pull up those specific sign in sheets.

I slowly realized that I didn't get my free shoes earlier not because they start everyone at zero at the start of year, but because no one at the store was keeping track! Sheesh.

When I got back to the store the group leader told the manager that I was past the 10 run mark and then he provided me the hook up with the free shoes. That easy.

About the shoes? I haven't run in them yet--but trying them on felt really nice. The fit is a bit more snug around the toes, which might be a bad thing since I usually need a big toe box (sound dirty, right?). Also, they streamlined the design elements so it looks more like a running shoe and less like a flux capacitor. These are the second shoes in line to be rotated in, so it'll be a while before they get tested for real.

My day of birth

Since I seem to be suffering from blogger's block I've decided to do the easiest thing to cure it: post pictures!

Last Sunday was my birthday (hello late twenties!). On Saturday we went out with a bunch of friends to the destined-to-become-wildly-popular Governors Island. This little island is about 140 acres and sits between Manhattan and Brooklyn in the upper harbor:

This island has had many lives: colonial fort, Civil War fort, Coast Guard base, and, most recently, National Park. No one lives on the island now, so they have converted a lot of the non-historic buildings into artist space as well as created an outpost of the Children's Museum. This also means that the car is essentially car free, so it's a biker's paradise. The weather was supposed to be perfect for being outside, so I figured let's do it!

Here I am waiting inside the ferry terminal. We got to the terminal building at 11--30 minutes before we were supposed to get there, an hour before the 12noon ferry we were going to take, and 90 minutes before the 12:30 ferry we ended up going on.

They started boarding the ferry 15 minutes before departure. While we were parked there I got some nice pictures of the city on a surprisingly beautiful day. Here is the view from the ferry looking at Brooklyn Heights, with the Water Taxi creeping into the picture. (The row of trees at the base of the buildings are the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.)

This is a first for See sRod Run: a picture of Wifey!

This one is looking at the building we just came out of. The Governors Island ferry building is one of my favorites in the whole city.

Here's the sconce from the picture above in detail. Pretty cool.

After enjoying the breeze for a bit at the terminal we pulled out from the dock.

This is an action shot looking at the South Street Heliport. That's the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. In the mid-ground is some badass in a helicopter that is probably destined for JFK Airport in eight minutes (by car it takes about 45 minutes, without traffic).

We also caught the 12:30 Staten Island ferry departing from South Ferry.

Here's the view of Manhattan as we closed in on Governors Island (the huge ferry ride lasted about 10 minutes). Battery Park is the green area to the left.

Once we got on the island we rented bikes. I realized quickly that it has been well over a decade since I had been on a non-stationary bike. I looked like a damn fool on that bike for the first couple miles. (Sorry, no pictures of that, looking like a fool while on a bike is not conducive to picture taking.)

On the southern tip of the island we set up camp/grabbed a pinic table and started eating. Here's the view from the table. Our bikes in front of the Statue of Liberty.

Unknown to me at the time (I found out later while watching the news the next day) they were celebrating the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's voyage up the Hudson into the wild of upstate New York by having historical ships replicate his trip. Here's one of the ships.

This next picture has some special significance. If you look just left of the trunk of the tree you see a faint blue tower in the background. See it? That is the Verrazano Bridge--the starting point for the NYC Marathon. There is a good chance that the next time I see that bridge I will be toeing the starting line of the Marathon.

Here's Wifey and I enjoying one of the many free hammocks in the park for the public to enjoy.

Here I am showing off my farmer's tan and the spinner form my birthday present. We didn't get to play because they closed the park. Boo!

Wifey and I getting ready to ride back to the ferry dock.

The view up the promenade to the fort with downtown in the background.

Two of our friends going bakc to the ferry with us. Due to an odd circumstance only one of them got a bike at the end fo the day.

On the ferry going back to the city. Turns out there was a Jazz festival going on all day at Governors Island and they encouraged people to dress up in clothign fromt he jazz age. Here's a couple that went all out. And what's he lookign at in his hands? A Blackberry.

Forward to Sunday, my actual birthday. Wifey snapped a picture of me just before I headed out for a speedier than anticipated five mile run on the Central Park trails.

Finally--in an inpromptu tribute to Jess, who has spent eight months off the bottle--we visited the new beer garden in our hood (yes, be jealous peoples, we have two giant beer gardens here in Astoria).

I don't feel like writing

I really don't. It's been about a week since I've posted and really, I have nothing to say. I've been in a blah mood lately between work and home being particularly stressful lately. Running hasn't been too interesting since I'm in a maintenance month.

I spent a good chuck of tonight trying to write one post (not this one) and didn't get very far before I threw in the towel.

Eh, I hoping inspiratioin decides to visit me over the weekend.