NYC Marathon was yesterday. It was a great time. I am happy that I had my pr at 4:03:22 still waiting to pass the elusive 4 hour mark. It was unusual race. I had good first 1/2 and good last 5k and had struggles through queens until the Bronx. I did a few new things, firstly I wore my ipod, which i do not usual wear for marathons. I wear it for training and shorter races, but not marathons. I also tried the arm warmers and I liked them until it warmed up a bit.

Shoes: Brooks Ghost wear great, just as they were in Chicago. I felt the pavement a bit more yesterday, but the shoes have just completed 2 marathons in less than a month.

Weather: Great weather. Worst part was waiting in Staten Island in the cold before the race. But the arm warmers worked great. Kept my arms warm before the race and the Brooklyn section.

Pace: I can't help for picking up my pace in Brooklyn on 4th Avenue. I am feeling good and especially when you get to Park Slope you can really hear the support. But long term I think I need to work on it.

The new coral system. Excellent. I started 20 minutes before I was sopposed to. I did not have wiggle around slow runners and walkers. Last year the bridge was like an obstacle course.

Overall it was great race. I think I am going to try to plan more strategy for NYC next year, but we will see. Go run.

I think I will take a week off from running. Focus more on speed this winter do a winter and spring marathon and skip the Knickerbocker 60K.

NYC Marathon Weekend. I am excited for the NYC Marathon tomorrow. I went to the expo last night to pick up my number. I am beginning to really feel the spirit of the marathon. The NYC Marathon is an amazing event. It is fun seeing the people from all over the world coming to the city. I am excited about the weather. It is going to be almost perfect marathon weather. It will be cold in the morning. The 6:30 Staten island ferry will be a good ride. I am excited about the new corals, I won't have hopefully waste energy weaving through slow people. I am feeling good. I feel well rested after Chicago and my ankle that I tweaked jumping for the subway on Monday seems heeled.

At the expo I sat in on a question and answer gathering with Ryan Hall, Brian Sell, and Dathan Ritzenhein. They were fabulous, and answered everyone questions about training and the Olympic experience. It was great to see athletes so open about their training. I asked them about their recovery routine and Dathan said he will relax and have a couple of beers. Ryan said he won't run for a couple of weeks. It is good to see them so candid about their training routine and gives inspiration to us at the back of the pack.

I talked to the Brooks rep and am excited for the new Cascadia coming out 1/1/09 and it will be bright yellow and black. I am excited for that. I also talked to the people pushing my January Marathon plans Miami or Rock N' Roll Arizona. We will see. I think I should see how everything goes on tomorrow. If I feel good I might even do the Knickerbocker 60K on November 15th.

My picks for the election. William Howard Taft's ghost wont let obama win Ohio, but he will still trounce McCain.

<p><strong>><a href='http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008/pick-your-president/'>2008 Election Contest: Pick Your President</a></strong> - Predict the winner of the 2008 presidential election.</p>

Chicago Marathon for me was a great run for about 22 miles. Until it came to rounding China town and heading to Comisky Park. There they sun got hot, very hot. Not much shade. I passed a bank that said it was 91 degrees. I know it wasn't that hot, but it was hot. i am glad I didn't run Chicago last year. Overall it was great race. Wonderful time. I was feeling really good until fairly late in the Marathon. Hopefully I will have a quick recovery and be ready for NY in 2 1/2 weeks. I am pleased with the results of Chicago. I know I did not PR, but still I think overall it was good race. Gatorade Endurance gave me stomach cramps. It was hot I need the hydration. But something about that stuff or having too much bugs me. I think I will go for the Cliff Blocks, water and just a little Gatorade at NY. Maybe just every few miles and water and cliff blocks. It all depends on the weather hopefully it will be in the 50's.

Chicago was my 10th marathon. I feel like I have done a bunch of Marathons and I still have much to prove to myself. Hopefully NYC will be good and I will do a winter marathon to get me started for 09. I feel that, I get the lazies in the winter if I do not have a marathon scheduled.

Just ran the NYRR 18 mile Marathon Tune up race. I am committed to breaking the rules of the tapper. I always feel I tapper too much and don't have the conditioning once marathon time comes around. I am going to keep training. I will run the Gretta half marathon next weekend. The run was good, too humid. But I was feeling good. The race was good. I love running long the morning after learning about a world record being broken. Haile Gebrselassie broke the world record this morning in Berlin. That is awesome 2:03:59. The fall marathon season has started and I can feel the spirit around.

Chicago two weeks to go, it will be great. Hopefully I can PR. I think my season will be good. Chicago, NYC and maybe an ultra. We will see. Hopefully I can keep my goal of no more than 12 weeks between marathons in 09 and then move up to ultras.

But being on the east coast, it sucks that there are not that many ultras. I need to move to California to have more choices. I know Sri Chomney people have ultras all the time, but I am not running an ultra around a Flushing Meadows park.

I am excited about the season. I love the new shoe I am wearing the Brooks Ghost. Kick ass shoe, it should help.

As I sit here watchng Gebreselassie brake the record and then watch some baseball and football. This is going to be a good marathon season for everyone. See ya next time I post.

was at the game, Chris Perry is a good move. Rudi good riddance. Carson is back. Just needs to sink with Ocho Cinco. Defensive not as shitty as I thought. Giants fans need to stop harassing Bengals fans. Who Dey is the only response I could come up with. Giants stadium is a shit whole and they need a new stadium. Riverfront was better, Paul Brown puts Giants Stadium to shame. TJ to Carson connection back on track.



OT they should of gave up the run after 2nd down. The NFL should implement the OT rules from College football. Giving the Giants two chances in overtime a big mistake. Marvin needs some balls like Mike Shanahan. Maybe they should fo gone for it on 4 and 5 in regulation. But being in Cincinnati, he is probably inundated with the conservative BS in the nati.

Great 20 mile run. Amazing. Low humidity after days sweltering without AC. The Hurricane winds brought down the humidity. The run was perfect, besides the battery on my Garmin 405 dying. That actually was good, I just ran with the flow and I knew my distance. Perfect run nice 20. The Brooks Ghost rocks, this is an amazing shoe. I am so excitedc about it. MY pace was good in the shoe. The show was comfortable the enire run. x,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

New shoes brooks ghost, excited to try them out. But it is 86 degrees and nasty humidity. I am ready for the winter time. I want it to be cold. I need it to be cold. I am ready for cool fall weather. 45 degrees would be perfect. How about 17? That would be good. This heat and humidity is driving me crazy. I am sick of the summer heat and humidity.

I was very excited to watch the Olympic track and field on the internet. But it turns out NBC does not have the track and field on the internet. I figured I could watch things like the steeplechase and 10Km runs. Things that they won't show on tv at a decent hour, but no there is no video of the track and field. Not even video after the event already happened. I bought a new computer just to watch the olympics on the internet. It is great I can watch Grecko Roman Wrestling, shooting, cycling, handball, and many other sports. But no track and field. I understand them holding back the 100 meters and things like that. But come on let us watch the steeplechase on the internet.
Stop hording. Let us watch. This is just BS, you are making enough money on Michael Phelps. By the way, I think the other guy got in there before him and he his going to lose that 7th medal.

NBC olympic coverage I had hi hopes for providing the internet coverage. But I did not realize the events I wanted to watch would be blocked. This is upsetting me.

I could not sleep last night. I rolled around from 3-5. Woke up at 5 drank some coffee, read the paper and then around 7 went on a nice 8 mile run. It was great until the cars came into the park at 8. They need to do something about those cars. They were pissing me off. I wanted to throw rocks at the cars. I do not understand the idea of the cars in the park. All of the cars were cabs and limos. The cabs were empty. Thus I am going to start boycotting yellow cabs. I understand a little if you are trying to bring a costumer somewhere quickly, but if you are just driving around in an empty cab through a park filled with runners and bikers and other people out for recreation. That is selfish and shows you have no respect for the city you live in. Central Park should be an oasis not a short cut. Cabs I already am pissed off at due to losing my ipod touch in one the other night and problems transporting my new computer back and forth between my apartment and the apple store. Since the first computer was a lemon and I had to switch it. But now I have a good one and it rocks. It is so fast. I was used to the slow assed dell for years. This is great, my new 24" IMAC. it rocks.

I have a computer and thus I can begin seriously blogging. This is exciting. The computer was trouble to get. It also is having a few problems. For instance I open it up load everything an there is condensed fog. I bring it back and then I come home put a cd in the drive and it is stuck. This is sucking very much, but the computer rocks.

I got stuck on an elevator this morning. Boy that was fun, it was fucking hot. The stupid building worker could not even call the fire department or repair man. We had to to someone we knew to go to the fire station to get us out. I hate elevators and sure I am glad I do not have some corporate job in which I would have to take an elevator everyday. That sucked, but it was kind of funny. This one lady was freaking out because we had like 12 people stuck in the elevator and the last guy to get on the elevator was pretty fat and bald. The lady lost her shit when we got off the elevator, but did not say anything while we were on the elevator. I was annoyed because, I always thought when you get stuck on the elevator you get to climb out the hatch, but in reality that does not happen. But it is a good story, and it was only for like 30 minutes.

Last night was a kick ass run. Ran 8.5. Found a new way to make the 8.5 and finish at the perfect spot. Ran north around the park one lap. And then ran though the southern end of the reservoir and then south through the 72nd transverse and finish at the light pole near the exit ramp to 72nd street. Sweet run, kind of humid. Perfect time of the day to do it. i went at 8pm, no crowds, no sun.

Today I am at Inventing the people a workshop to learn about teaching the NYC draft riots. Very interesting. My student who came, skateboarded from Williamsburg to 61st and West End. That is impressive.

Last post on a real computer for a while. SInce, I do not have one yet. So here we go. It 95 degrees today. I am going to try ot run tonight and go to pilates. I am remembering that I hate the summer heat in the east coast. I want winter running. I love winter running compared to summer running. My winter cloths are more comfortble, winter are is fresher. I just hate this summer heat it just drains my energy and motivation. The shitty thing is that I am free to run at like 2 and in the witner that is the best time to train.

fell asleep when I got home. I was sleep deprived because of the allstar game. When I woke up I was hungry and not in the mood to run. I will try to go in the morning. It is late, I lost track of time playing the wii. Well I am going to bed now.

I attempted a 7 mile run yesterday. I went at like 4:30 in the afternoon even though it was nto humid it was still hot, I need to go later today. I am supposed to do 8.5, that is a funny number. I need to figure out the best route to complete the distance. I think two 4's is the best option and add another 1/2 mile at the end. My arch was hurting a little this morning. I might use the cascadias today.

I stayed up till 2am watching the all star game. i started the night pissed off that I could not get tickets. All the tickets were over $500 dollars and the yankees fucked up with the selling system for partial season ticket holders. I am sure it was some inside job for people at ticket master getting tickets for their friends. The game was great, one of the best all star games that I have seen. I reminded myself that it has been 20 years since I went to the all star game in Cincinnati. Why can't the nl win. This is getting crazy. How did a red sox player in the mvp at the all star game in NYC. That is crazy.

the lazies continued into yesterday. I cam home super tired, took a nap, played this stupid video game, watched a documentry on the War of the World and went to sleep. I was going to wake up early this morning and did not, know i will have to run during the heat of the day

July 14, 2008
Lazy Weekend

This weekend I had the lazys. Missed my long run, but did go to pilates. I just ran out of time. I was going to do it last night at like 7pm, but then got hungry and tired. But oh well, it was only 12. I will try to squeeze it in today. I did go to pilates on saturday and that was good. I think I am going to go to that saturday class every week. I also am going to experiment with the pilates classes at 62nd and Broasway NYSC. Saturday I should of done the long run, but did not want to deal the Bon Jovi crowd. They were in the way all those people from Jersey coming to the park. I heard someone at the bodego ask for a bathroom, which was odd. So what can you do about missing the long run, nothing. I am excitted about the all star game tomorow and am pissed off about not being able to get tickets. This weekend was also a tough one because it is the 8 year anniversary of my dads death. It is tough to deal with and I just have trouble dealilng with it it too. I miss him dearly. Well I go to go and will check back on the blog later.

Yesterday was a good day. Good run at about 7:30. 7 miles in about 1:02 pretty descent for weekday training run. I think my training times are faster on the afternoon or evening training runs versus Early morning training runs. Last night was a strange night. I got home at around 8:30, relaxed and had a couple of dale pales ale. That is a good beer. Anyway, I stayed up later than I had in months, watched Letterman and Connan. Letterman ripped Paris Hilton, that was pretty funny.

This morning I had the opportunity to take my cat Priscilla to the vet. That is fun, taking the cat on the bus to vet. It was ok, but it is extremely expensive $230. They wanted me to pay $300 to have her teeth cleaned.

Listening to the radio about food at the ball game, I had shout out for the Reds for serving Veggie Dogs.

Today is cross training, I am about to go to the gym and go the exercises bike. I hate doing stuff in place. But I have no room for a bike in my apartment.

Feeling good on this day. Looking forward to tonight's run of 7 miles. I feel like stating to the world on my blog that I am going run will make me run. This blog may become a motivational tool. Today I wrote down all my runs for the next 4 months. I think my plan is a good one. Following the Nike Advance training plan for Chicago and a little recover and some runs for NYC will work out well.

Did my run tonight, not as bad as I feared. Although, it was a little on the humid side and it looked like it was going to rain. I waited till like 7:30 to go. I am starting to really like the Nike vomero's. Its a real nice ride. I have been searching for a good road shoe for a couple months. I don't like the new glycerin, the ride is different than last years glycerin. I love Brooks shoes, but the glycerin was not working. So I had been running In the Brooks Cascadia, I love that shoe it worked great for Grandmas training. Had some good races in it, especially the Brooklyn half and healthy kidney 10k. The Cadcadia is a trial shoe and I thought I could get away with it. But for grandmas it did not hold up for 26.2. It was too firm for roads of Minnesota. The Tuesday after Grandmas I stopped at the NY running company to try some new shoes on. I compared the vomero with the nimbus and the vomero felt to me to have a better ride and fit my foot better. Overall I will have to see how it does over the long run and on long runs.

Grandmas Marathon:

This is one of my favorite marathons. i ran it in 2002 and 2006. Both times my personal time was not the best. In 2002 I pulled my hamstring about mile 12 and limped to the finish line in a little over 5 hours. At mile 20 I had a few shots of beer which gave me a little energy. Overall the thing I love about Grandmas is the crowd support, the whole entire town comes out. It is also fun watching the college students from UMD tailgating and getting trashed while you are running. It is also great to look at Lake Superior as you run. The course is hillier than it appears. This year the weather was a little hot. In 2002 it was around 50 the whole time, but this year there was little cloud cover except for a couple scattered thunderstorms. It was hot, and I think that harmed my time. I also learned a little bit about the value of training. For NYC in 07 I was pushing 40 mile weeks and for grandmas I was pushing 20-30 mile weeks. Training is hard at the beginning of the summer.

One thing about Grandmas is that unlike NY were they give you a bag with an apple and a powerbar at the finish line, Grandmas ends at a beer tent and they even give you a ticket for a free beer. That is great. I really think creating the party atmosphere at the finish line is one of the highlights of grandmas.

I have been thinking about my 8 mile ran that slacked on yesterday. I have an issue, its summer, I am a teacher. I have been going to this web 2.0 in the classroom workshop which is done at 2pm. I do not really want to wake up early to avoid the heat. Hell, its summer and I want to sleep in. I would love to run at 3 or 4 but its too hot, the mayor still lets the cars in Central Park. I want to run without cars, I want to run when it is not hot, and I want to sleep in. What would be the solution. I do not know. I am thinking of doing a suicide run at like 4 when it is the hottest point of the day. I also want to do my cross training for Wednesday in which I will go to the TBC (total body conditioning class) at NYSPC. I think it will be a good workout and I will feel better. I guess I could run on the treadmill, but I hate treadmills with a Passion. There are really boring, the only way I will run on treadmill is if there is a must see show on TV like a football game, worlds series or 24. Something on the TV to remind me that I am not running in place.

I think I will either do the suicide run in the heat or go at like 7pm. I need to get back on track. I ran Grandmas over two weeks ago and need to get back on track for Chicago. I am done doing the post marathon lazies. Something I have perfected after each fall marathon. This next year I think I will try the multiple marathon plan to keep in shape.

Tired, the heat is starting to get to me. Missed the run yesterday will make it up tonight. Finished reading Kavaliar and Clay last night. That was a really good book, I felt it started out good, got a little slow and then picked up again. Buy about page 400 I could not put it down and by the time it ended I wanted more. Went to the dentist yesterday and that was not fun. I have to go back in two weeks to the see gum guy. That probably wont be good.

This is the story of my day. Today I had my alarm set for 5 am woke up at 6 did not run my 8 miles. Then while I am sitting on the train I see green goop coming from the bottom of my bag. There must of been some stuff leeking from the train and then the cold water condensing on my water battle. My bag got all wet on the bottom. Nasty.. my books are wet and gooey. What can you do! Oh well!. I have to go to the dentist today that will be fun.

ran 6, very humid. It will be worse tomorow. Need to deal with it. This weather only lasts for a couple months.
Went to the gym, there was a sub. I did not go to class because it always sucks when there is a sub. Subs never know what they are doing and messes up the whole workout. Tomorow the plan is to run 8 in the am and go to pilates in the pm.

Trying to figure out how public this blog should be. Real name , fake name, how to keep it safe,

Going to rest, clean and then run 6, go to abs and tbc at the gym.

I can't wait to run in the hot and humidity this week. This makes me crave 20 degree days. But I got to do it. Maybe blogging about the runs will give me added motivation not to slack.

Signed up for twitter and it seems scary

the morning run versus the afternoon run. sleep verus the run the eternal question.

At NYCWP internet workshop. Decided to start this blog about running life and whatever comes to mind. Hope it works.

Marathon Training will be one subject

History

Work

Politics

Let us see what happens.