Now that was awesome

My running week was more normal. I went five easy miles Tuesday, had a race on Thursday night and ran my typical Sunday 10 today.

The race was notable because I ran on a team. 10,700 runners laced them up for the Run the City Corporate 5K. Most of the entrants were walkers but the purpose was to develop healthier corporate employees. CEOs and seeded runners got to start at the front. Then blue tagged runners in front of pink tagged walkers.

I knew the course and security weaknesses so did my warm up around the block from the stadium where it started and - Oh! - my warm up finished at the front of the race corrals so I slipped in the crowd with others I know and waited for the start.

At the gun the road opened wide for me and I fell in at my own comfortable pace. The first half mile looped around a lake where you could see back to the start where there were still hundreds of runners shuffling across the start line. I was grateful for my sneakiness.

I had a massage earlier on Thursday, the first in months. Running the race just didn't feel like what I wanted to do so I did not kick it hard. My Garmin died a mile in too. I crossed the finish with the clock reading 24:59.

I was the #2 male on the school district's co-ed four person team (2+2). We were good enough to win the division title with a combined 1:41:56. We beat five other teams!

Today. Today was awesome. I woke up late with less than 30 minutes to dress, prep and be downtown for the a.m. run. I made it in time and really had no idea how I'd feel. Charline asked what pace I wanted to go this morning. I said I had no idea; whatever the road gave me.

We headed out at a quick 8:30 mile pace and pretty much kept it up throughout the run. Every time we tried to slow down a friendly fastie would fall in with us and pull us along. We covered the route in less than 1:30 which is always a good time for me. I was impressed with myself. I also noticed that my hips were looser than they've been in a long long time. I credit Hank and the massage I had on Thursday.

The day got better after I came home, showered, woke up Mrs. T, had breakfast, walked the dogs and packed the car. We headed to the beach and had an absolutely glorious day in the sun and water. Neither of us went swimming (jellyfish) but there were plenty of surfers to watch. And, of course, every surfer scene has its requisite brigade of bikinis. For the record, I read five sections of the paper and took a nap too.

Driving over and back to the coast with the top down in the cabriolet was totally fun.

What? Back so fast.

While I have the chance I will just pop on and say I went to run this morning after many too many refreshing cups of beer at the annual neighborhood party yesterday. There was some Man Rule that you can't leave until the keg is dry. I did my fair share.

I was almost late to Park Avenue today but they were still there when I snuck up on them. Of course, that darned Garmin was fussy about synching with satellites again so they left without me while I stared at the stupid bar creep evvvvvvvver so slowly across the watch face.

Then as I started, fasty Kim started too from not too far behind. She wanted to chat since she was running alone. Gentleman that I am, I kept up with her for a mile and a half before I couldn't even talk, much less breathe. Fortunately we caught some slower folks who gave me the excuse to ratchet down.

Ed and I ended up doing the route together, cutting a few corners here and there. When we had reached eight miles Kim caught up to us (on her ninth mile) and pulled us along for a half mile or so until Ed and I keeled over next to a water fountain while she pranced on. Frisky 40 year olds. I'll tell you; they are too much.

Now it's time to prep for the NBA (Magic) playoff game. I may have to have some more of that really good frothy stuff.

13 days later he sends up a post

To prove I am still here.


I could have written last weekend but life happens.


Since we last visited my last remaining link to you died. Don't feel bad but you were not the ones who came to mind right away when the laptop died.

No, I had a thought about how I would send a note with my tax extension request to tell them my hard drive ate the return and I would not be able to pay them all the money I owe them. You see, two Sundays ago I had put the finishing touches on my return, shut down, then awoke that next morn to find that god-awful message we all hate: No root found, or something like that.

Then a week ago Tuesday night a call from cadet world was full of news that kept me and Mrs. T tossing and turning. No details to share yet but I had to be in Jacksonville by 10 the next morning. My tooth was still tender. The taxes weren't done. Can you imagine a better reason to get off my butt and go run?

I did a very easy jog along the St. Johns River from the Hyatt to the Jaguars stadium and back. Did you know the St. Johns is the only North American River that flows north?

Last weekend I went to plan B and used my son's laptop to reload Turbo Tax and completely redo my taxes. In the course of that I had a few positives: my enclosure for the old Acer laptop hard drive hooked up fine and gave me access to my old tax returns and much more. After finishing the taxes I thought about what else I had lost and went to my Web IDrive site where I found everything I thought I may have lost including the tax return that died with the second HP laptop.

Things were improving.

I proved to myself that I can still run 10 miles last Sunday. I skipped running until Thursday and ran a ladder of repeats at the track (200-400-600-800 and down). Today I woke up very early and my mind and body told me to get up and run again so I did another easy run of six miles.

Running thoughts of late:

• Stretching really matters most when you're not in peak form.
• Conditioning levels can drop quickly when you slack off.
• More aches and pains reveal themselves when you're not running regularly.
• Going really slowly can allow you to run just about any distance.
• Negative splits give you the best feelings.
• Garmins are very fickle about how long they need to synchronize with satellites.
• Clif Bloks can give you cavities if you don't wash and rinse your mouth well (theory).
• Newspapers appeal to older demographics and people with above average intelligence. So why don't they cater to runners and carry more stories and results from local races (much less national events)?
• The only Florida student who scored a perfect 36 on his ACT exams this year goes to our local high school. He is on the cross country/track team. Nice.

Jeanne's Audi: the top does not leak after many ups and downs. Mrs. T has allowed me to drive it the last week. I like it a lot. I keep wondering when Jeanne is running/biking/swimming by to pick it up for her turn.

A farewell to slacking

Saturday I took it upon myself to go for an easy 5 mile run. I made it through at a 10:30 marathon pace. I figured that was as good as I wanted it after taking five days off. I thought to myself that I needed to remember the pace for Chicago needs to be Runner Susan slow - just like in New York, the site of my only totally positive marathon experience. I give her all the credit.

Today I had it in my mind that I should go practice my best marathon race plan which is go out slower than you feel and pursue a negative split. That formula, no matter what the final time, always makes me feel better about my run than "finishing" before it's really over.

So I went out with Ed and Chris and lectured them on the same principal. Ed was all for it. Chris was just glad to go slow with his sore knees. He bought new shoes which I believe will allow him to heal. Old shoes are a recipe for pain in the knee and elsewhere.

We covered 10.6 miles at a 10:15 pace and I felt like I could go another mile or three if I was so disposed. I might have except there was an art festival downtown that intrigued me. Sunday morning excitement is pretty rare so when I saw all the people setting up their booths for the "Doggie Art Festival" I knew there would be some sights.

I went home quickly to clean up then came back to see the show (all of two blocks) and the gazillion dogs that came with their owners. I took an outside table at the Cuban restaurant and had a Cuban omelet and read the paper. Dogs licked at my legs while eating. Isn't that adorable?

I noticed no terriers at the doggie art festival. Apparently they could not get the SWAT team on stand-by this morning; hence I was not bringing my terrorists downtown.

Odds and ends. I crossed another mileage threshold this morning: 6,000 miles running since I started counting in 1999...I stopped running for a week and lost three pounds...I took my chances with the dentist this past week: a new crown may have gone in just soon enough to avoid the root canal. I am still a virgin in that respect, but it was/is close...the newly acquired 2004 Audi is back at Carmax for the pre-30-day warranty expiration punch list repairs. Worst of it is the leak in the soft top around the rear window. They "fixed it" but better give me extended coverage on that. I plan to put the top up and down a lot as soon as I get it back.

Slacking Hard

Well I can tell you this: not getting up to run in the morning can be habit forming. After Saturday's race I went - as I always do since I attend the Lady of the Long Run Cathedral - downtown on Sunday for the scheduled service. I had seen my principal friends at the race on Saturday and offered to run with them Sunday. I met them both at 0700 and they told me they were going a longer different route than I envisioned. Both were training up for marathons (Oklahoma City?).

So I joined my usual crowd and slackered off with most every one of them to do just six miles. It was a stout six miles but that's all I wanted to put in.

Since then? Crickets.

Who cares?

Not me. It's my spring break and I have things to do: fix the cars, do some spring cleaning, get to know my fantasy baseball teams, watch baseball and Champions League soccer matches, etc.
No running here. It's all "home" work and goofing off. Why run? It's been a grueling stretch since July, prepping for NYC then Ft Lauderdale, and the 10K.

What I really need to do is catch up on sleep and I am not really doing enough of that. There are nine weeks left of school. Summer vacation looms.

Hello Rhode Island.