Sunday, August 31, 2008

It's Labor Day weekend here in the US, but this morning was just Sunday morning. This of course means that Utpal and I went for our Sunday morning run. I was feeling pretty good, but he had a hard time in the marathon last week, so it was his run to set the pace. We did what I call the 10k loop and about 4 miles in he called a walking break, which we did for about 1 minute. So Sunday's are back on schedule.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Early this morning a band of thunder storms came through the area and dropped quite a lot of rain,as a result it was very humid again for the 2 mile race, but at least it was not raining. Since it is a week after the marathon my usual expectation is to run around 16 minutes, but last week I was a little better than that 1 day after the marathon. So this I thought maybe I can match it. I thought I was running quite fast, but was not sure, unfortunately there was no split time at the 1 mile this week. I was really surprised when I started my sprint into the finish and could see the clock reading 14:30. I crossed the line in 14:34, my fourth best time this year!

Friday, August 29, 2008

It is now a week since I ran the marathon and the 2 mile race the next day. I have run just easy runs all week, there is still some stiffness in my upper legs, but I feel OK. I am quite happy with my recovery and now trying to decide what my next races will be.

Thursday, August 28, 2008

There are just a few days left in August and the mornings are still so cool. In the 30 years I have lived in New York I do not remember it being this cool in August. I am sleeping really well because it is so nice at night, but even so I was feeling quite tired at the end of my work day and took a nap before going out for my afternoon run.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Today is the anniversary of the birth of the founder of the meditation group ( Spiritual group ) I belong to. So believe it or not it is a holiday from work. I ran early in the morning in the my friend Utpal and later attended a special meditation at the place where he is buried. There will be several events during the day to celebrate his life.
It is the first time we have celebrated his birthday since his passing in October of last year.

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

A few interesting things I saw the last couple of days are;While standing outside with some friends the other night a Praying Mantis flew down and landed near one friends feet. I put my hand down and it crawled onto it, allowing me to take it and put it on the grass nearby.
A Sparrow flying behind a Cicada that was trying to fly away from it.
A 2 year old boy walking a Pekingese dog, with his mother walking just in front of him, it was so cute he had a diaper and everything.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Here we are 4 days after the marathon and there is still some stiffness in my upper legs. Of course I did run a 2 mile race the next day so that is probably a contributing factor, though I think it may also help.
It was one of my short days at work, so that wasn't so bad. I have gained back the weight I lost during the marathon. I have had a healthy appetite for the last few days.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

I slept very well last night. This morning there was still some soreness, but Utpal and I had arranged for our usual Sunday run and there he was waiting for me ask I came out the door. Of course we were both feeling the marathon, so it was a gentle run. We ran what I call my 5k loop and then stopped to get a drink. Once again the morning was pleasant.

Saturday, August 23, 2008

Yes my upper legs felt a little stiff this morning and I jogged over to the 2 mile race not sure if I would run. I did run and expected to run really slow, but as the race progressed I started to feel OK.I went through the first mile in 7:57 so I thought I could finish with a low 16 minute time that I would be happy with. As I approached the finishing line I saw that the clock said 15 something and was surprised to finish in 15:54, with my second mile also being 7:57.

Friday, August 22, 2008

So today was the Marathon. It was in the beautiful Rockland Lake State Park. The weather at the start was quite cool. The first loop around the lake is 2.7 miles and each 1 of 8 more loops is I think 2.95 miles. I felt quite good until 18 miles and then I started to mix in some walking. At that point I was well ahead of my past from last year. With about 4 miles to go I started to struggle a little and my pace slowed. I had been on course to reach my goal of 4 hours and 30 minutes, but I was very happy to finish in a time of 4:45, which is 6 minutes faster than last year. When I got home I weighed myself and I was 4.5 pounds lighter than before the race. I feel really good and if I don't feel too sore tomorrow will try and run the 2 mile race.

Thursday, August 21, 2008

The last 2 mornings have been nice and cool with temperatures around 60 degrees F and it promises to be the same tomorrow. The Marathon is upstate and inland a little, so it could be even cooler at the start, which is at 7 am. Ran comfortably this afternoon, so I'm ready to go

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Not much to say really, a bit of a quiet day, though I did get a lot done at work. Jogged an easy couple of miles after work

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Here in New York you see some interesting phenomena. I quite often see people using a line trimmer to cut their lawns and grass verges in front of houses instead of using a mower.
Or I will see someone using a cylinder type hand mower set at 1/2 inch, struggling to cut grass that is 6 to 8 inches tall. My old teachers in college would go crazy if they saw it.
Ran this afternoon, just enough to loosen up my legs.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Rather than go in and work just a few hours today,since it's marathon week I decided to take the day off and and relax a little more. The morning was beautiful and Utpal and I went out for an easy 3 mile run.

Although it is officially tomorrow. Today is the 13th anniversary of my Mother's death. Yes I miss her, but I remember her very fondly and carry her in my heart always.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

So here we are 5 days before the marathon and conditions for the 2 mile race are excellent. I didn't want to run too hard because I only have a few days to recover, but when you get into the middle of a race it's hard not to run fast. Anyway it felt like I was running well and I was quite happy with the time of 14:32, which was still fast for me but slower than previous weeks.I am feeling good about the marathon on Friday.
The GB team are having an excellent weekend at the Olympics, winning lots of medals and moving up to 3rd on the medal table. The first time they have been there in 100 years.

Saturday, August 16, 2008

Due to some scheduling problems there was no 2 mile race today, it will now happen tomorrow. So Utpal and I decided to do our Sunday run today. We ran the first 5k together at a nice easy pace, but when I left him to come back I couldn't seem to stop myself from running at a strong pace. A few of my friends have just come into town. Yesterday.
I have been watching on the BBC website how the GB athletes have 7 medals on what is being called "Super Saturday".

Friday, August 15, 2008

Last night we had a huge storm and then it continued to ran for quite some time. The result was that when I got to work this morning there had been some flooding in the basement. I set to with the shop vacs and had pretty much cleared everything up by the time the rest of the guys came in to work. So that they could start their day as usual.
1 week from today is the marathon and I feel pretty good.

Thursday, August 14, 2008

While out on my run yesterday I noticed 2 cops in a patrol car had stopped 4 young men ( 2 white, 2 black ), they seemed to be quite cooperative and 2 of them were being searched. This is not of course a typical day in NYC and I am sure not a typical day in most cities.
The weather is getting warmer and more humid, but then it is the middle of August.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

They say you should lift with your legs and not your back, that's what I did yesterday. I am feeling it in my legs today. On my way home from work my hamstrings were very tired. I did have a 30 minute nap and when I went out for my run it felt a lot better. With the old method of unloading I would also feel it in my arms and shoulders.

Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Today was lumber day at work, this usually involves about 8 guys unloading a truck of 14/16 foot boards of Poplar, one board at a time down 2 window shoots. The new way is with 8 foot boards on pallets, unloaded with a pallet jack. However the shipment came with some pallets double stacked, so we had to break these down which took a little longer. The job did only use 5 guys and we learned some valuable lessons to how to do it better next time. This is the first time we have received a shipment this way.
The cat by the way seemed quite content to stay in the packing and shipping area all day.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Our work cat "Nipples" ( yeah I know) is back. I thought I heard her meowing inside one of our sucking air ducts. After opening it up and not finding her, we realized that she was on the floor above us.She had somehow got trapped in a room on the first floor of the building, we are in the basement. Anyway we got to her and she spent the morning walking all over the shop, she was not thin from not eating, so she must have used her hunting skills.
We had thunderstorms again today and it kept the temperature cool, around 65 F (16 C ). So I had a very pleasant run this afternoon.
I must wish my sister a very happy birthday. I did actually speak to her earlier in the day.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

This morning it was around 65 F when I went out for my run. The humidity was a little high, but it felt really nice to run. I am 12 days away from the marathon and although I am still running twice on Saturdays and Sundays, I am running less. I am starting what we call a taper. I ran only about 5 miles yesterday and 9 miles today in 2 runs each day.
I am trying to catch something of the Olympics, which seems quite interesting so far. Happy that GB got a Gold in cycling this morning.

Saturday, August 09, 2008

My 2 mile race this week was not as fast as last week, but still probably my second fastest time in a couple of years. My breathing didn't feel so great, but everything else was going well. My time was 14:28 and I am very happy with that. We were very lucky that the temperature was in the mid 6o's F and the humidity was also in the mid 60's. So good conditions and a good result.

Friday, August 08, 2008

Photobucket
Abichal Watkins from Wales, who I consider a good friend finished the Self-Transcendence 3100 mile race race today in a New Welsh and UK record of 54 Days 11 hours 36 minutes. I was very happy to hand him the Welsh flag during his last lap.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

My friend Abichal is on his lat full day of the 3100 mile race. He has been out there for 54 days and should finish about half way through the 55 th day. He trained hard all winter for this race and will improve his best time by almost a full day. Pretty amazing!

Wednesday, August 06, 2008

In my post yesterday I mentioned missing things. Well our cat at work has been missing for 10 days now. She has been known to go away for a while in the past and has been gone as long as 2 weeks, only to return happy to see us and apparently none for the worse. So of course we are hoping she will be back soon.

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

When I got to work this morning one of my tools was missing, I did eventually find it, but it sort of messed up my day. As a result I made a couple of mistakes, which were correctable, but it kind of unsettles your day when something like that happens.

Monday, August 04, 2008

I have mentioned the problem with my Achilles before and that I thought the real problem was my calf. Well it happens that a friend of mine from Chicago is in town for a couple of days and he is a non practicing Chiropractor. He uses the Applied Kinesiology technique. He diagnosed it as a stretch response problem with the fascia of the calf and gave me a treatment. This is the same guy who fixed my foot problem last year.

Sunday, August 03, 2008

The weather was really nice this morning, not so humid and a cool breeze. I ran 8 miles in the morning. When I went out again in the afternoon, it was a little hotter and even less humid. I did 4 more miles. I had enough time to get home and shower, then get back to the 3100 mile race in time to see Pranjal from Slovakia finish. The Slovakian Ambassador and his family came out. It was a nice ceremony

Saturday, August 02, 2008

It has become a tradition for the 3100 mile runners to run in the 2 mile race, before and after they finish. So today Aprihanal ran the race after 4 days of rest. He ran an excellent time of 12:42, finishing 3rd amongst the men and 4th overall.
I was also very happy with my race. From early in the race I was running with 2 sisters who usually beat me quite easily. When they passed me as they usually do, I kind of looked inside myself to see if I had the capacity to stay with them and I did. For the next mile we see sawed back and forth, with them eventually opening up a 7 yard gap on me. They had however pulled me along to my best time in at least 2 years. A time of 14:08. Very very happy!

Friday, August 01, 2008

Yesterday was the 100 th day that I have run at least 2 miles each day. I had gone 60 days at the beginning of the year, so this is my longest streak for quite some time.
With my increased training and the summer heat, the extra pounds I gained after stopping my raw food diet have almost all melted away. It is just 3 weeks now to the marathon. I was thinking of running a 12 hour race tomorrow, but decided against it.