Well I came home in time to watch the second half of the Arsenal v Porto match. It was a very entertaining display of football from Arsenal. They won 4-0, but it could quite easily have been 7 or 8. So different to their at the weekend in the Premier League to Hull.

A few days ago I got to see the new DeNiro and Pacino film Righteous Kill. I have always liked Robert DeNiro and of course he was great in this movie. I thought the acting was good and the story did a good job of steering you in one direction, though I did figure out the plot twist before it was revealed. Someone said to me that DeNiro and Pacino alaways play themselves, but I think they are great, so there.

My friend Utpal is sick with the flu again, I think it's stress and he kind of agrees. We did go out and run anyway. It had rained during the night, but it was stopped by the time we went out, we just ran a few miles, nice and easy.
I bought my ticket for the UK, usually I fly direct to Manchester, but it seems there is no direct flight now. I guess it is due to schedule cut backs. Now I have to fly via London, which is a bit of a drag. So it takes a bit longer I am used to that, at least the ticket did not cost too much.

The morning was a little misty, well there was a light misty rain as I went out the door.There were just the usual stalwart runners out at the 2 mile race. I started of about the same as always and felt good throughout the race. Sitting back in 7th place I went through the first mile in 7:08 and finished strong in 14:17 and was quite satisfied with that. I am managing to maintain good times for my 2 mile races. there will of course be a break since I have a 24 hour race next week.

We have not had one for a while, but it one of those rainy days in New York. A nice steady rain that started last night and is continuing through the day. It sort of reminds me of how the Autumn begins, in the past it has been the change, between the Sun and heat of the summer.

Hiccups are interesting things they are not completely incapacitating, but they can be very annoying. I have not had them for quite a while, but I did yesterday afternoon and this afternoon, for about 5 minutes each time. I find that if I relax my breathing a little it does not take too long for them to go away.
I had a short but very powerful run this afternoon, it felt really good.

Yes it's Wednesday and I have been full of energy all day. Actually my metabolism has been going pretty fast and I seemed to be hungry a lot, but when I ate I got energy.

One of my favourite TV shows is back for it's 3rd season. Last night NBC aired the first 2 episodes of the new season of Hero's. I of course got to watch them online this afternoon when I finished my run after work. I think it was a good start.
There is a mosque in my neighbourhood and usually in the morning I see the local worshipers walking to morning prayers. It is still dark and I do not hear the call to prayer as I walk on.

My run this afternoon marked the 5th month that I have not missed a day of running. My philosophy is to just feel when I want to go out and run and unless it's a race day, not have any preconceived idea of how far I will run. In this way I find I totally enjoy my running and when I run every day my body is happy to run. I am very happy with how my running is going right now.

A beautiful fall morning greeted us as we set out for our run. It was time for us to start doing our runs out to Shea stadium. It is the first time since the Spring that we have done this run. In the middle of the run I started feeling like I was really hungry and losing energy, despite that fact that I eaten a granola bar before leaving the house. I tried to ignore it and it went away. We maintained what I thought was a good pace for us. Stopping on the way back for our traditional Hot Chocolate, it was the longest run since the marathon in August.

With a temperature of only 52F, the conditions were nice and cool for the 2 mile race. I had been feeling a little off the last couple of days, but was still optimistic. At the start it felt like I was running slow, but I was up there with the leaders so I knew I was not. I settled into 5th place and just after the first mile in 7:07 was passed by the first placed woman. I stayed with her and passed her going up the one hill on the course. She passed me back and I tried to stay with her for the rest of the race. As I approached the clock I saw that it had just passed 14 minutes and crossed the line in 14:11, my second fastest time in 3 years.

The first fall after we moved into the house I currently live in, I noticed some Autumn crocus ( Colchicum ) in one corner of the front garden. Well it is that time of the year and they are on display. There is a group of 7 of them a sort of purple/pink colour.
The temperature, for the first time since the Spring did not make it up to 70 F. There is a noticeable change in the season..

Almost 30 years ago I was given a book called " The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim continues his way". I was sorting through some of my things the other day and found it. It calls itself a spiritual classic from Russia. Well I started reading it again and it is very inspiring.
The weather has turned very fall like, it is cool enough in the mornings now that I am thinking of wearing a light coat.
I didn't mention, but my friend Sadhak got a gig this past weekend out on Long Island and he actually got paid. It was a private function organized by a library out there. He has a chance of another one.

The last couple of days there has been evidence at work that there is a Raccoon about, we have not seen one all summer.So of course we put out the Havaheart trap out and this morning there she was. We have noticed that the females are quite docile when captured, with the males being quite aggressive when they see you. So it is time for our Fedex guys to take her to freedom land

We all use some kind of machine these days and they can be quite useful. However when they go wrong they can be a pain. One of the machines I use at work decided it wanted a rest , but as it did so it created another problem. The guy who fixes our machines when we cannot do it ourselves was really busy at the time, so that caused a little delay.
The afternoon has become quite overcast and looking like rain, but nothing has fallen as yet

As I left for work at 5:20 this morning I noticed a very bright Moon in the sky. It allowed me to see that the sky was blue, with a few white puffy clouds.
whatever gave me the sore throat yesterday seems to have gone as there was nothing this morning..
We seem to be in a warm spell at the moment, with temperatures reaching into the 80's F, but more cooler weather is on it's way.

Woke up with a sore throat this morning, but other than that I was fine. Met Utpal on the corner at the usual time. It was cool but quite humid. We ran the 10k loop at a relaxed pace. It was suggested that we maybe go out again in the afternoon. but by the afternoon I did not feel I wanted to run a second time.

The conditions for the 2 mile race this week were the same as last week. It rained overnight, was cool but humid in the morning. This week I had a couple of familiar runners in the race and this helped me with my pace. I was 2 seconds faster through the first mile 7:0, but 2 seconds slower in the second mile. So my finish time was the same 14:27. I am happy that I am consistent.

Last night I couldn't decide if I was going to go to work this morning for just a few hours, or take a day off. Well I slept really well and woke up an hour later than usual, so the decision was made for me.
I went out for a nice run in the morning, it was cool and overcast. I then filled out and mailed my application for a 24 hour race the first weekend in October. I have a couple of friends who have gone up to Ottawa for a 24 hour race this weekend, which I had thought of doing, but didn't really have a ride up there so decided not to.

Seven years ago today I was flying on a plane from Europe to New York. When we got withing about 3 hours of our destination we were told something had happened and we would be returning to Vienna. I spent the next 4 days in a hotel there watching everything unfold from afar. It was very strange for me to return to New York on September 15, the first plane to arrive in JFK. I have never flown into an airport that is completely quiet. Also seeing the plume of smoke rising from lower Manhattan as we made our approach was very eerie.