It was a nice morning, with the temperature already at 40F when I left the house at 10 to 7 .I felt kind of sore and my left hamstring and knee seemed to be telling me something was a little tight. When I got out to Flushing Meadow Park, things were a bit different from last week, though there were still a few icy patches. Once again I went out to Shea stadium and Citi field. My run of 2 hours felt good, but still a little sore at the end.

Due to a lack of officials, I was the starter for this mornings 2 mile race.The other official stayed at the finish line. I was given his watch, which I started the race with and handed it to him as we ran by on the first loop. There were only 6 official starters, not sure why this was, as the weather was much better than in previous weeks. For some reason I was feeling a little sore when I left my house for the race, so I did a little extra warming up before the race.I finished 4th with a time of 15:52, yet another improvement on the previous week. So slowly, slowly I am getting some speed back.
I did a search on Facebook for people with the last name Jakovic and sent out friend invitations. So far I have about 15. I am interested to see how it goes.

I have been sorting through some of my things and the other day I found my diary from 2001. Yesterday I sat down and looked at a few pages, I was interested to see what I wrote on September 11. This is what I wrote;" The day started out so normally. When the flight got to within 3 1/2 hours of New York, we were told that terrorists had attacked. The plane had to go back to Vienna. We would land in London first.The airspace over London was closed, so we landed in Manchester. Then finally on to Vienna, arriving back 13 hours after we left".
My final note was; My running streak ended today
4 years 6 months 8 days.
I don't know why but that is what I wanted to post today.

Today was just a blur.Once again the temperature had dropped down into the low teens F. We suddenly became busy again at work, plus I think we are adjusting to the fact that we are short of guys.,. Anyway before I knew it the end of the day had come. I contemplated going in tomorrow for a couple of hours, then reason made an appearance and I decided not to.
I need to file my taxes and hopefully I will have the time to do that tomorrow.

Woke up this morning with a sour stomach, don't know if it was something I ate last night or what. When I got to work I had a ginger tea and a short time later. a black tea and some plain chocolate cake. Shortly after that I was fine. This was all based on intuition, that's what it told me to do and it worked.
Once again the Sun was shining when I left work this afternoon and the snow is already disappearing off the sidewalks. Maybe it will be gone by the weekend.

I have been back in New York for 3 weeks now, a few days after that my boss went on vacation. Two days after that a workmate lost his battle with cancer. Yesterday I heard that the guy my boss left in charge, slipped on ice while walking his dog and has a compound fracture of his leg. This required surgery both yesterday and today. So things are a bit crazy at work.
The forecast was for it to start raining last night then turn to snow later and accumulate about 1 to 2 inches. It did not rain and the snow did not start until after 9 this morning. As a result it has snowed all day and we have about 3 inches of fresh snow on the ground at the moment.
While out running this afternoon I was reminded of one run I had in Slovenia, it was nice.

While family and friends are telling me there is heavy snow in the UK, here in New York it is like a beautiful Spring day. It feels mild and the temperature by midday has gone up to 47F ( 8C ). Most of the snow from last week has now gone, but just has it has done over the 3 weeks I have been back, it is supposed to snow tomorrow.
I have not been watching the Super bowl the last couple of years, but decided to watch it last night. I thought it was a good game, was not too impressed by the adds. Glad it went down to the wire, when it had looked early on like it might be a blowout.

It's been almost 3 months since I went out to Shea stadium and quite a lot has changed. You can see from the photo that about 3/4 of it has now gone. While I was there taking photo's I met another gentleman doing the same. He got quite emotional when we talked about the history of the place and we took each other's photo's, with the stadium in the background. I ended up running about 11 miles. Meadow Lake was almost completely frozen with just a small section on one side where a few ducks were keeping it open. When I started out it was 1 or 2 degrees below freezing and as I finished my run it was 1 or 2 degrees above.

Due to the cold and somewhat icy conditions today the fee for the 2 mile race was waived. The turn out was quite small ( I think about 10). There was a strong headwind again just like last week. It felt like I was pushing for the whole race, but at times it also seemed like I was in slow motion. The runner just ahead of me looked like he was jogging, but I couldn't seem to get any closer. My finishing time was either 15:59 or 16:00. There was a problem with the clock and times were given from my watch, which I had given to the race director at the start.
Despite all these things I was faster than last week and have slowly improved with each race, so far this year. I think my times were better last year, but the weather was much warmer. Anyway I am happy to go out and try to run fast short races.

Early this morning, after my run I was checking out my Facebook pages. I got an instant message from a running friend of mine in India, we chatted for a little while and then he was gone. Later I talked with another running friend in Ohio. In this new world of technology I can have conversations during the day while sitting at my computer. We can send each other links to web pages and show each other photographs and in some cases see each other live on our computer screens while talking. Yes it's true that some of these things we can do by telephone.
This afternoon I went online and signed up for a 50k race that I will be running in March.

Now that I am back to my old schedule, which I have not been on for about 2 years. Tomorrow is the start of my weekend. After all that snow then rain yesterday it got cold during the night and yes there was major ice this morning. It did get much nicer during the day and my walk home and subsequent run later, was very pleasant. It seems, that for the next few days at least it will be cold nights and milder days.
Oh by the way! I used to play on a football ( soccer) team in my youth , that played in the United Nations league. That's me front row right.

When I left the house for work this morning there was a nice blanket of snow on the ground, snow was blowing everywhere and it was a few degrees below freezing. Later in the day it got warmer and the snow turned to rain. So when I started back home thee was a slushy mess on the streets. While I was out running I would splash through icy cold puddles which would make my feet freeze. This sometimes what it can be like in New York in winter.

Because we have the odd worker out sick, I switched from my usual job and went to where I was needed today. The result was that the day went by really quickly.
There is very little snow on the ground at the moment, but the forecast is that there will be snow tonight and there could be some serious accumulations. So we will have to see what tomorrow brings.

So out it was this morning for my run and it felt surprisingly cold, ok it was 21 F, but it felt colder. At the end of my run I went into my local Bodega and was greeted with smile's and handshakes. When I walked out with my Ginger tea I had a real sense of optimism. It is the first full week with the new President, we sometimes say the start of a new watch.
During the morning I finished preparing my old laptop for my friend. The ant-virus free trail that came with my new laptop expired a couple of days ago, so I installed the one I have been using for a few years now.
Just before I was about to leave the house and get some Lunch, my wrist watch died, so I stopped by a local store and got a new one. So you could say I got a new watch on the new watch.

Still a bit congested and have a little bit of a bronchial cough. But that was not going to stop me going out in 16 degree F weather for my Sunday run. My Sunday running partner Utpal is off in sunnier climes for a few weeks. So it was up to me to get out there and run alone. It actually felt a little colder than I though when I got out there. You know once you get going you soon warm up. I managed to run for an hour and maybe because of my physical condition, felt a little sore at the end, but I was happy went out there and ran.

Later today there will be services for my friend who died earlier in the week, with his cremation taking place tomorrow.

This mornings 2 mile race was kinda strange for me. It was not too cold, but there was a strong wind. It is a loop course, but it seemed as though I was running into a headwind for more than half of the race. It was only during and after the race that I realized I was a little sick. I have found in the past. that if there is something there, the 2 mile race will bring it out. Now I have to spend the weekend getting rid of it.
Speaking of the weekend, it is the FA Cup fourth round and my beloved Wolves are home to Middlesborough.
Last night I watched the second half of The curious case of Benjamin Button. I had seen the first half while in Slovenia 2 weeks ago. I also a saw The Wrestler

First of all the day started off nicely. It is like a warm winters day, not quite Spring but warmer than it has been. I got in a nice run early. I got a call from a friend in the UK that the son and daughter of another friend fro the UK would be coming out to Queens today, so I agreed to meet with them. The son just moved to New York after living in SF for 13 years. They were nice people and were interested to see some of the places their mother visits when she comes to NY. So I got to talk with them and be their tour guide for a couple of hours this afternoon. They had fun and so did I.Their names are Anthony and Jenny.

It got above freezing today and the bright sunshine felt quite warm as I walked home from work this afternoon.
There is a Mosque in my neighborhood and some time, as today, while out on my run in the afternoon I here the call to prayer. It can be quite mystical.

Friends, even those you don't really know, but have a common interest with, can pick you up some times. Just chatting with, or talking on the phone, or even just receiving and e mail, can brighten your day. So please take a moment to make some kind of contact with a close or distant friend.
It was a cold but optimistic day for me, I have connected with some new running friends. There is a new President in the country, who already seems to making people feel better about things. So in this first month of the new year things are looking brighter.

Yes ladies and gentlemen it is now President Barack Obama, there seems to be a lot of joy around at the thought of what is to come.
However the day began with some sadness, when I heard that an old friend and colleague had finally lost his fight with Cancer. I was fortunate to see him 2 days ago and felt at that time, he was saying goodbye. He will be missed.