The Song Remains The Same

"Ya see I'm irish but I'm not a leprechaun you wanna fight? step up let's get it on,you'll get a right to the grill,I'm white and I'm ill, a descendent of Dublin w/ Titanic skill
I ducked and I swing next thing your jaw's broken punk I aint jokin' you can bet you'll be choking on a fistful of nuttin',meanwhile I'll be puffin on a fat blunt,what punk? you don't know the half trying to talk shit please don't make me laugh, the Irish eyes are smiling"
Top O The Morning To Ya-House Of Pain

Another week,another 5 day 55 mile week in the books.....read on McDuff........

Monday 10 Miles
I said a few entries ago I'd be shocked if I got thro the year w/out kicking the ever lovin' shite out of some chav on their bike......Monday saw not one?not two?? but three would be recipient of a good ol fashioned arse whopping.......
One of my pet peeves is cyclists who think they are immune to a red light period muchless when I have the light, this chav blows said red at Convention Ave & Spruce St nearly taking me out w/ him.....he then gets caught at the lights at Spruce and the on/off ramp of I 676.....and has the front to put his arm up on the street light to prop himself up waiting for the light to change..........BOOM!!!!
Headbutt to the forearm which solicits a "what the fuck?'' from Chav Boy....."what the fuck? what the fuck was that back at the red light cunt?'.......crickets......till some pretty boy on his bike two bikes ahead of us pipes up" dude...what's your problem????"
"What's my problem????" that cunt blowing a red light and almost taking me out that's my problem!!!" he starts smiling.......really????
"you didn't see it,it's got fuck all to do w/ you.....so keep yer mouth shut and yer nose out of my business or those pretty boy good looks of yours will be the first to go!!!!!!!"......crickets...... yeah what I thought bitch!!!???
Now I step to the arsehole who caused all this still nursing a sore arm{lucky it wasn't a sore jaw!!!} and take him to task over blowin the red light and nearly taking me out in the meantime.......
"I didn't see you".......
" Isn't that the fuckin' crux of the matter????"
''Sorry....."
"Next time open your fuckin' eyes.....and tell yer boyfriend up there keep his fuckin mouth shut.....''
Fuck me six mile later on the inbound journey at 33rd & Spruce AGAIN w/ the light in MY favour some prick on a bike blows the light and forces me to swerve to avoid him......
"open yer fuckin eyes!!!!!! it's a red light you cunt!!!!!!" ......he looks up at said red light and looks back at me..........
Oh yeah in between all this monkey shite I managed a 10 mile run.........

Wednesday 10 Miles
Taking advantage of a rare 1pm kick off for Spurs I was out the door an hour earlier than normal today
I guess the memo about red lights hadn't gone thro cos at the junction of Convention Ave & Spruce St as I patiently wait for the lights to change in my favour here comes this chav......crossed three lanes of traffic and goes thro the red light.......it's amazing how quickly I can turn on the after burners to chase a motherfucker on a bike.......he gets a torrent of abuse about being a prick,blowing a red light and how I'm kickin his his arse next time the feckin ginger prick.......
IF as a pedestrian I'm expected to observe the law regarding traffic lights then  WHY do these fuckers think the same rules don't apply to them????
Another 10 miler in the book and another day I came close to making good on a threat of beating the balls off of some chav on their bike.......that day is getting closer I'm tellin ya!!!!!

Friday 9 Miles
A rare flaunting of the Pagan Sabbath as I had the day off after Thursday nights Berlin/OMD/B 52's show at The Mann
Running mid morning out and back to Lloyd Hall on Boathouse Row along Kelly Dr I enjoyed this unusual experience of a Friday run......I could if need be get used to it but it probably won't happen that often but it's nice to know in a pinch when weekly mileage is up for grabs I can buck my conventional schedule and take care of business.......
No Cyclists were threatened on this run...................................

Saturday 8 Miles
A 7.30am Spurs kick off throws a industrial size spanner in the works as it's a  herculean effort to get up get showered and dressed and out the door by 6.40am to get to the bar for the game muchless get a run in pre game a la the traditional 10am kick offs.....
The plan was an 8 mile tempo run when I got back mid morning.......however the "best laid plans of mice and men"......and runners can often go to hell in a hand basket and it was lunchtime b4 I got home so plan b easdy 8 miler to keep me on schedule
I'm not thrilled to blow off the tempo run period but it's gotten short shift recently and again this coming week it'll " fall by the way side" due to a mid week Spurs game as I'm forced to cut my cloth accordingly to fit training around work/Spurs schedule.......however there is a mouthwatering scenario next week when I'm off work to watch the IAAF World C'ships from Doha that allows me 8 mile tempo runs Monday,Wednesday and Friday..........the schedule giveth.....the schedule taketh away but sometimes things work out

Sunday 18 Miles
So two weeks ago I said I wanted to utilize the hills on Fairmount Park & East Falls more often and while I also said I'm beatin' the shite out of the next feckin chav on a bike who pisses me off this is is a threat I've made good on.......the other one is still on the back burner..... but trust me it's coming....
A glorious ,morning to be out running,my last long run on the hills till October when conditions should still be favourable but not as inviting as they are now in late September
It's sad that exiting the East Falls hills down Fountain Green onto Kelly Dr to the flat 6 miles home,Kelly Dr has been the "road well travelled" for the past three decades and will I hope continue to be but I'm starting to think about "mixing things up around East Falls"
Yes the song remains the same.....but a few new verses never hurt

#197 And Counting

When I say the old PDR{Philadelphia Distance Run} and now Philly Rock & Roll 1/2 Marathon is my favourite road race it's not hype yesterday was my 14th year running it:89-90-91-95-96-01-02-03-04-05-06-17-18-19
Back in 03 I broke a then 18 yr pr running 1.18.09 only to miss it the following year by 3 seconds and then the following year ran 1.19.00
After the 06 race I pretty much kyboshed road races to focus on the track for the next 10 years b4 making a welcome return in 2017.
Having opened the season over the 1/2 at the Love Run on March 31st w/ a brisk 1.24.24 I had set the bar rather high for myself but based on the Philly 10k from 3 weeks ago where I ran 38.53 off 6.13 mile pace I wondered if 6.20 pace could get me to 1.22?

Like any race it comes down to the weather, being a seasoned pro at PDR/R&R I've experienced it all on the Parkway in mid Sept,picture perfect days,heat and humidity that forced an elite Kenyan to drop out,pissing down rain and the one year it pissed down till mile 11 and then stopped.....really now yer gonna feckin' stop??!!
The forecast was for sunny and warm at least w/ a 7.30am start it shouldn't be too bad right?,bit like saying to the crew of the Titanic" the life boats are just for show right,we won't be needing those feckers????"
Took my place in the first corral and as is my won't kept to the right hand side to facilitate a clear/clearer start
Running east along Race St towards  the sun I must've missed the opening mile marker and b4 turning right onto 5th St I could feel the sweat already drippin' off me
Saw 13.00 at 2 miles which was Gun Time and as is my won't I started a little further back in the corral so as not to go off half cocked,my Garmin post race revealed opening splits of 6.10-6.37-6.33-6.00 as we made our way back to the Ben Franklin Parkway

At this point it dawned on me the last 8 miles would be the Art Museum Loop where I conduct my weekly 8 mile Tempo run......this was too good to be true,instead of being on the footpaths of Kelly Dr and West River Dr I'd be out on the road but otherwise it was a carbon copy of the tempo run,the old "visualize the run" mindset had now become a reality!
I told myself not to "over project" and just take each mile as it came,always adding 6.30 to each split which in theory would get me to 13 miles in 1.25.30 plus what ever the .1 at the end would be.
While other runners opted to run on the right hand side of Kelly Dr I hugged the curb to the left knowing the course like the back of my hand,at each water stop I picked off more runners who stopped or slowed,despite the heat I only grabbed a Gatorade at the second water station as my second cup of pre race Barry's Tea......fuck yeah Product placement and future endorsement.....call me...... was still in my taste buds
Over Falls Bridge,sadly the lone Bagpiper who used to serenade us there is from a bygone era,it always  stirred my Celtic Blood hearing the bagpipes
From my grueling tempo runs during the heat and humidity in July and August I had learned that West River Drive provided more shade which going into the final four miles would be clutch
I recall 66 mins on the clock at mile 10 and for the first time began to think about the overall finish time which might explain the spike in my splits......that and feckin fatigue setting in!!
Just like the final 3 miles of the tempo runs I told myself to dig deep as a hand written sign held up on Logan Square said"Pain is temporary,Results last forever"......

Eyeballing runners ahead of me I chose my targets to reel in usually anyone wearing dayglo as they tend to stand out like a sore thumb,inside the final mile I remembered all my tempo runs this year since early March where I've passed the 7 mile marker and dug deep for the closing mile.......this is not a drill people it is the real shaggin' thing".....
A few runners who'd passed me earlier were now being left behind as I set my sights on getting to the finish in front of the iconic Art Museum steps,that final slight uphill as you approach the finish is usually where I launch my kick and it would propel me to a sub 1.28 finish today 1.27.52 off 6.36 mile pace
Splits:6.10-6.37-6.33-6.00-6.37-6.34-6.44-6.44-6.41-7.00-6.59-6.45-6.39

For only the second time this season "Mrs Shamrock Warrior" was present for my race,it's been and continues to be a pleasant change of pace to have a partner who is not only supportive of my running but willing to come to  my races unlike the "ghosts of girlfriends past" who trotted out tired excuses for not coming out to see me run
I recall a Philly Marathon in 04 I went to as a spectator for a friend of mine who was running her first marathon and seeing a hand written sign that said "P Diddy doesn't run this city,my girlfriend does"{Diddy had ran the NYC Marathon a few weeks  earlier} and thinking how lucky someone was to have that love and support.....I no longer have to wonder what that's like....
Medal #197 in the books and a14th PDR/Philly R&R 1/2 under my belt......oh yeah way to bury the lead.....I won the 55-59 age group.....just "another day at the office for the Shamrock Warrior"

Doing It The Hard Way Since 1976

Jaysus.......no sooner do I get a 55 mile week under my belt and then I'm scrambling like a man possessed the following week to make it two in a row.....training.....it's seldom dull!!!

Monday 12 Miles
W/ hindsight{I know a wonderful thing right!} maybe I should have taken advantage of Monday being a holiday {Labor Day} and gone long over 15 miles since I had time but rightly or wrongly I figured I had the whole week ahead of me so I opted for an easy out and back along the Schuylkill  mid morning
While the calender says Summer lasts a few weeks longer {Sept 23rd} Labor Day marks the unofficial end of Summer,I've noticed it's dark now b4 8pm and when I arrive at work at 6am and fairly soon the running sleeveless shirts will make way for short sleeves......I don't even want to entertain digging out the 3/4 length bottoms muchless finding my running tights and long sleeve running shirts.....but as they say" the cheque is in the mail"

Wednesday 12 Miles
Mother Of Christ!!!!!!!!
Having gotten me arse handed to me on a plate at work on Tuesday,in at 5.58am,out at 6.18pm.......I shit you not I was balls arsed tired and wanted so badly to get up at 6am to get out and run b4 the heat and humidity kicked in,I'd known for days Wednesday was going to be hot and humid but having lost a day of training on Tuesday I didn't have much wiggle room now
Sadly while the spirit was willing the flesh,bones and muscles were weak and I missed that window of opportunity,now coupled w/ the obligatory phone tag my brother and I have been playing the past week or so I was hamstrung waiting for him to call.......
By 3.30pm no call was forthcoming so I said feck it and headed out for my run
Originally Wednesday was earmarked as a 8 mile tempo run.......but not that late in the day w/ the heat and humidity what it was,so I opted for a repeat 12 miles along the Schuylkill
By 3.5 miles I realized I had zero knee lift and leg turnover and knew the further out I ventured along the Schuylkill via Kelly Dr the longer I'd have to walk back if I bonked,any thoughts of going long over 15 either out and back or round the loop were dismissed as I was forced to dig deep both mentally and physically to reach the 6 mile turn around and head back......

Saturday 13 Miles
The knock on effect of Wednesday  scuppered any thoughts of even a 5 miler on Thursday,just as Superman's weakness was Kryptonite{or Lois Lane, your call!!!} mine has become Dewpoints,shit I took for granted 6,12,18 months ago now effects me,let's not lose sight of the fact as I toiled in the heat and humidity on Wednesday I was 71 days removed from my 56th b'day and I'm learning what I can and can't do as freely and w/out care as I previously did
The upshot was 55mpw was still there for the taking........providing I went 13-18 Saturday/Sunday......as the auld fella used to say"it's not a lot when you say it quick!"
Saturday morning was glorious running weather,blue skies no bastard heat,humidity......or fecking dewpoints,I love running in September

Sunday 18 Miles
So the irony,my last 18 mile came a week  after last years Rock & Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon and now a week b4 I found myself running "the road less travelled"
Four years ago when the Papel visit shut down parts of the city I was forced to run on Belmont Plateau and realized how much I not only enjoyed it but how close it is to where I live,for the past three years I've raced the once Oddessey Run,now Phila Runfest half marathon which takes me over Strawberry Mansion Bridge and into East Falls where I get to utalize hills
As the old adage goes"Running is a metaphor for life,you get out what you put in and there are no short cuts"
I'm also a believer that "if you put the hard work in training you will be rewarded come race day"
The short term answer will be revealed next Sunday on a much flatter half marathon course,long term don't be surprised if this 18 miler stays in my rotation.........it's "A Rocky Road To Dublin" so they say,maybe it's a hilly road to New Orleans????

Welcome Back Shamrock Warrior,We've Been Expecting Ye!

Sweet Jaysus it took feckin' long enough{17 weeks if yer counting!} BUT finally back to 55mpw.
After a slow start to my year and getting my hole handed to me on a plate over 3,000m indoors at The Armory in early January I knuckled down and slowly began rebuilding my weekly mileage as I didn't need another humiliation like the one I got that nite,little by little my weekly mileage increased but I kept missing that one run that would have me back at the 55 mile plateau until the last week in Feb/early March where in the immortal words of Etta James "At Last" I had it.....and continued to have it for 9 of the next 10 weeks upto and including the week of Broad Street b4 the wheels came off....and stayed off for a while,come late June I knew it was time to "get back on the horse" and I had hoped by August I'd be back in "55 MPW Club".........shades of February all over again as either work or the weather seemed to derail those plans untill last week.............

Monday 12 Miles
W/ my calves still "screaming" after Sunday's Philly 10k this served as  a easy/recovery/shake out run to try and get the crap out of said calves......yeah,yeah,yeah "no pain,no gain,no guts no glory"
I'm a firm advocater that providing you can get out and run on a Monday you set yourself up for success for the rest of the week,miss an opportunity to get out there like I have in recent weeks and you begin the week behind the 8 Ball and as has been the case for "Himself" something else has jumped off to feck me....channeling my inner Ayra Stark"what do we say to the God's of Death....Not Today!"

Tuesday 15 Miles
Long Run.....Tuesday?    jaysus yer man is eager!!!
Knowing Sunday had pratfalls written all over it I figured "taking care of business" tonite was the way to go.....it's also a lot easier to be out there for  roughly 2hrs 10 mins when ye know your not getting up at silly o clock{4.45am} the following morning
Pretty much 8.5 min mile pace which is nice given I haven't felt I've had to dredge that up it has come naturally in recent weeks

Wednesday 8 Mile Tempo Run
Always a big ask off the back of the long run to ask myself to switch gears and run balls out but I enjoy the challenge of of running on tired legs
A little later than I had planned 2.40pm but not as damning as it would've been a few weeks ago
55.04.6 off 6.53 mile pace  w/ splits of
6.30-6.44-6.47-7.05-7.12-6.54-7.00-6.50
Still a tad erratic but slowly reducing the number of 7 min plus miles,down to three now and only a second away from it being two
1.18 quicker than last weeks effort but still only my 5th fastest time of the year,some work to be done to topple the 52.46.6 I ran in April but w/ cooler temps around the corner I feel that time could be in danger,my 4th fastest time of 54.36.7 is my next target

Thursday 12 Miles
After a long run and tempo run just what I needed an easy/recovery run to put me in arms reach of a 55mpw w/ 2 days to spare if needed
It's funny how an easy run can change w/ 3.5 miles to go and yer man quite content to "go w/ the flow" I heard footsteps coming up behind me as I headed south on the Schuylkill Banks......I really didn't want " a pissing contest"  so I wasn't too concerned who went by me,have at it it........till the fecker committed the  cardinal sin of not being a full stride and a half in front of me b4 cutting across me.
I don't give a flying fuck if it's Track,Road,Cross Country, race or training run.......when you overtake someone don't cut right across them like this little bollix did and w/ that I dropped the hammer and dusted the fucker w/in  a few meters.....
Remember kids,don't step on Superman's cape......and DON'T cut across the Shamrock Warrior when ye overtake him!!!!

Saturday 8 Miles
I wanted another 8 mile Tempo Run to round out the week at 55mpw but remembered the Welcome America July 4th concert on Ben Franklin Parkway resulted in the section of Schuylkill Banks behind the Art Museum being taped off,since that's on the approach to Lloyd Hall and where I begin my tempo run I figured it might be easier to go out and back to the Art Museum which is 8 miles.
Turned out they didn't tape off that section for the Made In America concert that uses the same stage set up as Welcome America,a classic "damned if I do,damned if I don't" moment.....
However.....finally a 5 day/55 mile week in the books and 152 mile for August putting my yearly total at 1,306
Hopefully I can go on another long run of 55mpws like I did in April and May as I gear up for Fall
Groucho Marx famously said "never join a club that would have someone like you as a member"....that said I like the 55mpw Club and plan to stick around a while.......