Category: life

Ahhhh…

So, the new MacBook is here, and it is GOOOOOOD… The screen is SUPER BRIGHT. It’s faster than the iBook, but I think we’re approaching a point at which speed is somewhat moot.

Huge apologies to one and all – when I got NetNewsWire up and running, there were about 1,000 posts in my aggregator, so I punted. I’m accepting nominations for great rides/runs of the last two weeks – drop me a line.

In other news – Well, I really don’t want to get into the Whole Frankie Andreiu mess. Kudos to him for coming clean about his EPO use in the peleton, but it’s small praise to give seeing as how the relevation makes him more marketable as a television personality.

AND, I’ve been a slug. But the weight’s staying constant, so something’s working well.

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Fall Hiatus

Hey, Folks.

Sorry for the following:

  1. Not posting much this week.
  2. Not reading your stuff. There is little that is more enjoyable than reading about daily small triumphs and races. Truly gets me out the door.
  3. Not writing about exactly how amazing it was to see Dianna, Jon, Danny and the crew from the Bronx, Michelle, Beth at New Haven. David made the trip to New Haven from Florida via Mystic, and we shared a great ride both to and from the race. THere are few people who are wonderful to see before 7 AM; David certianly is. The best part, though, was two hours with April-Anne. She and I had similar goals for the race (Finish! preferably in less than 2 hours), and had a great run, complete with her coaxing me into a sprint at the finish. COld beer, hand-rolled truffles, and conversation afterward. Awesome.

I’m probably out of the picture for the next couple of weeks if not a month. Mingus, my iBook G3, died last week on my way to Maryland. The end of the fiscal year is upon us at work, and I’m changing jobs as a Reservist, which comes with its own learning curve. Plus, I’m behind on a training course, and have a technical class at the end of the month.

What all that means, is that my time to write Runmystic is severely curtailed. I’ll still be turning content for CRN, and still running. But this site will be sparse until I can get all my stuff in one sock, and my new MacBook running smoothly.

Enjoy the fall!

Funk

As in both “We want the…” and “I’m in a …”

We Want The
Went and saw George Clinton and the P-Funk All-Stars in the second-closest sovereign nation to Mystic tonight. The band was good – George is a phenomenal showman, as was StarChild. The horns? Not so great, but it was easy to mentally edge them out in memory of some of the great horn sections of the past.

More interesting than the show (I’d have never thought it possible to eclipse the Starship until tonight – either I’m getting old, or sobriety is changing how I see the world) was the crowd. There were the expecteds – hipsters bobbing up and down (Hipster guys hanging with hipster girls, always), white guys with dreads and goatees (no girls…), folks who were hipsters 30+ years ago when the band was playing “Flashlight” for the first time, and, being a casino, a goodly number of folks with absolutely no interest in the show at all.

My favorites were the folks who (and I’m terribly afraid I fall into this group) were the ones in that ackward age between hipster-dom and mid-40’s who appeared to be considering the show much as one would approach an installation in an art museum. From time to time they (I) would realize they (I) was actually at a show, and bob up and down for a while, or wave their (my) hands or clap, but then turn back to the patented Gen X look of sardonic detachment. What a drag it is getting old.

Good show – I highly recommend it.

I’m in a …

It’s been a week since I’ve run. An actual, honest to God, week. I thought I was going to make it out today at lunch, but the battery in the Subaru croaked last night when the temperature went all the way down to like 50. I jumped it; the car made it to work, and wouldn’t start up again when I had to run an antenna to a photographer. So, lunch was a trip to the auto store and a trip to the pizza buffet.

Work’s been busy, busy; life at home has been busy. Not franticly busy where I really, really need a couple of minutes each day so I force myself out the door, but busy enough that it makes sense at the time to skip running, ’cause I’ll make it up the next day. Only problem is the next day is busy, too…

(Paragraph redacted – see yesterday’s post)

Plus, there’s been a distinct chill in the air up here – it’s been a good summer, but it’s kind of depressing to see it on the downslope. Fall is wonderful, but I’m not looking forward to December.

Blah.

Epilogue
I’m writing this on a beautiful cool night on my deck, citronella candles burning even though it’s way too cold for bugs, and the dog sleeping under my chair. Last week’s PHC is playing over the WiFi (The Hyena Stomp, give it a listen), and I’m going to have two beautiful boys bouncing on me at 7 AM, not a minute before, not a minute after.

This is the first day of a new month. I’m still under 170 weight-wise, and have a month before the PRT. I can break 9 minutes on the mile and a half, and get under height-weight. I can work up to 30 mile weeks. And my wife loves me.

Life is good.

But sometimes, life is better given a chance to vent.

Thanks for reading.

Excuses

Monday – Didn’t run, ’cause it was an “off” day on the schedule. Plus, I broke my iPod working on the house, and was waiting for a new one (If you’ve got $130 to spare, go to the Apple Store online scroll down the page, and click on the big red tag on the right hand side where they sell refurbished stuff – 1 GB Nano is $109, 2 GB Nano is $129, 4 GB Nano is $169) so I could keep using the cool chip.

Tuesday – Didn’t run – Not on the schedule, plus it was HOT

Wednesday – Didn’t wake up early enough to run before the wife left for Hartford. Spent the day playing with the kids – Beach in the morning (Watch Hill, if you’re keeping track. Man, was that nice – 65 degree water keeps a nice, cool breeze over the sand. We walked out to the ruins of the WWI fort at the entrance to Fischer’s Island Sound and back); fishing in the evening, 3 hour nap in between. Missy had book club Wednesday night – Whole day with the boys! Can’t be beat. They were angels the whole day, too, which shocked me…

Thursday – Picked up some sort of stomach bug. Just feeling all gassy. POwer went out about 7 PM as a cold front rolled through. Absolutely worse things than spending an evening hanging out on the deck with the wife in the cool, wet evening with all of the bugs knocked out of the air.

Friday – No power yet. Went to buy ice before work instead of running. Still feeling ill in the tummy.

Today – Drilling. Power came on late last night. May run this afternoon, but don’t want to push it – the tummy is still kind of sensitive, and I haven’t eaten anything yet.

 So, there it is – a week down the tubes. New Haven is going to stink.

I’m not exactly down about training – I actually have been really, really enjoying the run this year. But, on the flip side, I haven’t been nearly as ambitious as I was last year, and it kind of shows.

BUt, July was almost 75 miles for the month, which was better than I would have thought without actually checking the logs.

THis is when I tell myself that it’s all coming together according to plan – get just a little bit rolled into my lifestyle while stepping up performance at work. Next step is to get the eating under control – weight’s been pretty static at 168 all year, this winter I intend to drop poundage. Next summer is when I start thinking great things about fitness – faster, longer, farther.

But I’m green reading about other’s big races, and marathon season is going to really, really rase the green monster of envy’s head. Not that I don’t want great things for the RBF. I just miss the whole aspect of “Look at me! Look at me!”

Didn’t run today

Felt pretty much fully recovered, but the doc had recommended I lay off for about a week after the family-planning related surgery on Friday. (If you want gory details, I’ll provide off-line. The short version is that I got more narcotics than Missy did for our first kid despite the fact that the ultimate discomfort from the procedure was less than any number of cleats to the nuts in intermural soccer (futbol). Which isn’t to say that I didn’t lay on the couch all weekend enjoying said prescriptions and the leisure of having a weekend to lay on the couch while the sky was cloudy, the humidity near saturation, and the AC both cool and a source of white noise.)

I really, really wanted to run. Really, really, really.

But I didn’t.

I will tomorrow. No doubt in my mind at all.

I registered for New Haven today. Yippie! Now, to see if I can still go 12+ miles – the longest I’ve gone in a month was the 6.8 with David almost two weeks ago. I’ll try that again this weekend.

And, when I found the details about the Josh Billings Tri, the wife said “Sure”. So, that’s two races in the space of two weeks, starting in 6 weeks. I’m pumped. I also get to paint the house over that time. The roof – contracted out, ’cause I’ve got no clue how to roof. Scraping, painting, and scraping again – I’ve been in the Navy, I can do that!

Life is good, good, good.

Last night i dreamed

About running.

Kind of freaky, in hindsight. Dreamed I went running through the neighborhood, but as I ran, I ran into a neighborhood of the absolute cutest Arts and Crafts recreation homes – brand new, but smallish, 1400 sf 3Br 2B homes with large two car detached garages. Hardwood floors, really cool stained glass in the doors and around the windows – not like Angels and Saints stained glass, but the cool A&C geometric patterns – long rectangles of clear glass with some colored accent squares. Beautiful built in cabinets, airy living spaces.

The best part of the dream really was the running – just felt like I could go forever.

But I’m kind of amazed that my mind would come up with houses like that. I’ll admit, it’s what I’d build, given the time, but I’d never given that much thought to it.

Hola Amigos

Wow – Sunday night already.

If you haven’t checked out David and April Anne’s reports, we had one heck of a run trying to dodge the rain. I’d elaborate, but David pretty much nailed it. Well, with the exception of April Anne trying to drive me into heart failure as we raced over the state line and back.

Were I half a good writer, I’d work in the classic joke about “Crossing staid lions with immoral porpises”. But, it’s late, and I’m tired.

The run was outstanding, BTW. Trails are great, and AA has a way of suggesting “just a little further” that’s impossible to resist. I think I was still carrying the endorphin buzz when I had a bit of delayed elective surgery on Friday. So no running this weekend. The doc said I should take at least a week off – we’ll see. The legs are dying to go.

New Haven is, what 6 weeks away? And I’m halfway thinking about heading down to Mystic Places Marathon again, but on a lighter training schedule – work up to a 15 or 18 miler, and then just suffer, suffer, suffer through the race. We’ll see. More likely is I’ll run the 10 miler there. The wife’s doing the Tarzan Brown 5 miler the first weekend in November, and also the Old Saybrook 5 miler in two weeks.

But, mostly my mind’s on getting back into tri. The swim has been a complete and total bust this summer, other than cooling off after runs. I need to focus on that next winter, but as I’ve been telling anyone who will listen, this year’s focus on just getting out on the road, without stressing about results, has likely done way more long-term good than anything else I could think of.

But, one of Missy’s women’s fitness magazines mentioned the Josh Billings Triathlon on 17 September – Kayak, bike, Run. Wow. Sounds like a perfect weekend in my book. 34 mile bike, 5 mile paddle, and a 10K. I am so there if the wife says OK.

Other than that, I’m ready to lose some weight. The scales are down to 167 again, which is way positive. The hunger’s not raging, since I’m not creating two hour training deficits.

Oh, one other thing to mention: I’m going to be going to all Linux for recreational computing for the month of August, with the exception (AFAIK) of using OSX to send my runs into Nike. Unless I can figure out how to hack that. Follow the action over at (Site in need of a decent name). Part of the whole big idea thing I’ve been meaning to push for a while. I’m still planning on buying a MacBook in the fall/winter, but am really, really intrigued by Ubuntu – it’s the first Linux distro I’ve tried that really comes close to “just working” by design, not accident. Vista, schmista – grow your hair long, stir up the mulch pit and plant some organic veggies, and do something out of the goodness of your heart.

Them’s got ears but can’t hear,

Them’s got eyes but can’t see.
Turn your eyes to the Lord of the Skies,
and take this airline plane.
It’ll take you home again

So, I was all ready to get broken up about not having run since Monday, when suddenly the evening opened up – we got back from taking Missy’s mom downtown for ice cream and watching the river roll out to sea, it was 8, and there was just enough sunlight to roll out 5 miles or so before bed.

Wow.

Weather – perfect. Shuffle kicked out a Wilco tune about a mile into the run, and I remembered why they’re the best band to come out of the post ’80s. Shifted the iPod over to do songs just from them, and the miles flew by. Life is good. Nothing like a big bass drum and a slide guitar to make your heels kick up, the heart rate peg, and give you reason to run until the sound of your heart resembles the sound of the drum.

Finally caught up on blogs – What a summer y’all are having. Now to bottle up this energy for the winter.

I’m completely behind on my consumption of Tour de France coverage, largely due to not having OLN in the house this year. Also, I’m still caught up in the World cup fever – Can’t wait for “DOMINGO, DOMINGO, DOMINGO!”. We’ve been watching the Univision coverage of the games (Don’t have ESPN either), and that’s been absolutely the best choice ever. My wife was fluent in Spanish at one point, and I’ve had 3 semesters in college (with a solid C average, thankyouverramuch), so it’s not just watching it with the sound off. I’ve been getting a team roster before watching a game, which gives me an edge on translation, since I can cue on the names.

And, let’s face it – even without speaking the language, sports commentary is pretty easy to follow once you figure out the players’ names. ‘Tain’t rocket science.

But back to the Tour – I’m excited to see Tommy Boonen and Thor Hushvold swapping the jersey in the first week, thrilled to see how Johan Bruyneel is, indeed, a tactical mastermind, and kind of excited to see a race that’s active from Day One, without waiting until the mountains to crank up.

But here’s what I’d like to make the Tour easier for me to follow:
1. A podcast of the same quality as Guardian Unlimited’s World Cup coverage.
2. Video coverage that’s (easily) accessable on a Mac or Linux box.
3. OLN at the house (which would mean we had the will to subscribe to basic cable, which we don’t, which is, overall a good thing)
4. A new MacBook with the chops to handle video podcasts in iTunes (plus Windows via Parallels)
5. A Fullbright Fellowship to take the family to Europe to study the UCI pro tour (Hey, if we’re dreaming)

The MacBook will probably happen this fall – I’ve been saving my pennies despite us putting a new roof on the house, and planning to get me a new car (complete with a useable back seat for the kids and 25% better mileage than my venerable Subaru in the summer.

The other thing that is giving me somewhat waning interest in the tour has been my lack of time on the road bike this year. Largely, that’s by choice – I am committed to becoming a runner first and foremost this summer, and a large part of that is getting my weight under control. Step by step. I can’t say I’ve missed the bike as much as I thought I would when I decided to skip the Tri season, but large part of that is just due to prioritizing work and family over recreation, but not wanting to completely fall off the rec wagon.

So – Pshew! It’s a great time to be a runner. The song’s Wilco, obviously, from Kicking Television among other albums. Check it out.

Ring a ding!

As in let freedom…

Hey, hello, and Howdy! Life has been good at the Jankowski ranch up here in the wilds of Eastern Connecticut! So good, in fact, that I’ve been neglecting the blog, and, more importantly, the blogs of all of you. I’d like to blame work, but let’s not kid ourselves – the real fault lies with the absolutely, completely beautiful weather we’ve been having. I’m pecking out this little missive sitting on the deck waiting for Missy’s world-famous banana muffins to come out of the oven, having gotten up “early” (“early” being defined as “before the rest of the house, but clearly not before 0600”, as opposed to “at the crack of dawn”, which, as we all know, is defined as “so gawdaful late at night that the clock is confused and showing afternoon hours”) to take the newly re-finished kayak for a spin on the Mystic River.

Just a tip – as cool as the wooden kayaks look, I’m kind of wishing I’d sprung for a decent rotomolded one. Sure, it wouldn’t look as cool, and they’ve got issues of their own, but the cold hard fact of the matter is that for the plastic ‘yaks, maintenance consists of giving them a vigorous hosing out every couple of weeks, instead of mucking about with varnish and epoxy, and winding up on a rock isn’t excruciating for the whole rest of the paddle while you try to decide if you just scraped the varnish or if you actually broke some fiberglass (the thought that you’ve actually pierced the wood just doesn’t occur, as that requires MAJOR surgery to fix).

But that aside, it was great to have the boat back out on the water. I’d forgotten exactly how swift this one feels – within a couple of paddle strokes I was up at hull speed, which, for a 17’ boat isn’t anything to sneeze at. Did about 4 miles on the water – glass smooth, watching the cyclists and runners coming down River Road, which was a nice change in Point of View.

Oh, speaking of that – Sunday? While Nate took his nap, Jake and I headed down to River Road. I convinced him that he could ride his bike while I ran. He had doubts when I said that we were going to go at least 5 miles (it’s really, really flat), so I said “Hey, Jake – if you can make it for 20 minutes out, we’ll turn around and head back”. OK, says he. So, we go, and at 20 minutes, he begs to keep going until we get downtown. Rock on.

Thunder

Wow.

We just had what ought to be a mid-summer thunderstorm roll through after the boys and my mom were in bed. The wife and I were down on the couch watching a tape of our guilty pleasure, Jay Leno’s Headlines, as the storm started. Quietly, at first – the rumble of distant thunder, indistinguishable from the rumble of the washing machine in the basement.

As the storm rolled through, the lightning grew brighter, the “one-mississippi, two-mississippi, three-mississippi…” between the flash and the thunder became a “one-mississ..”. We turned off the TV because we couldn’t hear it over the rain. Buckets, I tell you. Buckets. We stood in the front doorway watching the rain and the thunder and the lightning close but not touching. I could smell her hair over the ozone and the wet earth, and feel her warm and near in the cool of the storm.

Then, like that, it was over. The flashes moved back into the forest, the rain stopped, and there was nothing but the dripping from the trees, the still of a summer night, and the woman I love, just like so many summer storms before.