I didn't feel sore this morning after the lumber delivery yesterday, but when I got home from work I could hardly keep my eyes open. So of course I took a nap. Just like last summer I am going to practice a raw food diet, since I am vegetarian that means lots of fruit, veggies and nuts etc. Today is my last day on regular food I begin tomorrow. You will hear how I am doing right here.

I was actually feeling a little sore in my upper legs this morning. Today was one of our twice yearly lumber deliveries at work. That involves us unloading 30 tons of wood boards from the back of a truck, 1 at a time. It took us about 5 hours, but we were luck that it was quite cool and for the most part in shade, with the Sun only filling the yard for the last 2 hours. I think I moved about 17 tons on my own and will probably feel it tomorrow.

Even though I was tired after my run yesterday I found it hard to fall asleep, but I did and the next thing I knew it was time to get up. I didn't feel too bad and work went well until about 30 minutes before it was time to leave. Then I started to feel tired. I think the walk home helped to take a little of the tiredness out of my legs. But I must say there are no major problems after the race and I am happy that I seem to be back on track with my running.

So I had decided to run in this 50k race, but when I woke up this morning I still wasn't 100% sure. after eating breakfast and before going to the race, I heard that an old friend had died yesterday. This gave me running the race some purpose, so now I was determined to run it and finish. The race was a nice experience for me and I dedicated it to my friend. The time was not important but I managed to run 6 hrs 36 min's 32 sec for which I am grateful, my friends last name is Love, so it was appropriate I think.

In our local community we have a block watch patrol. 1 night a month we take it in turns to make sure everything is ok in the neighbourhood. Last night was my night I was required to be up from midnight to 5 am. After 3 1/2 hours of sleep I had a light breakfast and then went for my run. I ran on my own out to a local park where I bumped into a running friend of mine. He told me there was an Ultra race going on near by. So I decided to take a look and saw some old running friends I hadn't seen for about 20 years.It was the second in a series of races over 3 days. I kind of got talked into maybe running the race tomorrow, it's 50k so we will see.

Yesterday afternoon I had a problem with my sciatic nerve, which caused a lot pain in my left hip. I was not able to run after just a few steps and was worried I would not be able run the 2 mile race this morning. I did some excercises to try to help it and slept fairly well. I also concentrated on trying to relax the nerve. When I woke this morning there was still some soreness but it didn't seem to bother me when I ran. Not expecting too much I ran relaxed, it was also warm , which may have helped. Anyway I ran 7: 27 for the first mile and 7:55 for the second for a time of 15:27 which is almost 1 minute faster than last week. So you never know. Finally David Beckham has been added to the England squad for the next 2 games, I am really happy he is back.

Maybe summer is finally here. This morning the tamperature was already in the 60's f when I left for work with high humidity. It worked it's way up to 84 f ( 29 c ) by mid afternoon, though it did get dryer. It is memorial day weekend here, which is a long one including monday.

This morning started off with me feeling kind of bouncy. As I was walking to work someone came out of thier house and walked just in front of me, all the time whistling a very cheery tune. So that sort of set the tone for the day.

So I left work 1/2 an hour early and went to my local barber shop, to watch the Uefa Champions league final. It was a repeat of the 2005 final, well the same teams. This time however AC Milan beat Liverpool 2-1. It was no where near as exciting as the last game , but it was worth watching. Especially with a group of similar football ( soccer ) fans.

Let’s have fun
Let us play
And the serious
Of the world
Can come and go
As it may

What is most Important
For us every day
To be always
Moving forward
So let us play.

a poem from my soon to be printed collection called; Found.

Well I got everything planted up yesterday and a couple of hours later we had a thunderstorm pass through. Which was of course great because it watered everything in nicely. I did notice this morning that I was a little sore in a few places, guess I used a few muscles that I hadn't used for a while. Today is washing day and it is bright and sunny.

An overcast morning with me feeling a little sluggish, but managed to get out and run with Utpal. He wasn't feeling so great himself so we jogged our way through about 6 miles.. It looks like the day will improve and I have to plant up my friends mothers flower garden this afternoon, so that should be OK.

Today was the biggest day in the English footballing calender, The FA CUP Final. The first one at the new Wembley Stadium. It involved the 2 top teams in the Premiership, Manchester United and Chelsea, neither of them could score for almost 2 hours. Finally in the 116 th minute Chelsea scored and won 1-0. The last 2 cup finals have gone to penalties. it seems that the excitement of the big occasion is getting too much for the teams to win in regulation. Of course that's just my oppinion.Ran 2 miles this morning slower than last week but faster than I wanted to run last week. So of course I am happy. I need to get race fit and that will take some time after recovering from my injury.

This is Wisteria at the tennis courts nearby. 2 of my co workers and myself have been feeling really tired the last couple of days. We think it has something to do with the change in the weather, the pressure has been changing and the temp's have dropped from the 80's to the 50's. What a strange year.

This is a Clivia, I have about 15 of them, all but 3 I grew from seed. This is the only 1 that has flowered at the moment and this is the second time . I hope that someday more than 1 will flower at the same time so that maybe they will pollinate each other and I can get more seeds.

Oh well. Wolves lost 1-0 to the Albion in the second leg of the playoff semi to lose 4-2 on aggregate.
So they will have to wait another year to make it back into the Prem'. Sevilla retained their uefa cup crown with a 3-1 penalty win after drawing 2-2 in the final. Nice thunderstorms in the late afternoon here in New York.

Now that I am starting to run normally after my injury I am finding that my energy levels are good. As a result my work is going well and the day seems to go faster. It is also nice to go running in just a T shirt and shorts instead of all the extra clothes you need when it's colder. Well Derby made it into the Championship final after a 4-3 penalty win against Southampton. We will see who joins them tomorrow.

after a short working day for me, I went into the city to see some friends. It was a really nice day, and again I had a relaxing and peaceful time.

Mothers Day here in the US, what a beautiful day it was too. Has it happened it was my turn to be the guard at our local Tennis ground, so I got to sit and relax a bit, all day. I lost my mother in 1995 but it doesn't make me appreciate the day any less. I am sure there are many out there that took advantage of the great day. Wolves lost 3-2 to WBA in the 1st leg of thier play-off game, but it sounds like they played really well.

This morning I ran in the 2 mile race, it was the first time I had run a race in 2 months. also the first race since treating my injury. I am very happy, I was not concerned about the time but managed to run 15: 56, which I was delighted with. I was obviously not race fit but for me it was a great time. My first real test that the injury is getting better.

Nice thunderstorms this morning just after I arrived at work. So when I left for home it was nice fresh. Talked with 2 friends, 1 in England the other in Ukraine.

Sometimes the day starts off really well and then in the middle it changes a little. But life has a way of brightening things up just when you need it.

This is a muskrat, it's kinda like a beever without the flat tale. It was sitting on the bank grooming it self, when I tried to take it's picture it decided to go back into the water and swim into some reeds.I guess he was shy.

My nephew sent me an e mail today, regarding the fact that our teams play each other in the semi-finals of the championship playoffs. We have both expressed the sentiment " may the best team win ". So we will see, the first game is on Sunday.

These two guys came by everyday around the same time looking for and getting something to eat. It was something like this that was the start of my Dilly and Dally stories. The weather here in New York is great and the week has started well.

My friend Utpal has been sick with Bronchitis for the last 2 weeks, but this morning we finally got to go out and run together. It was cool and windy so we didn't run too far. I think he was really happy to get out and run.It is lokking like my Wolves will make the playoffs in the Championship, they are winning thier last game 4-1 and will finish in 5th place. Meaning that they will play WBA in the 1st round. So some family rivalry there.

When you hit spring time there is just something about weekends. This morning was so nice cool and bright and I went out for a run around 6:45. I have been running with a backpack for the last 10 days, so it was interesting to run without one for a change. I am still being patient about my injury and decided not to run our local 2 mile race.

It has been a strange week for me, I have been quite busy and here I am on friday and I'm feeling a little tired. Hopefully I will get a chance to rest a little on the weekend, though it is a big weekend for my favourite football team.

Well Man U got slammed 3-0 by Milan yesterday so the Champions League Final is a repeat of 2005, Liverpool v AC Milan. Should be a good game.

Liverpool beat Chelsea in the 2nd leg of the Champions league, the score was tied after both legs and extra time ,but Liverpool won 4-1 on penalties. My niece will be very happy. The Man U v Milan game is going on now with Milan winning 2-0 on the night ( 4-3 agg ) in the second half of the game. It could be a repeat of the 2005 final.

Nothing much to say, so just thought I'd post this.


It's May day!!!!