12 26 11 to 1 1 12

mon 13 1:28 ran on the west warwick bike path and got into it with a group of obnoxious high school losers. here is a brief summary of the argument. a dumb kid said the highly original 'run forrest run'. i turned, switched to running backwards so i could argue with him, and said 'wow did you come up with that all on your own?' he said 'yeah'. how could he be too stupid to not notice my sarcasm? then i asked him 'did tyring to give me sh*t make you feel better about yourself?' he said 'yes', i said 'good, cuz your clearly stupid and need all the help you can get.' it took him a while to come up with a something to say, so i was about 100 feet away when he started yelling at me again. i couldnt make out the words so i said 'come up here and tell me that.' i couldnt hear his response except for one word, 'fag'. well, that train is never late, is it? i knew it was only a matter of time. i responded by telling him to 'come tell it to my face, you f**king pussy. you cant do what i can do cuz your a pussy." he kept yelling as i got further away, but he wouldnt come after me, even though i continued to call him a pussy. looks like i was right about him. after that, my sluggish legs came to life and i ran faster the rest of the way. thanks for the help, losers.
tues 10 on the trails, trying to stay away from the gunshots the whole time. still, more enjoyable than yesterdays experience. bullets kill, but at least they dont say dumb things.
weds 10 track workout 525 80/woods shitbreak 238 73 74 73 71 pleased with the 400s but not the longer stuff. had a bad night of sleep and didnt get up early enough to eat a good breakfast, which most likely is why i felt tired and not very strong. fun to workout with muddy, jonny, and jeff. they pushed me the whole time. they asked if i wanted to be on their running team, and i think itll be cool to be on a team that i can help, instead of one that ill never be better than the 20th man.
thurs 10, 100 pushups, 125 dips, 120 crunches
fri 3
sat 10 b.u. mini-meet, bad 3k way over 10 min, just didnt have it. came back ok in the mile 505, ran good splits 78 78 77 72

12 19 to 12 25

having an ok running week. ran every day, no more achilles pain. having a good tetris week. got into my top five 4 times.
mon 7
tues 3
weds 8 tried to workout but couldnt get rolling. did some 4s and 2s, then bagged it. did 100x pushups, dips, crunches. i should probly try to get in a routine with that stuff.
thurs 10
fri 6
sat 10 had a way better day on the track. 3k 956, ran smarter, 8 sec slower at the mile (521), made up the 8 sec over the next 4 laps, and ran the last 3 laps 11 sec faster than last week. then i did the mile in 512. id have liked to run faster, but at least i won the heat and ran a big negative split (241/231).
sun- did 100 pushups, 140 dips, 120 crunches

12 12 to 12 18

fri 4 achilles is feelin fine after 4 days off. ill try to race tomorrow, but i shouldnt expect a 3k pr right after taking that time off.
sat 8 good thing i wasnt looking to pr today. through the mile (5:13), i felt ok and i was only a second off pr pace. i knew i felt slightly more worked than i should have felt though. to say the wheels came off after that is not accurate. more like i got hit by a train. i went backwards really bad. at one point i opened my eyes (yes they were closed at times. i didnt realize it.) and i was not on the track anymore. i took a few steps on the infield before i got my balance, got back on the right side of the rail, and got back to the suffering. i still had six laps to go. it felt like it took an hour to run another four minutes. my pace slowed to a crawl. i was hurting. im sure it was painful for people to watch. i dont know what kept me from dropping out, but i finished in 10:07, which was my worst 3k time by 20 seconds. ouch. the good news was that my achilles felt fine. after a long rest (too long-i was out of food and getting hungry) it was time to get loose for the 800. i wanted to redeem myself for what happened earlier. i wouldnt get the chance. i started to feel tightness and irritation in the achilles. i tried some strides to see if it would work itself out. it didnt. i scratched. oh well.
sun 18 with najem and hammett. really cold- 12 degrees when we started. i was not expecting to finish this run. my achilles was tight but it never got worse. we had a great run. the view at the clearing was awesome. when we were running across otter brook dam, greg said, 'dams are cool'. i agree. now its bowling time. my legs feel ok, so it should be a better night than last time.

12 5 to 12 11

mon legs super tired, a slow half hour was a struggle
tues easy 10 not feeling much better
weds workout 4x1200, 400 rest 426,424,412,409 this felt easy but i decided to shut it down due to an annoying problem, achilles bursitis. i had it exactly a year ago and its not fun. i really wanted to do the last 1200 because i felt like i couldve gone way under 4 min, but i had to be smart about it. usually this kind of thing isnt as bad as tendinitis, but it might force me to take a few days off. last year i had to take a week off to make it go away. not what i want at all, since training has been going so well lately. hopefully it wont last long. i did have a good night of tetris though. got over 400k twice with a high of 427,033. i had a great game going until at a key moment (of course), my thumb cracked and it made me push the left button an extra time. that put the piece in the wrong spot, which messed up the rest of that game. too bad. i think i had a chance at 500k. if i dont run tomorrow and friday (i also dont have to work friday) at least I'll have plenty of time for a shot at beating my record.
thurs tetris 474,116
fri the day off seems to have helped with the bursitis, ill be able to race tomorrow. i also got some arnica gel and i think it helped too. now its tetris time.
sat 10 jingle bell 5k. in my first 2 races back, i had a hard time getting it to really hurt. i knew i could run faster, but for some reason i wasnt able to push like i should. ive been able to do it on railbed tempo runs this fall but not when it really counted. so for this race, the goal was to be able to hurt the way ive able to make myself hurt in workouts. i didnt really have a time goal because i figured if i made it hurt enough the time would take care of itself. i definitely made my goal, but i was kind of dumb about it. i took off way too fast the first minute or two, and i was hurting a half mile in. i hit the mile in 523, which would have been ok if the course was flat. unfortunately there was a hill waiting for me a minute later. i kept fighting hard but i got my ass kicked. five people passed me. i was so worked the long downhill that followed didint help me recover. i ran a 6 min mile. i kept digging down and held my position from that point to the finish but i was falling apart bad. i managed a 542 last mile but that was alli had. my last 0.1 was 36 sec, 6 min pace. i think i will award myself the 'worlds worst kick' trophy for that one. i ended up in 10th, 17:42. ugh. i was pleased with my effort though. im not happy with my time, but i know its because i raced stupid. i didnt have any problems with my bursitis, which was cool.
sun 8 the plan was to do the clearing with najem from our house. fyffe was running too. the weather was great. i did not feel great. at first, my achilles was fine but the back of my right knee was tight and pushing off was not an enjoyable feeling. going up beech hill, my knee loosened up some, but my achilles was starting to get irritated. i thought back to last year when this happened (the pain got so bad i couldnt run anymore. i had to walk 5 miles out of pisgah back to gregs house. i was freezing). i didnt want to have to walk 7 miles from the top of clearing back to my house. i turned around in case the same thing happened again. it turned out to be a good decision. about a mile from home the bursitis had worsened and i had to walk from there. last year i took four days off and then i was ok, so im gonna try that again. i really wanted to do that run with them. to make matters worse, the running injuries turned out to be bowling injuries as well. it hurt to bend down and i was off balance on most throws. i bowled 50 points per game below my average. i let the guys down but luckily they had some good games, epecially najem. on friday ill try an easy run to find out if the time off helped.

11 28 to 12 4

mon 10 railbed tempo 9.5 miles 5735 i felt way better than i expected so I decided to make up for not finishing yesterdays workout. ran really well on the way out but kind of fell apart the last 3 miles. still a solid time for this run. plantar fascia was really bad the second half. hopefully it won't get worse.
weds 10 track workout 2x800, 4x400, 4x200, 400 rest on the 8's, 200 on the rest of it. 235,235,76,74,76,74,36,35,34,32 wanted to keep it on the easy side since it was the third workout in four days, and i was able to do that. i was only a little flat, but it kept me from running too fast, which should result in being fully recovered for the race saturday.
thurs 11 felt good walking around at work all day, but super tired during the run. got the old nintendo hooked up again, and my tetris skills are not sharp. best score of the day was 387,000. not great. ive decided to make najem my unofficial tetris apprentice. he has a strong desire to improve. the potential is there.
sat decided not to go to boston for an indoor 3k. raced 10 miles solo on the railbed in 5944. i ran it as hard as i could. i feel really good about it.
sun easy 10

11 21 to 11 27

mon am 5, pm 11. felt way better than i was expecting to feel.
tues easy 5
thurs 13 with 5 mile race 2947 felt more like a tempo, just couldn't get into race effort. my workouts have been a lot harder effort-wise than my last two races. maybe it's only because its been months since I raced with any kind of reasonable fitness. hopefully things will come around once i get more used to racing again.
sat 5 easy
sun 11 track workout 5x400, 100 rest 78,77,78,77,77, 800 rest, mile 528, 800 rest, 5x300, 100 rest 57,57,55,55,55, 800 rest, 5x200, 200 rest 35,35,34,33,31. i was supposed to do a 1200 before the 2's and an 800 after but i had nothing in the tank so i bagged it. oh well. im pleased with the times on what I was able to do.

11 14 to 11 20

mon ran a hard tempo (11.5-12 mi effort) in 1:11. had the gazelles (hammett, fyffe, najem) pushing me the whole way. started out to fast and had to work hard to not fall apart the last few miles. it was getting dark in the woods at the end and it def cost us a min or two. i admit taking to advil for this one. i had to do it cuz my foot was killing me all day and i needed to do this workout. i will not get sucked into taking it every day, though. good run, 13 miles total.
tues 12
weds no workout, really dead legs, felt terrible pretty much everywhere, no sense in killing the confidence with a bad workout
thurs 6
fri 10 felt better
sun 8 mile trail race 49:29 it was an ok race. i was hoping to run a minute faster but oh well. 12 miles total.

11 7 to 11 13

Mon 11 railbed tempo 9.5 miles 56:12 my plan was to get into it right away and run very hard on the way out, then try to stay under control on the way back with whatever I still had in the tank. (2910/2702) so I was able to do what I planned and got my best time in two years. Feeling good about my fitness, which a big change compared to a few months ago.
tues 8 felt better than I expected. Just some soreness in my foot and hamstring. If its still there tomorrow ill have to be careful not to go too hard in the workout. Not too concerned tho.
weds workout 16/8/8/4/4/4/4, 400 rest. 505 234 234 75 74 75 72. I was pleased. Good to have most of the group back out there again. Much to our surprise, dillos was closed so we had to go somewhere else. Finding out it was closed due to running out of food was almost as shocking as the time subway closed cuz they ran out of bread.
fri 12 felt ok, almost recovered from the workout. ran some more on the trails near my house. ive only been out there a few times but i can tell its a heavily hunted area, based on the atv tracks, hardly any no trespassing signs, and random whiffs of cigarettes. tuesday i heard one of those fake bird call things (turkey, duck, i dont know what the hell kind of bird sounds like that), and started to run the other way. a minute later i heard the gunshots, and thought 'wish this bright yellow shirt was bulletproof'. today i saw a 4 wheeler with no one near it, and further down the trail there were some crushed beer cans (seeing that worried me, mostly because i thought of all the dumb things ive done after drinking too much, and i didnt even have a gun any of those times). also, i kept thinking i heard people. i was starting to think i was crazy for hearing voices, but as soon as i got off the trails and back on the railbed, i passed some hunters dragging out a deer. i started to feel bad for the deer but then i changed my mind. it could have been me. i might need to stay out of there for a while, but new trails are always so damn cool. i cant decide if its way more or way less than what im making of it.
sat 13 workout on the railbed 4x 0.95 mi 518 500 455 502 i felt really flat out there but i still got the work in, and ran times that im pleased with (too bad theyre not mile times but it was still a good workout). i usually only do 3, but i wanted to see what i could come up with when i was already really worked. big time bonk on the cooldown. i stopped at mclays after, and i could barely talk when they asked me what i wanted to eat. taking an easy day tomorrow. sloppy joe tacos are awesome.

10 31 to 11 6

mon 9 ran from school, did the 8 mile tempo in 52:56. its real hilly out there, so i was pleased with it. also, i was able to run close to my best time for this one, despite leaving quite a bit in the tank. i might try to get into a routine of running the monday tempo under control, so as not to be too sore or tired run a good weds workout, but still fast enough where it is a quality effort. it worked last week, so im expecting it to work again. then ill save saturdays for the hard tempo or race.

tues 6 felt ok, not too sore or tired, should be able to have a good one tomorrow.

weds 14 track workout. got to the track and it had 3 inches of snow on the top turn almost the whole way. i did the math afterwards and it added about about 2 sec each time i ran on it. the plan was simple: 5x400 at 3k pace, mile at 10k, 5x300 at mile pace, 1200 at 5k, 5x200 at faster than mile pace, and 800 at whatever pace i was still able to do (by the time i got there i was expecting 3 min). the rest between the short stuff (4,3,2) was 1 min, and 5 min before and after the long stuff (mile,12,8). ok not so simple. i wasnt sure if i could do the whole thing, but the results were good, especially considering the snow. 80,79,82,81,81, 539, 57,56,57,56,57, 405, 37,37,37,36,35, 236. overall it wasnt too hard to hit these times until the 800, which was really tough. the soreness in my groin the whole time was the hardest thing, but i have to put up with it since im not taking advil anymore. very pleased with this workout.

thurs 10 took it easy, real tired

sat 13  1:24 wasnt expecting much from myself today, based on friday nights chromium loading, so this was a pleasant surprise. although, im pretty sure id have run under 1:20 if i had felt good enough to eat something first and didnt have a killer headache and stomach ache, so ill take it.

10 24 to 10 30

mon 12 1:19 good time for this run, especially considering that i totally backed off the second half. It should help me avoid being too sore to run a good workout weds. It's the first time on the track in a while so i want to feel good out there.
tues 5 took it easy, not sore, the plans working so far. I'll really find out tomorrow.
weds workout 4(4-4-8) 83,81,241,80,79,240,78,78,236,75,77,230. Very happy with this. Thanks to brad and james for helping me push the last 800. They jumped in at key spots on it and it made me speed up. i pretended that they werent my friends and i was racing them so i had to beat them. Does that make me bad? i only thought that way on the last 8, so maybe not. Anyway, i know i could not have done it alone, so a big thanks to them. I liked running in the dark. It seemed to make me focus more on form and watching where I was going, and it made everything go by faster. Good workout. 12 miles (or according to brads gps, 6.4) also, i dont know why some words are randomly green and double underlined. it irritates the @%#$ out of me! i didnt click on any of them, but hopefully its not a link to some hardcore naked she-male fiesta site. not that theres anything wrong with that. if that stuff is your secret passion, its fine, no judgement, ill still be your friend. but since i get so many views (about 5 a day, shits blowin up), id rather not have it be linked to this blog. eh what the hell, ill click on it.
fri 10 with ferenc fyffe najem and george. Good to be back to running with the group again and not getting dropped on easy runs.

10 17 to 10 23

Tues 16 2:03 didn't feel good but it was a good run for Sontag. He is set to run a big pr at cape cod.
Thurs 13 back to the old railbed. I like it way more than the track, but next week I'll be gettin back to weds workouts. Today I was trying to do 2x 3k-2k-1k with 2 min rest and 4 min between sets. The paces were half mp, 10 mile, and 10k race pace. I felt sluggish out there. I wouldve liked to have at least felt flat but it was worse than that. Still, I managed to run close to or maybe even right on pace. At worst, it was about 7 miles at or below 6 min pace, so still a quality effort.
saturday 15 we had a big group that got up early and ran 8, then we went to breakfast, played some golf on the worst course ever (still fun though), then me and matty p went out for another 7. then greg and jen got married and we all had a great time at the reception/hermathon.

10 10 to 10 16

tues 12 railbed workout 3x 0.95 mi. 526 502 513 it was really dark out there for the last repeat. i think i slowed down because of that. ill estimate it cost me about 10 sec. pretty good workout. faster than a few weeks ago, and with faster recovery pace in between (700, last time 740). ill take it.
thurs 10
Sat 10 railbed tempo 9.5 mi 5715 a minute faster than 2 weeks ago. Started out too fast and really had to work to keep from falling apart. I was able to hang on, barely. Very pleased with the effort.
Sun 13 I felt ok so I decided to workout again. The plan was to do two sets of 6 min, 5 min, 4 min, 3 min, 2 min, 1 min, with a 1 min jog between each and 5 min between the sets. The 6 min was at marathon pace, the 5 at half marathon pace, 4 at 10k pace, 3 at 8k, 2 at 5k, and 1 at 3k. I hit the railbed once again and chirp was out there to warm up with me. He ended up doing most of the workout, which was a big help. The short rest was tough but i was able to hit what felt like the right paces. I feel good about the effort.

10 3 to 10 9

Tues 10 railbed tempo 9.5 miles 58:22 (3046/2736) my best day in a long time. I felt strong and got faster the whole way. I did this run a couple weeks ago at the same effort level and ran 6140. I've only been doing about 35 a week but I think eating better and dropping 12 extra pounds this past month has helped a lot. I feel light and fast again. Leanness is not overrated.
thurs 3x800 at practice on the xc course 255 253 242 i wasnt trying to do a workout but i felt pretty good so i went with it.
fri 11 i guess yesterday was enough of a workout to make me too sore to run fast again today. advil wouldve helped a lot but i quit taking it a couple months ago.
sat 23 with sontag 3:10 on the hardest climbs around town. that dude will be ready to run a huge pr at cape cod. i had bad lower ab and groin pain the whole way, but i had to do this run. when a friend asks for help with marathon training, how can you say no?

9 26 to 10 2

Mon, tues, weds, 0. Coaching and trail maintenance is killing my training. 2 xc meets and working on the course before and after school.
Thurs 21 (4 tempo after school, 17 the clearing and concord hill
Fri 4
Sun 7 with 2 mile tempo

9 19 to 9 25

Tues 17
Weds 2 wicked sore
Fri 5 10x200 hills then 2 mile tempo on the xc course
Sat 6 felt terrible so I shut it down. Bad humidity.
Sun 8 tempo work at robin hood (0.9 mi per lap) 3 laps in 18 min, 2 min rest, 2 laps in 11 min, 4 min rest, 1 lap in 524. Ok workout, the trail isn't as fast as it used to be, but neither am I.

9 12 to 9 18

mon 8
tues 13 railbed workout 3x .95mi 535 514 519 + 1.5 mi hard tempo 840. it got dark sooner than i expected and it was hard to see on the way back. i think i would have been faster if it was lighter, but it was a good workout. for months, i wasnt able to feel like i was running as hard as i could, but now i think i got it back.
weds 0 middle school xc race
Fri 5
Sat really tough 5k in brattleboro, only ran 19 min but I feel it was a sub 18 effort. Still goin in the right direction.
Sun 9 during the Pisgah race, great year to watch the 50k instead of running it, solid hermathon after

9 5 to 9 11

mon 8 went to a race with pipp and goup. i felt like shit during the warmup and raced like shit as well. the course was tough but i couldnt believe how hard it was to only run 7 min pace. i didnt bother cooling down. when you dont run fast theres no need to.

tues 0 worked on xc course trying to divert the water but it didnt really work. all i ended up doing was moving the knee deep water from one place on the trail to another place further down the hill. it was so much fun though.

weds 11 (2 at practice, 9 at the workout) 6x800, 400 rest. i felt absolutely terrible warming up, but when i got on the track i felt ok, then as i got further into it i started feeling better, and ended up feeling better than i have in months, as the times will indicate. 257 256 252 250 244 235. thanks to james and brad. couldnt have done it without them. i was pumped to hit that 235. i think the last time i ran that fast was in feb or march. only 5 of us today but we all killed it. awesome day.

Thurs 3 really sore

Fri 8

Sat 10 64:40 ran as hard as i could. Not concerned with being 7 min slower than my best time on this run. The effort was there, so I feel good about it.

Sun 10 railbed with james

8 29 to 9 3

mon 14 in pisgah 1:34. hard effort, killed myself to stay with the gazelles. extremely pleased. starting to get the poker face back. and yes, i love that frign song. i was going to do that at a karaoke party last week but someone had just sang it, so i did bad romance instead. what you didnt think i was a lady gaga fan?

tues 0 rode a bike all afternoon looking at the flood damage in town. rt 121 is an absloute mess. the road is gone in many places and the power lines are across the road. a couple of houses unfortunately got completely destroyed. theres a covered bridge with trees in it. bellows falls has power but we still dont. its kinda boring but im not complaining at all cuz theres a lot of people who have it way worse.

weds 8 my road was fixed enough so i could drive across, so went to weds workout and did 3x mile with 400 rest (606, 603,548). i was really tired from mondays effort and from the biking but i am pleased with my effort level. i ran big negative splits on all 3 miles. im still nowhere near where i want to be but i feel like im making progress.

thurs 7 great run, rock chased a deer and i had a good view of it. hes one of the fastest dogs ive ever seen, but today he took it to a new level. the deer was going all out and he found a gear ive never seen him use before and he was catching up to the deer, then in an amazing display of instinct shut-off, he came back when we called him. that is one fast dingo. and yes, he eats babies.

fri 0 worked on the xc course a school for 6 hrs, cutting brush and raking

sat 8 ran fast did 2 miles with fyffe which means i ran tempo pace, then sprinted all over the the alumni race course to watch in as many places as possible, so it was kind of like doin 8x200. good to run fast.

sun 3 did not feel good, not worried about it.

8 22 to 8 28

mon 6 tempo 40 min
tues 0
weds 9 2x2 mile 1232 1221 wanted to do 3x2 mile but I ran out of gas. No prob I feel good about it.
thurs 8 hinsdale fun run got the w in the 2.3 mile, which was good for the old confidence level.
fri 0
sat 8
sun 0 didnt run in the hurricane. instead spent most of the day outside watching the floods wash away a few hundred feet of our road. it was crazy. trees were getting snapped, and i saw an oil tank from someones house floating down the river. lost power at noon and no clue how long it will take to get it back on. the road is destroyed and looks like its gonna take a long time to repair it. the power of a flood is amazing and kinda scary.

8 15 to 8 21

mon 10 found some new nintendo controllers. hopefully theyre better than the one i have, which is stickier than the victorias secret catalog i had when i was 14 (it wasnt mine- i borrowed it, and yes, of course i returned it. come on, you didnt think i was one of those people who borrow stuff and never give it back, did ya ? what kind of asshole does that?) but i digress...if these controllers are good, i might be able to break into my tetris top 5.

tues 0 went climbing at the garage. by 'climbing', i mean i watched computer mike, joe, and malnu climb while i threw down monster dunks on an 8 ft rim, did sets of pull ups, and maintained my chromium levels. i also shared my recent out of town adventures. while entertained by the story, they unfortunately revived my paranoia about personal cleanliness (just when i had stopped thinking about it). also, i just finished some serious blog surfing and posted a few comments. the words you have to type in afterwards are always weird (waxicula) but i got some real good ones tonight, very closely resembling the phrases 'hag nest' and 'full anus'. 

weds 9 track workout 550 417 248 80 77 didnt finish- hamstring was cramping and felt like it was gonna tear, so i observed rule #17. my times arent improving yet but the good news is that i was able to pick up the pace after starting too slow on all of these. its good to be back to having the legs responding when i want them to. the times will eventually improve.

thurs 5
fri /sat 0 had a strange incident where i banged knees with my friends dog, and i was in a lot of pain. this might seem ridiculous but it wasnt your average dog, it was a great dane. it hurt a lot and i limped for a few days.
sun 11

8 8 to 8 14
mon 0
tues 7
weds 7 workout did a 1200 (424) then 6 x 400 (84-77) these are really slow times for me, but I took some time off so I figured it would be slower. good to be back runnin and not feeling dead from the first step of every run.
thurs 7 hinsdale fun run, i intentionally sandbagged the mile (624) to run a good 2.3, and the plan worked (14:06, pr by 34 sec, 607 pace) i ran negative splits and felt strong for the first time in a long time, and was able get tough and really feel like i was racing. i felt way better than yesterday.
fri/sat 0 a month ago i would have been totally guilt-ridden about this, but now i dont care at all, and it feels damn good
sun 7 hard effort, made harder by the fact that i slept til 3 in the aft, then drank a pot of coffee and ran. i felt jittery, duh.

8 4 to 8 7
Thurs 5 at hinsdale fun run
Fri 4
Sat 5
Sun 0

7 18 to 7 24

mon 10 mile death slog
tues 8 miles of leaning forward and staggering
weds 8  6x400 77 wicked hot amd humid, disappointing workout
thurs 7 im out of gas, coach says i bumped up the mileage too fast, which is why i have no energy to run, then he said take two weeks off and come back and start crushing taints. coach is almost always right so i will listen. and whats the point in running alot if its not making me better? easy answer. see ya in two weeks. or 14 days. church.

7 11 to 7 17

mon 9tues 10
weds 17-am 5, pm 8x200 37 very tired
thurs 16-am 8, pm 8 hinsdale fun run, not that fun, even more tired
fri 10
sat 3
sun 11 attempted to race stowe 8 miler, but you cant race on flat tires
76 miles- more tired than last week

7 4 to 7 10

monday 7 attempted to race, didnt go so well. i forgot to wear my watch, and i decided not to check my time. this was most likely a great decision cuz i would have been disappointed. i could tell i wasnt running fast.
tuesday 14 terrible run, one of my worst this year. every time i tried to dig down to get a little extra, there was nothing. im not going to be negative about it though. i know its a direct result of yesterday, where my chromium levels were possibly at an all time high. or at least top ten anyway. and looking back, i only ate a couple of hot dogs all day, so of course i ran like shit today.
weds 10  took it easy, did some barefoot running while everyone else suffered thru badass workouts. i suffered enough yesterday.
thurs 17 miles. am 10 with 5 mile tempo (28:30). this was the fastest ive run in about a year, so i am pleased. pm 7 at glenn's hinsdale fun run. i was feeling super tired but still managed get some work in at around 6 minute pace.
friday 7 at hamilton falls. that place is awesome.
saturday 9 in putney
sunday 17 athens lookout
total 81 miles damn im tired

6 27 to 7 3

monday 15 miles. we were supposed to do 24 but i overheated for some reason. even tho it was only in the low 80's, i had to stop. it felt like my brain was cooking, and i couldnt keep going. jonny had to run to get the car then drive back and pick me up. i was pretty upset with myself for ruining the run.
tuesday 0 still felt shitty, painted my grandparents house instead, lightheaded all day.
wednesday 17 miles. supposed to be 10-12, but we messed up somehow. i didnt mind, today was the best ive felt in a few weeks. also, muddy got to experience the awesomeness that is the lonely island.
thursday 13 miles, workout. mile, 4x800, 4x400. 528,246,244,244,243,76,77,76,74. there was no issue with soreness (surprise!), i just felt sluggish. i was not too pleased with most of the times, but im hoping the long run yesterday is the reason i was slow. one cool thing is that i got to watch matty p crank out 8x mile starting at 515 and ending at 449. i was impressed, then shocked when he said he did 12 once and finished at 428. unreal. i think might quit running.
friday 7
saturday 10
sunday 8
this week 70 miles (there you go, chirp. i didnt make you do the math.)

6 20 to 6 26

mon 11
tues 0
weds 9   8x400 73
thurs 13
fri 0
sat 13
sun 12

6 13 to 6 19

mon 0
tues 9
weds 6x400, 4x200 74 74 75 74 74 68 35 33 32 33  12 miles
thurs 13
fri am- basketball  pm- 11
sat 0
sun 11

6 6 11 to 6 12 11

mon 10
tues 9
weds 10  8x400 (78 78)(78 77 76)(78 75 70) 100 jog, full recovery after each set
thurs 13
fri 4  strange sharp pain in back of knee
sat 2
sun 0

5 31 11 to 6 5 11

mon 25 epic miles. awesome run. big group of keenyans. afterwards swimming, burgers, chromium replacement. officially the best day ever.
tues 0 moved more of my stuff to ferencs, couldnt fit all of it in the car, had to go back to keene to load up again, had to coat hanger my muffler so it lasts til i get it fixed next week, cleaned my old place so i get my security deposit back, accidentally vacuumed the c key off my computer, realized there was no time to run and that im too tired to drive back to vermont and the only option left at this point is to sleep on my floor, then get up and go to work tomorrow with a car full of useless crap, then move it in at like 8 tomorrow night after coaching a track meet. @#%$&#@*%!! officially the opposite amount of awesomeness as yesterday.
weds 12 hill workout
fri  9
sat  track meet, 4
sun 18 1:58  super hard effort
68 miles

5 23 11 to 5 29 11

mon 13 miles, 1:33  at goose/drummer trails with najem and pipp. lot of single track, which i like the best.
tues 12, 1:25
weds workout 527,240,239,77. bad lower ab pain on the 400, decided not to force it 3 more. im nowhere near as fast as last year, but im pleased with running negative splits on the 16 and the 8's. 9 miles total
thurs 10, 1:20  dead legs
fri  track meet, basketball 2 hours
sat  moved to ferencs. running after going up and down 3 flights of stairs all day is never fun. so i took a 0
sun 10  to the pinnacle. cool spot

5 16 11 to 5 22 11

mon 7  felt decent, figured id feel bad after the long run yesterday. we did the easiest run in saxtons river (yes there is one) which helped me not feel terrible.
tues 7  12(?)x 200, 35 sec. with the team. i really felt sluggish, but i had to do it cuz the kids seemed like they would have dogged the workout if i didnt do it with them. i will probly be too sore for a wednesday workout.
weds 10  railbed with james. we settled into a good pace on the way back, and it helped wake my legs up. its a good sign when 620 pace feels good again.
thurs 13 ran the mountain with goup. really wet, slipping everywhere, should have worn trail shoes, dont know why we didnt.
fri  track meet, played basketball after
sat  tempo 10   65 min
sun 12 great run, felt no pain anywhere for the first time in i dont know how long.

5 9 11 to 5 15 11

monday am-5, pm-track meet, watched celts disaster, wish i ran instead
tuesday am-3, pm-3, then 14 at ferencs. crazy steep and long hills, spent a lot of time in oxygen debt.
thursday- 13
sunday- 22 with goup on some hilly trails and dirt roads. this run is badass. everyone should do it.

5 2 11 to 5 8 11

16,0,8,12,0,0,9/3. bad week of training. had to coach 2 track meets, which made it tough to find time to run as much as i wanted to. its only gonna get worse since i have to coach 3 meets next week.  i could just wake my ass up early to run, but i am not a morning person at all, so its easier said than done. i was pleased with my effort at the 6k today, but not my time. itll come around, i just need to race more so i can get used to the feeling again. church.

todays headlines: aliens struggle to find consistent sleep patterns, demise of species appears certain

8 miles, track workout. 6x400, 4x200, 200 rest. 79,77,76,76,76,75,36,36,35,35. doing shorter rest made this a good workout. looking back on it, i could have done more repeats, but i dont think i couldve run much faster. all i know is i was half asleep the whole time and could have taken a nap in lane 3 if i tried. i need some rest, but dillos is up next, and najem is back and looking to restore chromium levels. this could get bad, considering my recent difficulties with getting enough rest. last night i got about 4 hours of sleep, so tonight i have to be home by midnight or else tomorrow will be one of the worst days of my life.

yessss! home. 11:53 pm. good times. i might just survive after all.

solid run, return of tetris

16 miles, 1:54. the clearing and concord hill add-on. theres a ton of climbs,and i worked hard on them. i didnt concern myself with anything but the climb i was on, which helped me keep the effort level where it needed to be. if im gonna get back to where i was last year, i need to have more days like this.

also, its been a while since any nintendo discussion has taken place, but i must say that i found the nintendo i had as a kid. it still had all my best tetris scores that i had written on the top of it.  i started playing again, and wow do i suck! i cant believe how good i used to be. i havent gotten within 100k of my high score from '95. im gonna keep at it, but i might need a new controller (one that doesnt have unpredictable b-button fail) if i expect to make a serious run at my old records.

4 25 11 to 5 1 11

mon 7mi with ferenc's dogs. lena tried to eat a porcupine. not a good a idea. had to pull some quills out of her chin. by the time i get there its almost dark so its going to be tough to get a good week of training.
tues 8mi good tempo, bad sleeping. two dogs in a bed is tough. i wake up about 20 times a night. i am so friggin tired. i will be sick by the end of the week.
weds 0mi track meet didnt get back til 9, at least my team kicked some ass.
thurs 0mi couldnt stay awake at work, left early, stopped at my house to take a nap. only one more night with these dogs waking me up every half hour.
fri 0mi zombie mode again
sat 5 mi finally got some sleep
sun 12 mi tempo feel ok again. shitty week of training, gotta get back to the 70-80 range

4 18 to 4 24

80 miles. (10,12,11,13,8,12,14)

cool run, deer slaughterfest skeleton collection, pond tsunami

me, jonny, and matty p ran some trails near arcadia. we met at beach pond, and we were met by hurricane conditions. the wind was gusting so hard that the waves on the pond were big enough to crash up over the rocks, and the mist from the surf was spraying all the way to the road. usually you dont see that when youre at least a half hour drive from the ocean. on to the running: there were tons of cool spots with tight turns, steep ups and downs, technical single tracks, and also some dirt roads where we could run fast. the dirt road came at the best time because we came across headless deer skeletons on the side of the road, and one of the kills looked kinda fresh, and we didnt want to be next, so the highly runnable terrain helped us get away fast. for the next two miles i felt like i was being hunted. i tried to play it cool but i was scared. too bad i wasnt alone- i would have finally gone under ten minutes for 2 miles. also there was a breakdown in trail marking because in one area, the obnoxious loggers decided to cut all the trees with yellow paint and it took us about 20 minutes to find the trail again. in spite of all that, it was an awesome run. its also possible that matty doesnt hate trails anymore. totals- 13 miles, 1:40

4 11 to 4 17

monday- track drills, capture the flag, 12 miles at goose pond/drummer hill. great to be out in the woods again. i couldnt believe how hot i felt, even in the shade. it was only in the 70s but it felt like 100. i was really sore and tired from track practice, but it was still an awesome day out there.

tuesday  pm-track drills, 12-15x 200 (lost count) at practice, averaged 35 sec, 5 miles total. late night- 5 miles, with the hopes it would shake out a ton of soreness from the workout. it helped a little.

weds- 2 miles, i.t. band was wicked tight. stopped to stretch but it didnt help. the stopping just made it worse. it getting hard to bend my knee so i stopped before ended up as bad as ferenc was on saturday. i havent had much trouble with this area before, so hopefuully it wont be a big deal.

thurs- 7  still tight, but at least i could run a little

friday- 2 miles, knee sore

sat/sun- decided to give it the weekend to heal and hopefully i can get back to regular training starting tomorrow

paintball awards

as far as running was concerned, it was not a good weekend for me, but thats not an issue right now. in terms of friends, paintball, guitars, and chromium loading, it was officially the best weekend ever. after we finished shooting stuff, i was given the award for 'least aggressive player', based on my style of play (stay in the back, shoot at things i cant see). that might sound like a crapper of an award, but of the two given out that day, i got the better one. the other award went to ferenc for 'most times shot in the neck'. i guess i should give out an additional award to greg for 'most accurate impression of a pile of leaves'. the resemblance was spot-on.

11 miles. 8x400 80,79,76,76,77,76,76,74. felt fine on the first few, but when i wanted to start dropping it down i got stuck on 76. i was looking to hit a few more 74s, then finish at 72. i put in a good effort but it just didnt happen. still, it was a quality workout. as usual we refueled at dillos, and there was an unexpected appearance by nick cash's sweatshirt (awesome). after that, greg and chirp came over and got to know kenny powers. then we made a great decision to mix in some additional chromium replacement, and i realized how much i hate birdbaths. kenny is right. maybe not about the aids thing, but definitely the plague. well, i guess not that either. but he is right that birdbaths are the stupidest thing ever made. when did we decide we needed to be friggin bird samaritans? yeah, their shit gets everywhere, but the birds themselves are fine. they dont really smell like anything. i dont see why we feel compelled to help birds keep clean when theres way too many people walking around out there that smell like a race day port a john five minutes before the gun. yes, i do realize that i deuced my pants a few months ago, and it smelled bad, but i was RUNNING! its not like i was going to pick up some bread at the store! these people are the worst. its horrible. im out running (and not sharting), and i pass someone on the sidewalk, and they smell so bad i get the urge to throw up on them. after i somehow hold back the impulse, i realize that throwing up on them may have IMPROVED their current scent (implied nick cash). consider this: a full-sized, shit-covered, vomit-saturated human poses a far more severe threat to the environment (and our nostrils) than a two pound bird that has been sitting on a branch all day with a brisk breeze freshening it all the way down to its underfeathers. this is where we realize that its not birdbaths that we need, but person baths! just have them out there next to the sidewalk, complete with soap and paper towel dispensers. not only does this improve air quality worldwide, it also lowers the unemployment rate. i mean, someone is gonna have to change the water and refill those dispensers. problem solved. jobs created. modern day new deal. what up, fdr? dont know what im talkin bout? you can find that shit in any 8th grade history book. ridiculous, i think not. just another wednesday. church.

4 4 11 to 4 10 11

monday- track drills, 14 miles
tuesday- track drills, 6 miles
wednesday- 11
thursday- am 5, pm- track drills, 5
friday- track drills
saturday- 6
sunday- 0 (day after a bachelor party, no further explanation needed)

this was my worst week of the year, and im not pleased about it. i could blame it on resting to get rid of some nagging pains, but i could have run through it. i could blame it on having a busy week, but i could have gotten up early more days to run. its gonna be another busy week with coaching and other things going at school, so i have to try harder to get up early so i can get the miles in.

3 28 11 to 4 3 11

monday 5 miles, track drills

tuesday 5, track drills

wednesday 12 miles. 2x mile, 2x 800, 2x 200. rest: almost none. 518,526,242,234,36,35. i definitely surprised myself on this one. going into it i was sore and tired from doing dynamics at track practice, and i totally got dropped on the warmup. usually those things dont lead to a good workout, but today was a day like no other day (think: fyffes weds workout song). i was way behind the other guys but they still helped me run well. i only had about a 200 jog between the miles so i was shocked that i only slowed down by 8 seconds. maybe there is hope for me after all. church.

thursday am 5, pm track drills, 12 miles (advil-less limpjog bonkfest) i am beat. this month: 307 miles.

friday 5

saturday 11

sunday 15

this week 70

3 21 to 3 27

70 miles. 0,12,11,5,12,12,18. every day was a struggle to get the legs moving. the half marathon stayed in them way longer than i expected. i thought id be fine at andys race, but i totally tanked. as soon as it started i knew i had nothing. i fought it for the first mile, but then i said screw it. i decided it was more important to save something for the sunday long run with the gazelles (greg, fyffe, andy). not racing for a few weeks should help get the legs back to normal.

11 miles total. didnt feel recovered enough to do 400's so i did some tempo (3.5 miles at 6 min pace). it was exactly what i needed- fast enough to be a quality effort but not so fast that it will kill my race saturday. unrelated topic- all day long, i could not get 'party in the usa' out of my head. (i didnt bother linking it. everyone knows that song.)

12

3 14 to 3 20

70 miles  6,10,12,11,10,5,16

nb half - 1:21:34. (technically i did 13 miles in 1:20:57 then i stepped off, so i added 37 sec for the 0.1) my old pr was 1:24, so i feel good about this race. splits- 605,619,622,625,605,607,606,606,628,611,608,620,610. i felt strong and in control almost the whole time. its been months since i was able to feel like that in a race. the rest of the keene guys had good races too. i owe wolverine 19 nick cashes (yes i counted), but i enjoy living so i let all of them go. it wasnt easy.

wednesday workout 8x400 4x200  80,80,78,79,77,77,75,72 33,34,33,30  it took me awhile to get loose but it ended up being a good workout. ive worked back to taking normal rest instead of 2x or 3x rest, so now i can work on getting my times down to where they were a year ago.

3 7 to 3 13

monday 0  having issues with plantar fascia
tuesday 11 1:23 dirt roads, foot still sore
wednesday 10  baker st workout 2x800, 4x400  237,236,77,77,79,80  i fell apart at the end of this one. im ok with it though because the times are still getting faster. i was not ok with the dead possum on the turn. i accidentally looked it in the eye during one of the 400's. i thought i was gonna throw up.
thursday 13  1:39 got on the trails, some slipping and postholing, but not horrible
friday 11  1:17   foot was bad today
saturday 5    36 min
sunday 20   2:19   foot ok, good to be able to get in a faster long run, should be far more effective than the death slogs ive been doing lately
70 miles this week

2 28 to 3 6

70 miles. 12,4,11,10,3,17,13. i had some bad plantar fascia soreness on saturday but stopping to stretch helped. also i stopped a few times to jam my thumbs into the bottom of my feet to work the pain out. that was highly effective, considering i was 7 miles from home and walking back wouldve been the worst. today i ran on soft and muddy dirt roads, so everything felt fine. i was out near ferencs house and there was some tough climbing. i ran up the steepest road ive ever seen. ive run trails that were worse but it was still badass. im pleased with my increasing level of strength. i think once the snow melts some more i can bump up the mileage since ill be able to get back on the soft trails. and if i move out to ferencs this summer that will help my training even more. i dont know what im gonna do without internet tho. wow i never thought id say that. church.

tues  4
weds 11  4x8 244 247 240 242 felt good, finally feel like ill be able to get back to where i was last year. also it was great to have chirp and brad with us on the cooldown and at dillos. on their last repeat they were both nearly flattened by some a-hole in an f 250. it looked like he drove at them on purpose. then he swore at them and yelled 'its a road not an f-ing runway'. all of us saw it and we were ready to fight him, but as always people only say stuff when theyre driving away, and then he was gone. i was extremely upset about what happened. it took me a while to regain my composure, as i spent most of the cooldown swearing heavily at any car that came within five feet of me. once i got to dillos i was fine.
thurs 10

12 miles. 272 this month. 522 this year.

2 21 11 to 2 27 11

this week 70 miles (16,10,11,11,8,0,14)

perk will be missed

i think i could come up with 43 reasons why this is a bad trade (i wont though, because when the celts dont make it to the finals now, that will be reason enough). giving up a huge defensive presence like perk will hurt them. i guess danny 'change' didnt realize that they lost game 7 of the finals last year because perk was hurt and couldnt play. teams are going to be able to kill us in the paint now. if youre a perkins hater, you dont know anything about basketball. his defense and toughness cant be replaced. heres some highlights of what we will be missing (notice how perk works gasol under the basket, and rejects durant while being offensive fouled). i will hate this trade forever. maybe if they got dwight howard i would be ok with it. nah, even if that did happen, i think i would still hate it. thanks for all your hard work, perk. i hope you can help get oklahoma city to the finals.

11 miles

11 miles 6 x 400 75 74 75 75 72 73 i took a lot of rest between them but it was good to get some faster running in. i still have a long way to go until im back where i was, but i feel good about that workout.

10 miles  i took advil, i stayed on the roads, and the lower ab strain felt better. it was good to get off the trails and back on the road. wow i never thought i would say that. also the nintendo page just got a little shot of life (thanks mike q) so if you have anything to say about duck hunt, you know what to do.

16 miles with jonny in arcadia. this was a good run for about an hour or so, but then the trail conditions got really bad. there was a lot of ice, which aggravated the ongoing problem with my lower abs. every time i slipped it felt like i was getting stabbed in stomach, and i slipped on almost every step. the last hour of this run was not enjoyable because i was in so much pain. i guess ill have to stick to the roads to keep the pain level tolerable.

2 14 11 to 2 20 11

monday 0  beyond tired, got home from work and took a nap,
            didnt get up til 7 the next morning.
tuesday 13  i feel better.
wednesday 5 had to work late, didnt get to workout. not cool.
thursday 18  the mud on the dirt roads felt good. now for an
       unrelated topic- greg you wanted to hear this the
       other day:adam sandler assistant principals big day.
friday 3 trying to run after playing basketball is
       miserable. i can still get 70 for the week but it
       wont be easy. 
saturday 16  abs are killing. hurts to cough. didnt take
          advil. bad idea.
sunday 0  everything hurts.

2 7 11 to 2 13 11

monday 8 miles

tuesday 12 miles and 2 hours of fullcourt basketball. ill pay for that.

wednesday 0  wicked sore

thursday 15 miles

friday 8 miles

saturday 12 miles with a 5 mile 'race'. its hard to run a good time with tired legs, which hopefully explains why i had no response when a guy with an i pod and shorts over his tights passed me. at least i know its because i just went way up in mileage and my legs arent used to it yet. but i still expected to be faster than 31:39.
              
sunday 18 miles   i worked my ass off even though the other guys were just chillin, but i still feel good about it. this was a good run and a good week. now if i can just stay healthy and keep it going, i might start running fast again.

73 miles total

a thursday with no issues

 15 miles, 1:52. a solid effort with some tough climbs.

    in a few ways, today was slightly better than the last two thursdays. note: if youre in a hurry right now and want the abridged version of this, too bad, there isnt one. here we go.
    a week ago, i got dressed to go run, and as i closed the door behind me, i realized i had locked my keys inside (4th time in as many months). yes, i know i am an idiot. yes, i am aware of the concept of the 'spare key'. that day, it didnt matter because my spare key was in my locked car. awesome. as for my phone, it was of course, locked inside the house. even more awesome! at least i had running gear on. my first thought was to run to the landlords office so they could give me their spare key, then i would be all set. i knew the office closed at 5, so i had time. i got there at 430. closed. @#*&!!! my next idea was to run to a friends house so i could use a phone to call my landlord to get them to come unlock my door for me. i thought of two people i work with who live on main st. nobody home at either place. ugh. i ran past mark and marys. not home. i ran to my friend pats house. not home. sontag and drouin. not home. goup and haley. not home. pipp and mcknight. you guessed it. not home. i ran back past goup and haleys. still not home. back to sontag and drouins. still not home. i was now 0 for 9, and deep into 'what the eff!' mode. i was only planning on doing an easy hour that day so i got lazy with my hydration and didnt eat much of a lunch. at this point, the sun was down and it had been six hours since i had eaten anything. i was hungry and cold. i was on my way back to pats house, and my plan was to just sit in his garage until he got home. finally i caught a break. his neighbor davey somehow recognized me in the dark, so i went into his house and used the phone. issue over, right? wrong. i had to leave a message on the answering service, then waited for the landlord to check the messages, then they called someone who could unlock the door, then 30 minutes later i got a call from the grumpiest dude who ever lived. first, he told me there was a $25 charge for the service, and i needed to pay him cash before he would unlock the door. i didnt have any because i was out running. then he said that i would have to write him a check before he would unlock it. that, of course, was not possible because the checkbook was in my house. the guy grumbled for a while about company policy and i got pretty uspet at him. i dont remember my exact words, but the angry rhode islander inside me came out, and eventually he agreed to open the door. then i wrote him his stupid check. i was out $25, but at least i was inside, that miserable prick was gone, and i got about 12 miles of running in. i proceeded to cook and devour two bacon cheeseburgers and couple of beers. then the problem was solved.
    if youre somehow still reading (implied nick cash) you will appreciate this next little gem as well, but that might only be because this story is not as long. i will admit that last one was a bit wordy, but lets face it, we have become blog junkies, so its cool.
    anyway, two thursdays ago, i was running an in town loop with some ksc guys. it was all good, no reason for concern. nothing was hurting, nothing felt strange internally. i hadnt even felt an urge to fart. unexpectedly, disaster struck. i farted. then i realized i wished i had farted. then i realized i wished i had sharted. but it was even worse than that. i had full-on deuced in my pants. noooo! this was trouble. as i waddle-ran home, my ass cheeks started rigging from the excessive clenching. i went inside and took the longest shower ever. all i can say is that if i had any dignity, this experience would have been humiliating. church.

mon- 8, tues- 12, nintendo- 65

1 31 11 to 2 6 11

70 miles (8,16,10,12,0,8,16). its almost to the point where the number of nintendo comments has caught up with the number of miles i run in a week. it might be as soon as next week, seeing as how im feeling some achilles irritation today (well, at least i got a few good weeks in). ill know more after mondays run/attempt to run. maybe its nothing, but i need to be careful.

monday 8
tuesday 16
wednesday 10
thursday 12
to the regular everday nintendo crew, keep up the good work.

this month- 250 miles. nintendo chat- 50 comments! ill take those numbers. january was a solid month.

1 24 11 to 1 30 11

7,14,10,8,0,12,16. 67 miles. 242 this year, but who really cares about me steadily regaining fitness when you could instead be reading about people writing about playing nintendo ?

nintendo/bo jackson. i got right to the point because im pretty sure you dont care about what i ran today when you could instead be posting about what you did before you knew about beating off. for those you who have decided to come back from 1987, 10 miles. 8x200. 35,34,36,33,35,34,35,31. i was all over the place with the times, most likely due to missing so many morkouts. it was good to get the legs turning over. as always, i could breathe ok but the legs were pissed at what i made them do. this was a very small step, but at least it was in the right direction.

monday 7, tuesday 14, nintendo page comments 30!

1 17 11 to 1 23 11

61 miles this week. feel better than a month ago. probably just jinxed it. nintendo chat link.

friday 11 miles
saturday 14 miles

for those of you looking for the nintendo chatroom (hammetts, bonk), its on the january 20th post. i think its cool that it turned into a video game forum (implied nc), so feel free to keep it going. i should point out that i am the best at tetris.

late night pisgah epicness, demon showdown avoided, nintendo chat room

wednesday totals- 3.5 miles at baker st, 6-7 miles snowshoe running, 2.5 hours hiking

i got out of work late but made it to baker st in time to cool down with the regular everyday normal crew. that night and into thursday morning, me and sontag and rock (english teachers cringe at my disregard for grammar) set out on a snowshoe trek in pisgah. we parked at gregs, borrowed some gear, then got started. the trails were groomed so the going was easy at first. that changed drastically when we got to the ridge trail where the toughest climbing was. we had to break trail and the snow was knee deep in a few spots. the hardest part was the thick layer of ice on top of the snow. we had to work hard to punch through it, then when we would lift our feet they would get hung up on the huge pieces of ice. i fell over a lot, much like uncle paulie in rocky 4, 'oh ! oh, damn!' (i tried to find a clip of this but i came up empty). surprisingly, it didnt bother me much (the terrible footing, that is. but i am extremely upset about not finding that rocky 4 clip), i think because i wasnt concerned with how fast we went. i was not expecting to see any other human tracks out there, but someone had come in through kilburn and linked up with the ridge trail. the boot prints were very small, and looked fresh. i was amazed at how long this persons stride was. something about it didnt add up, but greg assured me that it was probably just a demon or ghost of some sort that was haunting us. i guess in the end it decided not to kill us. i think the mountain lions felt the same way, so that was cool. the ridge trail seemed endless. it took 2 hours and it usually takes 30 minutes. we finally got done with that trail and got back onto the groomed snow highway. it was easy running the rest of the way. (it took 3:42, i have run it 1:21) we got back to gregs around 1230 am and he had chromium replacement beverages for us. i got home in time to get 5 hours of sleep, but it felt like 5 minutes. i was dead at work today but i didnt care. thats the price i pay for an epic adventure.

monday- 10 miles, 1:05
tuesday- 11 miles, 1:21

1 10 11 to 1 16 11

today- 12 miles. this week- 56 miles. this cold weather is killing my knees, but i can deal with it (thanks advil).

10 miles. ran to baker st to watch fyffe and hammett crush a ridiculous workout. it was 10 degrees at the warmest. i dont know how they got their legs moving fast with it being so cold out. miller was there too, calling out splits. it was probably colder for him because he was on a scooter. it was a good morning for some regular everyday normal motherf***ers.

thursday- 8 miles with fyffe and ferenc. not an ideal pair to run with when youre looking for an easy day. luckily for me, they wanted to go easy, which meant it was moderately difficult for me. i hung on through the climbing and ended up feeling surprisingly good at the end (implied nc). also, the footlong subs, chromium replacement beverages, and you tube were good too. so it was a solid afternoon for just a few regular everyday normal guys.

no baker st, no problem

wednesday 16 miles- me, greg, and goup decided to run the clearing instead of working out at baker st. it turned out to be a great decision and an epic run. this normally takes about 1:35 at a comfortable pace, but its got a lot of climbing so you dont really get too comfortable. today it took 2:04. i think we saw a total of 100 meters of bare pavement. the roads werent plowed that great, and we were slipping quite a bit. on the way up beech hill, we passed a plow truck that was stuck trying to go up the hill. this wasnt just some 4x4 pickup truck either. it was one of the big orange tank things and it was spinning out like an '89 corolla (yes i owned one when i was 19, and it was shitty). i felt like we were badasses as we blew by that truck. theres one section of the run with about a mile on the trails, and the snow was knee deep the whole way. it was awesome out there in the woods. the trees were covered and it just looked so cool. we came back out to the road and some people were outside shoveling and plowing their driveway. a woman asked us if we were crazy. i said 'every day someone tells me im crazy', i think goup said ' yeah we are', but i couldnt really hear him. that was because greg responded to her question with a noise that sounded like a cross between a fire truck with the most sirens ever and an insane patient fighting with the orderlies trying to give an injection because the person threw a shitload of chairs across the rec room. it was weird, but i got a good laugh. then we got to the otter brook dam and the wind was whipping. i wish i couldve gotten a picture of what it looked like because typing about just isnt good enough. ill try anyway. on the side closest to the direction of the wind there was about an inch of snow. the depth of the snow steadily increased across to the furthest part away. the drift was over my head, probably six feet high, and it was like that for almost the entire length of the dam. it might be one those 'you had to be there' kind of things, and im glad i was. we started getting a little cold after that, but the run was almost over so it was fine. we came to goup's road and ran the 30 seconds to his house on bare pavement (that was pretty much the only pavement we saw). the snow made it tough but it was worth it. im not sure if greg or goup thought it was awesome enough to write a novel about, but i did. this was one of the most satisfying runs that ive had in a long time, so i had to go on a rant. this run was a good replacement for not going to baker st, but there is no replacement for armadillos, so we went. it was good.

10

1.3.11-1.9.11

50 miles this week (5,8,10,0,11,10,6).

so far, i have not taken advil for any running injuries. this is because i finally dont feel injured (fingers crossed, knock on wood, etc). i did however need advil for a splitting headache yesterday afternoon (this is where you pretend to be shocked for 0.27 seconds, then you laugh while thinking about why i had a headache, and then finally you say 'what an idiot' or 'idiot savant, sans savant').