This is what some of the frames we make at work look like, while they are waiting to be sold.As you can see we have them all nicely stacked waiting for someone to buy them. So the stack of lumber you saw yesterday ends up looking like this. Hey this time next week I'll be getting ready to leave for the UK.

Today I got a phone call from the fraud department of one of my credit card companies. It seems for the last 2 days someone has been trying to buy a few things using my number, only small items for some reason. Well it's not going to happen, but now my account is closed and I have to wait for a new one, only 5 days though.
A few days a week I stop at a local Dunkin Donuts and get a hot chocolate, Cranberry muffin and a cinnamon raisin bagel, on the way to work in the morning. It's a nice start to the day.

This is some of that great Canadian lumber we get 2 times a year. I took the photo with my new Nikon L10 camera, which arrived yesterday and I'm having fun with.

This time of the year Mother nature likes to play a game, she gives us a couple of warm days followed by some cold days and then this continues. Of course your body cannot figure out what is going on.. Nipples, our cat at work is also confused because there is evidence that another raccoon has been in her area and we had just sipped one away last week.

According to UPS tracking my new camera is on a truck, out for delivery. So it should be here some time soon.
It's been a rainy overcast day, but I did get a nice run in. My legs feel pleasantly tired after all the racing I did last week.

This is the Audubon Society building in Prospect Park, Brooklyn.

I went out running this morning with 2 of my faster running friends. Though one of them ( Sundar) has a slight leg problem at the moment, he still sets a pretty good pace. I stuggled a bit but managed to hang in there. I feel that this kind of training, especially after running 2 races earlier will only make me stronger.The Temperature was just above freezing, but the bright sunshine and the beautiful colours were amazing.

Oh by the way, this is my 800th post on this blog!

Since it is Saturday morning the was a local 2 mile race, I had decided yesterday that I would run even though I had just run the 5 mile Turkey trot in Brooklyn less than 48 hours before. This race was so different. Thursday the temperature was 55F, today it was 25F. There was a small turnout of about 12 runners and I was in 3rd place for most of the race. With 1/2 mile to go my legs really started to feel tired and I ended up coming in 4th, My time was a slow 16:12, but of course I was happy.

I dedicated the race to my mom who's birthday would have been today.

Woke up this morning feeling a little blah, maybe it was all the food yesterday. Well I went out for a short run and then had breakfast, now I'm feeling better.After I got back from the race I discovered that the LCD screen on my digital camera was broken. So I went online and bought a new one, I have a broken Photosmart 327 5mp which I paid $110 for 2 years ago. Now I got a Nikon coolpix 5mp for $90 andit has more features, isn't progress great!

So it's Thanksgiving and I went to Prospect Park in Brooklyn to run the 5 mile Turkey trot. It was actually kind of warm with a temp' around 55F. I was supposed to meet my friend Luis, but he didn't show. I ran 41:20 which is OK. I did get this medal and bought the hat for $5. It only took me an hour subway ride each way and 20 minutes walk to and from the park.

It's the eve of Thanksgiving here in the US. The last few months have been interesting for me, I have lost a few of the new friends that I had gained in the last couple of years, but re connected with some old friends I had lost contact with. 2 that come to mind are an old running buddy, Charlie who I hadn't talked to for about 10 years and Jackie, someone I new 25 years ago. What an interesting time for me. Serendipity?

I'm getting some really good ideas from the new book and it's making me look at what I eat a little differently. Our cat at work (Nipples) has been a bit freaked out, we caught another raccoon in our have a heart trap yesterday, but the fed ex guys couldn't take it to the park until today. So we had to feed and water it. the cat wasn't very happy with that.I think this is the 10th Raccoon we've had this year.

In all the years I've lived in New York and gone into central Park, I don't think I have ever gone and looked at Cleopatra's Needle. Well on Saturday I did and here is the photo to prove it.

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Didn't feel so bad this morning after running yesterday in Central Park, though I did take an extra hour of sleep. It was still quite cold when I went out for my run with Utpal, but it wasn't raining as was forecast.So we managed to run our 10 miles, which made a total or 25 plus for me for the weekend, which I am quite pleased with. I am feeling quite strong 3 weeks after running the 50k in Chicago and after gaining a few pounds while I was sick a few weeks ago I seem to have lost them again.
Oh this is Oz Pearlman the winner of the 60k race.

So I went into Central Park today. I wanted to take some photo's of a lot of different places, landmarks sort of. It also happened that there was a 60k race going on too. To my surprise Oz Pearlman, who won the 50 mile race in Chicago 3weeks ago was running. Just like he did there, he went out fast and won the race in 4:01:37. Stayed out there most of the day helping and running part of the course myself. It seems I ran about 15 miles, I do feel a little tired but a nice shower when I got home made me feel better.I'll post some photo's later.

It was somewhat of a wintry day today, with not too cold temperatures but with a very strong wind, similar to the winds we experienced earlier in the year.I am planning on going into the city again tomorrow. There is a 60k race in central park, which I am not going to run but thought it would be nice to observe. I used to go there all the time to watch races of all kinds and after watching the Olympic Marathon trails I am inspired to go again. I also want to take some photo's of both the race and the Park.

To the left of this photo is Shea Stadium where the mets play now and to the right is the new Stadium being built. I was surprised to see how close they are to each other. We were running near by on Sunday and I decided to take a photo.

I've been checking out the new book I got, it has lots of useful information about drinks and food I can use in training and in races. Hopefully these things will help me to continue to improve in my races in the coming year. About 27 years ago I had a fall while out running and displaced one of the vertebrae between my shoulder blades, a chiropractor friend of mine fixed it for me. Every once in a while it herniates and gives me a little discomfort. It has been doing it on and off for the last couple of months, today I think I got it back in place myself.

The sports nutrition book for vegetarians I bought online came today, a little faster than I expected. I took a quick look at the introduction and went out for a run. I think it is going to be very useful. After the cold days we have had recently it was quite warm today, with the temperature reaching 60 F ( 14 C) not bad for November.

Woke up at 4am feeling quite fresh, seemed to have good energy when I got to work, even though it was a short day for me. The day itself started cold and overcast, but the temperature has climbed up to 50 F ( 9 C).Over the weekend I bought a book on amazon.com called; Vegetarian Sports Nutrition by Dr Ennet Larson-Meyer. Had seen excerpts from it on Scott Jurek's blog and decided to get it.

As you can see from the photo Utpal was carrying the weight of the World on his shoulders this morning. It was cold, right around freezing, but the wind chill made it feel like 24 F. It was a nice sunny morning with clear blue sky and we managed to run 10 miles.

I hadn't run a 2 mile race for some time and I finally thought this week was time. It was cold and damp and I was still fighting the cold I've had all week, but that just makes it more of a challenge.My first mile was 7:37 and I was feeling OK, but then I noticed my breathing wasn't so good, I managed to keep my form and in fact pushed it in at the end. My second mile was 7:47, for a total time of 15:24, which is not bad for an old guy.

There is truly a feeling of autumn. The temperature is in the low 40's F, it is raining softly as I go for my afternoon run and there are finally leaves on the ground.We haven't had a frost yet but that can't be too far away. Oh! and it is the second week of November and the first round of the FA Cup as started.Need I say more.

It is definitely getting colder. This morning when I left for work it was 35 F (2 C), so I had to be wrapped up nice and warm.There had been a couple of comments over the weekend about the green leaves in Central park during the Marathon. Well I think those leaves will be gone pretty soon if it stays cold like this.

I had a visit from my mother today, well at least her essence. Because I have the sniffles I wanted to blow my nose and when I pulled out my handkerchief, my mother's fragrance was all over it. This happens every once in a while since her death. when it does I feels as though she is there. The next time I pulled out my handkerchief it was gone, but I know she came.

I have some sniffles and sneezes but the sore throat has gone. I guess it's just that time of the year.My energy is quite good so I guess it's just a matter of time. The photo is of the large video screen they had set up in Central Park on Saturday for the Olympic Marathon trials, I don't know if they had one like it on Sunday for the peoples Marathon.

My throat is still a little sore this morning, but my energy is stronger. I bought a friends ibook today, it's the first mac I have used in probably 20 years. I am a PC guy but the price was too good to pass up, so I have a new toy to play with.Ran easily this afternoon, I do feel I want to run a race sometime soon, but we will have to see what comes up.

Woke up with a bit of a sore throat this morning, but still went out and ran 10 miles with Utpal. Maybe it has something to do with the time change, the clocks went back here last night. Today was also the New York city Marathon. I haven't run it since 2000, frankly I don't like to run it anymore, it's just too crazy, but I have a few friends that do run. I watched it on TV and was really glad that Paula Radcliffe won for the women.

This photo is of the lead runners in the US Men's Olympic Marathon Trials. I went into Central Park early this morning to watch. It was really exciting, we got a good position near the finish line and got to see 4 of the 5 laps they ran in the park. The race was won by the runner in blue , who won by 2 minutes in a time of 2:09:02. he looked so fresh when he finished. I was a little surprised. It is so cool to see how well trained these guys are. Hey and I was back home in time for lunch.

I guess last weekends events coupled with the change in the weather finally caught up to me. When I got home from work this morning after a few hours I took a nap for almost 3 hours. I've had a mouse running around my room and my mouse trap Victor caught it a couple of days ago, it was a field mouse, with big ears.

I think that it is probably due to having run the race and the cold weather, but my appetite is very strong at the moment. I eat and then I am hungry a short time later. The fact that I don't have as much fat to keep me warm may also be factor.