It,s said life is full of surprizes....................BOO!.........ok just kidding but more often than not life will catch you off guard.
Back tracking to yesterday,on a frigidly cold day on the loading dock it was always going to be a hard job to get out and run post work,frankly any day that sees me keeping the shutters down,all three heaters on,the heater in my office on and me wearing a coat you know it,s cold!!!!
Frankly by the time I got done and hit the post office to pick up my new"Millwall-No One Likes Us,We Don,t Care"t shirt{you can take the boy out of South East London,but you,ll NEVER take the South East London out of the boy!!!}it was gone 5pm and the temps were below freezing,it wasn,t happening,more,s the pity.
Aside from missing a run I also missed a chance to share that oh so cherrished time honoured soccer terrace ditty when your team wins away leading upto the holidays,following our 2.0 win at West Ham I know the traveling Spurs fans were singing this one"Jingle bells,jingle bells,jingle all the way,oh what fun it is to see Tottenham win away"when the final whistle blew...............
Moving onto today,surprize #1{by the way I wasn,t surprized Spurs won at West Ham!!!}how much warmer it was today compared to yesterday,down right balmy,heaters off,no coat,no ski hat,however according to the weather it was expected to rain come 4pm which would seriously compromise my run.
Surprize #2 after several weeks of Wednesday visits "My Girl Tuesday"showed up on a Tuesday,I was pleasently surprized,and caught a little off guard I will add,mercifully she didn,t walk in on one of my all too frequent foul mouthed black hearted savage celtic pagan tirades,but even if she had of given our friendship I don,t think she,d have been surprized or minded,a huge tick in the plus colume!!!
Sadly work was too hectic for my liking again,lunch wasn,t an option and another in all too long line of in at 6.30am,don,t sit down till 3pm days meant a track workout was foolhardy at best,I did manage a five miler around Clark Park.
As always it felt good to be out running but given I have an outstanding social commitment tomorrow I won,t be able to run making yesterday a bigger disappointment....however they are calling for rain so maybe I couldn,t run anyway,knowing that there was no run on tap manana I was able to open up the throttle at the end of my run and I have to say it felt good.
Work and weather permitting I,d like to get to the track either Thursday or Friday.....wouldn,t that be a pleasent surprize!!!!
"The door opens as another one closes,my love for you is softly spoken"
''Coming Home"
The Alarm
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
...Another One Opens...........Sort Of!!!!
Hell of a transitional period from xc to indoor track,23 hours....they say the seasons are getting shorter!!!!
Given my choice I,d have prefered to have gone to Seton Hall for this 4x400m relay,however to do so would,ve meant Scott and Ray probably couldn,t have ran which would,ve made it kind of pointless,in the end it didn,t matter as human frailty ultimately decided the outcome.
For the record I,ll state my dislike of the Glen Mills track/facility ergo my desire to run at Seton Hall,however I,m not that high and mighty not to be a team player and run where we chose,sadly it never got that far,after a blistering opening leg by Ray 56.4 and Kudos w/ a capital K to Delvin for pulling him Scott and Nick began to duke it out,I,m fairly sure when Scott handed off to Bobby it was a 1.55 split.
Coming off the top turn Bobby popped a hamstring,and that was the end of that,no anchor leg for me today and no chance to improve upon our Penn relays split,we have to let it ride on the wings of fate now to see if we get into January 30th,s Millrose Games.
Obviously I feel sorry for Bobby,his first race for us and this happens,I,m sure time will heal the physical and emotional wounds of today,on the plus side Delvin will be a major asset to our 4x400m team when he turns 40 and Nick proved today he,s more than capable of holding his own,it remains to be seen if we get into Millrose first,Nick turns 40 in January,if we don,t make Millrose Penn ought to be doozie,making the team might be a battle and a half now as we have strenght in depth.
Dispite not being able to race today I was able to get my requsit miles in to give me 30 for the week,cold comfort I know but I prefer to look for the silver lining these days.
Tomorrow threatens not to get above freezing,unless that changes I don,t see me getting out there to run,we,ll see how that plays out.
Given my choice I,d have prefered to have gone to Seton Hall for this 4x400m relay,however to do so would,ve meant Scott and Ray probably couldn,t have ran which would,ve made it kind of pointless,in the end it didn,t matter as human frailty ultimately decided the outcome.
For the record I,ll state my dislike of the Glen Mills track/facility ergo my desire to run at Seton Hall,however I,m not that high and mighty not to be a team player and run where we chose,sadly it never got that far,after a blistering opening leg by Ray 56.4 and Kudos w/ a capital K to Delvin for pulling him Scott and Nick began to duke it out,I,m fairly sure when Scott handed off to Bobby it was a 1.55 split.
Coming off the top turn Bobby popped a hamstring,and that was the end of that,no anchor leg for me today and no chance to improve upon our Penn relays split,we have to let it ride on the wings of fate now to see if we get into January 30th,s Millrose Games.
Obviously I feel sorry for Bobby,his first race for us and this happens,I,m sure time will heal the physical and emotional wounds of today,on the plus side Delvin will be a major asset to our 4x400m team when he turns 40 and Nick proved today he,s more than capable of holding his own,it remains to be seen if we get into Millrose first,Nick turns 40 in January,if we don,t make Millrose Penn ought to be doozie,making the team might be a battle and a half now as we have strenght in depth.
Dispite not being able to race today I was able to get my requsit miles in to give me 30 for the week,cold comfort I know but I prefer to look for the silver lining these days.
Tomorrow threatens not to get above freezing,unless that changes I don,t see me getting out there to run,we,ll see how that plays out.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
As One Door Closes.....................
The end of the 08 xc season,a record 8 races,very unlike me in previous seasons but I,ve slowly learnt to embrace xc and will confess to actually missing it now that it,s over...........although there is potential for two winter xc races in late Jan/early Feb,however this time last year while I was making plans for the winter it all came crashing down around me on Dec 19th when I was diagnosed w/ a stress fracture so I could be forgiven for not crystal ball gazing too much.
Originally todays race was slated as a 10k over the old Belmont course,however that never happened but frankly 5 miles was more than enough believe me!!
Conditions were brisk,at least the sun was out but the wind had a tendency to cut right through you when it blew,I was taking no chances,2 pairs of gloves{I have the world,s worst blood circulation in my fingers}long sleeved dri fit shirt and tights.....I drew the line at thermal socks....but I was tempted I will confess!!!
The race in fairness was over b4 we went up Flagpole the first of three times,the three youngest runners quickly went to the front,followed by Chuck,Bob and I,one other brave soul went w/ and got between Bob and I however I overtook him as we got half way up Flagpole and when the cut back at Nursery allowed me to check where or who my nearest rivals were he had fallen back behind both Bob Reynolds and Pete Hessen two team mates from GPTC.
6.03 at mile 1,I was in no mans land Chuck and Bob were well ahead,equally far behind were Bob R and Pete,I was safe for 6th overall and 3rd in the 40-49 age group and w/ a 4x4 on tap for tomorrow I pretty much hit cruise control.
19.18 at 3 miles and 20.03 at 5k I now entered the unknown for the final 2 miles,I,d never ran the 8k or 5 mile course here so it was a little like running blind,I had a vague idea but wasn,t 100% certain where I was going!
I needen,t have worried I kept going in what seemed like the right direction untill I hit Nursery and knew instinctivly where the course would lead me.
One final assault up Flagpole,free wheeled the down hill and glided over the final 400m to clock a respectable if not earth shattering 31.56.98.
6th overall,3rd in my age group and medal #15 for the season,#119 for my career,in retrospect my 08 xc season has been far greater than I could,ve dared to wish when I lined up on the starting line at Stockton College for the Osprey 6k 10 weeks ago,some of my 8 xc races will make their way into my year ending Top Ten Races{hopefully a Top Ten list NOT to cause conflict eh Dib??!!}but for now that,s it for xc,I often say xc season serves as a bridge between outdoor track and indoor track,well folks indoor season begins manana w/ a 4x400m relay at Glen Mills.
Originally todays race was slated as a 10k over the old Belmont course,however that never happened but frankly 5 miles was more than enough believe me!!
Conditions were brisk,at least the sun was out but the wind had a tendency to cut right through you when it blew,I was taking no chances,2 pairs of gloves{I have the world,s worst blood circulation in my fingers}long sleeved dri fit shirt and tights.....I drew the line at thermal socks....but I was tempted I will confess!!!
The race in fairness was over b4 we went up Flagpole the first of three times,the three youngest runners quickly went to the front,followed by Chuck,Bob and I,one other brave soul went w/ and got between Bob and I however I overtook him as we got half way up Flagpole and when the cut back at Nursery allowed me to check where or who my nearest rivals were he had fallen back behind both Bob Reynolds and Pete Hessen two team mates from GPTC.
6.03 at mile 1,I was in no mans land Chuck and Bob were well ahead,equally far behind were Bob R and Pete,I was safe for 6th overall and 3rd in the 40-49 age group and w/ a 4x4 on tap for tomorrow I pretty much hit cruise control.
19.18 at 3 miles and 20.03 at 5k I now entered the unknown for the final 2 miles,I,d never ran the 8k or 5 mile course here so it was a little like running blind,I had a vague idea but wasn,t 100% certain where I was going!
I needen,t have worried I kept going in what seemed like the right direction untill I hit Nursery and knew instinctivly where the course would lead me.
One final assault up Flagpole,free wheeled the down hill and glided over the final 400m to clock a respectable if not earth shattering 31.56.98.
6th overall,3rd in my age group and medal #15 for the season,#119 for my career,in retrospect my 08 xc season has been far greater than I could,ve dared to wish when I lined up on the starting line at Stockton College for the Osprey 6k 10 weeks ago,some of my 8 xc races will make their way into my year ending Top Ten Races{hopefully a Top Ten list NOT to cause conflict eh Dib??!!}but for now that,s it for xc,I often say xc season serves as a bridge between outdoor track and indoor track,well folks indoor season begins manana w/ a 4x400m relay at Glen Mills.
Friday, December 5, 2008
There,s Only One Keano*
*{Especially since Robbie left Spurs for Liverpool!!!!}
Agh!Groundhog Day revisited Thursday I,m sorry to report,another in at 6.26.am,leave at 4.50pm day,never sat down till 3.40pm.....my normal departure time so surfice to say,no trip to Franklin Field nor a jaunt around Clark Park,frankly I was too bleedin knackered plus it was starting to rain and I couldn,t risk getting sick.
Mercifully today yeilded an easier work day for yours truly,which given the previous three day"let,s kick the ever lovin shite out of Top Cat" palooza was indeed a blessing!!!
Asides from catching a well earnt..yea much needed brake I was also able to naff off half an hour earlier than usual,no self respecting soul in their right mind could begrudge me that right?after a 10 hour day Tuesday,10 and a 1/2 hour day Wednesday and almost 10 and a 1/2 hour day yesterday it,s hardly a crime I had it away on me toes at 3.10pm instead of 3.40pm is it??,it,s not like I,m the poster child for the EBS{early bird special} everyday of the week,when did I last do the Richard Gough?{the off}....ok I,ve used up my quota of cockney cliches for leaving early!!!
One plus for getting away from work 30 mins ahead of schedule was being able to conduct my 5 miler in daylite, a rare comodity these days,sadly Tuesdays rest day and yesterdays too knackered day have probably left me high and dry for a 30 mile week given my weekend schedule,hey ho!
Tomorrow see the curtain come down on a very good xc season for me,it,ll be interesting to see how I handle the 5 mile course at Belmont,from what I,ve been lead to believe it,s a beast of a course,come gun time at 1pm I guess I,ll find out first hand.
In closing I must draw attention to the sad news yesterday that one of my heroes Roy Keane has stepped down as manager of Sunderland football club.
Roy Keane embodies everything I strive for,play hard,have an over riding desire to win and be the best you can be,be uncompromising,match your desire w/ the ability to speak your mind and stand up for what you believe no matter whos feelings may get hurt.
Two of my all time favourite Roy Keane quotes are"Failure to prepare,prepare for failure"and"people were not happy but life goes on,nobody died"
The fact that Keano is from"The Rebel County".....that,s County Cork for the non paddy reader just adds fuel to the fire,sure jaysus if he was from Wexford,Sligo,Louth or any of the 32 counties that make up Ireland{YES 32 NOT 26!!!!}I,d still think he was the bees knees,football/soccer will be a poorer place w/out Roy Keane but rest assured we,ve not seen the last of Keano....or heard the last from me either!
Agh!Groundhog Day revisited Thursday I,m sorry to report,another in at 6.26.am,leave at 4.50pm day,never sat down till 3.40pm.....my normal departure time so surfice to say,no trip to Franklin Field nor a jaunt around Clark Park,frankly I was too bleedin knackered plus it was starting to rain and I couldn,t risk getting sick.
Mercifully today yeilded an easier work day for yours truly,which given the previous three day"let,s kick the ever lovin shite out of Top Cat" palooza was indeed a blessing!!!
Asides from catching a well earnt..yea much needed brake I was also able to naff off half an hour earlier than usual,no self respecting soul in their right mind could begrudge me that right?after a 10 hour day Tuesday,10 and a 1/2 hour day Wednesday and almost 10 and a 1/2 hour day yesterday it,s hardly a crime I had it away on me toes at 3.10pm instead of 3.40pm is it??,it,s not like I,m the poster child for the EBS{early bird special} everyday of the week,when did I last do the Richard Gough?{the off}....ok I,ve used up my quota of cockney cliches for leaving early!!!
One plus for getting away from work 30 mins ahead of schedule was being able to conduct my 5 miler in daylite, a rare comodity these days,sadly Tuesdays rest day and yesterdays too knackered day have probably left me high and dry for a 30 mile week given my weekend schedule,hey ho!
Tomorrow see the curtain come down on a very good xc season for me,it,ll be interesting to see how I handle the 5 mile course at Belmont,from what I,ve been lead to believe it,s a beast of a course,come gun time at 1pm I guess I,ll find out first hand.
In closing I must draw attention to the sad news yesterday that one of my heroes Roy Keane has stepped down as manager of Sunderland football club.
Roy Keane embodies everything I strive for,play hard,have an over riding desire to win and be the best you can be,be uncompromising,match your desire w/ the ability to speak your mind and stand up for what you believe no matter whos feelings may get hurt.
Two of my all time favourite Roy Keane quotes are"Failure to prepare,prepare for failure"and"people were not happy but life goes on,nobody died"
The fact that Keano is from"The Rebel County".....that,s County Cork for the non paddy reader just adds fuel to the fire,sure jaysus if he was from Wexford,Sligo,Louth or any of the 32 counties that make up Ireland{YES 32 NOT 26!!!!}I,d still think he was the bees knees,football/soccer will be a poorer place w/out Roy Keane but rest assured we,ve not seen the last of Keano....or heard the last from me either!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Crushed By Volume
Sad to report that work has once again returned to full blooded kick my arse mode,I antisipated the proverbial"cheque being in the mail"yesterday and wasn,t wrong either so much so that it was gone 5pm b4 I arrived home and frankly making it to the track was gone, w/ it,I needed to factor a rest day into my week so......I could always make up for it today w/ a trip to Franklin Field post work.....cha!!!!!!!!
I arrived at work at 6.30am,I didn,t leave till 5pm,in fact I didn,t sit down till 3.50pm....15 minutes after I meant to be done for the day,THAT,S how busy my day was,clearly a track workout was out of the question but dispite the late hour of my arrival home I still went out and cranked out a 5 miler.
In spite of the arse kickin' I suffered at work today I,m proud of the fact I stuck to my new principle of not allowing work to dictate my whole day,I couldn,t do anything about the sheer volume I faced today,on an average day I,ll get close to 100 pieces from UPS,yesterday was 126,today was 206................YEP 206,no wonder I didn,t park my keister till 3.50pm.
It wasn,t all doom n gloom,"My Girl Tuesday"showed up,actually she,s the girl formerly known as"My Girl Tuesday"the past few weeks have seen my new favourite day of the week become Wednesday and thus she,s now become "My Girl Wednesday",whatever day she graces my loading dock that,s the best day and the best half an hour of my week.
Dispite a workload that would,ve had a saint cursing like a sailor,I took time out to laugh and joke w/"MGW"and while her ultimate departure always saddens me,I feel better for that half an hour that we share each week it makes me feel no matter how bad it is at work my world is a far richer place thanks to her.
The feel good factor from her visit continued throughout the afternoon,dispite it being close to 6.30pm I still managed my run and the other great love of my life Spurs booked their place in the Carling Cup semi finals thanks to a 2.1 away win at Watford.
Here,s hoping the feel good factor continues tomorrow and that I don,t get my arse served to me on a plate and that I can manage a trip to Franklin Field for a repeat workout.....hope springs eternal!!!
I arrived at work at 6.30am,I didn,t leave till 5pm,in fact I didn,t sit down till 3.50pm....15 minutes after I meant to be done for the day,THAT,S how busy my day was,clearly a track workout was out of the question but dispite the late hour of my arrival home I still went out and cranked out a 5 miler.
In spite of the arse kickin' I suffered at work today I,m proud of the fact I stuck to my new principle of not allowing work to dictate my whole day,I couldn,t do anything about the sheer volume I faced today,on an average day I,ll get close to 100 pieces from UPS,yesterday was 126,today was 206................YEP 206,no wonder I didn,t park my keister till 3.50pm.
It wasn,t all doom n gloom,"My Girl Tuesday"showed up,actually she,s the girl formerly known as"My Girl Tuesday"the past few weeks have seen my new favourite day of the week become Wednesday and thus she,s now become "My Girl Wednesday",whatever day she graces my loading dock that,s the best day and the best half an hour of my week.
Dispite a workload that would,ve had a saint cursing like a sailor,I took time out to laugh and joke w/"MGW"and while her ultimate departure always saddens me,I feel better for that half an hour that we share each week it makes me feel no matter how bad it is at work my world is a far richer place thanks to her.
The feel good factor from her visit continued throughout the afternoon,dispite it being close to 6.30pm I still managed my run and the other great love of my life Spurs booked their place in the Carling Cup semi finals thanks to a 2.1 away win at Watford.
Here,s hoping the feel good factor continues tomorrow and that I don,t get my arse served to me on a plate and that I can manage a trip to Franklin Field for a repeat workout.....hope springs eternal!!!
Monday, December 1, 2008
Returning To The Straight And Narrow
I knew after yesterdays workout it was important to run today to get some of that soreness of my legs,I also knew that since I was pulling double duty again this weekend I,d have to work a rest day into my equation,I was tempted to make it today....but I didn,t and that tells me I,m getting back to the place I was leading upto my unexpected mini break in mid November.
The fact I could galvinize myself to get out there tonite rather than burn my rest day right off the bat told me mentally and physically I,m getting back to where I was not too long ago and w/ indoor season edging closer and closer that,s right where I need to be.
Lost in the shuffle recently was my invitation to the Hartshorne Memorial Mile,a land mark race for me in 07 as it marked my first invitational Masters event and also announced my intent at this level,of course this time last year I received an invitation which I promptly accepted only to suffer the cruelest of fates a stress fracture in my left foot which ruined my whole indoor season...but thankfully not my outdoor season,I often said my early spike in form in May was probably due to an inforced rest thro late Dec and January,not that I,m endorsing stress fractures or any injuries,I,m just saying when life gives you lemons you sometimes have to find the silver lining in those situations and move on.
The fact I could galvinize myself to get out there tonite rather than burn my rest day right off the bat told me mentally and physically I,m getting back to where I was not too long ago and w/ indoor season edging closer and closer that,s right where I need to be.
Lost in the shuffle recently was my invitation to the Hartshorne Memorial Mile,a land mark race for me in 07 as it marked my first invitational Masters event and also announced my intent at this level,of course this time last year I received an invitation which I promptly accepted only to suffer the cruelest of fates a stress fracture in my left foot which ruined my whole indoor season...but thankfully not my outdoor season,I often said my early spike in form in May was probably due to an inforced rest thro late Dec and January,not that I,m endorsing stress fractures or any injuries,I,m just saying when life gives you lemons you sometimes have to find the silver lining in those situations and move on.
In Circles
Although the indoor season dosen,t kick off till next week we got a jump start this Sunday thanks in small part to the rain and a larger part the Philadelphia Boys Choir...............I,ll explain!!!
It had been universally agreed upon that we the GPTC relay squad.........yes squad,we now have strenght in numbers would meet up at Wisahickon High School to workout at 1.30pm......mother nature had other ideas,however all was not lost there was always the indoor track.........ah problem there was obviously the school had been locked since Wed evening and we didn,t have the alarm code,once we opened that door we were going to trigger that alarm........bugger!!!
As Chuck and I sat in the parking lot watching the rain bounce of the window shield we noticed several cars pulling into the parking lot...jeez I knew we had strenght in numbers today but really..........................turns out the Philadelphia Boys Choir were giving a performance in the schools audatorium so the alarm had been turned off,we could now enter the gym w/out fear of being arrested for trespassing..................don,t ya just love it when a plan comes together!!!
Asides from the usual suspects ................and NO I don,t know who,s Kysier Sosa amongst us!!!!!Chuck,Scott,and Ray we were joined by Delvin,Bob,Daryl,Dave,Jack and Bryant, had Neil,Sean and Nick shown up we,d have had 3 4x400m teams!!!
On a 12 laps to the mile track we opted to do 300m repeats,roughly 2 laps per 300m x10,obviously on a small tight track we had to split into two groups,Scott,Bob,Delvin,Ray and I in group 1,Chuck,Daryl,Dave,Bryant and Jack in group 2.
As ever when Scott and I go mano e mano it,s no quarter asked or given,I swear my success in 07 at Nationals was a direct result of all the head to head clashes Scott and I had in late 06,thro 07,seriously it,s like the Olympic trials we when go head to head,I know I have to bring my A game to the workout everytime and today was no different.
Over 10 300m repeats I was averaging 40 seconds,not too shabby for my first track workout in over three weeks.
Not only did it feel good to be back on a track but also back w/ my track brethren,next Sunday sees the Indoor season kick off,we have a 4x400m relay at Glen Mills and aim to lower our Penn Relays time to improve our chances of getting into MSG for the Millrose Games on Jan 30th,it sucks that I have a tough 5 mile xc race the day b4 but I don,t have to go full tilt there.....oh shit who am I kidding I know damn well when that gun goes off I,ll be going all out,if an ice bath post race is required then so be it,we,re talking Millrose Games afterall.
32 miles for the week and 5 workouts 1 race..........."I Never Left,I Only Went Away"
It had been universally agreed upon that we the GPTC relay squad.........yes squad,we now have strenght in numbers would meet up at Wisahickon High School to workout at 1.30pm......mother nature had other ideas,however all was not lost there was always the indoor track.........ah problem there was obviously the school had been locked since Wed evening and we didn,t have the alarm code,once we opened that door we were going to trigger that alarm........bugger!!!
As Chuck and I sat in the parking lot watching the rain bounce of the window shield we noticed several cars pulling into the parking lot...jeez I knew we had strenght in numbers today but really..........................turns out the Philadelphia Boys Choir were giving a performance in the schools audatorium so the alarm had been turned off,we could now enter the gym w/out fear of being arrested for trespassing..................don,t ya just love it when a plan comes together!!!
Asides from the usual suspects ................and NO I don,t know who,s Kysier Sosa amongst us!!!!!Chuck,Scott,and Ray we were joined by Delvin,Bob,Daryl,Dave,Jack and Bryant, had Neil,Sean and Nick shown up we,d have had 3 4x400m teams!!!
On a 12 laps to the mile track we opted to do 300m repeats,roughly 2 laps per 300m x10,obviously on a small tight track we had to split into two groups,Scott,Bob,Delvin,Ray and I in group 1,Chuck,Daryl,Dave,Bryant and Jack in group 2.
As ever when Scott and I go mano e mano it,s no quarter asked or given,I swear my success in 07 at Nationals was a direct result of all the head to head clashes Scott and I had in late 06,thro 07,seriously it,s like the Olympic trials we when go head to head,I know I have to bring my A game to the workout everytime and today was no different.
Over 10 300m repeats I was averaging 40 seconds,not too shabby for my first track workout in over three weeks.
Not only did it feel good to be back on a track but also back w/ my track brethren,next Sunday sees the Indoor season kick off,we have a 4x400m relay at Glen Mills and aim to lower our Penn Relays time to improve our chances of getting into MSG for the Millrose Games on Jan 30th,it sucks that I have a tough 5 mile xc race the day b4 but I don,t have to go full tilt there.....oh shit who am I kidding I know damn well when that gun goes off I,ll be going all out,if an ice bath post race is required then so be it,we,re talking Millrose Games afterall.
32 miles for the week and 5 workouts 1 race..........."I Never Left,I Only Went Away"
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