Mixed Emotions

"Dear darling,you were right about them all when my luck went bad they never came around or called

That's alright cause I don't miss them anyhow but it gets chilly over here sometimes it's a cold part of town"

Cold Part Of Town-Concrete Blonde

Finally a chance to run today.....even if it meant not watching the Spurs Chelski game live,oh well can't have it all I guess!!!
Spurs drew 1.1 which keeps us third and after a few days of kicking my heals I was able to get out and run a 10 miler.
By virtue of getting out of work 45 mins earlier I was able to get my run in during daylight which at this time of year is always a bonus,over the next few days {Friday thro Tuesday} I'll be able to keep doing that.

Today is the official start of Winter.....boo!!!!!! three months of crap weather and potential missed training runs but it's also Winter Solstice which means little by little it'll begin to get lighter in the evenings.....yea!!!! I'm sure for the first couple of weeks it'll hardly be noticeable but it's nice to know sunset will begin to edge it's way back from 4.39pm.

Frankly Kids,I'd Rather Starve

Any day that sees me dial up "A Slight Case Of Overbombing" by the awesome Sisters Of Mercy usually means I'm in a spit nails,shit bullets,walk thro walls mood...........

Another training day lost to the rain,as the angst and anger levels begin to hit critical I need to get out and run and soon,orange is not NOT my colour and roadside trash pick up detail is not on my top ten list of favourite things to do but if something doesn't give soon there's a distinct possibility I'll kill someone here at work!!!!!!

The "social event of the year" was today.....the annual storeroom holiday party.....YEA!!! I should be honoured that this year I was actually invited since last year the powers that be saw fit to exclude me......yep I got excluded from my own departments holiday party........you know you're bad arse when that happens!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Frankly nothing screams ambiance like a party in storeroom below street level w/ no windows and dusty as fuck but I'm gobsmacked at the work ethic here,I've been fighting for weeks to have space in the back of the storeroom for the skids I take down every morning......now lo and behold this morning skids have been straighten up,consolidated and even moved......to accommodate a table for the food.........are you shitting me!!!!!!
When Joe who puts the skids away is off the skids sit for days and it's like pulling teeth to get stock put away......not this morning!!! all hands on deck putting stock away,throwing out empty boxes etc........where's this level of commitment the rest of the year???????

Needless to say I didn't join the festivities at lunch time,I'm here to work,after all aren't we here to provide patient care not stuff our faces w/ food and stand around all day talking shit????????

Substituting Toothache W/ Heartache

"Hopelessly adrift in the eyes of the ghost again down on my knees and my hands in the air again
Pushing my face in the memory of you again,but I never know if it's real never know how I wanted to feel
Never quite said what I wanted to say to you,never quite managed the words to explain to you
Never quite knew how to make them believable,and now that time has gone another time undone
Hopelessly fighting the devil futility feeling the monster climb deeper inside of me feeling him gnawing away hungrily
I'll never lose this pain,never dream of you again"

Untitled-The Cure

I knew looking at the seven day weather forecast on Sunday that there was major potential for losing days to the rain this week,having nixed yesterday due to my oral surgery and now losing today to the rain I can kiss goodbye to a 50 mile week.

I had hoped to run Monday thro Friday and rest Saturday and Sunday b4 going to New York next Monday to run the 1,500m at The Armory,it looks like I'll be lacing them up on the weekend now we'll just have to see what the next couple of days bring in terms of what mileage I can get now for the week.

Today should be my 25th wedding anniversary w/ Erica,sadly it isn't because I pissed my marriage away,I always say Erica and I were guilty of "being in love w/ being in love"and not in love w/ one another all those years ago, we were young and probably inexperienced to be married but I also know I have to own the lions share of the blame for our marriage falling apart,we had so many hurdles and obstacles to overcome from when we first met in London in Jan 85 that by the time we got here to Philly in late October 87 things were already over between us.

I've had ample time since our separation and subsequent divorce to realize how badly I messed things up w/ Erica,my own parents separated when I was quite young and frankly you couldn't have put Eileen and Kevin in the same room unless you posted the National Guard outside in the beginning but as time evolved they not only settled their considerable differences but became very good friends I always wanted that for Erica and I,sadly that hasn't happened and isn't likely to and I have to own some major guilt to things I did and said while we were together that has meant we've sailed separate oceans since our separation and divorce.

I don't blame Erica's parents for "running interference" when I've attempted to contact her in the past,the Kevin they knew and had the misfortune to have as a son in law wasn't worth the time of day but I always hoped Erica would know I was genuinely sorry for the things I did and said back in the bad old days when I drank,I don't want forgiveness I just want her to know how deeply sorry I am for the terrible way I behaved back then,I can say w/ my hand on my heart that I hope whatever Erica did w/ her life after our divorce I hope she's happy,knowing that would ease my conscience somewhat.

So that's it for major Erica anniversaries I always knew this year would be a tough one 25 years since she moved from Philly to London to live w/ me,25 years since we got engaged in Greenwich on her 21st b'day and 25 years since we got married,there are dozens of Erica Songs that remind me of her,Cinderella's "Don't Know What You've Got Till It's Gone"might just be the one that says it all.......

Open Up,Say Agh!

Nothing like a little lunch time oral surgery to remove a upper wisdom tooth to get your week off to a rip roaring start!!!
I'd known for a few days there was an issue w/ my tooth but I was hoping it would go away.....fat chance of that, on Saturday I took a mouthful of hot tea and almost went into orbit,several hours later I took a mouthful of Hawaiian Punch and the same thing happened so I knew I was on borrowed time w/ it,the final straw was during my repeats yesterday when the cold air hit my tooth and I felt like I'd copped a right hander off Floyd Mayweather!!!!!!

I knew if I didn't act quickly today I might miss the boat in terms of getting this treated, Thursday and Friday I'm holding the fort down on the dock by my lonesome and our Dental department is closed till after New Years so it was either get it taken care of today or keep being in pain till Jan 4th.
Following an examination and xray it was revealed it was my upper left wisdom tooth,I elected to have it pulled and w/in 20 mins it was over,that's all four wisdom teeth gone.

Needless to say three hours after oral surgery I wasn't really in the best shape to run so I elected to sit today out w/ every intention of getting out there tomorrow,the best medicine I could ask for is my girl Florence Welch performing on VH1 Diva's tonite from New York so that's my evening.

The Proverbial Game Of Two Halves

Final repeat before the season opener at The Armory on December 26th but not my final scheduled interval session of the year,hoping to get to Temple's track on New Years Eve for a second 5x1,000m b4 heading into 2012.
If yesterday morning hadn't prepped me for how brisk it was going to be at 10am nothing would,and the trusty billboard in the Fresh Grocer parking lot revealed 30 degrees.......BER!!!!

A few hardy souls on the track when I got there just after 10.30am as I warmed up for a mile,while I was content to shed my hoodie and warm up bottoms come repeat time the hat and gloves were staying put,I'm not sure I could've operated the buttons on my new stop watch had I shed the gloves!!!
So 8x800m,I'm not 100% sure an 800m race indoors is on my schedule,right now looking at my tentative schedule{which is always subject to change}nor am I sure if I'll race the 800m at Indoor Nationals in Bloomington in March,I can always use my 2.06 seed time from Feb at The Armory if need be but irregardless of there being or not being an 800m race 800m repeats would benefit my 1,500m/mile races so I figured have at it!!
I felt 2.35 was a legit baseline to work off of starting out,2.40 felt too soft and too low to set the bar for starters.

#1 800m 1.16-1.15-2.31.5. Not a bad start if I say so myself but I knew I had to brace myself for the wind down the back straight coming off the bottom turn.

#2 800m 1.18-1.16-2.34.1. Guilty of going to sleep mentally on the opening lap,need to be turned on to the repeat fundamentals{focus,knee lift,leg turnover,working the arms}from the get go.

#3 800m 1.17-1.16-2.33.8 If nothing else I'd been consistent w/ my pacing thus far,but w/ only three down and five to go a tad premature to breaking my hand patting myself on the back.

#4 800m 1.17-1.1.17-2.34.5. Half way there,this would be when the decision to go for 8x800m and not 6x800m would raise it's self to the surface.......

#5 800m 1.17-1.20-2.37.2. Bollocks!!!! the combination of the wind,fatigue beginning to set in and working hard to stay 100% focused caught up w/ me,I was in this for the long haul,if the remaining 3 800s had to be taken one at a time,one lap at a time fine,no raising the white flag now and pussing out at 6

#6 800m 1.18-1.20-2.38.4. The giant Grand Piano had been delivered and seemed to nestled on my back on the second lap,I like a sing song like the next person but could we at least wait till I was done w/ the repeats????

#7 800m 1.20-1.19-2.39.1. Good to know the brain was able to respond to an opening 1.20 and allow me to dredge up a 1.19 if I'm going down I'm going down swinging!!!!!

#8 800m 1.18-1.16-2.34.9. Yea! Good to see the fighting spirit is still intact,I'll take five out of eight at sub 2.35. for my 8x800m debut.

Like the opening 5x1,000m and 4x1mile repeats today won't put the world on notice but it's an encouraging start and hopefully over the coming weeks and months I'll greatly improve on all three of my repeats as I get ready to launch an all out offensive heading into the 2012 season.
Nice to be back at 50 miles for the week again,let's see if that can continue.

I Guess That's Why They're Called Coldplay

For an easy day I crammed a lot into it!!!
Up by 7am to go stand in line at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philly to score Coldplay tix for their July 6th show.
Man it was cold down there this morning,I think December 17th is probably the latest I've ever stood in line for tix,talk about brass monkeys.......fuckin ada!!!!!
Anywho it was worth it I secured tix for me and my mate Pete to see Chris Martin and co in July,though I'm not jazzed at dropping $80 a ticket for the 200 level but there you go,guess I should be grateful for scoring tix at all I guess yesterdays pre sale went so well they added a second show last nite b4 the tix went on sale today,this will be my 5th Coldplay show in 8 years.

Pleasant and unexpected surprise on the way home,ran into my old Bell Captain from my bellman days at The Bellevue and also my boss when I worked part time at the Wells Fargo Center in it's first two years Mark.
It's funny cos I had just recanted a classic bellman story to one of my housemates the other day and then bang! I happened to run into Mark for the first time in maybe threeteen years,hopefully we can stay in touch.

Easy 10 miler a little after 1pm,thankfully it had warmed up a lot since 8am when I was waiting in line for Coldplay tix,I have some leaway w/ my schedule tomorrow as the Spurs Sunderland game isn't being shown till 5pm so I can either crank out my 8x800m repeats mid morning or early afternoon and still watch the game.

One Year W/ The Love Cat

No run today as I took a well earned rest day having notched 50 miles in the last six days,I will be back at it tomorrow w/ a 10 miler b4 hitting the track on Sunday for 8x800m repeats which will put me back at 50 mpw somewhere I've fallen short of the past 2 weeks.
My toe looks a lot better today not as swollen,not as red and purple,hopefully getting up on my toes during the 800m repeats on Sunday won't be an issue,the original plan was that yesterday would've been a 6 miler w/ repeats tomorrow and a 12 miler on Sunday,however w/ Coldplay tickets going on sale tomorrow at 10am I had to have a hasty rethink of my schedule,ergo a third week of Sunday repeats.

So it's a whole year since I adopted Precious,trust me the last thing I expected when I woke up on Dec 16th 2010 was adopting a 4 month old kitten who'd been left out in the freezing cold,if one of my house mates hadn't found her running around outside in sub zero temps I doubt she'd have survived,Terry has a cat and wasn't looking to keep the stray kitten and I had Hobbes so I really wasn't planning on keeping the "strange bundle of fur" that fitted in the palm of my hand but she grew on me and frankly the notion of putting her in a shelter or up for adoption didn't cut it w/ me so I bit the bullet and kept her......Hobbes was not best pleased 4 nites later when I first brought Precious into my room but in time came to accept the "little kittie" who's not so little any more!!!
For a cat who once sat in the palm of my hand she's become quite the handful {as if her 26 hour shut in the other nite didn't perfectly illustrate!!!!} but I wouldn't trade her in for the world.
I'm often asked why I named her Precious? simply because that first nite I sat on the living room steps w/ her in the palm of my hand I thought she was the most precious thing I'd ever seen,I still do but if I adopted her this December and not last December I'm reasonably confident she'd have been named Florence after Florence Welch of Florence & The Machine,it's ironic I'm sitting here blogging this w/ Precious on my lap and "Ceremonials" on my pc........