8:00 AM - Work was crazy last night, as Saratoga Springs does a First Night celebration every year. For once the bookstore wisened up. Usually people use Borders for one of two reasons: 1. a meeting place/warming hut for the New Years festivities or 2. the bathroom. Borders is the only place in the city with public restrooms (unless you run into the McDonald's I suppose). This year they let us close early, at 6, but it wasn't until 6:40 that I got out of the store, as the store was utterly trashed. I came home and had dinner and then got ready for bed. Tossed and turned though and didn't doze off until about 11. Was up at 5am to the dog barking. Oi. Off to work today too.
Read more from the book on the Bunion Derby of 1928 today. It's getting really good. Am up to page 92 now. Also read another 60-ish pages in the McCullough biography on John Adams at work yesterday before clocking in . It is amazing when you read about the 1928 derby, just how crazy people were! And the guy that organized the race, C.C. Pyle was a shrewd son of a gun. He basically held a monopoly on the runners, making them pay for food, lodging, etc. from only him during the course of the event. I was laughing at one point as I ran because I imagine Pyle as this shrewd businessman kind of like the legendary Jock Semple of the Boston Athletic Association. And lo and behold a vagabond named Ukelele Jake with two mangy muts crashes the party for nearly a week, coming in amongst the leaders despite not paying the $125 entry fee. Well Just like Semple tried to pull K. Switzer from the marathon, he concocted a plan to pull Ukelele Jake from the race by calling the SPCA on the dogs! When he went out to search for them Jake landed in the slammer for vagrancy and that's all she wrote. Classic.
A recurring theme in the book is that everyone had their own stories, and all the favorites (the Finns, the Euros, the elites) seemed to suffer in the opening days of the event, many dropping out. But the sheer magnitude of running and racing across a continent the magnitude of these United States has failed to be acknowledged or recognized as of yet by the runners (at least as far as I've gotten in the book). Can't wait for the next episode.
Left achilles felt a bit better. Did 3 x 15 sets of eccentric exercises on the stairs before bed yesterday. Will do some after my shower and then again before bed tonight. Here's to 2010.
Total Time: 50:00 Total Distance: 5.17 miles Average Pace: 9:40 | 
