12 7 to 12 13

mon 8 miles in 53:36. really feel good about this one. its a legit 8 with a lot of hills. planet fitness after bball practice.

tues really sore everywhere. might need a day or two

thurs planet fitness

fri got a new bowling ball. i have to learn how to throw all over again. its tough. averaged about 150 the first 6 games. today was better (214 174 191) but it was on the easy oil pattern.

sat 4 miles easy. how am i still sore?

sun 4 miles easy. same question. bowling is getting better. still working on getting used to the new ball (200 168 169). this was on the harder oil pattern, which means im making progress.

11 30 to 12 6

mon 8 miles, 54 min. was still sore even after 5 days off, but felt rested so i was able to run kind of fast.

tues planet fitness

thurs planet fitness, slept 12 hours

fri woke up at noon. good thing i had the day off. rolled a 664 series (231 238 195). in the 2nd game, i bowled well enough to get a 300 for the first time ever. hit the pocket solid on every shot, just didnt get the breaks. i was tired when i got home so i went to bed. slept 14 hours. wow. must have really needed it.

sat 6 miles with rocko. felt great, not tired anymore.

sun did nothing

11 23 to 11 29

mon did something weird to my knee at practice. it kept getting tighter at night. hope i can still run the turkey trot at school tomorrow. i have to feel good cuz im racing against the kid. if im off, i will lose.

tues knee was really sore and tight when i woke up. i wasn't sure if id be able to run. i took 8 advil and put a ton of icy hot on it. when i was warming up i still felt tight but it didn't hurt much. it got loose once the race started. the kid ran right next to me and responed to even the slightest pace increases. at halfway he was still right there and seemed fine. i couldn't go any faster. i knew i had to get a lead at some point cuz theres no way i could outkick him. i figured my last chance was to hammer the short, steep hill (took about 15 sec) at about 3/4 of mile. i got to the top and he was still there. coming down the other side i was able to pull away. we ran the 1.2 mile course in 606 and 613. i don't think there was any point i could've gone faster. the kid ran great. i wanted him to beat me, but i know he'd never want me to let him win. it was good be able give my best effort (thanks advil) cuz the kid deserved a shot to beat me when i felt good. id have felt like i let him down if i was too sore to run hard. tomorrow im sure theres going to be more than enough sore to go around.

weds planet fitness. legs are killer sore. im going to need a few days off.

sun finally woke up feeling normal. waiting one more day.

11 16 to 11 22

mon 10 miles including a ton of sprints at practice. im gonna be sore.

tues planet fitness

weds planet fitness

taking a few days off. my hip is really sore. it popped hard and loud when i was doing some easy stretching. i was waiting for the pain to come. it didn't, which was a surprise. the next day it felt way better.

sat 8 with sontag and rocko

sun planet fitness

11 9 to 11 15

mon 5 miles at school. started with some easy miles with some kids from the team. then ran hard on the turkey trot course (1.2 miles in 616). at basketball practice did all the sprints the kids had to do. feel like i ran a lot more than 5 miles.

tues couldve used a day off but did 10 with greg, andy and rocko. sore and tired but we went slow. had trouble with slipping on the leaves. my headlamp sucks.

weds planet fitness

thurs 5 miles really sore from basketball practice. it was hard to run.

fri/sat took it easy but still sore

sun 4 miles with rocko. didn't feel very good.

11 2 to 11 8

mon went to planet fitness. probly did too much.

tues 7 miles, including 3 in 1747. turns out it was 2.93, but there was a decent hill in there so its close enough.

weds planet fitness

thurs 6 with the kid

sat 8 miles, 53 min. the leaves were slippery and annoying.

sun planet fitness

10 26 to 11 1

mon 6 with sontag and rocko

tues got a planet fitness membership

weds really sore. didn't lift heavy yesterday but i guess it was too much.

thurs 10 legs felt good. arms and chest still sore

sat 7 with the kid and rocko

sun 7 in 45:25 felt good. planned on lifting weights but after the run i didn't feel like it anymore.

10 19 to 10 25

tues 3 at practice

weds goose 10 in 65:53. legs felt good, knee did not.

thurs/fri knee was too sore to run

sat knee still sore. ran around a lot at the state meet. i did some number crunching and figured it to be 2.1 miles. the kid ran 11:34 and got 7th in a race that was by far the most competitive top 10 in the 11 years that ive been there. he was only 4 seconds away from 3rd. i was really hoping he would get around them at the end, but i could tell he gave everything he had. he always does. really happy for him. not just because he worked hard this summer. also because of the disappointment he had to deal with last season. he worked hard that summer too and looked like a top 20 guy but got hurt and finished 74th. having that bad luck last year makes this year even better. he was fired up. hard work pays off. my other 8th grade boy ran the race of his life and finished 22nd. i didn't expect him to be any higher than 60th. my top girl was also 22nd, and my next girl was 49th. it might not sound very good but at this race, top 100 is solid, and top 50 is good, top 25 is very good, and top 10 is amazing.

sun knee doesn't feel good

10 12 to 10 18

mon 10 miles. 4 at practice, 6 with sontag, rocko and cookie. rocko was going crazy. within the first 5 minutes he treed something (probly a squirrel) and then caught up to us by running about 400m in what seemed like 15 seconds. he was on high alert the whole time and seemed like he sprinted almost all of it. i haven't seen him run like that in a long time. he didn't look like hes almost 9 years old. it was fun to watch.

tues 4 at practice. did some 800s on a dirt road near the school (252 249). i was tired and the kid didnt feel good either, so we didn't push it.

weds 2 miles at practice.

thurs felt good. 5 miles 32:42

fri the kids had a race. a lot of good times. the kid ran 1110 for 2 miles. i was surprised when he said he felt flat out there. maybe it means that after an easy week hes going to run out of his mind at the state meet. hope so. i also have two fast girls that ran 1308 and 1335.

sat felt good again. 6 miles 39 min

10 5 to 10 11

mon 3 at practice. sore and tired legs. knee was ok. if it stays like this i can deal with it and keep running.

tues worked on the xc course. big race for the kid against a kid who beat him by 1 second last race, and kid that was 6 sec behind him. im sure using 'kid' that many times is confusing but i can't use names.

weds the kid went out hard and held on pretty good but the kid who got him last time held on a little better. the other kid ran great too. their times were 1222, 1228, 1237. its way faster than it seems. our course is really hard. ive only run it under 12 one time and i was in good shape when i did it. all 3 guys have a great shot to be top ten at the state meet. i also had 2 girls that ran the fastest times for girls this year on our course (1457, 1523). everyone else on my team beat their best times too. im feeling good about it.

thurs 12 knee felt good by recent standards, so i went for it. i ran hard for 6 at the colony preserve, then did 6 at stonewall farm with sontag, rocko and cookie.

fri 3 at practice

sat 7 with the kid and rocko.

9 28 to 10 4

mon took advil and ran 3 at practice. knee was ok. pullups, pushups.

tues 7 with sontag and wolves (rocko, cookie). knee felt weird but not painful.

weds 3 at practice. the kid beat me in an 800.

thurs 3 at practice. the knee is feeling better. didnt have to take advil for this one.

sat good race for the whole team. 7 teams in all, one of them is a contender at states. we got 3rd for girls and 4th for boys. the kid ran 1104 for 1.9 miles and got 4th. that was a few sec faster than a kid i had who ended up 2nd in the state 5 years ago. safe to say the competition has gotten way better since then.

sun goose pond 10 in 68. felt good. bowling 628 series 216 197 215.

9 21 to 9 27

mon couldnt run. the old knee was really sore all day. didn't do anything to it, this is just what happens sometimes. starting to feel better at night, but not good enough to run. 100p, 300c, dips.

tues knee was better today. took advil and ran a little at the race today. the kid won, close to a course record and didn't have to work too hard to do it. 1242 for 2 miles. exactly how we wanted it to go, since he has a big race on saturday. we also had the 1st place girl, and the rest of the kids ran as well or better than i expected.

weds 6 miles felt good until the last 5 minutes. the trail finished down a steep downhill. that was bad news for my knee. it got really sore and i had to go slow. it stopped hurting as soon as i finished the run. probly a good sign. i did 2 sets of pullups 8, 10. after practice 7 or 8 kids were waiting to get picked up and they were getting bored. i said lets see if you guys can do more pullups than me. i think i can do 12. they each took a turn. the total was 15. last year i wouldve had it easy. i surprised myself by doing 16. bowling was good. i averaged 194 on an oil pattern thats supposed to be about 20 pins tougher than the usual one.

thurs 3 miles at practice. after that i wanted to take rocko out for a run but my knee wasnt feeling too
good.

fri decided ill take a few days off to see if it helps.

sat the kid had a race against some good comp and got 3rd (1202 for 2 mi). he finished a little closer to that kid who already beat him twice (started the season 49 sec back, now down to 26). most of the team got their best times.

sun still resting the knee. its sort of getting better.

9 14 to 9 20

mon 100p 300c did some pullups on the playground thing at school.

tues 100p, 10 miles 69:44. legs felt good. stepped on a rock, which hurt a lot. it kept getting worse but i had to run on it to get out of the woods before dark.

weds 4 miles at practice with the kid 29 min. foot was worse than yesterday, but the pace was really easy for both of us. big time challenge for him on friday against a kid who has a good shot a winning the state meet. my guy beats him easily in the 800 but over two miles the other kid has the advantage.

thurs did about a mile at practice. foot is still sore just walking around. no way im running on it tomorrow. need to let it get a little better so i can race on saturday. i would skip the race but i won it last year (nobody fast showed up) so i have to at least try to win it again. i think i was in better shape last year though. pullups 10 10 10s

fri lazy today. the kid had a good race. he was 9 sec down at the mile and looked good, but the other kid was stronger on the 2nd mile and won by 33 sec with a course record. last friday my guy finished 49 seconds back against that same kid. oh yeah, you probably want to know the times. 1220 and 1253. the course isnt fast. theyre probly going to be around 1050 and 1120 on the flat courses in keene.

sat am 4 did a 5k that i won last year. its only a matter of time before the fast guys find out about small races with prize money. today was the day they found out about this one. i could tell after about 30 sec that i had no shot. motivation gone. i ran hard but not race effort hard. 1938 on a hard course. i figure im in 1840s shape. i guess its not bad considering i haven't been training very hard.
pm 6 stonewall farm trails. felt pretty good.

sun 7 with the kid. i dont think he has an off switch. when i got there he was on the roof pulling off shingles. then we ran. as soon we were done he ate a clif bar and then went back to work on the roof. i went home to sit and watch football. in the summer he would stack hay bales all day after we ran. i usually went home and watched tv.

32 miles this week. need to do more pushups and crunches

9 7 to 9 13

tues 4 miles at practice. foot was ok. wanted to run more but i was smart for once and didn't push it.

weds 2 miles at practice. haven't been working out much. working on the xc trail every day is probly good enough for this week.

fri foot feels good. now i can run a 5k tomorrow that ive been wanting to do. wanted to be in better shape for it, but ill just run hard and try to feel good about the effort.

sat woke up with a pulled hamstring. no clue why. i guess this is what happens when you start getting old. i decided to race anyway. the tightness went away at the start. i guess i felt too good. i hit the mile in 545 (too fast for my fitness level) and was already slowing down. i suffered thru the rest of it around 630 pace. the old hamstring is tight but not worse than before i ran.

sun 7 with the kid. sore but not as bad as i expected.

8 31 to 9 6

mon 3 miles at practice. worked on the trail after. bowling was ok. had a 247 and a 223 but nothing else was good.

tues maybe 2 miles. at least i ran kinda fast. did 3x400 on the course with the team. i ran 78 78 77. the kid was 78 78 79. worked on the trail till dark. its almost race ready. im beat.

weds 100p 300c

thurs 10 miles, started out fast and it felt easy. the humidity slowly took its toll. didn't bonk but just kept getting a little slower.

fri ran the 1 mile time trial on the xc course with the team (613). its about a minute slower than a mile on the track. the kid was 618. ran hard and he was right on me the whole time. felt tired and was just waiting to get caught but it didn't happen. i wanted him to beat me. i guess he just didn't have it today. 100p, pullups 5 sets of 8. cant do as many as i used to but its more than i could do a month ago.

sat 10 with rocko

sun 6 with the kid and rocko. feet are sore. need a day off and some new walking around shoes.

32 miles this week

8 24 to 8 30

mon 6 with the kid, 100p. bowling was ok (212 196 201).

tues 7 miles, ran kinda fast. been feeling better lately, so its time to start doing more of that.

weds worked on the xc course at school. 100p 300c. bowling was bad. no good games. need to get some work done on the thumbhole of the new ball so it doesn't hurt every time i swing it back.

thurs 10 miles. after school ran 6 with the kid. 2x1500m on the railbed 530 517. the kid was 533 534. couldn't drop him on the first one. i felt better on the second one. after that did 4 miles with sontag and rocko.

fri 100p, 300c, some pullups

sat 300c 100 dips, more pullups

sun 8 miles. worked on the trail at school. built two bridges with pallets and plywood. saw a kid i coached 10 years ago. he asked if i needed an assistant cross country coach. hope that works out.

31 miles 300p 900c

8 17 to 8 23

mon 4 miles with rocko. bowling was less than ok. only had one good game. 178 229 202 192 161 194 190 185 202. lost in the finals of the tournament again.

tues 5 with the kid. we saw evidence of a sasquatch. maybe.

weds 100p 300c close game of wiffle (2-1). i couldnt hit anything, but my pitching kept me in it. greg pitched a really good game. i was lucky to hit his only bad pitch for a walk-off 2 run hr. bowling was ridiculous. it was the 2nd day with the new ball, and monday night had i learned a lot about how i needed to throw it. i started off with a 269, which was my best game ever. i was able to keep it going after that 236 207 235 206. i like the new ball.

thurs 10 with greg (i never call him that, it looks weird every time i see it). felt good but we didnt run fast. false alarm on the sasquatch. 100p 300c

fri 4 with rocko 100p 300c

sat 8 miles, 100p 300c

sun didn't do much. just some pullups

31 miles 400p 1200c

8 10 to 8 16

mon 7 with the kid and rocko. didn't wake up in time to eat. i was hungry and feeling tired. i lost focus for a few seconds and the kid dropped me on a climb 45 min into it. it took a lot to reel him in. good sign for him, not good for me. bowling was mostly good games. 205 210 164 201 185 217 227 221. lost in the finals of the tournament, but won ten bucks for the best series in qualifying (665).

tues 10 solo. kind of a crappy run. i felt ok early, then struggled to finish.

weds 5 with rocko and the kid. legs felt like @$#%. not running tomorrow. bowling was good (608 series). finished the league with a 199 average.

thursday took rocko for a 2 hour walk. other than that i was lazy.

fri 100p, 300c. that used to be what i did on a day off, but you gotta start somewhere.

sat 7 with the kid and rocko. got new shoes and it made a huge difference. i felt good. we saw some deer and about 20 turkeys. rocko was going crazy. good thing i had him on a leash. if not we might still be looking for him.

sun 6 miles, 100p, 300c, some pullups.

35 miles this week.

8 3 to 8 9

mon worked at the eagles house again. went bowling 212 193 208 209 208.

tues there was some sort of tornado-hurricane-thunderstorm thing early that morning and the power was out all day at the eagles house. this meant no electric sander. i had to sand a whole side of the house by hand. i was sore and tired and passed out early like the old man that i am.

weds finished painting and went back to keene. bowling was ok (184 213 199).

thurs 7 miles

fri 6 miles, did some pushups and dips

sat 6 miles with the kid. then i left for a hermathon. it was a good one.

sun chilled with rocko, did some pushups and crunches. maybe i can get back into it. i know i need to.

7 27 to 8 2

mon 5 miles solo in friedsam. it was really hot. i was planning on two loops but i had trouble finishing the first one. oh well. at least i got to chill with griffin and take her for a walk. i brought her to see rocko and they had a big time pissing contest. he followed her around and pissed everywhere she did. it went on for a long time. it finally ended when he lifted his leg and nothing came out. game over. hilarious. bowling was bad. i dont remember the scores cuz right now its about a week and a half later.

weds 6 with the kid. we stopped to eat blueberries that were growing under the power lines. if i grew up there it would explain why im so messed up, but hes been doing that his whole life and hes totally normal. go figure. bowling was good, but couldve been better. i had a 226 practice game before league and my wrist felt the best its felt since i hurt it last month. i was finally able to throw it the way keith taught me. the first game of league i started with front 7 (7 strikes). then i missed my target by a board (1 board on the lane, about an inch) on the next 2 frames and got tough splits. i didn't make them. ended up with a 231. that was the first game i thought i had a shot at a perfect game. the next 2 games were solid 192 209.

thurs went to rhody for the rehearsal for my cousins wedding. this was the start of two nights of highly elevated chromium levels.

friday was the wedding and we continued to maintain the levels. we took one of the trolleys from the hotel in newport to the church in bristol. we got there an hour early cuz the trolley had to go back to bring the bridal party there. we were hungry so we started the search for an establishment to get lunch. it was probly an odd sight to see 12 guys in matching suits walking the streets at 2 in the afternoon. i think 12 groomsmen has to be a world record. we found a place and all of us ordered corned beef and a beverage. we realized we would be pressed for time. it seemed like we we had been there 5 min when undrunkles (my uncle who quit drinking 2 years ago) said it was time to go. i had half a sandwich and a lot of fries on my plate. i grabbed as much as i could and left. i headed back to the church with half of a corned beef sandwich in one hand and some fries in the other. i finished the last bite as i walked up the steps to the church. real classy. after the wedding, the rest of the festivities went by fast but i had a lot of fun. at the end of the night i realized there were 10 people staying in the room i was planning on staying in and there was no room for me to sleep. i got a pillow and blanket from the front desk and headed out to my car. i listened to the radio and had a stogie (is that how you spell it?). then i folded down my back seats and went to sleep around 3 am.

saturday i woke up at 730 feeling better than i expected. breakfast wasn't til 9 so i decided to go into town to get a coffee. my car wouldn't start. $%#@! i had the radio on too long! idiot. it felt like 15 min last night but clearly it was way more than that. of course i was parked nose in and with cars on both sides so i couldn't get a jump from anyone. i had to call triple-a so they could bring the long jumper cables. i waited a long time and i missed breakfast. oh well, i smell. i did a lot of sleeping the rest of the day.

sunday worked at the eagles house. another early night. i dont recover the way i used to.

7 20 to 7 26

mon woke up with a huge knot in my neck/shoulder area. i couldn't turn my head to the right. almost any movement was painful. i took a horse pill advil (800mg) and put icy hot on it. it helped a little. i wanted to run to see if id loosen up some, but the impact of a running step hurt a lot. i decided that i would at least walk for an hour. i ended up walking around keene for almost 3 hours. it was surprisingly enjoyable. i took another horse pill advil so i could try to bowl. it helped but i was still really uncomfortable. i bowled 7 games and didn't hit my average once. maybe ill feel better tomorrow.

tues 10 miles felt decent, neck is still sore but way better than yesterday.

weds neck is ok now, bowling was better (184 203 223)

thurs am- 5 with the kid, pm- 6

fri 6 with sontag and rocko. feeling tired from a ton of climbing the last 3 runs. ill probably take a few days off.

7 13 to 7 19

mon 5 miles. bowling was rough. didn't bowl my average in any games. ten of us stayed and bowled more. we decided to a tournament for 5 bucks each instead of the dollar games. after 3 games the top 8 advance into a bracket and are seeded based on the 3 qualifying games. only 2 other guys had higher averages than me, but i wasn't feeling good after the bad series in league. we started and i was all over the place. i wanted to break things. i wanted to walk out early into the 3rd game. i knew i wouldnt do that. i didn't want to be looked as a quitter from that point on. i think the the fact that i even thought about it at all tells how bad i was bowling. then i got some strikes and the two guys i had to beat cooled down. now i had a chance. i had to double in the last frame of the 3rd game to tie for the 8th spot. i got it and had a one frame playoff as a tiebreaker. i got a strike so i got into the bracket and had the bowl the 1 seed. i had a higher league average than him but that meant nothing now. i had been terrible tonight and he was on fire. lucky for me he had a bad game. i didn't bowl well but did just enough to win. the next round i played the 4 seed, who was probably the 2nd best bowler there. he had an off game and once again i did just enough. the final was against the 2 seed. his average overall is about 10 less than mine, but he was on it tonight. i finally started bowling the way i usually do. i rolled a 203, and he had to finish with 3 strikes in the 10th to beat me. he didn't get the turkey, so i took home the 50 bucks. i didn't think i could bowl that bad and make it that far, but i made a big shot every time i really needed it.

tues 5 miles with the kid and rocko

weds took rocko for a 3 hour walk while i was waitin for my car to get a door handle and new tires put on. bowling was up and down. i had a 258 first game in league then sucked with a couple of 160s. i stayed to practice so i could fix the problems. it worked. my last 2 games were 208 257.

thurs 4 miles with rocko. later on, wiffle ball, guitars, chromium. we had one our best wiffle games. i wasnt sharp and greg was doing pretty good. i was down 6-5 late in the game, but i had the bases juiced with no outs. greg said 'im probably going to regret saying this but i cant believe you havent hit a home run yet'. i hit the next pitch for a grand slam. he was not happy. i could tell because he tried to bean me with his next one. the one after that i hit another home run. he said 'im done. i hate you.' (edited for content) then we watched sasquatch videos.

sat 13 miles at run with the beavers 10 mile trail race (1:13:46). i like running there cuz i ran on all those trails during preseason in high school. i wanted to run a couple minutes faster but i was pleased with my effort level. also, bob gave me my 1st place team belt buckle from that overnight trail relay. good to see the guys from the team. back to keene for a bowling tournament. me and mike (english teachers cringe now) had won it the last 2 times. everyone wanted to beat us. they didnt. we got the 3-peat. i also won the strike jackpot. everyone bowls til they dont get a strike. usually it takes 6 or 7. i caught a break and only needed 5. i got out of there with over 200 bucks.

sun 6 miles with the kid. i felt terrible. not sore, just really tired. the kid dropped me on a climb 40 min into the run. he was getting killed by deerflies and wanted to go faster so he could try to get away from them. i told him just go for it and we can regroup when we get back on the road. i hit the last climb and i cracked (tour de roids err france terminology). good run for the kid tho. i went home and took a 3 hour nap. then i went to get wings with ferenc. the wings were awesome. then a weird thing happened. i felt something on my arm. i looked at ferenc and said 'dude im getting wet.' he thought I was just having another one of my strange boj moments. turns out, the roof was leaking and splashing me. a minute later a bigger leak started to drench the table. luckily it missed the wings. later we watched a documentary about a team that rode the 2013 tour de france without doping. that was surprising. they must have been the only team. i wasnt surprised that they didnt have anyone finish near the top of the overall standings.

33 miles this week

7 6 to 7 12

mon/tues went to foxwoods. did pretty good. the whole trip cost about 40 bucks. i was tired when i got back but was able to do 10 miles with sontag and rocko.

weds track camp then ran 6 miles with the kid and rocko. bowling was ok (202 191 190)

thurs track camp, feeling tired from 2 afternoons of ultimate frisbee.

fri track camp, more ultimate. im gonna be sore tomorrow.

sun 6 with the kid, felt ok. a saturday of doing nothing helped.

6 29 to 7 5

mon did yardwork at the eagle's house. the eagle is my grandfather but hes widely known as the eagle cuz he was bald at 23. at least i made it til i was 28. hes 88 now and cant do the handyman stuff he used to do. im still not very handy but after 5 summers of working at his house im approaching a respectable level. most of the time im just trying not to screw up. but now i know how to pull out rotting shingles and make new ones and put them in. i also know how to get a lawn mower to start when priming it and pulling the cord to the point of extreme frustration doesn't work. he said to take the top of the lawn mower off and pour some gas on the carburetor. it works. also got to vent with my grandmother about the celtics questionable draft picks. this 87 year old lady is why my family loves that team. she was going to celts games over 50 years ago and got to see bill russell play a ton of times. legit status. then i went bowling. it was weird bowling at different place, but i did ok. i averaged 199 for 7 games (202 215 177 201 203 202 192). great monday to follow up a great weekend.

tues/weds/thurs more yardwork, scraping and painting the house (green with white trim because of how much my grandmother loves the celts). struggled to run 4 miles weds. i used to have energy to hang out with friends after running working all day. i guess it takes more out of me than it used to. tough gettin old. hope i feel better than this at 4 on the 4th.

fri back to keene for some bowling. i was off today. missed a lot of easy spares. i guess if an off day is a 194 avg for 6 games, it means im getting better.

sat 6 miles, 4 on the 4th, 24:28. i felt terrible from the start. i guess i didn't recover from last weekend's all night racing. not worried about it.

sun 5 miles, felt a little better than yesterday

6 22 to 6 28

mon 8 miles 54 min railbed workout 3x1500 535 457 454 the first one finished with a climb thats easy if your not trying to run fast. if you are trying to run fast its not easy. the other 2 are slightly downhill, maybe 2% grade. feeing good about the effort. sontag ran it too and ran well (549 530 520). then i went bowling. had a 600 series in league (190 205 205). after that, about ten of us stayed to bowl more. we put a dollar each in the pool for every game, high score gets the money, no handicaps. i had some good games 222 190 211 but didnt win. the last game everyone was on fire (6 people over 200). i had a bad start and was only 67 in the 4th frame. i started to pile up some strikes. i had 6 in a row and needed 1 more to win (the score to beat was 236). i got 2 more strikes and won with a 247. i needed this kind of an afternoon/night after a tough day at school. yup you heard right, still have 2 more days of school.

tues 5 miles with the kid. it was hot and we wanted it to rain. it didn't happen. i wasn't sore, which was a big surprise. i guess 4 hours of bowling right after a workout is a good cooldown.

weds bowling 643 series (225 184 234). stayed to bowl more 218 202.

fri/sat did an overnight trail relay at northfield mountain. i raced 3 times in 11 hours. it was a total of 15 miles, but it felt like a lot more than that. it was a lot of fun. thats all i got for a race report right now. lazy.

sunday- really sore but at least i can walk. i guess ill do a race report now. it was an 8 man trail relay at northfield mountain, with each of us racing 3 times for a total of about 15 miles. we had a solid team put together (me, jonny, bob, seth, gazelle, wooley, garvin, and galoob). i expected to be the slowest guy by a bit, but i was thinking if i was the slowest then our team was pretty good. greg was on another team, but he got to hang out with us a lot, so that was cool. i got there at 3 and met up with the guys. once i settled in i started having fun. jonny was very concerned with how many chromium replacement beverages i might drink, but i wanted to race well for the team, so it wasn't going to be an issue. my first loop was at 6pm. i was happy to start with the hardest one, 6.5 miles with 2 killer climbs (29 of the first 33 minutes). then it was almost all downhill and single track. i ran hard, like it was the only race i would run that day. i did it in 53:30, which was close to bobs super spreadsheet prediction. the 2nd one was at 11pm, a 4.8 mile loop. on paper it was easier (one 15 min climb, then a ton of single track descent) but i was slipping a lot due to how wet everything got. i killed the climb, then ran hard when i could on everything else. i was frustrated with how the conditions limited how fast i ran down the mountain. i finished in 40:50 but felt i could've gone way faster if it was dry. i started the 3rd loop at 430am (3.5 miles with an 8 min climb). since it was my last one, i was prepared to turn myself inside to run a good time. i absolutely destroyed myself on the climb, maybe a bit too much. i got to the top and was gassed. i struggled for about a minute, then i was able to start hammering the descent. it was on a dirt and grass road so there was no issue with slipping. i saw a one mile to go sign and found another gear. i ran a 554 last mile and finished in 24:20 something. i was spent. i staggered to our campsite and opened possibly the most well deserved chromium replacement beverage ive ever had. a few hours later, bob ran past us and we followed him across the finish line. im not sure if we won, but i don't think any of us got passed at any point, so i like our chances. i had a great time hanging out with the guys. im really happy they asked me to be on the team.

6 15 to 6 21

mon 5 miles took an s-load of advil so i could run. it hurt but its not a bone bruise. it was only sore cuz all the cuts were splitting open every time i bent my knee. i should be fine. i was able to bowl after taking even more advil. the wrist still didn't feel good and got worse as the night went on, as the scores indicate (238 181 148). cant lift weights cuz the range of motion is terrible.

weds 5 miles knee is going to be fine. a lot of these 4 and 5 mile runs have been with a kid on my team. the dude can really run. i don't have to slow down for him at all. i would probably lose to him in an 800 (kid ran 2:20 a few weeks ago). bowling was not good (196 179 186) but not a disaster either. wrist is getting better but still really sore.

thurs 4 miles solo 25:35 really tired but still ran kinda fast

fri 10 miles with sontag and rocko 1:17

sat bowling tournament, the team of me and this guy mike (not al-t) won it. we also won it last month. fun.

sun had time to run but decided to play wiffle and guitars for about 4 hours each. wrist is getting better. cant get into pushup position yet, but its close. not being able to lift might be what i need to get back into it.

24 miles this week

6 8 to 6 14

tues 15 miles, 10 of it with sontag and rocko. still sore from the race
weds bowling 629 series (183 212 234) sore elbow the first game, then the chromium kicked in
thurs 8 miles, 75p 250c have to get back to lifting whether i like or not
fri 4 miles, felt tired
sun 4 miles, wiped out and crashed into rocks again. hit my knee, hand and shoulder on some rocks. i decided not to take a chance and walked back to the car. the only good thing was on the way back i came across a kid i coached back in '06. he was fishing and maintaining his chromium levels. the dude just graduated college this year which made me feel old but still great to see him. as for how injured i might be, i have to wait til morning. i went to bed in a lot of pain. 31 miles this week.

8/31/14 to 6/7/15

sept- started getting in decent shape, won a race.

oct- had some good efforts, a lot hard 10 milers, no track workouts

nov- ran 10 mi in 62. that was as good as it got. wiped out on the trails and banged my knee on a rock. knew it would be a bone bruise. took a few weeks off, but it wasn't enough.

dec to feb-  once i started coaching hoops i ran about 5 times during the winter. just didn't feel like it. kept lifting a lot but was getting bored with it.

march- totally bored with lifting, not doing much of it. started running with 3 miler just under 24min. it was not easy. ran 9 times, total of 33 miles. improved to running 3 miles in 19 min. really enjoyed what i was doing. got a lot faster even though i wasn't running a lot. i was also starting to get better at bowling. got a new ball and it made a big difference.

april- ran 15 times, 90 miles. best runs were 5mi in 33 and 7 in 46. we won the bowling league, won some $$$$. average was up to 192 the last 2 months.

may- ran 4 days a week, 121 miles. best run was 10mi in 67.

6/1 to 6/7 ran 32 miles. best runs were 10 on the railbed in 64:40 and the westmoreland 4 mile race (got 3rd 24:56  really tough course, my 2nd best time.)