The Road To Indoor Nationals Begins Through Central Park

W/ the Delaware Open now behind me and the 2011 outdoor season over it's time to get ready for the 2012 indoor season,although in fairness since I stepped off the track after my leg of the 4x800m relay at outdoor Nationals in Berea on July 31st I've been planning for indoors.
Following last nites Cure concert in New York City I spent the night in Manhattan and allowed myself the unique chance to run through Central Park this morning.
Over the next few days I'll elaborate on both.

And The Good Lord Said,Come Fourth

Final outdoor race of the 2011 season and were it not for the Armory Holiday meet on Dec 26th{or Boxing Day as I knew it growing up} my season finale.
As I stated for the record in my previous blog entry I'd never had much luck at this race but I always said it would be nice to come into the Delaware Open w/ a good level of training under my belt,post Nationals I've logged eleven 50 mile training weeks{2 were actually 53 mile weeks} so even though I've eased off the gas a little in the weeks either side of The Bridge Run I felt coming into my first Delaware open since 08 that I was ready to set the record straight.

Starter for ten,who ordered the great weather?most of my memories of this race which is always ran the Saturday after Thanksgiving are of freezing my arse off,not this year sunny and warm,not sure of the official temps at 11am but it was singlet and shorts weather,no gloves or arm warmers today.
Pre race I jogged the new course,eighty sixing the creek and halving Maintenance Hill suited moi and the new finish meant a serious downhill to the finish line,yeah I could live w/ this!!

In a field of almost 100{official results show 99 finishers} I got out to a good start,Matt Sandercock took off like he'd been listening to Meatloaf......"Bat Out Of Hell" and the field gave chase I eased my way into 5th very early on and never looked back.
5.32 at the mile marker Matt was gone Greg Watson followed and though I didn't realise it at the time 3rd and 4th place runners Tim Suchler and Mark Kamaway were team mates from Inside Track.
I moved into 3rd as we cut back on to Maintenance Hill roughly half way up it,it's still a beast hill but I was moving well,could I really be 3rd???was this some sort of dream? 8th was best ever showing in 08,what about the lunatic who ran a 5 Mile Turkey Trot 2 days b4 his 05 Brandywine debut and was toast after the opening mile and finished 16th in 19.43.3?who in 06 finished 14th but in 20.05.0? or who finished 8th in 07 in 19.02.2?? or 9th in 07 in 19.10.6?.....well if this was a dream,don't wake me!!!!!

Freewheeling the downhill off Maintenance I closed some ground on Greg Watson but he opened up a lead on me I could never reclaim,Greg's tough,how tough? routinely each year he runs both the Masters and open races which are half an hour apart,if he's lucky he gets 10 mins recovery....and I think I'm hot shit cos I jog the course after the race as my cool down run!!
No clock or marker for 2 miles,along the long stretch that's known as Suicide I had Tim Suchler and Mark Kamaway breathing down my neck,I could've said feck it 5th is better than I've ever managed here go ahead chaps......but that really would be a dream so I hunkered down and dug deep.
Tim got me but I was hell bent on retaining 4th and using the downhill to the finish line I put daylight between Mark and myself,4th in 18.29.9. a 5.57 per mile average and finally a Delaware Open 5K XC race to be proud of.

There's a healthy debate amongst us who've ran both courses as to which is the tougher, the old course or the new course,I never broke 19 on the only course,then again I never came into Brandywine State Park w/ a slew of 50 mile training weeks under my belt either so I guess the debate will be ongoing.
It's been an up and down season after my 15.47.3. indoor 5,000m in mid January I felt a kick arse season was on tap but little did I know that anmenia was about to derail my hopes and dreams,the low point of my season was my 4.54 mile at West Chester on June 3rd from there there was only one direction and that was up and slowly but surely {or in my case surly!!}I've been clawing my way back,there's some signs of life now as I close out the year so I just have to keep doing what I'm doing,maybe fine tune a little bit here and there and who knows what's on tap in 2012?

Delaware Open 5K XC

Cliff Notes
4th overall
18.28
Best ever finish here,first time under 19 on this course
Longer version to follow

Spiritwalker

"Let it be beautiful when I sing the last song I will give you even my body spiritwalker
Let all the children kiss the sun before they sing their last song
I will give you even my body spiritwalker
Let the sun shine on me when I sing the last song I will give you even my body spiritwalker
Let all the children kiss the stars before they sing their last song
I will give you even my body
Spiritwalker"

Spiritwalker-The Cult

It should come as no great revelation to anyone who knows me that I'm not the poster child for the holidays,but rather than piss all over them for those that actually enjoy them I'll just keep my feelings to myself but I think you can guess from The Cult lyrics where my loyalties lie in reference to Thanksgiving.....
Finally got out to run yesterday,an easy 9 miler,Monday got shelved due to a combination of the threat of rain,my stomach acting up and if I'm being 100% honest the Spurs Villa game being on(2.0 to Spurs to put us 3rd in the Premiership.......COYS C'mon You Spurs!!!)
Tuesday it just pissed out of the heavens and frankly by Wednesday I knew I wasn't getting anywhere close to 50 or 55 miles this week so I figured why not rest my legs for Saturday's Brandywine 5k xc race.

I've never had much joy or success at the Brandywine race in my 06 debut I went out way too hard in the opening mile and paid for it over the final 2.1 miles,I believe the quote in my blog was going up Maintenance Hill at roughly half way through the race I feared I'd fail my MOT and that AAA would have to come and pick me up!!!!
I fared slightly better in 07 but it was still nowt to write home about,at that stage I was still a 800m/1,500m runner on the track who only ran 30 miles a week in training I hadn't come to grips w/ 5k on the track,road or xc and in 08 when I felt I was coming into the race w/ a decent bit of training under my belt I lost a bit of my momentum due to having to work 9 hour shifts on the dock by my lonesome as my wingman Chris had undergone nuruo surgery in mid November.
That was also the year the bastards who organise the race moved the goalposts which I believe was the title of my blog entry.

The previous year I finished 9th and the prize money went 8 deep,in 08 I finished 8th..... and they only went 7 deep w/ prize money and don't even get me started on the post race raffle,one year 06 I think after I'd left my race number finally got drawn after all the really good shit had been claimed and guess what I won????an oil change.....sure the guy who doesn't drive wins a sodding oil change......bit like giving a non drinker a case of beer or a blind guy tickets to the Art Gallery!!!
In 09 I skipped xc races altogether coming off the achilles injury and last year I was building base mileage in the fall so I side stepped all the xc races on the schedule but this year I've ran 3 xc races St Clare,Rochester,Deer Park so it's full steam ahead to Brandywine on Saturday morning.

They've changed the course from when I last ran in 08 and 86ed running along the creek which is fine by me as that part of the race was full of rocks and slate,I always said of Brandywine that it's a race I'd like to run in good shape and frankly this year at my fourth crack at it I think I am in good shape,w/ the Off Road Grand Prix hanging in the balance between ourselves(GPTC) and our perennial rivals for the Off Road Grand Prix crown Rosemont Running Company there's a little extra at stake tomorrow so we'll have to see how it all unfolds when the gun goes off at 11am as my Grand Slam weekend begins to unfold.
Last Friday of the month tonite so....Land Of The Lost on WXPN tonite,Brandywine tomorrow morning,then my good friend Robert Drake is taking his unique 80's collection to Kung Fu Necktie tomorrow nite and I'd like to be there as most of the Land Of The Lost/Sex Dwarf crowd will be there and then Sunday The Cure are in New York at The Beacon performing their third and final nite of the Reflections tour as they perform their first three albums "Three Imaginary Boys","Seventeen Seconds" and "Faith",seriously who has time for Turkey,Football and Black Friday w/ all this going on???

All Hail The Gothfather

"You know the way it throws about it takes you in and spits you out
It spits you out when you desire to conquer it to feel you're higher
To follow it you must be clean w/mistakes that you do mean
Move the heart switch the pace,look for what seems out of place"

Cuts You Up-Pete Murphy

I've stated in previous blog entries that I was a late developer where xc is concerned but in 08 I ran the Deer Park 8k xc and fell in love w/ that course and that race then came the achilles injury to kybosh 09 and base mileage in 10 and 11 wasn't looking good either,the original date Oct 28th clashed w/ a trail race which meant my ride to Flemington was heading to Evansburg.....till the freakish weather that weekend when we got rain and snow and the USATF NJ 8k xc c'ship got cancelled,the tentative rescheduled date was Nov 5th....same day as the Bridge Run 10k and that had been my target race for ages so it wasn't looking like it was going to happen....till the race was re rescheduled for last Saturday,Chuck (Mr XC I swear that man is the only runner I know who uses track season to get ready for xc season!!)said he was going if I wanted a ride...hell yeah! and w/ that we were off to Flemington New Jersey.

Out to Flemington b4 10am which allowed enough time to register ($20 a far cry from the $45 the Rothman 8k was asking for this morning) and a jog of the main loop that makes up the course,it was pretty much how I remembered it from 3 years ago if only a lot muddier but it's a sad day when you start bitchin' about mud at a xc race,you might as well take up mall walking when that happens!

Opted for arm warmers and gloves even though the sun was out when the gun went off at 11am,the last thing I needed was my finger tips feeling numb on either of the two loops w/ said gloves and arm warmers in my backpack in the trunk of Chuck's car!quite why most of the 175 runners lined up to the left of the starting line when the course narrows at the top of the first hill was somewhat of a mystery to me Chuck and Brent as we looked for a straight run to the first hill,the course narrows a bit early on so it's key to get a clear start and I did just that,I knew from the Jack St Clare xc 5m at Belmont that I couldn't live w/ Brent.....I'm giving the guy 13 years but if I adopted the same tactics as I did at the Bridge Run and tucked in at the rear of the chase pack I could be in for a good day.

As the course unfolded I could see the leader already ahead of the chase pack of 9 runners w/ me back in 12th,w/hindsight I wish I'd gotten on to the rear of the pack as they might've pulled me along to a slightly quicker time,except for a brief battle w/ one of the Garden State Track Club runners as we duked it out for 11th I spent most of the 8k race in no mans land,there were no clocks or mile or kilometer markers out on the course so I've no idea of my splits,according to the post race results I ran 5.44 pace throughout the race.

I knew from our pre race jog of the loop where the mud was out on the course and made sure to keep my footing,heading into the second loop I could hear footsteps behind me and managed to keep my would be opponent at bay until we rounded the batting cages where he opened up a gap on me I was never able to close,back to 12th but every once in a while where the course would twist and turn I could check behind me where the 13th place runner was.....roughly the same distance behind me that I was behind 11th place so providing I stayed on my feet I'd be good for 12th.....that's easier said than done in xc racing as holes,mud,tree roots etc tend to pop up along the course but I kept my footing and finished 12th in 28.45.5.

Pre race I'd set a target of 28.30 so to only be 15 seconds off given the conditions underfoot seemed acceptable,12th out of 175 runners 4th masters finisher overall 2nd in the 45-45 age group and my second fastest 8k xc time, my pr was here in 08 28.16.6. all in all a good mornings work.....but my day was only half way through.

Pete Murphy has sung two of my all time favourite songs "Bela Lugosi's Dead" w/ Bauhaus and "Cuts You Up" from his "Deep" album,I was lucky enough to catch Bauhaus in 98 when they reformed only to split up again but Pete has continued to put out great solo albums throughout his career although his recent solo offering "Ninth" is his first solo effort in several years,the chance to catch the "Godfather Of Goth" or as we like to call him the Gothfather was too good to turn down....although driving back to Philly in the afternoon having gotten up at 7am and now looking at a few more hours on my feet didn't seem like the great idea I had originally dreamt up but you only live once and who knows when he'll next tour again......bollocks to being tired!!!

If I've learnt one thing in almost 31 years of concert going it's that it's often well worth getting to the gig early to catch the opening act,sometimes they blow(Yip Yip Coyote,Coyote Shivers) sometimes they go on to headline(The Alarm,Talk Talk) and sometimes they're really good.....my recent list of gigs have had several note worthy opening acts and tonite was no different.
The Hustle Club weren't originally listed on the bill but I enjoyed their high energy short set"Children Of The Underground" and "Fuck Shit Up" were two songs that stood out from the New York based 5 piece.
Five years ago when I went to see Placebo at The Electric Factory on the "Meds" tour She Wants Revenge opened,9 times out of 10 if you read an article on She Wants Revenge it'll mention Joy Division,kind of how almost all articles on Interpol do likewise,Interpol really impressed me when they opened for U2 this summer and second time around w/ She Wants Revenge I came away from their set as a fan of this California based foursome,I've already ordered their first two cds used on Amazon and in time their new offering "ValleyHeart" will find it's way onto my ''must have" list,while I doubt Hustle Club have any Youtube clips I'm confident SWR do,if you like your music dark,moody and w/ a dance vibe She Wants Revenge are worth checking out.

And so to the main event,Pete Murphy rocked The Troc no if,ands, or buts backed ably w/ a tight 3 piece band Pete and his band plundered Pete Murphy solo songs old and new and old Bauhaus favourites.
I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed that "Seesaw Sway" off of "Ninth" didn't make the setlist in Philly but "Peace To Each" and "I Spit Roses" both did and his encore alone was worth the price of admission,"Cuts You Up" and "Ziggy Stardust"
Watching Pete in full flow it's hard to miss the David Bowie and Iggy Pop influences and in a year we mourned the tragic loss of Mick Karn if you haven't checked out the 1984 collaboration of Pete Murphy and Mick Karn on "The Waking Hour" by Dalis Car you might want to give it the once over

Six Of One,Half A Dozen Of The Other

First up please forgive the tardiness of my entries of late,a full dance card this weekend meant not as much down time at home as usual and when I was home there was either a ton of stuff that needed my attention or I was taking a leaf out of Precious's book and taking a cat nap!!!

I'll do Saturdays race justice later this evening and give props to She Wants Revenge and Pete Murphy also but yesterday I went out for my Sunday long run w/ a twist.
Since it was the Philly Marathon and half marathon I figured the river was probably off limits since it's part of the marathon course so I revised the same 12 miler I used the last Sunday a big race in Philly conflicted w/ my 12 miler for the old PDR(Philly Distance Run) Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

Out by 10.30am on a sunny and warm day,I keep harping on about being able to enjoy t shirt and shorts conditions and sooner or later that train will have left the station for the last time in a while but while I can enjoy that I will.
Down to and across South Street bridge b4 turning and heading back,South St bridge is roughly 3 miles from my front door so there and back would give me my first 6 miles.
Clipping by the front door I continued on my way out to Cobbs Creek Parkway to run what's essentially my out and back 6 miler hence the title.

Heading up the hill in Cobbs Creek Park I began to second guess my desire to make this 12 miles,Saturday had been a long day getting up at 7am and getting to bed at 1.20am and now running 12 miles but I'm damn sure Mo Farah never bags the last 2 miles of a long run so I gritted my teeth and tried to ignore the "dead from the knees down" feeling going on..
After a few weeks off I'm back up to 6 days a week,50 miles a week again....just in time to make this coming week 55 b4 launching into three potential 60 mile weeks leading up to indoor track season,the seasons may change but the mileage keeps building........

Little By Little

'' Cause little by little we gave you everything you ever dreamed of,little by little the wheels of your life have slowly fallen off
Little by little you have to give it all in all your life and all the time I just asked myself why you're really here?"

Little By Little-Oasis

If Wednesday was about digging out my newly acquired half zip running top to combat the rain then Thursday saw me having to dig out a pair of 3/4 length bottoms as the rain had now been replaced by a somewhat milder afternoon and w/ daylight now fading much sooner than a few weeks ago I made sure to be warm enough for my 7 miler.

The only other noteworthy thing about today's run was the retirement of my Puma Ryjin's,following my 7 miler I had 406 miles on them and my new Asics Gel Speedstar 5 shoes just arrived,I'll look to brake them in on Sundays long run following Saturdays 8k xc race at Deer Park in Flemington New Jersey.

It's looking like back to back busy weekends for me,since my dance card is full on Saturday w/ the race at Deer Park first and then She Wants Revenge and Peter Murphy at The Trocadero the only chance I had to catch the new George Clooney movie "The Descendants" was after work and while it wasn't the greatest movie I saw this year{right now that's a neck and neck battle between "The Fighter" and "The Guard"} it wasn't a bad way to spend a few hours.