I serve the Fairy Queen

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;

Man, I think I need to hit the trails when I get back east.

I almost, almost punted this morning. The flight last night got in about 90 minutes late, so I left the airport well after midnight, got to the hotel after 1, and collapsed into bed about 1:45, taking into account the need to despin.

Then, the fire alarm goes off at 3. Yep, I kid you not – after not sleeping well the night before, I had taken about 15 seconds to drop straight into deep sleep once my head hit the pillow.

So, we’re standing outside waiting for the fire truck to arrive. Bunches of disoriented folks in various states of PJs or crumpled clothes pulled off of the floor. After a half hour or so, the night manager goes and calls them again, and, no lie, the fire truck got into a wreck on the way over. So, they’re having to sortie one from a neighboring fire district, which arrives after we’ve all been standing around for a half-hour or so.

So, I hit the rack at 3:45, needing to wake up about 0700 to actually start working. No way was I going to get up at 6 to get in a run.

Today at work – absolutely great. F’n phenomenal – good results and loads of new opportunities. Got back to the hotel, and instead of collapsing, went to do today’s three in the office park. Was doing pretty well until I rolled my ankle at about mile two.

Probably the greatest lesson I’ve learned in Augustathon is when to say “Enough”. I walked the last mile, and will be able to run again tomorrow morning.

Had a chat with someone. You may have seen part of it earlier. Anyway, he asked what my race plans were for the rest of the year. Here goes:

  • Probably do the last Terramuggus next week, even though it WILL suck, as I haven’t been swimming or riding. There’s a better than even chance this will get dropped, as next week will be killer at the office
  • New Haven. My goal there is to run in the same vicinity of April Anne as long as I can until she drops me, and then try to hold on to beat Jon. ‘Cause if I don’t, there won’t be any more ChaBaso bread when I finish
  • I’ll probably do another half on a not-to-interfere with real life basis
  • November/December will be the start of Marathon training for the OKC Marathon, and a chance to run with my baby brother
  • A guy at church has hatched an idea in my head of a 20 mile race they do on the Vineyard in February. This has the intriguing qualities of: a) being somewhere I’ve been looking for an excuse to go; b) being potentially positioned well as a marathon tune-up race in about enough time to get my stamina safely up to 20 miles, and enough in advance of OKC to let me get some serious training in after this long run; and c) an excuse to say ‘the Vineyard’ and sound like I belong up here
  • And my long-term goal is the Oklahoma City Marathon on 29 April, 2008. I’m committed, too, as I’ve just redeemed my first set of frequent flier miles ever for the ticket to the race. That, and my little bro, the barrister, has a couple of pounds to lose (but don’t we all).

So that’s it in a nutshell. Five more days and this is a habit. Then I start working on getting up consistiently at 0500, on purpose.

Reasons to love running for 8/15/2007

Man, I woke up this morning after a terrible night’s sleep. Slipped on the sneaks, headed outside, and suddenly all was good with the world. The runner’s high didn’t wear off until about 5, when I was on my way to the airport.

Chalk up downtown Columbus, Ohio, as an underrated running destination.

One more day and I’m over the hump for Augustathon.

Great three

I’m beginning to love the following MO:

– Leave the office a bit after lunch.
– Stop on Jamestown, quick run, and a quick soak in the ocean
– Head to the airport with hair somewhat salty. Strangely, swimming in the ocean up here is pretty odor-nullifying, as the water’s clean and cold. I do hit the anti-perspirant stick after I dry off.

14 days down. I will confess that I walked the first K today, but it was a flat K – I ran most of the hills.

And I feel GREAT tonite.

Counterproductive way to fight doping

So, it looks like Eric Zabel, the German sprinter, admitted to doping back in 1996. As a result, he’s being prevented from racing in the World Road Race championships this year.

While I’m a fierce believer that the current regime of testing is bearing fruit, and that the zero tolerance on folks popping positive now is the way to go, I think that for the sake of getting pro cycling back on solid ground there should be an amnesty program offered for folks who confess to having doped in the past.

While Zabel’s admission brings into question his past accomplishments, it also makes his third in this year’s Tour de France green jersey (Sprinters) competition that much more impressive, as he accomplished it without dope. Folks like Zabel and David Millar, who have raced both dirty and clean, should be used as ambassadors for clean sport.

There is a small issue of fairness – Millar served a two year suspension, whereas Zabel will likely not have to pay for his cheating (he’s in his 30’s, has good palmares, and if suspended has incentive to retire) – but that’s water under the bridge. As much as we’d like, it’s impossible to ever correctly repay past wrong. So, yes, Zabel did cheat, but did so under a different set of ethics than are in place today. As long as he’s clean today, and committed to remaining clean, and helping others to remain clean, he should be allowed to ride.

Why I use a Mac when possible

Overheard while on the phone ordering some stuff for work from a certain computer company based in Round Rock, Texas: “Man, it’s going to be one of those days with my computer…”

Yep, that’s why I use a Mac and keep rooting for Linux.

Twelve down, 19 to go

So, the house is painted (At long last), and I managed to squeeze in two runs this weekend. Nothing special about either one, other than they got done.

Saturday’s was pre-supper, post painting. I headed down to River Road, got to 1.5 out and was feeling pretty good, so decided to leg it out to the 4 mile turn around. Mistake. Heading back up the hill from the river didn’t hurt so much as just suck the life out of me. So, I walked it, and finished up with 3.3 miles of running on the day.

Today, I waited until after the boys were down for the evening, and did the Flanders road loop. Three+ miles, and it felt pretty good. I walked one really steep downhill section, ’cause I didn’t want to pound the joints, and the last mile ended up being about 8:15, which rocks.

Next week is going to be tough – one week before an in-water install, and I’m traveling for part of it. But, I think I can get it done. According to Ali, it’s only 21 days to establish a habit.

The other folks still in the Nike+ challenge are tearing stuff up – both are about 10 miles ahead of me for the month, which completely rocks, and shows me what I could be doing if I were really dedicated and 15 lbs lighter.

Good eating starts next week (HA!)

Fourth and Long

So, I almost decided to punt Augustathon today. Busy, busy at work, gnasty weather, and general malaise and I almost punted.

But, Missy convinced me to head out tonight. Man, it was way too cold for an August evening. Chilly and wet. So, it turns out that my nike+ set is about 10% short, which is what I’ve been guessing for a while.

But, the run got done.

In other news, there’s a phenomenal parody on the period between the end of the new Harry Potter book and its epilogue. Good stuff.