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.

Spring training/break/reunion over ... finally

I am looking forward to tomorrow night. The last of the spring break visitors will have left and I will be back to the peace and pace that may allow me to return to better training, running, eating, racing, drinking, sleeping and blogging.

It's been a long two weeks.

Our last houseguest is the young Frenchman who is son T's age. He is the son of Mrs. T's pen pal from 9th grade French class. Mrs. T and her pen pal visited each other over the years and in 1983 sent each other letters at the same time declaring their recent pregnancies. G and T were born within a month of each other and have been friends a long time.

I have spent the last week explaining the stupidity of adults and students who did crazy things in the week before public school spring break (this coming week). Likewise, I entertained G at an NBA game (Magic-Spurs) and a college tennis match between nationally ranked #3 Lynn and #7 Rollins and a college spring exhibition soccer match. I also took him as my sidekick to the college reunion events. Mrs. T had to manage the busy museum most of the weekend but we ran into her a few times.

For my 35th reunion nobody from my class showed up! The college was not officially observing it but I saw plenty of people I know.

Then there was the birthday party for a good friend I've known for 20 years; and the online drafts for my fantasy baseball teams (three of them).

The 10K Race. I missed five training runs while spring break was going on. Too many distractions. I slipped in a few speed work sessions to keep the speed up plus one long run last Sunday but otherwise, I lost my mojo. I also put on some weight with all the eating and drinking that accompanied the breaker activities.

It was about 63 degrees at the start. I was in the 8-minute pace zone with a few pals I knew. The start was clean. The jockeying required in the first mile was not too bad. I put forth a pace of 8:05-8:10 through the first three miles. I kept up the 8-ish pace through miles 4 and 5 but stopped for water in both miles which cost me about 15-20 seconds. By the sixth mile the sun was rising and I was overheating so stripped off my shirt.

I slowed down too much, coming to the 6-mile clock in about 8:30 and then kicked it in at a decent pace to finish in 52:11.

The Bad - I did not break my 50-minute goal. I lost my stamina.
The Good - It was my fourth best 10K. I was 17th out of 66 in my age group. I saw Maddy plus a lot of my Central Florida running pals and acquaintances.
The Most Fun - watching the Kids Runs: 3 and unders, 5-8 year olds and 9-12 year olds. Cute.

After the race I weighed myself and was four pounds heavier than I expected to be after the effort. That's probably why I didn't have the speed. Too much partying in this boy.

Sunday's run was just right

It was good to go out running this morning and actually feel good about it. All week (since Tuesday) I have been off my feed, so to speak. I didn't want to run. I skipped two runs. I dragged dead legs on a five mile run with two walk breaks. It was all pitiful.

I blame it on spring break. To get in the mood I played hooky on Friday.

The house has been a whirlwind since Wednesday when son T came home. We had one cadet already here (since last Friday). T came in with another on Wedenesday. A former Army (now Blackwater) pal came by with his girlfriend. A West Point softball player on a Central Florida tournament swing was here twice. The lovely young blonds in the photos yesterday dropped in from Gainesville for the day on Friday. A French friend of T's came to town to stay with us for a week. An 18-year old girl who somehow got T's phone number late one night called several times and came by. A former girl friend of T's spent a few hours. Son C came over from the college.

The street was busy. Motorcycle. BMWs. Spec V Sentra. Jeep. Audi A4 (yeah, baby). SUVs. Who knows what else. The tattoo guy is not our son. He knows if he ever gets one he'll never see a home-cooked meal from his mother.

I am whipped. A five day spring break extravaganza. I guess living it close, on the periphery of all the action, is as good as it gets these days. Much more and I'd be toast.

We had a big dinner today -sort of a last supper - before the cadets all go back to the academy tomorrow morning. Before dinner I tried to find a semblance of normal by going out to run with the Sunday bunch at 7 a.m. It was overcast and cool enough to run without panting. I started slowly but gradually shook off the tiredness. I spent a lot of time talking and telling tales with Chris which (a) made the time go faster and (b) made the pace go harder.

My last mile I finished at a good 90 seconds a minute faster pace than the first mile. I felt redeemed from the drudgery of the past four running days. Next weekend is the 10K, my first in two years. Next weekend is also my college reunion. Here we go again.