I'll have to use this monkey as my mascot tomorrow, as I have very much work to complete prior to my departure to Portland. Ahh... there's nothing quite like a monkey typing, makes my eyes water. I heart this little guy. If you're interested in a Monkey Shakespeare simulator (tests the theory that 100 monkeys typing could randomly generate Shakespeare), this site may prove intriguing: http://user.tninet.se/~ecf599g/aardasnails/java/Monkey/webpages/
I wonder, if I could just get 1 monkey, what the chances that he could write my Operations and Supply Chain Management team project?

Spanksgiving Holiday Extravagaza Weekend Wrap-Up

Long time no post. A quick run-down of my running, with a few observations interspersed:

Monday, 11/25/04:
AM: 5.5 miles easy around home (in Pottstown). Gunshots flying around as deerhunting season began and the Bambi-hating hicks are out in full-force; my mother: "You're not running, are you?"; I decided to stay on roads, but more because the trails remained swamped.
PM: 5 miles back in Bryn Mawr. Ran around Ankle-Breaker park (as I dubbed it today). It was hazardous before the leaves all cluttered it up. Too hungry to go any further.
Total Monday: 10.5

Weekly Mileage: 72.5
Dropped the mileage down this week purposely. Want to have taper for club nationals next weekend. I examined some training logs from college, and noticed that I would routinely do like 100 miles the week before Heps or another big race, dropping down only like 2 days before the race to rest up. I can see now how this would probably leave me with fatigued legs. I guess the idea was to keep training and improving, but I've learned that maybe was not wise. Congrats to Craig Miller of my Alma Mater, Manheim Township, who made it to the Footlocker National championships.

Sunday, 11/24/04
AM: 80.5 minutes, about 12.5 miles. Ran some of the trails in County Park. Hilly. Rained hard all night and quite a bit of flooding and mud. Some of the stream crossings I normally take were now as wide as football fields, and rushing like the Philadelphia Eagles' tenacious d. The terrain was like running on a moist, dirty sponge. I fell at least once. Chest rather sore from lifting. Took whirlpool bath.

I'm reading The Rule of Four these days, is a DaVinci Code-like book, except it takes place in Princeton. It makes me a little nostalgic with its great detail--two of the main characters are in my eating club, Cloister. When comparing it to Ivy, they say, "Half of our chairs are plastic, all of our cutlery is replaceable, and sometimes when the parties we throw are too expensive, or the taps we run are too loose, we find hot dogs in the lunch tray on Fridays." This is a slight exaggeration. We always had pizza on Friday lunch, and I looked forward to it. My friends and I also got very involved with the Dannon yogurt they served us, especially during a special promotion where you could send away lid tops for free items. We were eating as many as we could, hauling them home to our refrigerators, asking people for their lids, aye, even taking them from the trash (allegations flew that a certain neighbor would go looting for our own lids). When all was said in done, we were outfitted with multiple hats, long sleeve shirts, pins, backpacks, and birthday presents. One night Jon and I ate 10 yogurts in a single, sick sitting (The infamous Yogurt Challenge). These were the behemoth 8 oz. yogurts, not the pip-squeak 6 ozers that now pollute the supermarket shelf.

Saturday 11/23/04
AM: 40 min (including 6 X 100m strides); 6 miles, ran a nice scenic road loop. Also did sprint drills, lifted weights, and did Pilates. So I made myself take an easy day, but then I couldn't help but compensate with a bunch of other things. Didn't lift extremely hard, but not used to it and quite sore afterwards.

Went to go see American Treasure with my parents. Pretty good movie. We got there a little late and I sat separately, preferring to crane my neck straight up in the front rather than to look at the screen from an angle. I never realized that there is a treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence. I enjoyed the film scenes from Philadelphia.

Friday 11/22/04
AM: 3 mile easy warm-up. 21 minute tempo run in County Park on a rocky muddy hilly trail. Able to measure about 3 miles of tempo, which were usually between 5:15-25 pace (depending which direction- uphill or down). Tried to go to local track, but it was locked and made due with the non-optimal trail. However, it was a proper run in the spirit of the waning cross country season, although not as quick as possible. After tempo, I ran 4 X hill sprints. 2.5 mile cool down. Decent workout, about 10 miles.

Gobble 11/21/04
AM: 75 min, at least 11.5 miles. Hit up the trails at home in Pottstown. Wore lots of orange to avoid deer hunters. Ample amount of hilly trails. Did my standard loop: through powerlines, around county park, and back. Hilight was shimmying across a 15-20 ft. fallen tree as my bridge at one of the stream crossings. The stream was deeper than usual, so the crossing was difficult, yet stream crossing all-star that I am, I completed the mission. Had to get up early which wasn't the most fun.

Went to cousin's house for the feast of Thanks. Twas a nice day. Cute babies running around. Even got to meet a Mary, the Mennonite midget, who works at my grandmother's residence. Also agreed to help drive home from dinner, and won free driving tips and advice from my dad.

Wednesday 11/20/04
AM: 56min, about 8.5 miles. Ran around my Bryn Mawr area domicile. I believe I ran around Bryn Mawr college, but I don't recall. Thought about doing more after travelling home, but I was dark and tired and it was unnecessary. Attempted to get haircut at the mall, but they must not have desired my $. At first, they said it was a short wait, but then I waited 30min, and then they told me it would be a long wait. Oh well, looks like the mane is going to get mangier...

Nathinganger 24, 2004

Gotta love the Alfer, whose real name happens to be Gordon Shumway. For an analogy,
Alf:Chewbacca as Ernie:Bert. A few little known facts:

-ALF's brother Curtis aspires to play in the rock band called "The Soggy Moose." Their only top-10 hit was, "I Want to Brush Your Teeth With A Flounder."

-ALF met his first girlfriend, Babs, at a college Skleenball game. He liked her because she was pretty and knew how to crochet gerbils.

-ALF's next girlfriend was Rhonda. He loved her more than anything...Including his collection of fine porcelain woodchucks.

For more fun Alf facts, I suggest: http://www.alftv.net/alffacts.html. Hope you find pleasure in it.

Tuesday, 11/23/04
AM: 3 mile warm-up to track. 16 X 400m in groups of 4, 100m rest, 400m rest btwn sets. Times: (72.5, 41rest, 72.2, 41rest, 70.9, 44r, 73.0), 2:32r, (70.0, 39r, 71.6, 41r, 71.1, 41r, 71.0), 2:28r, (70.2, 40, 71.0, 41r, 68.7, 41r, 70.5), 2:30r, (69.6, 38r, 70.6, 39r, 69.6, 41r, 64.8). 2.5 mile cool-down. Workout felt pretty good. A little bit faster stuff at the beginning of my taper. Worked out alone. Calfs burning by conclusion. Hungry. Wore racing flats (as usual).

8PM: Couldn't decide if I should run again, so I stretched my legs out for an easy 3 mile jaunt. Some situps and dumbell lifting upon return.

Worked today and yesterday, nothing exciting. Please that class has now concluded for the week and tomorrow I will return to consume some gobblers.
Total Tues.: 14 miles

Monday, 11/22/04
AM: 65min: I ran close to 10 miles. Explored a bit near house, went down Bryn Mawr Ave, found 1 mile trail to nowhere. Had to split run up a bit bc I ran into school to meet with Professor briefly, than ran back. Lame, but necessary.
Colorado impressed today with a win out at NCAA's.

gggrreeoihaoihhhahhhh!!!

The Wookie Pimp takes a break. Chewbacca, what a wookie! Chewy has always been a wonderful intergalactic role model for me. Here's a special announcement from the past:
http://weddings.theknot.com/pwp/view/co_main.aspx?coupleid=105262964132480
More on Chewy later.

:)

AM: 1 hour 35 minutes. A long run, but not too long. About 14.5 miles? Ran out to Haverford College and around the big loop X 2. Felt good and peppy, run went by quickly.

Put the "ass" in Grad Assistant work most of the day. Barely left the confines of my small, cell-like habitance (except to drop off some papers at school). Also ate a phat steak while watching the Simpsons.

Total Weekly Miles: 86. A strong week. Didn't really need this much mileage, but hard not to hit it with 2 long runs. Back on schedule and eyeing club nationals in 2 weeks. Looking forward to Turkey break.

Smell ya later,

Mike

Anyone May Now Post Comments!

Don't be ridiculous, post a comment on my site if desired.

Got Lourdas Greek Taverna? Stacy and I on our way to dinner with my parents, as the Greeks would have done. To read about how the experts wear a toga: http://www.topology.org/ideas/chlamys.html

Toga! Toga! Toga!

AM: Got out for about 8.5 miles, or 56 min relaxed. Kinda tired from Friday, taking an easy day. I snuck onto the Overbrook golf course, even though today I decided to wear the brightest running clothes that I possess: an orange long-sleeve Princeton shirt and fluorescent green Adidas basketball shorts. Irregardless, I decided to go for the g-course and try to blend in with the scenery. The perimeter and some of the interior provided about 18min of good grass running. I avoided a short section which goes by the maintenance area, and noticed 3 laborers outside. Once I get asked to leave, it will make it harder to run there when I want to. After this jaunt, I swung by Ithan elementary school, where I found a bike path to explore. This is the first bikepath that I've seen with speed bumps. That's right, the path had little mounds every so often on the steep and narrow path. Pretty humorous, especially since it looked like the little buggers had been using the bumps as bike jumps, as I would probably have done. Ahh... I miss the Antelope. I also swung through the woods at a puny Radnor park that I periodically frequent.

After some mental labor through the day, my parents came to take Stacy and I out for dinner at a nice, cozy Greek taverna. They read good reviews in the Philly Inquirer, and I would say that the place lived up to its good name. I ordered salmon, as I never cook and consume fish all by my lonesome. (Yes, mom, I changed the one blog passage to which you objected).

Good luck to those racing in Philly tomorrow morning (marathon and 8K), wanted to be there, but... it's early and I have junk to do.

Mike

F day

AM: easy 3 miles, just to get out door.
PM: 3 mile warm-up. 4 mile tempo run, 20:50, at the Green (upper Fairmount Park). Drove there with Marcus and a few other Nova student-athletes. I got a HR monitor that finally worked, and stayed within 175-8 bpm for the most part. Thus, I slowed down as the workout progressed and did not push as much as previous tempos (idea is to run a certain % of max HR, which keeps one from working too hard, or not enough). I still finished way ahead of any of the others on this particular workout. I also did 4 X 15-35 second hill sprints afterwards, then about a 2 mile cool down, in the waning daylight.

Interaction of the day--
Rando Pedestrian: "Are you guys LaSalle?"
Marcus O'Sullivan: "It's very kind of you to say so." (something like this)
(Subtle jab and reference to the fact that LaSalle, cross-town Philly rivals, dominated Villanova at Districts last weekend. This should NEVER happen. I actually came close to going to LaSalle, but instead worked for half a year and came to Villanova.)

By the conclusion of the workout, it was dark outside. It took us a long time to depart the office prior to the workout, as Marcus was running about doing this and that (he normally has 1 million things going on at once). Got home around 6, and went grocery shopping with Stacy (here to visit!). As I have been starving lately, I really procured a heartwarming stash of groceries. Now I remember that it's not always wise to go shopping when one is already famished. Oh well, at least now I am stocked until approximately 2005. My haul includes 7 boxes of cereal, 36 pop-tarts, 5 pounds of meat, 18 eggs, 7+ pounds of fruit, etc. The bill was over $125, and was one of the most mammoth displays of grociery procurement in history. On the way home, we stopped by "Peace a Pizza" and ordered an X-Large pizza pie. I consumed 5 slices while watching the Apprentice. I probably should've eaten sooner after the workout, as this aids recovery. Better late than never.

(This was added to Thursday, and I don't want it totally lost in shuffle: To watch an example of pilates with Villanova hunks, view http://athletics.villanova.edu/runnova/pilates2004/pilates.wmv Two thumbs up. Way up. "Can you handle this?"

Wonka rules. http://www2.warnerbros.com/web/willywonka/home.jsp

AM: 1 hour, including 5 X 100 strides, 9+ miles. Ran 3 laps around Bryn Mawr grad college. Did some pilates. To watch an example of pilates with Villanova, view http://athletics.villanova.edu/runnova/pilates2004/pilates.wmv
I am in the back of a few shots, unaware that filming is occuring.

I dig monkeys! This was one of the hi-lights of my trip to Barbados after graduation in 2003, up close and personal with a monk. Right after this photo was taken, the monkey queried, "Would you care for a chomp from my banana?" I politely declined, adding that I preferred watching my fellow primate hilariously consume.
I'm asking Santa this year for a pet monkey:
http://www.primatestore.com/forsale.htm

One week till Turkey day

AM: 3 miles easy just to stretch me legs. Stopped by a tiny store I discovered recently. Grabbed some milk (livin' it up with 1%, cereal (being healthy with Honey Nut Shredded Wheat), poptarts (French Toast style were dirt cheap), and ham (oink oink). Ran home cradling a big brown grocery bag.
Speaking of nuts, watch some wacky weirdo work at the 24 hour NutCam:(courtesy of McKeeman): http://emeraldnuts.com/flash.html

PM: 2 mile warm-up over to Herriton (sp?) high school with some of 'Team Hayden' (guys running with him this weekend at Rothman 8k). 5 X (1000, 400) out in the grass-- 1 short, steep incline in the middle of loop. Pelerin was leading the charge, although I borrowed a HR monitor, it still doesn't work. Maybe I have a freakishly shaped chest or a bashful beat? Times: 3:00 (1:38 rest), 74, (1:26r), 3:01, (2:09r), 68, (1:45r), 3:04, (2:15r), 72, (1:45r), 3:02, (2:16), 71, (1:57r), 3:12, (2:14r), 68. About a two mile cool down. The rests were slow jogs in between starting points, probably close to 300m?. This workout was supposed to have another interval, but Marcus cut it out at the end of the workout. I said, "Marcus, weren't we doing 6?" "Yes, we were," he said. But then we didn't. He also advised us to slow down on the final 1000 (3:12). He tends to be quite conservative like this. It's all good, however, as the workout left me a-ok and wanting more. This was basically a "workout-lite" in my case. I will now be able to easily come back Friday and tempo, and then be back on schedule. Today was a little quicker, too, which will help me transition into the next few weeks, which will incorporate faster intervals in an effort to peak for club nationals. In any event, the workout today was easy. Nice, cool weather, as well.
Total miles: 13

So after my workout I met with Len, my Leadership professor. Oh, pardon me, he's my "boss." I've always had conflicted opinions about this guy. He is the only professor I've had actually admit and officially assign grades based on whether or not he likes you. He has established an elaborate class project where I am not allowed to ask him questions, only go through my "chain of command." Len also believes that nobody in the professional world cares about anyone else and it is entirely cut-throat. He is molding us into shwankers, just like himself. Anyway, tonight, in a 1:1 meeting he advised me not to go into business unless I was all about the Benjamins, the dinero, the loot, the greenbacks, the bling bling, money, $$$. He seemed to pick up vibes from me communicating that there was more to me than that, and he urges that I explore my passions. Ay, there's the rub.

Oh, by the way, an assignment for Tuesday in my Leadership class is to plan out the next 15 years of my life, so I'll keep you posted.

Managed to wrap up much of my E-business case study that is due for tomorrow. Here's a preview of the hotttness: "I recommend that iPremier leave Qdata. It’s time to focus on issues other than growth and old loyalty. Their entire operation depends on confidence and a secure, functioning Website, and there should be a top-down initiative promoting security."

That stuff is exciting compared to accounting, which held one of the most boring lectures ever this evening.

That is all.

Mike

(baby monkey from http://www.primatestore.com/forsale.htm)

Letting go a furious kick at GVH. Final time: 25:01, 9th out of 100+. About where I wanted to be. Check out race progression photos (bottom-up, click photos to enlarge).

Hey, where did these dudes come from? I found some more runners around 7k.

Things have strung out. I am in 'no man's land' with nobody to run with. This is towards 6k.

About the middle of the race, I'm sitting on Bob Marley's shoulder, with Parlapiano trying to hold on.

This is the lead-pack, early on in the race.

Here is a series of photos showing my race progression last Sunday at GVH. Here I am throwing on my spikes. Thanks to my stalker for taking this candid photo.

AM: 57.5 min. About 8.5 miles. Ran around neighborhood, down Conestoga Ave. Found a lil' park to jog around. Also ran around Presbyterian Children's Village, whatever that is: all I know is that it has a nice grassy campus. Did more than planned, got a bit turned around in the 'hoods.
PM: 1 mile jog back from school, raking for an hour, than 25.5min, 3.5 miles, around the neighborhood. Also got turned around in 'hood and did more than I had time for, and had to rush to get to class. Achilles still sore. Total miles: 13

I moved a few tons of leaves today. Strapped a leaf blower on my back for the first time, which made me feel like a big strong man. Then it ran out of gas, and I went back to rake and tarp.

Happy anniversery, Stacy, 2 great years.

For an entertaining link, peep this: http://www.asksnoop.com/
The shizzolator will translate even my page into Snoop Dogg speech (enter http://mbaird.blogspot.com/). Humorous insanity is bound to occur.


Gotta go fo' shizzle, dogg, know what I'm sayin'?
M

By special request, Koko the Gorilla (smells even better than Coco Chanel). Koko has a vocabulary of over 1000 words and can communicate via American Sign Language. He even likes cats. That's one smart dude. More info on Koko: http://www.koko.org/

Ready to ROCK? This just in: Tunak Tunak's real name is Daler Mehndi. (The title of the song is Tunak Tunak Tun, my mistake). Oh well, I refuse to edit my post below. It would blow my mind, as I have respected this man for so many years under the Tunak title! Shakespeare may say, "What's in a name?" Well... I say everything.
Two random Daler links:
The church of Daler: http://www.geocities.com/ulchq/
The Daler Internet fan club: http://64.62.151.229/daler/daler/fanclub/fanclub.htm

The day of Mon

Running log:
AM: 1 hour 43 minutes. Probably about 15.5 miles. Did a long run today, since I raced yesterday. Wasn't rolling, as I was a little tired from the weekend, the trails forced me to slow down, and my left achilles was hurting, especially towards end. My heel is crunchy to the touch, so I try to manage it through self-massage. Ran down to Willows via backroads, which was a nice change. Ran the trails there, and ran up a really large road hill on the other side. Pretty fine long run, but shouldn't take much out of me.

Other than my run, I did some work today, editing an international textbook for one of my professors. I find that I am interested in International Business.

Although protests caused me to cancel my last wacky link, I will push on with the wackiness.
Wacky Link of the Day: I might have remarked last week that Carl Lewis was the next Tunak Tunak. Pardon my arrogance, for it only took the mental slap in the face from Dave Dean to remind me of the master: Tunak. No, not Tupac, I said Tunak Tunak. For a period in college, the Tunakker was huge. Well, at least in my dorm room he was. Apparently, he is also very popular in India. I respected Tunak Tunak's devotion to the music, spirit, and crazy dance moves. I now offer you a link to this classic (for those with good Internet Connectins), but I warn you, you may never be able to stop dancing again: http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~mrdarius/music/tunak.ram
reworked a bit: Tunac tunac flash/cartoon version: http://www.deviantart.com/view/3387190/

Enjoy.

Dodododododododoodoom-da-da-da,
Mike

A hearty congratulations goes out to Austin Smith, runner extraordinaire from Princeton who just qualified for the NCAA cross country championships! In an effort to relive my own college glory days, here's a photo of me leading at my sole NCAA nationals appearance. I ran the indoor mile at Arkansas in 2003, finishing 13th overall. Austin actually came to the race to support me, which I quite appreciated (Coach Brady can get scary sometimes, especially when you're all alone). Enjoy Indiana!
Villanova runner Bobby Curtis also qualified individually, which I was glad to see, but alas, it was shocking that the team blew up and failed to qualify.

RRRRRRRRRRRocester

Weekly Total: 82.5 Solid week. No long run accounted for, and came down in mileage a little for race. Miles from last few weeks still weighing me down a little. Next few weeks will try to stay around 80's, and get sharp for Club Nationals out in Oregon!

Race Results here: http://www.leonetiming.com/2004/GVH04.htm

11/14/04: 3 mile warm-up w/ strides, etc. 8K cross country race up in Rochester, NY, the site of next year's cross country club nationals. The course wasn't very hilly, a few easy rollers on a 2k loop. However, there was some very muddy sections and a few tight turns which slowed it down, and provided me the opportunity to knock people about. Iran 25:01 for 9th place overall (4th Bryn Mawr runner), which I was happy with. It's one of my better cross times. Went out in about 2:58 for 1K, then slowed down, and I know 5k was 15:28. Slowed down and lost leaders around 4.5k. Ran through about 7k by myself in 'no man's land' in 8th. A bunch of guys caught me with around 1k to go. I managed to outkick many of them, which was cool. I felt like I had a lot left, but I was dry-heaving at the finish, so I must have run hard. My team dominated the meet with 20-something points, and won $750, which will probably disappear before I get my cut. I was 10 seconds away from scoring individual money, but at least I won a t-shirt for cracking the top-10. More on the trip below. We cooled down 31 min, about 4.5 miles back to the hotel. Total daily mileage: 12.5
11/13/04: Woke up early and made long-haul trip up to Rochester, NY, which is right on the border of Canada. Ran about 5.5 miles around course with team, then some easy striders. Total daily milage: 6

It was good to take an easier day on Saturday, as I haven't had a low-mileage occassion in a while. So Bryn Mawr rented a mini-van for us to drive up to Rochester. The only problem was that when driven on the highway, the van made a sound, kinda like eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. Steve Walsh, or Big Daddy, or "the giant" as I think of him, would yell at it occassionally, but it wouldn't stop buzzing. The noise was quite vexing. A mere 5 or 6 hours in the cramped van, and we were in the northern tundra. I got sick on the ride, trying to read in the way back. It was good to get to know some of the other runners better, as I normally don't train with this team.
It took about an hour to drive a few miles to run the course, as we couldn't figure out the directions to get there. I wasn't in charge of this misguided mission, and it was pretty pathetic. We eventually found it.
That night at the hotel, there was a pre-race party which was a great opportunity to fill my pockets with free food. I also consumed as much as possible. Tom downed a beer, as many were joking of doing, but I think he took us seriously. Lots of weirdo running people at this party, and we ambled out shortly and hit up Ruby Tuesday. I ate a lot at dinner, trying to fuel myself up for the race, as my levels of food at home had been dwindling.
That night at the hotel, there was a convention of sorts for barbershop singing groups. I tell you what, it was a total freakin' freak show there. All the groups were older women in the most gaudy outifts imaginable, getting plain rowdy. Of course, the room next to mine was stuffed full of the "homo sapiens", cackling away into the wee morning hours. Around 3:30am, I heard them say they were going to "sneak out." What the heck? Go to bed.
Anyway, I still got decent sleep. We went to the race early, and it was freezing. They played such lovely artists as Shania Twain performing "I feel like a woman" and Sebastian from the Little Mermaid doing "Under the Sea" to help pump us up. The music could have been a little better.
Following the race, there was brunch at the "Nationally-Renowned Bennigan's" back at the hotel. The race material actually said this, but it was quite an average brunch. We picked up our bling and congratulations, and hit the road.
We were making good time coming home, but probably a little too good, as the van got pulled over for speeding. Ouch, sorry, Terrence. There goes your prize money.

Mew

I had lots of weird dreams last night, one which included a cat. Maybe because I was looking at this photo before going to bed (it's now my new profile under facebook.com). It was odd, but a good dream. I remember rescuing the cat from being in water, although it scratched me. I've been hungry before going to bed, and eating a lot. Wonder if that effects dreams or if that's just urban legend. Anyway, had a pretty good night's sleep.
My family has a cat named Rudy. Here's a shout-out to the feline.

TGIF

Howdy ho,
AM: 3 mile warm up. 3 X 1000m prep workout. 3:03, 40 degrees, cold, windy, raining. Lane one just a big puddle, uncomfortable. 2 X 200, 36. 3 mile cooldown.
Total: 9 miles

Also walked about 2-3 miles tonight, to go pick up some papers at school.

Packing up for trip tomorrow to Rochester NY, where there is a big cross country meet: http://www.peteglavin.com/_wsn/page5.html
Hoping to have a decent race.

Not time to write more as I should be in bed by now.

Adios,
Mb

Flashback Japan: Here I am, along with Jon Bell, team manager Jack Fultz, and Paul Morrison enjoying some soup at a Ramen restaurant. These were quite popular in Japan and cheap. These shops provided me with much sustenance. I have a shellfish allergy, so I had to be careful when eating in Japan. In Japanese, "ebi" means "shrimp." Me no likey ebi. 

The Thursday

AM: 79 min, 'bout 12 miles. Ran down to Willows and around the trails. Decent pace. Slept in and felt good. Did some situps, and quite light lifting. Also raked leaves in the front yard for an hour.
PM: 26 min, 4 miles. Ran around my 'hood in the dark, after my e-biznizz class finally terminated. So dark out at night here in the 'burbs. Lots of big houses, but no lights on the street, just felt like I was floating through the inky night, except when cars what blind me with highbeams.
Total Thursday distance: 16 miles

My E-business class is 50% distance learning, which means half the time we just meet on the internet in a chat room. These are the easiest classes I believe, but I haven't been able to schedule one for next semester. Every other week our lectures are powerpoint slides online and it's humorous to hear my foreign professor stumble through and mispronounce words.
I raked leaves in the twilight, which may make my back a little sore. I promised to help out, though, and the yard was starting to look like a disgrace. I cleared many mounds of leaves and found that there is some satisfaction derived from pushing these tree droppings from Point A to Point B.
My condolences to Josh, who found out that he was in love with a woman who already has a boyfriend, not to mention 2 children.
In my Internet purusing, I located the following wacky Carl Lewis music video: http://www.carllewis.com/video.music.1.html
My compliments and regards to King Carl.

You're fired,
Mike

Me and some Princeton Muddy Buddy's at a race in Massachusetts last summer. Since we weren't muddy enough the first time through the mudpit, well, we snuck back onto the course and went through it again to wrestle in it. Nothing quite like a beer garden at 8 in the morning. Ben and I were victorious in the half running/half mountain biking/half obstacle race, and I still wear the free shoes I received as prize. This was a prouder day for the Antelope (my bike), which beat out many serious, expensive mountain bikers. Today, my Antelope is a flat, unreliable gimp. 

Miercoles

AM: 48 min; 7+ miles. Ran out to bike shop to buy tube for the Antelope. Ran back with tube in hand. Dropped it off at home, then did another 2 miles. Fixed bike afterwards. Rather chilly, wore pants, good night's sleep. High point of the run was going by a traffic control/speed sensor out on Ithan Rd. I doubled back to make a few sprints towards it down the road, and succeeded in going Michael Johnson on it, hitting 15mph. I rule.
PM: 54min; 8 miles. Ran down to the Bryn Mawr Grad college and did 2+ loops around the grass there. Fine run, nothing too exciting. Went to accounting class and surfed the Internet because it was dangerously boring. Antelope bucked its latest tube and I have another flat. D'oh! @#$%!
Total Wednesday mileage: 15
Later dudes,
Mr. MBA(ird)

Here's a picture of me racing with Bryn Mawr Running Co. at the Battle Royale at Rose Tree Park, where we beat arch-rivals Philly Track Club by 1 pt. Take that, jerks! 

Meow meow meow

Tuesday, 11/9/04
AM: 1/2 hour warm-up, probably 4 miles. Extended warm-up unintentional, as the bike I planned to use did not work this morning, so I had to run to practice late. Met Hayden, Marcus. Jogged to Haverford. 5 X mile at Haverford cross country course (loop with hill). 5:25 'warm-up', 66 rest, 5:04, 71 rest, 4:58, 88 rest, 5:06, 1:43 rest, 5:09. Pretty much a stinker of a workout. Hayden made me look bad. Marcus thinks high mileage just left me feeling a little flat. It was first real cold day in a while (probably 40 degrees and windy). Not on top of my game for workout, but got through it. Ran 3.5 cooldown (walked part of way back to apt.) Another 1 mile later (ran to store, and I'm going to count it). Left achilles still hurts. Today's total: 14

Walked really far after class in cold to pick up some much needed sustenance and milk at CVS. That's right, I do my grocery shopping at CVS, got a problem with that?

Monday, 11/8/04
PM: 58 min; 8.5 relaxed to Haverford with some of the Nova team. Took morning off to rest after long run. Did 6 X 100m strides in football field after run. Later, in evening ran another 1+ mile or so, as my bike tire popped on the way to class. I discarded the wounded Antelope and loped off to class, a bit late unfortunately. Total: 10

Why not another Japan photo? Tokyo moment: John, Jon (not pictured), Josh and I were happy to purchase these ninja headbands at a back-alley store in Tokyo. We proceeded to wear them around for the remainder of the afternoon, in case we needed to battle. We did see Godzilla later, but it was only a statue and our attack was futile. Locals laughed at the imbecile Americans. My headband means "Certain Victory."  

Wrapping up the week

Total weekly mileage: 98 miles. Another solid week. Don't really want to run this much mileage, so will cut back, especially since I will be racing again soon (Sunday). Think it wears on me, especially in the short-term. Congrats to those who ran well at the NYC marathon today, I watched the so-so coverage on NBC. Couldn't compare with the Simpsons' Halloween Special, however,

Sunday, 11/7/04
AM: 1 hour, 45 minutes, about 16+ miles. Ran from Mt. Vernon area of Baltimore, through Hopkins undergrad and Wynman Park, over to Druid Hill Park, around the frisbee golf course, and back. Nice, warm and sunny weather today. Felt fine, left achilles still tender, especially up hills. Slept in, but also went to bed late after watching "Lost in Translation".

Saturday, 11/6/04
AM: 1 hr, Up through Wynman Park near JHU, calling it 9. Took it rather easy. Only problem with this park is that everyone who owns a canine in Baltimore seems to walk here with their mutts. Only had a problem once, and ironically, it was also the only time I ever got Stacy to jog on the path with me. Sometimes (as on Sunday), a friendly dog will run with me for a bit.
PM 32.5min, 4.5 miles approximately. Ran in the twilight. Quote of the night- "You're fast, you went around fast" from a maintenance guy working at the JHU track. Some lady (crazy random pedestrian) also decided to try to keep pace with me for a little in her streetclothes. I didn't have it in me to make any comments, just dropped her like Jon Bell's GPA.

Hasta luego,

Miguel

Ivy in Japan: ready to hit the onsens in our dashing kimonos. 

11/5/04 Friday
AM: Relaxed 3.5 miles, just to get out the door. A few crunches, little lifting.
PM: Went with Nova humans up to Valley Green, a towpath like, rolling path in upper Fairmount Park, Philly. Little muddy from rains of yesterday. 3 mile warm-up. Then 4 mile tempo run in 20:38. Ended up in no-man's land, between Bobby and Ryan and everyone else. Felt good, easier than last week, but then again, went a little slower. After tempo, we did 6 X hill repeat/sprints of between 15-30 seconds. Usually, we do 4, so when Marcus kept walking up the hill, after many put a lot into the 4th, it was a little humorous to witness the disbelief of a few. Pretty solid workout. 3 mile cooldown as the daylight disappeared, felt quick because of the shadows. The hi-light of the day for me was when I got to discuss Lucky Charms with Richard, a freshmen on the team from Ireland. Contrary to my dreams, Lucky Charms are not a staple in Ireland. In fact, they don't eat the cereal at all. He appeased my wishes by remarking, "They're always after me lucky charms." It was great. I had to hold myself back from tackling him into the brush and demanding my pot of gold right then and there.
11/4/04 Thursday
AM:1 hour 27 minutes, about 13 miles. This was quite an uncomfortable run. The weather was lower 40's and it was raining substantially. Wasn't rolling because hard to move. Went to the Willows, where the trails were tough to maneuver because they were blanketed with leaves. At least a few roots and rocks said hello to my ankles. When I got back, my nether-regions were so cold, I could have excreted ice. Plus, since I was numbed up, I didn't notice the nasty chafage until later, but take my word that it was unpleasant.
11/3/04 Wednesday
AM: 39min, relaxed probably only 5.5 miles. Ran around my neighborhood, managed to get a little lost looking for a different park. Also managed to trip and fall running up the hill by my house. Actually, I saved it pretty good, as I feel like I stumbled, and was running horizontally with my face about an inch of the ground for a few feet, before I put my hand down to catch myself. I cut my palm a bit, but patched it up good as new. I am one smooth operator.
PM: 53min, about 8 or 8.5 miles. Ran from my apt. up to Bryn Mawr grad school and did 2 loops around the grass there. Fine run. Planned to go with the team, but had Gayane (aunt) and 2 young cousins stop by to visit, which conflicted with practice schedule. One of the cousins, Ani, I have never met before, so it was worth missing a practice. She has puffy cheeks, like a chipmunk.
Total daily mileage: 13.5

On Friday, after the workout, we got back to school at 6. I had a train to catch at 6:15, so I showered, changed, packed up my bags, rode to the station, and bought a ticket across the tracks all remarkably fast. Then, of course, since killed myself to make it on time, the train was like 10min late. Took the train into Philly, where I was going to have a mini-reunion with old Manheim Township homo sapiens. I was supposed to bring a dessert to the party, so went to the candy store at 30th street and purchased some fudge. Wasted abit of $ by going overboard and getting like 1.5 lbs. Oh well. Hopefully Brian will consume it in the future. Took the trolley, which reminded me of Space Mountain a little (at DisneyWorld) because it was narrow and dark, over to West Philly. The get-together, reunion fiesta was nice. Enjoyed seeing some chums from the Olden Days (well, I guess it was only 5 years ago). Had to leave a little early to head down to Baltimore and see Stacy.

Got to say, I was pleased with the election results. I find the extremes of politics to be a little blind. For example, I know some people who think that anyone of the other party is basically evil and sees the worst in all their intentions, while assuming only the best of her own party. This type of notion is just wrong. People are people, all playing the same dirty tricks. Got to be open-minded enough to see the big picture and at least consider the positions of the other side. Anyway, I still have a guarded faith in our country.

Picked my classes for next semester, they include:
MBA 8401 Corporate Finance -Monday
MBA 8110 Management Accounting -Tuesday
MBA 8310 Economics of Strategy -Wednesday and
MBA 8527 European Business Management -Thursday.

My schedule will be full, spilling over even.

Bye,

Mike

A few photos from my recent trip to Japan (plus a shot from Halloween in the US) 

Making buddies with Japanese Schoolchildren 

5K PR 

yeehaa. Happy Halloween. Back in the USA, me and Stacy.

Hey hey hey, Election Day!

My running/training for the day:
Tuesday Total mileage: 15.5
11/2- AM: 2 mile warm-up at Rosetree Park. 10 X 1000m hilly, grass loop. The odd-numbered in set were 1000m, more downhill. The even numbered in set were not exactly 1000m, may have been a little more, but were more uphill than downhill. My HR monitor basically doesn't work, but I occassionaly would get HR on rests--down below 130 even at end. The 1000m reps and rests were: 3:03, (1:34 rest), 3:05, (1:11 rest), 3:03, (1:36 rest), 3:08, (1:08 rest), 3:03, (1:34 rest), 3:08, (1:53 rest), 3:03, (1:39 rest), 3:04, (1:54 rest), 3:01, (1:51 rest), and 3:07. As I said, the slower ones weren't exact on distance, but estimated based on a start at the opening of the horseshoe. 2 mile cool-down. Solid, looong workout. Felt sore from Sunday's run, but actually felt better after turning over on workout. Started with pack, finished up with Pelerin + Kerrigan.

PM: 5 miles slow. Left achilles is sore/tight ever since Sunday. Did some lifting with my dumbells. I had this problem all last spring, just ran with it. Massage therapist thinks it stems from problems in my foot. Thus, I continue to apply self-massage to break up lactic junk there.

It's election day, dudes. I exercised my right as an American and voted. USA! USA! USA! Went in the afternoon, seeking to avoid crowds, and did just that. Worst part was riding my bike a few miles away and up some big hills to a random elementary school. I realize that, in addition to all my running, I also ride my bike 15-55 min a day, just in transportation. Adds a little extra exertion to the day. I haven't had a car since Deech murdered it my senior year in college. Deech, a friend and teammate, wasn't paying attention and walloped my innocent Taurus from behind with his Big-Rig SUV. Both our vehicles were full of freshmen runners on their first preseason cross country outing to the miniature golf course. Ari was also in my car, and tried to request a helicopter to airlift him out due to a minor whiplash incident. I saw good times with that automobile (including trips to upstate NY and Florida) , but now my bike (named the Antelope) serves as my primary transportation.
Practice this morning was at 8am, which is quite early for me. Right now I am watching the election 2004 results with interest.
Lots of class and research work for this week, but not too bad.
Until later,
Yours truly,
The one and only,
M
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D
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B
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Happy November

Not much time today, so will keep it basic.

11/1 AM: 4 miles relaxed around inner harbor.
Travelled home on Amtrak. Didn't even give money to the bum at the train station (I'm usually a sucker for those guys).
PM: Pilates, 1/2 mile warmup, and some drills with Nova team. They are into hurdle drills, fast steps over a stretched out ladder, and running over mini-hurdles. It's all good and can't hurt. Unless, you get injured (note-at least one notable runner went tumbling over the hurdles today) Then about 8 miles, 50:30, Haverford loop with Bobby, Kerrigan, Korich. Tired from yesterday's long run. Trying to take it easy a bit.

Took midterm in the evening. Not fun, but not terrible. Got to catch some sleep now.

Night. Happy Novembrrrrr.

Mike