I like fishes they're so delicious...

Ribbit...
1-Jan
0. Started the year off with a big zero. But hey, it's a holiday, right? Made some dope pancakes and said bye to Matt and Becky. I convinced Matt to drive down, and I was glad his car wasn't vandalized.
2-Jan
1 hour 30 min. I do believe this was around the one and only Druid Hill Park.
3-Jan
75min. I found a new park to run at this week in East Baltimore, by Lake Montebello. The park was rather run-down, and I was glad not to get attacked or step on any needles. Someone yelled encouragement to me in Spanish and I understood it. A crazy guy also stopped on the street to salute me . Maybe he thought I was Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump. Maybe not.
4-Jan
Trekked up to the NCR trail.
18min warmup.
31:06 tempo for 6 miles, which is about 5:11 pace. I actually raced an adult on his bike during this workout. I waited for him to pass before beginning, but then reeled him in. He actually turned around a few minutes before I, and I caught him again. Having this training partner to humble actually helped. One time on this trail I passed a lady who must have been at least 100 years old and she told me I was embarrassing her. Once I can't pass someone like that, I quit.
21.5 min cooldown. I was very light headed, as I didn't eat anything this morning.
Stopped by the grocery store in Timonium, where Gatorade, Pop-Tarts, and cookies were on sale. It was dreamy. I chowed on some Tarts on the way home, proclaiming to the pastries that "We are such stuff...As dreams are made on", in an echo of Shakespeare's Prospero. I was probably still hypoglycemic.
5-Jan
66:24:00
For some reason, I was feeling a might fiesty this morning, and the run was swift. On my way down to the innner harbor, I cruised by the courthouse around rush-hour. As I crossed the street, moving pretty fast, police officers started shouting "Stop him" and pointing at me. Well, I stopped before I was brutalized by the men in blue, re-directing myself. Apparantly the blocks around the courthouse were closed off and they thought I was an Al-Quaida bomber of some sort, as I ran right into them. While I am the bomb, I did not have a bomb. I continued my run through the Inner Harbor and around Patterson Park. I buzzed by a group of students on a field trip, who expressed their astonishment at my prowess by dropping some f-bombs of their own.
6-Jan
I headed back up to the NCR trail.
19 min warmup. Windy today. Also, one direction of the workout was slightly uphill.
45 min total workout (10:14 2 miles, 4 min rest, 10:07 2 miles, 3:58 rest, 4:56 mile, 3 min rest, 4:55 mile, 3:50 moderate run back including 2X30second hard)
14:45, 2 mile cooldown
Instead of going to Narnia that night, ended up watching "Breakfast at Tiffany's" instead. I liked that the cat's name was "Cat", although I still think "Dog" would be funnier. By the way, 2006 is the year of the Dog. Woof.
7-Jan
59min very easy. Today was chilly. I ran by the Baltimore Aquarium in order to pick up tickets. I didn't know I'd have to wait in line for 30min, or else I may have worn more layers. Many folks showed up to take advantage of "Dollar Days" where entrance is only $1. Down under in "Australia" (Baltimore Aquarium)
Later that day, Jon Bell, Stacy, and I strolled down to the Aquarium. A few highlights of the exhibits included seeing a monkey, finding Nemo at least half a dozen times, and witnessing a dolphin do the high jump. I also saw Triasic Triops (or "shrimp" as the aquarium would want you to believe), which were smaller than the Triops that we grew back in college. Eventually, one of my Triops back in 2002, affectionately nicknamed "Weiner," outlasted all the others, thriving until Josh turned off his heatlamp one night. I also saw African Frogs, which are the same as the Grow-A-Frogs my family has had as pets for the last 15 years. Originally mine, my mom took over their care when I tired of feeding them. In the Amazon

For many of the fish, it was feeding time. Here are 2 videos I took of feeding time, and the greatest beast of them all: MAN!:

Video 1

Video 2

Next time I go to the aquarium, I want to bring a fishing rod. That would be hilarious. Not to mention delicious.

Later that day, we paid $1 to go to the Top of the World and look out over the Baltimore skyline. We also scarfed sustenance down at California Pizza, which we only went to because of a coupon we had for a free appetizer. Darn, clever marketers!

8-Jan
1:43:42
With JB in Patapsco, decent run, good bit of hills.
Later today, I went to Best Buy and purchased a swell new printer/fax/copier/scanner contraption. I have no land line, but perhaps eventually I will.

Finally, I feel compelled to include a random Mr. T link. This site features a compilation of amateur "Mr. T vs." Websites. This site of T singing, on the otherhand, is just plain awesome. I may have linked or referened it a few (dozen) times already elsewhere.

December HO!

'Twas a lovely month involving the conclusion of classes, and Santa's reign of toys. This is a bit irrelevant now, but the Scared of Santa website offers a wonderful collection of children shrieking with fear while visiting Santa.

I was also inspired by Jewbacca, who taught me about Jewish traditions while he rang in a rocking Chanukah.

What follows is a summary of my running, though I confess to forgetting most of the details. I have also recorded memorable events and occassions, as always.

1-Dec
70 min
2-Dec
21.5 min warmup.
30:53 6 mi tempo run (5:09 pace).
13:40 2 mile cooldown.

This was a quality workout. Went up to the Green in Philly with Thomas P. I ran evenly the first 4 miles, but slowed down a lot on 5th and likely the 6th.

3-Dec

I think I missed today; I have no record of running. It may have been the day I helped Stacy take her car very early to the mechanic and thus called it a day.

We went to see Harry Potter that night which, dare I say, was magical! Goblet of Fire is quite possibly my favorite of the Potter book series, so I had monumental expectations. The film necessarily had to eliminate much of the character development and plot complications of the original novel. Silly muggles! On a side note, I read that JK Rowling has been obsessed with death since the passing of her own mother, and this is one reason she keeps snuffing out her characters. Oh, and by the way, I think that "snog" is a brilliant substitute word for kiss. Way to go, you saucy British wordsmiths!

4-Dec
1 hour 43 min, Patapsco Park, with JB. It snowed lightly last night, but the run was acceptable.
5-Dec
57 min. Tonight it snowed again, with authority.
6-Dec
14 min warmup.
38:48 total workout around Ardmore Park (which is a little over 1 mile (maybe 10 seconds). 6 X mile with around 90 seconds rest: (5:20, 88r, 5:08, 94r, 5:10, 90r, 5:09, 91r, 5:12, 91r, 5:08). In retrospect, this was a decent workout, given the snow, bitter cold, wind, and trainers that I wore. I didn't feel like working out today.
10 min cooldown.
33 min later in the day.
7-Dec
67 min.
Party, pizza party. GA's had a radical pizza party, straight out of 3rd grade. The bu$ine$$ office went a little cheap, as last year we had a nice meal at the conference center for our holiday party. Makes no diff to me, however.
8-Dec
63 min
9-Dec
15 min warmup
32:56:00 tempo run around the park, in trainers, on the roads, in the cold and wind and snow. 6 loops, so a little over 6 miles. Not the most extremely awesome workout ever, but at least I did one.
10 min cooldown.
10-Dec
1 hr icy run.
11-Dec
92.5 min long run, around Philly. Snow still on the ground, had to slog through the roads.
12-Dec

Must have skipped today, as I have no record of running. I know that I did turn in a 50-page research paper for my developing countries class, so that project likely sapped my time and energy. I did a bang-up job on the paper, which investigated whether Disney should open up a theme park in India... my verdict: yes, but not for 10 years and only if there is favorable infrastructure and economic development. India will be the most populous country in the world in the next 30 years, and multi-national companies better take the country into account for their long-range plans. China's economy is forecasted to overtake the US, and India is forecasted to become the 3rd largest economy. This could of course change, but the times appear to be a-changin'.
13-Dec
1 hr
14-Dec
11 min. warmup.
22:14 tempo run. I think it was cold, and I had a finance final due, and I just got in something around the Ardmore park road loop.
11.5 min cooldown.
15-Dec
61 min. Freezing rain today; what a delight.
16-Dec
15 min warmup.
32 min total workout of 6X1k: (2:56, 2:57, 2:58, 2:56, 2:58, 2:56; rest 2:30-3 (200m jog)
15 min cooldown.

Windy today, and I was drained from a long week. Still, I was glad to get in some work faster than 5 min pace.
17-Dec
74.5 min. Tried to go shopping today, but didn't accomplish much. Did get a few hairs shortened on my scalp, however. Also went to see Pride and Prejudice. Not bad... for a chick flick.
18-Dec
88 min. Patapsco park. Although snow had melted elsewhere, a great deal of the white stuff still clogged the trails. At times, the run felt like skiing. Definitely too much ice for a comfortable run, but I was happy to survive.
19-Dec
71 min. Baltimore?
20-Dec

2-3 mi. warmup.
32 min, 6 mile tempo.
15 min cooldown. This workout must have been at NCR rail trail, in trainers. The ~18 mile drive out of town is generally worth it.
21-Dec
60.5 min.
22-Dec
14 min warmup.
24 min is written in my log, but I definitely did an interval workout today. Oh well, probably a totally awesome, world-record setting performance that will now be lost for the ages.
24.5 min extended cooldown.

I believe it was tonight that I took part in the "Santa Run" with some Bryn Mawr runner people. Basically 20-30 runners dressed up as Santa Claus and ran to 10 different bars within a 5 mile course. This was quite a rowdy and I confess, a hilarious evening. The Santa horde ruled the night!
23-Dec
63 min. Not feeling too chipper today. Did some Christmas shopping, which was chaos and madness. I think I did all right, however.
24-Dec
79 min, around Haverford. Headed up to EB, the land of Stacy and Wangs. We had a very nice meal, and later Stacy and I went to church. We showed up to church at 11pm, only to find that the service started at 10:00pm. Not to be thwarted so easily, we found another church down the road. This Methodist church was a good find, as they gave out Jesus "birthday cake" after the service, and had a rock and roll band. It reminded me of an SNL parody of contemporary church services, but I didn't mind. Go God!

25-Dec
0 miles. Merry Christmas, no run. After presents in NJ, I kidnapped Stacy back to my parents' home in PA, where we enjoyed more holiday fiestas! I consumed an absurd amount of cookies and enjoyed chasing the cats around. My dad displayed the pool construction again, which is coming along nicely. We watched Elf that evening, now one of my favorite movies. "You're an angry elf!"--Buddy
26-Dec
0 miles. I intended to run today, but a visit to the "Book Barn" ran late into the day and I rested. My achilles has been sore, in any event.
27-Dec
66 min. A relaxed run around the trails (though they are wet, and some stream crossings were nigh on impossible. At one point I acrobatically leaped across a series of rocks, but wouldn't dare press my luck on the way back.)
28-Dec

I worked out today near my parents' house, along Warwick Furnace road, in trainers. This is a rolling, 2 mile stretch that is about as flat as I can find around here. Though I originally thought of doing an 8 mile tempo, all I could muster was 2 X 4 miles. This was still a good and long strength-building workout.
9.5 min warmup.
22:14 for 4 miles
5 min rest .
22:45 for 4 miles.
8.5 min cooldown.
29-Dec
68 min recovery, hilly run.
30-Dec
17 min warmup. This run took me to County Park Road, one of the steepest roads man ever imagined and dared to pave. My car has difficulty ascending this beast, but I decided to perform a hill workout there. Don't believe me? Here is a map of the route, courtesty of google maps. Sadly, it was only about half a mile to the top, but it did climb almost 250 feet in that half a mile (358 feet to 603 feet above sea level). I believe that I did 2 X full hill, then 4 X half the hill, then 4 X short, steep hill sprints. I tried to run fast, but just continuing upwards was quite a challenge. The rests were long, as I had to descend back down, and the steepness made it hard to descend. I think my heart almost exploded. My legs hurt to much to sleep that night.
39:45 (3:25, 4:58 rest, 3:28, 4:26 rest, 1:30?, 2:00rest?, 1:28, 2:19rest, 1:28, 2:28r, 1:27, 2:23r, 45, 78r, 45, 85r, 45, 92r, 45, 55r).
17.5 min.

I took a nap later today, before going to King Kong with my parents. This movie was large and in-charge. I give it my blessing. Maybe a bit too much bestiality, though. And where is Kong's family?

I've been reading Charles Dickens' Pickwick Papers this break, a 750-page novel that I determined to read after visiting the home where Dickens penned it in London. Pickwick is this rich old cat that strolls around England falling into trouble and getting crazy. It's very reminiscent of Don Quixote, and almost an "errant knight" tale like Spenser's Fairie Queene.
31-Dec
63 min around the trails. Oh, the hills didn't feel great today.

I picked up Stacy and headed to Baltimore, where we convened with Matt and Becky for New Year's Eve in the Inner Harbor. We dined at California Pizza Kitchen, watched others play games at ESPN zone, and ultimately ended up in a bar with live music and football, before stepping outside for impressive fireworks, silhoutted against a pirate-like ship. I scored an awesome "Happy New Year" hat. How many months can I wear it around and still be stylish? I'm guessing around 3-4.
Cheers to '06!

I'll take the physical challenge

I rocked Philly in November like a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick to the face. Here's a pleasant link to online Chucky clips.


I now offer a summary of my November training:

1-Nov
13.5 min warmup (2mi. over to Haverford track).
28.5min total workout over 8k. I felt the need for moderate turnover. 16 X 400m, with 100m jog between each. I was able to stay consistent and keep the rest short: (71, 39 rest, 72, 34r, 72, 38r, 71, 38r, 71, 38r, 71, 34r, 72, 34r, 71, 32r, 70, 36r, 71, 34r, 72, 37r, 71, 33r, 71, 36r, 72, 33r, 73, 31r, 71, 29r).
13.5 min cool-down.

2-Nov
62min

3-Nov
48.5 min

4-Nov
30 min, easy pre-race run.

5-Nov
22.5 min warm-up; jogged the cross course, chatted with Erik Kean, a Princeton grad up for the race from DC.
20:31 4 mile cross country race at Rose Tree Park, Philly.
15-20 min cooldown.

I ended up 7th place overall at the Battle Royale wrestling-themed race, and Bryn Mawr fell to our arch-rivals Philly TC by a sizeable score. After taking some time off after Japan, I wasn't really prepared to race today, but I did what I could. I was the 2nd finisher on the Bryn Mawr team, just outkicking Ross and Tom. We all got started off a little lethargic, and could have raced better. This video is from Philly TC and features those froot loops, but I suppose it is well done if you like that sort of thing.

Bryn Mawr owner Bob threw a lot of prize money around, and the team's $500 went up in smoke at a bar in Manayunk that evening. At least I was there for it this year.

6-Nov
Approximately 65min. A shade sore from yesterday, so I put long run off till tomorry.

7-Nov
90min+. I believe this run was around the Bryn Mawr grad school. It may have been longer. I swear I looked down at my watch, then looked at it 15 min later and only 2 min had elapsed. I may have been caught in a time warp, or perhaps the Twilight Zone.

I signed up for Net Impact, an MBA service organization. In the spring, I will be volunteering my time doing pro-bono conulting work for local area non-profits.

8-Nov
47min
33.5min. Good for me, I doubled.

9-Nov
13min warmup to Haverford track. Once again I did some 400s. 20 X 400 with a moving 100m rest.
10K in 34:02: (71, 34, 72, 32, 73, 34, 70, 30 (7min 2k), 71, 34, 71, 30, 72, 31, 71, 27 (13:52 4k), 72, 38, 71, 26, 72, 30, 72., 27 (20:42 6k), 72, 27, 73, 27, 71, 27, 72, 25 (27:20 8k), 73, 28, 72, 29, 73, 31, 70, 23 (34:02 10k)
14min cooldown.

10-Nov
55.5 min. run.

Did a presentation tonight regarding the sales of pharmaceutical drugs to AIDS patients. Intriguingly, another group presenting argued for high, obscene profits, while we argued against these prices. Don't get me started on those pharma fat-cats.

11-Nov
59.5 min
19.5 min, double.

12-Nov
10.5 min warmup.
31:39 6 mile tempo, on the NCR trail near Baltimore. This is about 5:16/mile. I wore trainers for the workout.
10.5 min cooldown.

13-Nov
1 hour 37 long run at Patapsco park with the one and only Jon Bell. I hammered the run till he wept.

14-Nov
59min.

15-Nov
61.5 min.
28.5 min. Look at me, I doubled today.

16-Nov
14 min warm-up. A track workout that appears to be: 400, 400, 800, 800, 1600, 1600, 800, 800, 400, 400. This was a high, steep, though satisfying ladder workout.
45:53 (68, 96r, 69, 94r, 226, 240r, 224, 235r, 457, 244r, 455, 245r, 219, 258, 217, 248r, 70, 70 67, 61
14.5 min cooldown.

17-Nov
60.5 min

18-Nov
47 min. Think I did this run with Tom, around Haverford.

19-Nov
32.5 min, easy run before racing tomorrow in Philadelphia.

20-Nov
21 min warmup.
24:29 8K, which is a PR for me. Surprisingly, the race dragged the first mile (maybe 5 flat?), and only gradually sped up. I sat on a few Kenyans the first half of the race and finished relatively strong, though not super-duper. I finished in 6th place, which is one position outside of the money. This is where I seem to specialize in finishing at big races.
21 min easy cool-down.

Bob threw a post-race party in Manayunk tonight which was a good time and appreciated by all.

I also ate at McDonald's tonight for the first time in a while. Recently, I watched "SuperSize Me", where some dude tries to kill himself by gorging on McD's for a month. It was a little Mcnasty.

21-Nov
01:34.5 did a freakin' long run. Also did a presentation on low fare Asian airlines. Prices can be ridiculously low, like $2 a flight. But with high fuel prices... the companies could be crashing (figuratively).

22-Nov
50 min.

23-Nov
14 min warmup.
38:37 (6Xmile- 5:05, 93r, 5:00, 92r, 4:58, 92r, 5:03, 94r, 4:59, 105r (watch prob), 5:01). Muddy, windy, cold. A decent workout in the grass at Haverford.
14min cooldown.

24-Nov
71.5min did this workout from home, prior to driving to Lancaster for Turkey Day. It was a decent meal, though we miss out on any left-overs.

Image: Chewbacca welcomes me home for Thanksgiving. He hopped a ride back with me to Ardmore.
25-Nov
36 min easy, pre-race.

26-Nov
19 min warmup.
16:24 or so for 5K. 2nd place and $100 at the "Delaware Cross Country Championships". Cool and crisp conditions; wet, muddy ground. While the time sounds ridiculously slow, the course was very muddy, hilly, and arduous. Isaac, the Kenyan who beat me, also did not break 16 min. Did I mention he was 6th in the 10k at the 2004 Kenyan Olympic trials? I didn't know this at the time, and tried to push the pace for 2 miles, hoping he was a fake, b-list Kenyan. Let's just say this strategy didn't quite work. In any event, I saw some runners from Lancaster that I haven't talked to in a while.
7 min easy cooldown. Cut this short so I wouldn't miss awards, but no worries, as they took extremely long to begin, and complete, the awards.

27-Nov
1 hr 48min. A solid long run around the hilly trails by my parent's home.

28-Nov
61 min.

29-Nov
13.5 min warmup to Haverford for a good workout.
37:48 total time: (6X Mile: 4:59, 93rest, 4:58, 96, 4:59, 94, 4:57, 93, 4:58, 98, 4:56). All under 5 min.
13 min cooldown.

30-Nov
72 min AM.
32 min PM.

Did you know there are still pirates sailing the high seas? I monitor worldwide pirate activity at this site.

Crazy super happy fun time

Ready for an overdue, out-of-date update? Who wouldn't be!

Image: Me congregating with some locals at a Japanese electronics store

So... it's been a few epochs since I've had a meaningful update to my blog. Now, I shall wrap up a most excellent fall in a few installments, beginning with October.

First of all, let me offer a few videos to you from earlier in the trip (beware if you have a slow Internet connection):

Opening Ceremony Video 1 shows a drum exhibition at the Izumo ekiden opening ceremonies.

Opening Ceremony Video 2 displays the orchestra and team representatives; go Josh!

Samaurai archery Video 1 exhibits a craaazy samaurai horsemen drive-by at the Izumo shrine. Pimps of the nation.

Samaurai archery Video 2 shows an arrow whalloping an unfortunate target of the horseman archer's fury. Ka-zaam!

Samaurai archery 3 exhibits a woman archer, who would later be bucked off the beastly brute.

Tea Time shows a quick scene from a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. Drink just so or enrage the spirits!

Please note that I link 2 more videos in the heart of my posts below.

10-Oct

20 min warmup, 15:30 5k, 15 min cool down near Izumo track stadium. Personally, I ran sub-par, as I was feeling the effects of travel. I didn't lose any places, however, beginning and ending my leg in 13th. Ultimately, we missed our top-10 finish, but did have a respectable showing at this competitive event. Paul was hero of the day, winning the opening leg, and Alasdair also got major television footage.

Image: Ivy Ekiden Team Team 'Shot'

At night, we headed to a "sayonara" party at a local winery with all the other teams. This event is quite fun, and provided opportunities for interaction with the locals. I remember posing for many pictures with the paryting, photo-happy Japanese. Paul was like a rockstar, as the Japanese chanted his name during our team karaoke. I was able to trade a number of Princeton and Ivy paraphernalia for Japanese sportswear (a main goal is to get clothes with "kanji" or Japanese script on them). Later that night, we ventured out into sleepy Izumo, but decided to call it a relatively early night and closed out the evening to karaoke in Ed's room (Note--I've never heard such creatively sick lyrics as those that (Coach) Dave substituted in for "Paradise City." The man is insane in the membrane.)

Image: Consuming and imbibing at the sayonara party. Oishi des!
11-Oct
66min, 10 miles. Many of the team inexplicably rose very early today, so we were able to get in our run before embarking for Tokyo. We ran towards the mountains (earlier in the week we made it to the Sea). I had to stop due to some GI issues over an Eastern style toilet (hole in the ground) and ran back/added on a little on my own.

In Tokyo, we took a bus tour that was led by the most boring, though friendly man on the face of the Earth. Really, he made me wish I was deaf. Later that evening, we burned through an interminable, pleasing, and ludicrous 11-course dinner before heading out to Roppongi Hills for a long night.

Image: A view of Tokyo from my swank hotel room.

12-Oct
55.5min, perhaps 8 miles? Today half of our party went back to the States, while Ed, Pat, Alasdair and I took a train to Yamanashi Gakuin University near Mt. Fuji. Although we weren't feeling tip-top after a late night, we enjoyed touring some local waterfalls, passing through a ridiculous museum, and later working out with a premier athletics team (Note--the translations at the museum were particularly funny, with references to "magical midgets").

Image: Nature hike near Fuji

In the weight-room prior to the run, I did medicine ball sit-ups, an old favorite of mine. Unfortunately, my abs aren't what they used to be, and I destroyed my stomach today. I could barely roll out of bed the rest of the trip. We split off in pairs to run with small groups of Japanese runners. The run went very slow, but gradually sped up towards the conclusion. We were very out of place, but it was a fun experience. Again, the runners wanted to take photos of me, because I no doubt seemed a positively Godzilla-like albino. Later that day, we went to a nice hot spring bath, and went out to dinner, where we were forced to consume and imbibe again with some local professors and coaches.
13-Oct
No run today. We were supposed to get up at 6am to run with the team, but the coach took pity on the lazy Americans. The night before, they checked our body fat, and we were off the charts (like 15+%, but we're rather sure the tool was inaccurate). Today, Ueda-san and his wife and daughter took us around the lake by Mt. Fuji, and we went to another natural, beautiful hot spring, followed by a nice meal.

Image: The breathtaking and majestic Mt. Fuji. Luckily, it didn't erupt while we were there, but it probably will eventually.

Later, we travelled back to Tokyo, and searched for accomadations. We actually tried to go to a capsule hotel, but would not fit with our bags (capsule hotels are very small 'pods' that cater to drunken Japanese businessmen who miss the last train out of town. They are cheap, but don't like foreigners with big bags.) Luckily our hotel took pity on us and cut us a deal with a gargantuan 4-man room down the hall from a Norweigian rock band. That night we went out with a few of Ed's friends until quite late. Randomly, I saw one of my friends from Princeton who was in Tokyo on business. Pat ate some sushi that was still fighting for its life. At least it was fresh.
14-Oct
90min. This was a decent long run. Ed started the run at a sprint, but luckily the pace cooled down. It was very hazardous, dodging very densely packed sidewalks and streets. We found a park that had about a 2k recreational loop, and repeated this a number of times. There was a Japanese runner working out, who we began to key off of. We dropped a 4:50 mile with him, which was ostensibly annoying him. Eventually, the enormous Americans won, because the little guy gave up and peeled off to the side. That night we went out really late with another one of Ed's friends. See a pattern to our nightly activities? I believe tonight we eventually ended up at a club that was all (non-Asian) models. This striking change from the other Tokyo nightlife, was quite novel, but also quite expensive. Some of our party practiced our model poses, while one of us took a nap on the street by a vending machine.
15-Oct
60min, 9 miles? Ed and I did this run in the rain and dark, while Pat and Alasdair slept in the hotel. We looped a local park, which made a decent run. Earlier in the day, we walked around some of Tokyo's neighborhoods, and visited a tranquil shrine. I craved some American food, and hit up McDonald's. Unfortunatly, I tried the Teriyaki burger, and left unimpressed. That night, we went to a local rave club, where most of the people were Japanese. We went around giving high-fives to everyone in the club, as though that is what is done in America. Sometimes it's hilarious to be bigger than everyone.

VIDEO: Here is a jumpy video of me navigating my way through Shibuya crossing, a location depicted famously in the movie "Lost in Translation." I think I squashed a few folks.

16-Oct
0 miles. No time to run today after a very long day of travel. I was ever so tired after getting home.
17-Oct
0 miles. Another day of rest, quite tired and behind in work.
18-Oct
0 miles. Catching up with school work, just couldn't get out the door today. A little rest might do me good.
19-Oct
7.5miles I believe? These days kind of blended together. All rainy and raw, I did some work and rested. Stacy was in the Caribbean living it up.
20-Oct
1 hr? Fast.
21-Oct
64min I believe I was hammering this week of runs.
22-Oct
59.5
23-Oct
68 min. Completed an interesting study on the Kyoto Treaty and carbon emissions trading. I don't think it'll last past 2012, but the U.S. will eventually be on board with a system of regional emissions trading. Sorry, did that put you to sleep?
24-Oct
13, 21:23, 12.5. I hopped on the track and did a 4 mile light tempo in my normal trainers. I put this run off till the afternoon, and finished up while Haverford was gathering for practice.
25-Oct
63 min.
26-Oct
44:44:00 Not sure what this means. I think I rolled this run faster than normal. (2 loops Haverford via Haverford Rd?)
27-Oct
56 min.
28-Oct
0 miles, by the time Bruce got back from work it was late and I was hungry. This was a lengthy day. Stacy and I woke up bright and early and travelled to NYC. First stop was Van Cortlandt Park where I watched Frankenstern and the Tigers battle at Heps. The team raced valiantly, but fell to the homos in Green. (Former Coach) Brady was present and the same as always.

HERE IS A VIDEO of the finish, where Frankenstein closed for 3rd. (I have more photos and videos if anyone is interested).

Image: Heps

Later that night, Stacy, Ed, Bruce and I went out to a sweet tapas restaurant in their neighborhood, and met Pete to go to a few local watering holes. Radical night in the Phat Apple.

29-Oct
59 min. A relaxed run with Juicebox around Manhattan, through a few parks, around Columbia, etc. Stacy and I rushed off to the opera at the Met: Mozart's "Cosi fan tutte", which roughly translates to "women are like that". Surprisingly, I made it through 3.5 hours of Italian opera without much trouble. I did keep looking for the fat lady, however.

Stacy and I made it, though late, for our dinner with family in Brooklyn.

30-Oct
59 min. I completed this run from Brooklyn, over the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan, along the East River Park, and back. The early morning view from the Bridge is glorious, and I enjoyed running in the park that I used to frequent back in the summer of '03 when Stacy lived at NYU.

My cousin's wedding in the Botanical Gardens was quite a nice affair, with a live band, and perfect weather. Plus, I learned some cool bar tricks from my cousins. Here is a photo with me, Stacy, my sister and brother-in-law in the Shakespeare Garden. Unfortunately, I didn't get to dress up because it was not a Halloween-themed wedding.

31-Oct
59min approximately. Happy Halloween. First time in years I didn't dress up. I had much school work, and had to do a conference call late into the evening with my marketing group (we essentially run a business where our decisions each week represent every year in a computer simulation).

As Porky the Pig would say, Th-th-th-th-th-th-th-th-that's all folks.