The Return Of Mars Blackmon

 "I'm not looking for a clearer conscience, peace of mind after what I've been through and before we talk of any repentance try walking in my shoes, try walking in my shoes you'd stumble in my footsteps keep the same appointments I've kept if you try walking in my shoes, try walking in my shoes"

Walking In My Shoes-Depeche Mode

New week,new runners, new highs......same auld Fenian bollix......just another week of Kevinrunningfree...

Monday July 21st A chance to take advantage of a dip in the bastard humidity this week and make inroads into my July mileage, traditionally a tough month for me two years ago I logged 51 miles  last year 48 miles I came into the week on 37 miles.....

86 degrees but more importantly only 42% humidity as I looked to get a 5 miler in thus far I was 0 for 9 since resuming hostilities  w/ training two weeks ago, the humidity had cost me last week but now I had a chance to get through that barrier and thankfully I did

The last mile wasn't pretty by any standards but I'd swop style points for  that fifth and final mile and got it today........ onwards and upwards........

Tuesday July 22nd 85 degrees and 41% humidity as I logged back to back 5 miles for the first time since June 2nd/3rd

The psychological barrier of yesterday lifted off me helped I'm sure, once I could prove to myself I could do it once there was no reason I couldn't do it again....yes the conditions helped but the inner belief I could do it was a big plus......and for those of you playing a long at home my monthly mileage was now up to 47 miles.........

Wednesday July 23rd 86 degrees 42% humidity again as I logged a third 5 miler and for only the 4th time this year got above 50 miles{76 in February, 78 in March,65 in April}

I had hoped June was going to be the month I laid foundations........as is my won't a day late and a dollar short but feck it better late than never, two years ago off the back of a 51 mile month in July I logged  103 in August,100 in September,87 in October,101 in November b4 148 in December......not so much last year when I needed  it in heading into Dublin but maybe the bitter disappointment of that is the driving force this year heading into Philadelphia and the 40th anniversary of my marathon debut

Thursday July 24th,my luck ran out w/ the weather today 87 degrees but 49% humidity, I knew at 1.5 miles "I didn't have it over 5 miles today" and had to settle for 3 miles,glass half full I'm getting out there and putting the miles in and w/a week to go I now have 55 miles, can July be my best month to date....?

Saturday July 26th the fact I  not only got out on a Saturday but also waited it out till 2pm when the humidity was less oppressive underlines my desire to get in marathon shape{17 weeks  and counting} Full disclosure I would have liked 10 miles but I know I'm not there yet 2 weeks ago I managed a ropey 5 miler that was probably highly generous on my part, the final mile was stop/start 10.28 pace,Sunday  I had to settle for 4 miles over 2.5 miles/1.5 miles so the fact I got a solid 6 miles in at 54.56.7 off 9.09 is a major feather in my cap

I hadn't realized the Schuylkill  River Trail extension beyond Christian St linking the Schuylkill Trail to Grays Ferry had opened in mid May, this will be a game changer moving forward as I can cut out the 2 miles from my front door to the South Street bridge now and cut across West Philly to the start of the trail in  Grays Ferry and be on the trail

For the record at 2pm it was 87 degrees and 56% humidity.....crazy to think at 8am it was 78 degrees  but 86%.....but hey kids " global warming doesn't exist, it's fake science and the planet is NOT heating up each year..........me hole!

Big shout out to the new runners I broke in this week, I'm still a few miles shy of a seasons best of 28 miles per week but I feel I'm closing in on that,at best next week I'm looking at 28 miles { 4 times 5 miles Monday-Thursday 8 miles on Saturday} but IF I can do that next week and the humidity doesn't bollix me the week after I could be looking at 30 miles.......like the man once said"money I'm telling ya....it's the shoes"......

Perspiration,Desperation,Determination,RebelNation

 "When my time's at an ending when my days are no more bury me w/ my hurley by the river Dissour"

Killeagh Kingfishr

A frustrating week to say the least, fecking heat and humidity took a toll on my week and the tin lid on it Cork got blown out in the second half of the All Ireland Hurling Final on Sunday ......not a good week to be a rebel........

Monday July 14th looking to build on last weeks 5 day 21 mile week the hope/plan was to up my lunchtime 4 milers to 5s........mother nature had other plans

88 degrees and 63% humidity coupled w/ still feeling the effects of Saturdays 20 and a half hour day to and from New York City to catch The 2 Johnnies in concert meant I struggled to  log 4 miles..........little did I know this was a precursor to the rest of my week.......

Tuesday July 15th 88 degrees and 64% humidity this time time I managed to go 4.5 miles out and back up the Ben Franklin Parkway and along the Schuylkill River Trail/Kelly Drive

I hate the .5 on a run it always smacks of "unfinished business", glass half full I got an extra .5 in today that puts me .5 closer to my target of 5 miles.....glass half empty I need to tack on an extra .5 somewhere this week to round things up......alas it wouldn't be on Wednesday.......

I opted out of a run Wednesday I was off from work after the Hozier show over in Camden, I learnt the hard way last August after seeing Springsteen at Citizen Bank Park that a long nite on my feet at a summer gig tends to drain my batteries so I skipped Wednesday w/ the plan that if I could go long on Saturday maybe I could tack on an easy/recovery 4-5 milers Sunday to make up for it........the best laid plans of mice and men as they say........

Thursday July 17th......so the good news was the humidity had dropped to  a semi respectable 56%......the bad news was it was 92 degrees at 2pm when I ran and I had to pull the plug on this one at 3.5 miles.....at least now I was at a round figure of 12 miles for the week, could I push the envelope on Saturday and  squeeze out an 8 miler and then tack on an extra 4 miles on Sunday?..........could I fuck...........

Sunday July 20th Saturday never materialized,my arse was draggin' from work on Friday.....at the risk of going off on a diatribe about work let's just say recently my mantra ( the one I can print!!!!!) has been " why have a Dog if you're gonna fuckin' bark for it????" I got ran ragged Friday and that coupled w/ heat and humidity all-day  Saturday meant any hopes of a long run rested w/ Sunday and that meant no 5 day week this week

The less said about the Hurling Final the better, up by  6 at the half we were 35 mins away from ending a 20 year drought in Cork to bring the Liam  MacCarthy back  to the Leeside, Tipp outscored us 3.14 to .02 to win 3.27-1.18 and the fact I'm sat here typing my blog and not watching my beloved "Sunday Game" as I can't bring myself to relive the horror show that second half was should tell you how much it sickens my hole........I do know two lads from Cahir and Roscea {The 2 Johnnies}who are fuckin' delighted right now......if we had to lose to someone it might as well be Tipp

As for my run another struggle 87 degrees and 67% humidity at 1pm{ it wasn't any better at 7-8am when I woke up otherwise I'd have had a crack at it, I barely managed a 4 miler split between 2.5 miles and then another 1.5 miles

A 4 day/16 mile week....small potatos in the general scheme of things but it's another 4 days and 16 miles under my belt in two weeks i've logged 37 miles .....in May and June combined I only logged 39 miles so that's some cold comfort on a otherwise frustrating day/week

Much like my beloved Cork I will rebound it will be a tough end to their summer as they return to their clubs to head into the Fall and see out the club season,December will arrive b4 they know it and the drive for the 26 season will resume for me I need to put this week behind me and get after it tomorrow, the weather looks like it will be  on my side during the week,I'll tackle that b4 worrying what the weekend and the prospect of a long run holds

Final word on Cork, there will be the inevitable slaggin' and bandwagon jumping the next few days, weeks months......for me I am the son of a proud Corkman,I was Cork Hurling fan when I woke up and I'll be a Cork Hurling fan when I go to bed.....and when the sun rises I'll still be a proud Cork Hurling fan.....Rebels Abu!!!!!!

Each Tinker Has His Own Way Of Dancing

 ''It's not the shade, we should get past it,it's the light and it's the obstacle that cast it it's the heat that drives the light it's the fire that ignites it's not the waking,it's the rising"

Nina Cried Power-Hozier

So apologies for the lack of blogging.....as usual due to a lack of running, sad to say the month of May only produced 18 miles.....10 of which were at Broad Street and then June the month I was going to put down serious base heading into the summer only yielded 21 miles, so the time honoured issue" if not now when" came to the fore as of the week ending July 6th I was looking at 7 weeks to Philly 10k the unofficial start to my Fall road race season,11 weeks to PDR a clear idea of what shape your in heading into October/November races and 20 weeks to the Philadelphia Marathon,this Falls "Holy Grail" so no better time than now to knuckle down and  start the process that has been my bread and butter the last several years......no ye can't "teach  an auld dog new tricks" but ye can show him how to improve on what he knows........

Monday July 7th I knew jumping back in at 5 miles was wishful thinking so I set myself 4 miles sans Garmin, time was not an issue reestablishing good training habits and returning to a system was, of course it's July so it was 89 degrees and 78% humidity and off a three week layoff it was no surprise my lungs felt like they were on fire by a mile.......

I could've turned at the mile and eased my way back in w/ 2 miles......to be honest 2 miles didn't seem worth the effort and when I reached Lloyd Hall at the start of Boathouse Row at 1.5 miles a turnaround for 3 miles was an option.......I kept going to the 2 mile mark just beyond the last of the houses on Boathouse Row, it was evident not long after making the turn that 4 miles might've been too much to ask for so I had to settle for 3.5 miles......but it was a start

Tuesday July 8th Frankly if I could run on a day like today 94 degrees I can run any day.......it did help it was only 49% humidity and while I wouldn't have gotten many if any style points for the final mile I did grind out and log 4 miles, back to back runs since the first week of June.......from little acorns big trees grow so they say......

Wednesday July 9th 88 degrees and 53% humidity and a much better 4 miles today.....little by little I feel it's getting there,b4 my mid season lull I had put in a body of work and w/ only three weeks off I haven't lost all my gains, at the end of June last year I'd logged a respectable 500 miles(cue The Proclaimers!!!} this year only 282 but if things go to plan September October I could be looking at some serious miles come December 31st, July is now the month to lay foundations and hope August isn't too humid so that I can kick on

Thursday July 10th Took advantage of 80 degrees and 71% humidity and tacked on the extra half mile from Monday so I didn't have it hanging over me going into Saturdays run when I knew the humidity was going to be fierce, also w/one eye on returning to  lunchtime 5 mile runs next week this 4.5 mile run felt like a bridge to that,in the opening week of June I logged 4 days back to back b4 falling on my hole on Saturday so I wasn't getting carried away just yet

Saturday July 12th, looking at the big picture I know that getting back into the habit/routine of Saturday running is clutch so I made a point of getting my arse out of bed by 7am to run, it wasn't till post run that I discovered outside of two Saturday races his was my lone Saturday run.....maybe I blew off Saturdays due to a heavy GAA schedule but given that we're down to the business end  of the Provincial season I don't have that excuse to hide behind plus as I stated earlier it's''piss or get off the pot time"

Christ! a modest 76 degrees but 90% humidity........what I wouldn't have given for it to be the other way around.....no such luck, since I wasn't 100% sure where the 3 mile mark would be I wore my Garmin hence why ye're getting mile splits 8.27 for the opening mile time wasn't an issue I just wanted 6 miles    8.46 for mile 2 and I could feel the sweat bouncing off of me, at this point I was grateful for the breeze coming off of the Schuylkill

9.30 at the turnaround and I knew I was in trouble,not ashamed to say I walked back up the on/off to South Street bridge, at this stage 6 miles felt like wishful thinking,9.24 for mile 4 and I think I already knew it was going to be a 5 miler.....the final mile was as ugly as sin, stop/start, walk/run as was reflected by the 10.28 mile splits.....yeah it was that ugly!!!

46.34.5 off 9.19 mile pace, far from pretty but g'wan to fuck it was 90% humidity......hopefully as the weeks go by the humidity goes down the mileage goes up and the speed/pace improves

First 5 day week in 12 weeks and remarkably as many  miles in 5 days as the entire month of June,don't call it a comeback.....(sorry LL Cool J!!) more of its it's not the waking its the rising.....