The Snow King

Week ending 12/21 finished at 15.5 miles for the week. Week ending 12/28 finished at 23.5 miles which included a long run of 10.5 miles on Sunday at an 8:30 pace. The long run felt pretty good and was good to go for 4 miles at an 8:30 pace today, the day after the long run. The goal now is to have some sort of plan in place, including scheduled long runs, and to stick to that plan. This week I hope to up the long run to about 13 miles.
Going to church on Christmas eve at St Joes in Wakefield brought back all of the memories of the St. Joseph's school christmas concerts we had to do. I remember in first grade we did a Christmas play and then the play was aboandoned for the Christmas Concert. I'm not sure whose bright idea it was to make the switch, I blame Sister Catherine Lee as she always had it in for me, but they squelched a rising young thespian in the prime of his career. Back in first grade I was the Snow King complete with homemade Reynolds Wrap Aluminum foil crown. Granted, I may have only been chosen because I could read but I really thought I nailed it. However, all that talent was thrown away the very next year when the dreaded Christmas concert started. 8th grade we had to sing the extremely emasculating song, "Mary's Boy Child" I hear it on the radio now and it sends chills down my spine. I'm pretty sure there are 3rd world countries who use the song as a means to create Eunuch's. They take young males force them to sing this song and voila no more manhood. We even had to do the humming part of the song. It was awful. I'm not sure it could get any worse well maybe if we had to sing "We are the World" or Whitney Houston's "The Greastest Love of all" oh wait we sang those ones too.



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Cover Up Please!

Monday was an off day. Tuesday ran 5 miles at an 8min pace. Felt really good, did some additional light weightlifting and headed home for Maggie's official 3rd birthday, although everyone was still asleep when I returned. Wednesday wanted to run at lunch but forgot my sneakers so it quickly became an off day. Today ran 6.5 miles at an 8:30 pace continue to feel stronger and wanted to run more but ran out of time. I'm not a huge fan of the locker room chit chat that goes on at the gym ESPECIALLY when the "chatty Cathy" is carrying on in the nude. I'm just returning from the shower and this dude chimes in with "what a day already had my first conference call." I'm now racing to put as much clothing on as possible as mano y mano naked talk is something I try to avoid. Even if I'm covered in my towel, which I was, I don't feel that there's enough of a barrier there. "Oh yeah I've got a root canal and it's my birthday too." "well good luck with the root canal" is all I care to say and keep on getting changed. I really wanted to say "Hey less talky talky and more of putting on those chick magnet bikini briefs that I'm positive you've got in your gym bag." "My dentist told me that whoever did the cavity I have did it horribly wrong and now I'm thinking total Malpractice case. I had asked the dentist if she was planning to buy a new BMW because she told me I needed 11 fillings." "Wow 11 fillings were you brushing your teeth with Mountain Dew?" Nude man actually scolds me for thinking his saying 11 fillings was the truth, "No not 11 it was more like 6 or 4 but you know what I'm saying. " I don't actually know what you're saying because I'm losing my mind at your blatant disregard for wanting to cover your "goods and services". I don't understand why people can't cover up in a gym locker room. There are guys who shave with the towel slung over their shoulder, dudes who walk around like elephants on parade and the absolute worst are the guys who sit their bare arses down on the benches. The locker room should be a get in and get out location it shouldn't be some sort of naked Coffee Klatch.

There's a port on a western bay.....

Friday, Saturday were off days. Sunday dropped the car off at the Dealership in North Reading and ran to Wakefield. Worked out to be about a 7-8 mile run and did it in about 1 hr. Wasn't at all cold and there were a few hilly spots so it made for a pretty good "longerish" run. Finished the week at 23 miles. A little less than last week as I couldn't get out of bed Thursday or Friday for early morning runs so I ran at lunch or not at all. Hoping to pick up the pace a little more this coming week. "Brandy (you're a fine girl)" by Looking Glass was the featured ipod tune. I must admit I thought the dudes in the band would be a lot more "Flamboyant" looking. The guy in the orange shirt, yes absolutely, but I thought the other guys would all look like him and less like Charles Manson. I had visions of them all looking like the 1970's Elton John. Which if you've watched the most recent on demand episode of Caillou, it's a pbs kids program, you can see Caillou playinig the drums and looking curiously like Elton John complete with the oversized clown glasses. Which led Maggie to ask her mother, at my prompting, "Why Does Caillou look like Elton John."

Identical

Wednesday did an easy 4 miles and did some light weight lifting. Today ran 5 miles at a nice 8:30 pace. A little sore and tired but overall feeling pretty good. Molly had a great Eye Doctor's appointment and everything seems to be right on track with her vision. That coupled with the previously issued good news from the heart doctor and we've been truly blessed that Molly is in great health. I'm no Gregor Mendel, but I'm pretty sure a boy and a girl can't be identical twins. It's amazing how many people will stop and ask if Molly and Jimmy are identical and this is after they've already been told that they're a boy and girl (not too mention one's in pink and one's in blue.) Who's teaching these people science? Ir's certainly not Coach Wood that's for sure. I wonder if the Walsh family growing up in Minnesota, before they got to the Hills, got these questions too? That reminds is the new 90210 off the air? I'm thoroughly impressed that Pam has not become hooked on it if it's still on the air, Celebrity Rehab and Real Chance at love now that's a different story.

The Most Wonderful Time

SatDay, as Mayor Meninno calls it, was an off day. Sunday saw a quick 5 miles in about a 7:45 pace. Got home just in time to see the Pats rally for a nice victory. Monday brought a fast, again relative for me, 3 miles in about a 7:10 pace and today I ran 4 miles and that was in about a 7:45 pace. For the week of Monday the 1st through Sunday the 7th I ran a total of about 30 miles and surprisingly I'm not in too bad of shape. If I can do 30-35 miles per week and add in a longer run of 10 or more miles on top of that on the weekend I should be in pretty good shape. Starting to hear more and more Christmas music on the radio now. I think I like "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" by Andy Williams, not the crappy Amy Grant ripoff, the best, followed by "Dominic the Donkey". I always picture Dominic the Italian Christmas Donkey to be to Santa what Furio was to Tony Soprano. He's basically the muscle behind the organization. I know the song says that Santa needed Dominic because the Reindeers couldn't climb the Hills of Italy, but Reindeer can fly so he must have needed something else, something a little more (wink wink) Italian. I also like "Holly Jolly Christmas". I bet that Burl Ives was a raging drunkard. Not the violent, smash stuff type but kind of Holly and Jolly. And I bet on a number of occassions he played the "Damn it I'm Burl Ives. I'll tell you when I'm done drinking" card

I guess I gotta Punt

Wednesday was an off day and actually had the day off and had all 3 kids to myself as Pam went Xmas shopping. The woman should be sainted, as I struggled mightily to get them dressed, fed and out the door to go mail some letters and yet she manages to do it everyday. Yesterday ran 5 Miles in the morning at an 8:30 pace and then followed that up with a slower 3 miles in the afternoon. Definitely picking up steam and feeling better as the days go by. Today was a 6 mile run at a little faster than 8:30. Felt pretty good, wanted to do a little more but didnt have enough time. Was listening to the David Bowie/Queen song "Under Pressure" and it always reminds me of that classic Vanilla Ice interview where he denies stealing it for his Ice Ice Baby song..."See mine goes dune dune dune dicka dune dune, dune dune dune DUNE, it's that little itty bitty change that makes it different." That's up there in my Hall of Fame of Quotes alongside, Cedric Maxwell, "I no longer wish to be called Corn Bread.....Thank You", Rickey Henderson, "Today I am the Greatest of all time", Glenn Danzig's agent, "As of this day forward Mr. Danzig no longer worhips the Devil", and finally a young John Miller with "Well I guess I gotta Punt."

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Nicety

Tried to go out an run a fast (relative to my lead feet) 3 miles in less than 7:30 per mile. Did that with a little to spare, so I'm not feeling too bad but it is still extremely early in the training. However, I know that the 3 miles was at the end of how far I could go at that pace. "Nice'ty" was the Ipod pick of the day (stop cringing I warned people of my tastes) Where does Michele'le fall in the whole Santa Claus grouping? Some people think she's nice some think well maybe she can be a little nasty but if it were up to her they could just call her Nice'ty. I guess that's where Santa earns his paycheck by making those tough decisions but maybe nasty means she's just gross/disgusting and not necessarily naughty. She'll go out and help an old lady cross the street but afterwards she'll sneeze and not cover her mouth.



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Like a Sauna

Did a low key 4 1/2 miles this morning on the treadmill. Felt real sluggish at the beginning but that could be the 5 am start time that caused it. I like to do a lot of training on the treadmill it lessens the pounding from running on concrete and I really don't like being cold. The gym has about 50 treadmills all lined up in 2 rows and nothing annoys me more than when someone feels the need to cozy up next to me in the adjacent machine. I can't explain how or why but it throws me for such a loop. I finish running and head into the sauna. Now every time I enter any sauna I always have to (in my head) give this standard line when I open the door, "WOW, it's like a sauna in here." Gets me every time...Simple pleasures... Open the door and there's a dude in there in full Matthew Modine nylon sweatsuit mode. I wish him luck with Kuch and can't help thinking why the heck is this guy doing this. Maybe he's a high school wrestler trying to make weight but he looked too old. Perhaps he's doing some goofball weightloss contest with his friends or and I don't even know if this would work, maybe he was trying to sweat out any trace at all of drugs from his system in order to bypass some drug test. I settled on the latter. With the warm temps I Decided to add another 3 miles on at lunch time and surprisingly it felt pretty good.

It Aint Cool being no Jive Turkey....

Thanksgiving day no running same for Black Friday. Saturday did a nice and easy 4 1/2 miles at about an 8:30 pace. Went out Sunday to run about a 4 mile loop. Basically, ran from my in-laws around Lake Quannapowitt and Back. Tried to incorporate a small hill on the way back and it felt pretty good. It was raining/hailing a little bit but surprisingly, there was no wind so it wasn't bad at all. Left quad was really tight throughout and started to burn a little near the end. Starting to feel a lot more comfortable running hoping to pick up the daily mileage a little bit.

Who's Johnny

Ran an easy 4 miles on the treadmill in slighlty less than 8mins per mile. Left quad feels a little tight but other than that it was pretty uneventful... Well except ESPN flashed the tidbit that Brady Quinn was done for the season so once again it looks like my fantasy football season ends sans trophy. "Who's Johnny" from the movie Short Circuit was on the ipod and I can't remember but was El DeBarge the guy or was El Debarge the Band? I know it was the DeBarge family but now that I think about it more I think El Debarge was the guy. The bigger question seems to be is does EL stand for "the" in Spanish or is it just short for Elroy or something similar. If it's "The' in spanish then I think it's kind of ballsy like the guy is saying Hey I'm THE Debarge and the rest of you are the other debarges. Where are the Debarges now I wonder...Donda Esta EL? "Irregardless" as Tom Brady likes to say, "Who's Johnny" is a fairly enjoyable running tune.


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T-Minus 146 and Counting

April 20, 2009 here I come. So, here is my first attempt at a training blog for the Boston Marathon. Besides writing about my training, I thought I'd give you all a glimpse into why I'm running with random thoughts sprinkled throughout. My goal going in is to finish better than the 3:57 time that I had in my first ever Marathon. I need to get back into shape and have begun running fairly regularly at 3-4miles 4-5 days a week. Starting around Christmas time I'm hoping to be at 30-45 miles per week including a long run on the weekend. Today I ran at an 8 Min pace for 3 Miles. I like to run on my lunch break it tends to break up the day and allows me to sleep in a little later. Although Jimmy and Molly, our 10 week old twins, as well as Big Sister Maggie have other plans sometimes... I have horrendous taste(so I've been told) in IPOD music so I welcome any and all suggestions as I am getting a little bored with the selections. I am running to raise money for the Massachusetts Down Syndromes Congress and I welcome all donations in all sizes.



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