Motivated to Succeed

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

11:00 AM - Went to bed late last night after driving Ellen home with Jonn. He can't drive after 9pm with the license he has now so I didn't mind. Better than him driving and getting pulled over or something. Got up this morning and was just about to go for a jog, had literally hit the start button on the treadmill and phone started ringing. It was Emmy. I got a late start. Usually by the time she calls I'm done with my run, but not the case today. I told her I'd call her as soon as I finished. Going to go do that now!

Ran on the 'mill and read more of C.C. Pyle's Amazing Footrace about the 1928 Bunion Derby. I implore every running enthusiast out there to pick this book up. It is absolutely amazing. And amazingly horrid. It's crazy to think that a scam artist like C.C. Pyle was able to concoct a scheme like this. He was a vagabond who owed everyone money and constantly skipped town rather than settle debts. He at one point sold 1/2 of his share in a movie buisness to pay off the other guy that bought the other 1/2 and then left them with the whole debt! He promised money to the runners at the end of each stage and so far, as I'm up to page 190 or so, he has yet to pay any of the runners a cent! Can't imagine an idea like this going through in today's world. I'm surprised so many runners pushed through the pain and sweat and tears just to finish the race. This book is definitely on my favorite list.

Working tonight at the bookstore until 1130ish. Tomorrow, Emmy and my mom and me are all going to Copake Country Club to get some of the wedding stuff sorted out. Should be fun.

So today was a first. I guess my treadmill shuts off after 100 minutes? Who would've thought. Ran the whole time at 1-2% grade with a little water at 60, 75, and 90 minutes in. Next time need to set up an aid station.

Total Time: 1:41:30 Total Distance: 10.5 miles Average Pace: 9:40

5:30 PM - Yesterday was a trip! Got up super early and went to Emma's, only it took about three hours to get there because of a big snow storm that dumped 9-10" of snow in that area. Slow and steady my little Chevy Prizm made it. Then we briefly saw Emma's family and said hi to Scott, Rose, Liana, little Janey and then went down to Craryville, NY to Copake Lake Country Club where we are getting married. Ended up meeting Mary who is going to be the event coordinator and as soon as we walked in she recognized my mom from somewhere. Turns out she had lived in Galway at one point and has a couple sons that are a few years younger than Harry (my youngest bro!). Pretty cool! She is really sweet and knows what she is doing. Then we met John and Glen who are the Head Coordinator and Head Chef respectfully. I feel like we got a lot of questions answered and that Emmy felt a bit more relaxed afterwards.

Today I went to work and basically redid the magainze/periodical section. So much work! Found magazines hiding that should have been sent back in March or April! Afterwards, I needed to come home and jog off some stress. Getting excited for the trip though! Going to California the day after tomorrow!!! Woo hoo!

Continued reading Geoff Wiliams's book C.C. Pyle's Amazing Foot Race. Am up to about page 270 and they are less than a week away from ending in NYC. I encourage everyone to read it. It is full of hopes, dreams, adversity, drama, illness, misfortune, hate, triumph, and so much more!

Total Time: 51:30 Total Distance: 5.30 miles Average Pace: 9:43

8:40 AM - Last run in New York before going to Massachusetts to Emma's house and then to Boston to fly out to California! Finished reading Geoff Williams's book on C.C. Pyle's 1928 Bunion Derby today. It kept me hooked until the end. One of the best books I've read about distance runners. Next on my list I am going to reread Running Through the Wall: Personal Encounters with the Ultramarathon. I liked it the first time I read it so hopefully it will be a love the second time around :). Felt good on the treadmill this morning. Will be nice to run on the beaches though in California! Can't wait!

Total Time: 50:30 Total Distance: 5.31 miles Average Pace: 9:30

6:30 PM - Just got back from going to the beach with Emmy. This vacation has been anything but "grand", mainly because of yours truly. To put it blandly I've been a real "DB" because starting the second day I was in a lot of pain in my right hip that just seemed to continually get worse. Finally went to the ER yesterday, had been putting it off because I don't really have health insurance right now. They diagnosed me with bursitis on the hip bone on my right side. I forget the technical mumbo jumbo of it now. The doc was real nice and I told him there was no way I wanted to consider cortisone or surgery so they were off the table. After telling him how many extra strength Tylenol and IBU Profen I had been popping though, I told him it was a good idea to get something maybe a bit stronger?  He gave me a prescription for Tylenol with codeine which seems to be helping more now. However, I owe a huge apology to everyone else on the trip, especially Emmy because I have been irritable, moody, as well as tired, cranky, you name it. She doesn't deserve that. 

Today the rest of the family, Scott, Liana, little Jane, and Kara went up to Monterey in California, but we only had one car so Emmy and I were stuck here. We made the best of it and she mapped out a route to get to Pismo Beach I think it was where we could go kayaking and whatever. Only we went to the bus stop and there was no sign! Then the bus showed up and hung a left and we were left holding the bags and yelling "Hey! Hold that bus!" It didn't stop so we walked to another stop, only to discover we'd be on the bus about forty minutes longer if we took that than wait the hour for the bus to return. So sure enough at the top of the hour again, :08 after is when the bus comes, we were there on the right side of the road and ready! But he saw us, hung the corner and again kept on going. So by 1:30pm we were back at the house where we started, having walked about 2 miles and not really getting anywhere. I told Emm my hip was okay so we decided to bike the 3 miles to the beach. My hip was okay, the biggest surprise was that Scott's bike you have to use clipped shoes. I slowly got the hang of them, this being the second time in my life ever trying them on and first time outside of a parking lot!

Made it to the beach fine and went thumping through the waves. Hip still hurts. We fed a bunch of seagulls that almost attacked us! I was scared but of course Emmy wasn't. Afterwards as the sun was setting we biked home, stopping at the grocery store Vons for some salad and soup stuff! Through the stuff in the panier (really nice invention for a bike!) and came home. Just about to turn the left corner to come up to the cal-de-sac and boom! Emmy stopped and I saw too late and couldn't get the clip out and down I went on my right hip (the bursitis one). Luckily my right kneecap absorbed the brunt of the blow on the curb and my left hand went out to help too. Now going to have some soup and salad with a cutie, tell her I love her and am sorry, and going to ice ice ice, codeine, ice, and watch a movie while we snuggle! A good end nonetheless to a junky week. Going to see a specialist and doctor when I get home. Tomorrow's flight should be interesting to say the least! 

11:00 AM - Snowing outside. My mom and I drove to the local YMCA about twenty minutes away. It was the first time that either of us had gone to swim there in probably a year if not more. I got set up with a new YMCA ID since I lost the one that I had previously. It was good because I got a new photo. (No more 14 year old baby face!)

The rest of the California trip went significantly better than it had prior to the doc. visit. The tylenol with codeine helped make the plane ride bearable, even though the long flight was made an hour longer because we were out on the tarmac idling for about that time.

Yesterday, Tuesday 1/19, I went with my sister down to Albany to see my mom's friend Inez who is a doctor. I currently do not have health insurance because after graduation I was kicked off of it. Thankfully my mom has known her for like thirty years and she only charged us each $10 to be seen! She gave me a scrip and I took it to Walmart and was able to get 2 months of a prescription painkiller for only $8. What I found funny was that both the doctor and the pharmacist at Walmart told me to STOP RUNNING because it was BAD for me. (HA! Like that'll ever stop me!)

I did 2 warmup laps in the pool and then eased into a steady freestyle and did 500yds, stopped for a drink from my waterbottle and then did another 300yds. Then eased into a combination of freestyle and breastroke, but the breaststroke was hurting my hip so I stopped that quickly. I believe I went through the 1000m mark in about 17:35, with about 25:00 of swimming total today. I am so exhausted that I think I want a nap!

Yesterday the doctor was also concerned because my blood pressure was elevated to about 154/90 and it is usually 130/70 or so. In addition, my weight was a whopping 209.6 yesterday. Ick. So today I started a new plan to elminate salt and prepackaged foods which are usually laced with salt my buddy Jeff told me.

Breakfast was a bowl of raw oats and skim milk with a spoonful of sugar. Lunch was a homemade salad of carrots, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce, a sprinkle of parmesan cheese and fat free vinagrette dressing. Dinner is a bean stew my mom has been making all day.

Now off to go figure out wedding communicant stuff, health insurance, do some loads of laundry, and find a frame for my newly arrived NEW YORK STATE TEACHING CERTIFICATION!! woo hoo!

Total Swimming Time: ~25:00 Total Yards: 1200 yards

11:30 AM - Drove to the YMCA with my mom again before she had to go do Cub Scouts stuff at the elementary school. Jumped in and did 2 laps warm up and then my mom proceeded to teach me how to breathe while swimming. It sounds simple enough, but let me assure you it is not as easy as it sounds! It takes some practice learning how to breathe out and getting into a rhythm. Yesterday I was just exhaling after three strokes and then inhaling quickly. What I found was that I was extremely tired and was short of breath and almost hyperventilating. After she told me to exhale through the three strokes and then just inhale rather than trying to do both, I tried it and picked it up quickly. Then my mom wanted to teach me how to do a flip turn. I tried three or four times to no avail. I think I will have to work on that. So I resigned myself to swimming the 25 yard pool, touching the wall, turning and pushing off the conventional way. Flip turn will be a short term goal!

Did 500 m freestyle just arms with a floatie between legs, stopped for a drink. (10:50)

Another 500 m freestyle without a floatie (11:30). Water stop.

800m Freestyle in 22:03 (really feeling the burn through here!)

Overall, a great workout. Today was my second day of eating raw oats with skim milk for breakfast. Put a little cinnamon on today, and no sugar. For lunch I am having a gigantic salad with an entire cucumber, a tomato, a little cheese, and iceberg lettuce with fat free balsamic vinagrette again. Oh and a sodium free seltzer. Blood pressure was a little lower today.

Also, according to my scale I lost another 2 lbs. WOo Hoo! Getting fit rocks!

Total Time: 44:23 Total Yards: 1800 yards (1.022 miles)

7:00 PM - 300 crunches.

11:30 AM - Sunny out. Ran errands with my mom and then after going to the bank and pharmacy, stopped at the YMCA to go swimming with my mom.  Started with 50 yard freestyle warmup, and then did 500 yard freestyle, 200 yards with the floatie, 500 yards free, and then finished up with freestyle after a water break. Was really crowded today with 2-3 swimmers in all five lanes! Then we hopped in the hot tub and listened to two old men talk about their vacations and seeing lions and tigers and bears oh my!

Sent Emmy some daisies that got there there this morning as apology for the rough vacation. She was so surprised! I denied it at first that they were from me but she said when she saw the delivery person she said, "Yup! Those are Benn flowers!" (white and yellow daisies!)

Am completing my online application and account for several jobs around the region. I am excited. I just want to get a job! 

Total for today was 1900 yards. I am getting better at this swim thing!

Total Time: 47:00 Total Yards 1900 yards (1.079 mi) 

4:00 PM - Read Christopher Marlowe's Dr. Faustus this afternoon. A story kind of like "curiosity killed the cat" where a German doctor dabbles in witchcraft but ends up signing over his soul in blood to Lucifer and the Devil. Even though written so many hundreds of years ago, it still works today with people wondering what is out there and so quick to put down those that don't agree with the same ideas as them. I read it nonstop in an hour and highly recommend it. Marlowe writes with such energy that you can literally see the play performed before your eyes!

10:30 PM - Read first 45 pages of Edward Larson's A Magnificent Catastrophe and then picked up Harry from ski club at the school. 300 crunches before bed. 

10:00 AM - Sunny out today. My brothers both went snowboarding with their friends. My mom took Harry up to snowboard while she snowshoed. I was left home to watch the dogs. I haven't run since before the trip to California and I wanted to see how the hip felt as I haven't had any real pain in about a week since we got back. I stretched and did a warmup, then stretched again. About halfway through I switched to Vibrams and then finished up the run and stretched. Didn't feel like reading the Larson book today on the 'mill so I picked up Dean Karnazes's 50:50 again. I read it the last two years. I like how he rights matter of factly and I understand where he's coming from.

My mom says it's good that I am a distance runner because it is my grit and determination to go long that allows me to swim lap after lap in the pool, even if I don't know how to flip turn! That means a lot. I hope to get to the pool another 1-2 times to swim this coming week.

I know I have posted these quotes here before I believe, but once again I will quote Karno:

"There's no cure for an addictive personality. If you're going to express a compulsive tendency, it might as well be through running. As Lily Tomlin once joked, "Exercise is for people who can't handle drugs and alcohol."' - pg. 27

"Like a lot of runners, I am an introvert by nature. Running naturally appeals to introverts because it's a solitary activity, unless you go out of your way to make it otherwise, and it has a way of dampening external stimuli, bringing your feelings and thoughts to the fore." - pg. 55

Total Time: 41:43 Total Distance: 4.32 miles Average Pace:  9:39

11:30 AM -  Rain, Rain, RAIN! Temperature is crazy hot for January. I think the bank said it was 52 degrees just before I got home. Had to run a bunch of errands, including printing, sealing and mailing my first post-grad application for a real job! Then went to fax some stuff to the college, called and e-mailed the college about job fair stuff. 

Went to the YMCA to swim before my mom had cub scouts this afternoon. It was the strongest I felt during swimming since I started. I only stopped once, at lap 22 because my mom was trying to talk to me so I stopped for 10 or so seconds. I feel my breathing and arms and torso are getting in swimming shape! Hopefully I don't start to grow a tail or fins! Hit the 1 mile in 41:07.

Total Time: 46:52 Total Swimming Yards: 2000 yards (1.136 miles)

6:30 PM - After making the family dinner I decided to read a little of DK's 50/50. Well one thing let to another and decided to jog while I read on the treadmill. Ended up doing a half hour nice and relaxed. Read another 35 pages or so. Hip feels okay, but still a little tender. No long runs for a while I guess. Hopefully swimming will be a good xtraining activity though. 200 crunches.

Total Time: 30:04 Total Distance: 3.11 miles Average Pace:  9:40

 "We are all teachers and we are all students in this sport." - page 69

8:30 AM - I'm subbing at my dad's school for a 5th grade teacher for a 1/2 day today (I am welcoming it even though I'm nervous because I am broke right now and it's an easy $45.00). Decided I needed some Dean Karnazes in my morning and hopped on the treadmill and jogged 3.25 miles in 31:00. Felt pretty good. Hip doesn't hurt too bad. I am constantly monitoring it as I run just in case. I found it hurts more if I try to make sure my feet are straight as they land then if I land with my feet slightly splayed in a "v" shape. This is probably because I am bowlegged. Plan on going to the YMCA to swim tonight with Su and Emmy.