Moving The Soddin Goalposts

Ah that newly aquired time honoured post Thanksgiving tradition the Brandywine XC 5K race.
I came in w/ slightly deminished expectations today given what I,ve lost in training over the past three weeks but rather than run up the white flag{NEVER!}I sought a different approach to the race,rather than my usual all out blitzkrieg from the gun I opted to take it out easy for the opening half of the race and once Maintainence Hill had been negoiated try to pick up the pace over the final 1 and a 1/2 miles.
From the gun I worked my way up to 10th as GPTC held 4th{Chuck}5th{Bob}and 8th{Jeff},after the first turn on the course I moved upto 8th and then 6th as the Blue and Red procession now went 4th thro 7th.
5.36 at the opening mile,I never had a pace goal in mind but along the creek Jeff and one other runner went by me,no need to panic,w/ the always uncompromising Maintainence Hill ahead I knew to hold my ground till the downhill.
As the first downhill presented it,s self I had company Brian O Driscoll moved along side me,Brian and I have had some great road race battles over the years so I was all too aware of his credentials.
12.11 at mile two a 6.35 mile I had a 2 second lead on Brian,it was important to retain 8th spot.....or so I thought!!!
Working off the slight uphill I tried to put some distance between Brian and me but he wasn,t going away w/out a fight and when he almost drew along side me as we were a quarter of the way into the long straight away alongside route 92 I found a second gear and put daylight between myself and him for good this time.
Jeff and his shadow were too far ahead of me to make any inroads it was now a matter of me verses the clock,pre race I,d said if I could go sub 19 mins for the first time ever here I,d be happy,alas it wasn,t to be,19.02.22 and 8th overall,my best ever finish here and my fastest ever time.
The misery than began to pile up,in 06 my team mate Adam finished 9th and just missed out on the prize money that only went 8 deep,last year I finished 9th and just missed out HOWEVER the organizers this year opted to only go 7th deep so yet again I got fecked out of prize money,and in keeping w/ three of the previous four years no luck getting my race tag pulled out in the post race drawing for numerous running apparel,gift certificates or gold watches,ah no big but I won,t deny the prize money issue left a bad taste in my mouth,granted 8th might,ve only been worth $10 but $10 is $10 especially when you,re paying $20 to enter in the first place.
Rather than dwell on the negative I chose to focus on the positives,a good race a course pr,and time spent w/ my team mates,we my not be the best team in the Mid Atlantic division but we have the best team mates a runner could ask for.
Eight miles for the day puts me at 28 for the week w/ my track workout w/ the relay squad on tap manana,it feels like SS Top Cat has righted it,s self,no longer taking on water and moving full steam ahead,keeping one eye out for icebergs and rough seas....eye eye captain!

Heavy Words So Lightly Thrown

Ok so I didn,t run yesterday,in all honesty I didn,t feel like treking all the way up to St Joe,s and also the prospect of giving up my first compleat day to myself in god knows how long was too great a temptation,besides I,m pulling double duty this weekend between the xc race at Brandywine Sat and a trackwork Sun so I needed to factor in a rest day either yesterday or today,since today saw me have to work then the very real prospect of an all too rare day at home when I didn,t have to leave the house{a fuck off day as I love to refer to them,I stay indoors and fuck off everything that needs to be done outside!!!}was too great to turn down.
After a bored shitless day at work...........don,t get me wrong after the previous two weeks I,ve had a slow non eventful 9 hour shift was right up my street and thanks to ye olde internet all my xmas shopping is now done I was happy to get out and run tonite,an easy 5 miler.
For a while today I thought this blog entry might end up as a PSA for Alzheimers disease,it,s been three weeks since my last race and I,d almost forgotten that feeling the day leading upto a race,it reminds me of an old Calvin and Hobbes strip when Calvin antagonizes Hobbes into a full fledged attack and a battered Calvin laments how tigers never forget their killer instincts,that,s how I feel,coiled and ready to pounce come race time tomorrow morning at 10.50am.
Tomorrow will be my 4th Brandywine XC 5K,each year I always say this and the NYRRC XC 5K are the two xc races I,d like to be in top xc shape to run,three weeks ago I was in fine fettle for the Van Cortlandt Park race,I only hope my two week blip in training won,t hinder me tomorrow,each year I,ve improved in my performances,three years ago coming off a runners up spot at the Forbidden Drive Turkey Trot 5 miler two days earlier I had my arse handed to me on a plate in this race,15th in 19.14.73,the second half was painful!!!,in 06 I finished 13th in 20.04.81,50 seconds slower but two places better,last year I ran my best ever race here 9th in 19.10.66. and if memory serves me well earnt a 8th or 9th spot in my Top Ten races of 07,we,ll see what tomorrow brings.
In a week when I,ve gotten back to basics and not allowed work to dictate my day to day exsistance it,s ironic that I should choose The Smiths as my lyrical inspiration,often associated w/ all things melancoly it,s funny I should site them as inspiration in a week that saw me return to my happy go lucky,laughing joking persona but a classic track off their debut album"Hatful Of Hollow" was very much my soundtrack for the day.
"All men have secrets and here is mine so let it be known,for we have been through hell and high tide I think I can depend on you.
And yet you start to recoil,heavy words so lightly thrown but still I,d leap in front of a flying bullet for you"

Fences Mended,Run Ran,List Checked

I took the last of my transatlantic fence mending phone calls this evening,for the time being all,s well w/in the Thomson,Roche,Coan,Brewster,Forde clans,how long it lasts is anybodys guess,if we get through Xmas /New Year I,ll be impressed.
Since another transatlantic phonecall was on tap tonite a trip to Franklin Field wasn,t,and besides there was no guarantee Franklin Field would be open,in fairness I wouldn,t have a problem w/ them closing the track early the nite b4 a holiday,it,s Thanksgiving a family holiday when families sould be together,in a ironic twist of fate even though my family is 3,500 miles away and don,t celebrate Thanksgiving I took steps this week to get close to them and allow them to get close to me,who knows there may be hope for me yet,I even wished co workers and delivery drivers a Happy Thanksgiving today.....and meant it.
My run was another confidence booster,the past few days have seen me get back to basics,proper sleep,proper nutrition has afforded me the energy to get out there and run dispite continuing to have to do the work load of two by my lonesome,a refined attitude at work has meant me not leaving my job engulfed in a sea of red mist where I can hardly see straight or congregate verbs and while I,ve lacked speed work for three weeks I feel I,m ready to return to the track tomorrow morning to have at it over 8x200m repeats.
Ok I,m not the poster child for any holiday muchless Thanksgiving but it,d be remiss of me not to think of things I,m thankful for this Thanksgiving so here,s my top ten list of what I,m thankful for this Thanksgiving.
10,Clark Park for providing a nearby location for my 5 mile runs
9,The prospect of a new place to live b4 years end
8,Music for soothing the savage beast w/in me
7,Harry Redknapp for reserecting the fortunes of my beloved Spurs
6,The prospect of three months of my job running better w/out The Deacon knawlsing it up
5,A friggin day off tomorrow
4,Having an ultra cool boss
3,Being able to run as well as I do
2,My"Girl Tuesday"for everything she brings into my life
1,Top neurosurgeons at Einstein for saving my best friends life
I spoke to Chris for the first time since he left the hospital 3 weeks ago,all things considered he seems to be doing well,no word on when he,ll be back but I,m just happy to hear from him and that he,s feeling better.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Who We Be

"My mother,my father,I love em,I hate em,wish to God I didn,t have em,but I thank God that he made them"
"Who We Be" DMX
It felt like the ideal set of lyrics given the subject matter,although just like I paraphrased w/ Chuck D yesterday today I felt that my family were like DMX,S mother and father.
Two weeks ago when it began to go pear shaped for me I felt w/ the notable exception of my brother aka "Our Kid"my family ran for the high ground,supossedly you can count on family in a crisis.................nobody told my family evidently but rather than flog a dead horse,when they began to gravitate back into orbit rather than be petulant and shun them I chose to keep the lines of communication open even at the expence of much wanted repeat workouts.
W/ fences mended I headed out to Clark Park for an easy 5 miler,again I felt strong at the end of the run,another encouraging sign as I ,ve now put three back to back to back 5 milers in since Sunday,I,ll look for a fourth tomorrow,I have one more transatlantic fence to mend otherwise a trip to the track would,ve been on the cards,we,ll save that for Thursday morning.

Transatlantic.

Oi! at the very least work was an easy day....the cheque however is very much in the mail I fear for manana and Wednesday,we,ll see how well I stick to my"for who,for what"attitude then!!
I had hoped to hit the track for 200m repeats today and then 400m repeats Wednesday......fate it seemed had other ideas!!
I can try to switch up my rotation to Tue/Thur.................and please b4 anyone says "but TC what about Thanksgiving?"let me state for the record I an NOT the poster child for the holidays......let me take it one step further and paraphrase how Chuck D felt about Elvis in"Fight The Power""it never meant shit to me"
I have a big race two days after Thanksgiving,it,s not like I can pig out so I,ll eat lite that day,besides I don,t do traditional the whole big Turkey meal don,t phase me atall.
My easy 5 was rewarding in the respect that unlike Fri and yesterday I wasn,t huffin and puffin at the end,hopefully my conditioning is working it,s way back to where it was pre shit hitting the fan!!!
It also helps I,m eating and sleeping properly,I said at the tail end of last week I was sick of my running being effected by work,if a thicker skin,a hard hat,protective cup and a care a little less attitude are needed to faciliate that so be it.
We,ll see if transatlantic phonecalls bollocks up my plans for a repeat workout tomorrow.

A New Direction

In a week I saw more turmoil on my job than I cared for I ended the week on two good notes,a Spurs win and more importantly a training run.
Granted I didn,t get out till 3.30pm but I got out there to run,that,s what matters,I almost blew it off but somewhere in the back of my mind I could hear the disaproving voice of my late father telling me to"cop myself on",it,s bad enough I,ve failed to do a repeat workout in two weeks but last week I only managed 3 5 mile runs and this week was only 4 but glass half full it,s a step up on last week and that,s the momentum I aim to build on going into the final two xc races of the season.
Granted I may have to alter my tactics for Saturdays always challenging Brandywine XC 5K to compensate for the dip in conditioning these past two weeks has caused but I feel ready to get back to do what I do very well,be ruthless and uncompromising in training so I can be ruthless and and uncompromising come race day.
As is becoming my wont these days I,ll leave the final words w/ Mike Peters,not an ALARM song but from Mike,s solo career b4 resurecting THE ALARM in 03.
"I set about the systematic destruction of the world I built up,I set about the systematic destruction,the deconstruction,from new emotion,a new reaction,a new location,a new vocation,from new destruction comes new creation"
Ground Zero

Lord Of The Rings Aint The Only Trilogy Ya Know!

Oi vay!I didn,t get out to run period on Thursday,could,ve been something to do w/ getting to work at 6.25am and not leaving till 4.50pm....ya think???
And that dear readers is where I,ve drawn the third and I hope final line in the sand,work has for all intense and purposes been feckin up not only my life but also my running............this cannot continue,two people left my loading dock w/ hurt feelings yesterday,the former had it coming for eight years and can whistle dixie for all I care,the latter I was sorry to see leave in tears but frankly her reaction to my reaction brought this on going Greek tragedy to a head.
Having come to terms w/ the whole "My Girl Tuesday" situation and come to terms w/ the whole"La Famalia"situation I now feel duty bound to do like wise w/ work,my brother always says"it,s great you care about your job but they aint giving out medals for it so why should you care as much as you do?"and you know what.....he,s feckin a right!!
I bust my gut for what?the old Ricky Waters"For who for what"mindset seems correct,taking it another step forward the classic line fron John Bender in my all time favourite movie "The Breakfast Club" also seems appropriate"how comes Andrew gets to get up?if Andrew gets up we,ll all get up,it,ll be anarchy.....it,s out of my hands",coupled w/"screws fall out all the time,we live in an imperfect world"sum up any job,there aint enough tea in China,sand in Arabia,snow in Siberia or zeros on my pay cheque for me to continue giving my heart and soul to and job that not only dosen,t care but continues to reach inside of me and yanking more of my heart and soul and guts out w/out ever putting anything back in....enough is enough.
Yesterday was a banner day...I actually got out on time for the first time in two weeks and was able to begin my 5 miler around Clark Park in daylite,as cold as it is this week that,s a plus,frankly it was too feckin cold this morning to run,I went out at lunchtime w/ two sweatshirts on and felt the wind cut right through me,I,d like to think "Dibble" would endorse my choice not to run in this,I,ll try again tomorrow afternoon when it,s meant to be in the 40s not just above freezing.
I hope come 6.30am Monday but more importantly throughout the day I remind myself that it,s only a job,I,m all for doing my job but frankly when I see nobody else as committed or concerened about the catalog of cock ups and the Andrex bog roll of those who don,t care then why should I continue to crucify myself,John Mellencamp once said and rightly so"you,ve gotta stand for something,or you,ll fall for anything"for me I think it,s time to sit this one out till they change the bleedin song.