Animal of the day

"Madagascar is world famous for its lemurs -- primates that look something like a cat crossed with a squirrel and a dog. These animals are unique to the island and display a range of interesting behaviors from singing like a whale (the indri) to sashaying across the sand like a ballet dancer (the sifaka)."-http://www.wildmadagascar.org/

Slam dunk in yo face

March Madness, The Ides of March, Spring Break, St. Patrick's Day-- what a bangin' week. I have peppered my post with many photos from last weekend's race in Baltimore for your delight (click to enlarge).









10-Mar
62 min. Solid run, 3 laps around Haverford I believe. Ran into my professor's wife and new child, who is pretty cool, for a baby. Road trip down to Baltimore. To celebrate Stacy's spring break and the springlike weather, we walked up to Tapas Teatro, a swingin' Spanish-themed tapas restaurant. We enjoyed trout, fried vegetables, and chorizo. !Que bueno!
11-Mar
42 min; relaxed pre-race runabout in CharmCity. Jogged tomorrow's course, and had to stop at many lights downtown. Inner harbor was quite crowded, most likely due to beautiful (70s) weather.

12-Mar
Baltimore St. Patrick's Day Race
Justin McCarthy came up from DC and Jon Bell manned up to race for the first time in years.
16.5 min warmup, looping through Red Light District with Justin and Jon; Stretched in Stacy's apt, then 5 min frenzied jog to start. We had to cut up through 2900 people and squeeze onto the line, and missed any chance for strides. I was talking to people on the line, when suddenly an airhorn went off and the race took off. This lack of warning was rather irritating, and I vented my feelings by stiff-arming some poor schmuck that sprinted out in front of me. I got out much faster than anyone else, taking advantage of the downhill to run about a 4:29 first mile. Like last year, I gave myself a blister on my right, outside foot, but it was manageable. I trotted through 2 miles in around 9:24, eventually holding off all comers but one, crossing the line in 14:56 for 2nd place and $125. Results can be found HERE.
20 min cooldown, back through red-light district. The helpful bounceres swore to us that we could cut through their fine establishments, that they were shortcuts even. We refrained.
The post-race party was first-rate. Let's just say it was sponsored by Miller, and we were all intent on getting our money's worth (see photo of Jon and fox). Plus, we filled up a backpack with beautiful Dannon and exquisite protein bars. The ransacking, gluttony, and hoarding conjured up images of Cloister and college.

Weekly Mileage: 78 miles. In an effort to hold myself more accountable for quality training, I'll bring back the weekly mileage summaries. A solid week, with 2 workouts, a few doubles, and a nice race. The flexile spring break schedule certainly helped.

13-Mar
1 hr 34 min
Dru hill. Still nice and warm t'day. Ran up and around the park, at only a moderate pace. Drove back to Ardmore, Stacy in-tow. Very busy, and had to stay up into the wee hours of the morning completing 2 Grad. Assistant assignments that have been hanging over my head.
14-Mar
Stepped out for a sweet run.
57:45; quick 3 laps at Haverford; last lap in 13:47ish. Upon completion, I picked up Stacy (on her 3rd run of year), and jogged 24 min very easy with her. We spent all day at school, as I was busy with 3 meetings and class.
15-Mar BEWARE THE IDES OF MARCH!!!
I was very wary today, but nothing ominous occurred.
15.5 min Warmup.
23:16 4 lap tempo at Haverford in trainers, very windy (25mph) (mile splits in 5:17,5:20,5:19.5:18). I changed into old racing flats and did some strides on the track: 6 X 200 on, 200 off in: (33.9, 63r, ~33, ~63r, 31.5, 62r, 31.7, 64r, 29.9, 65r, 29.1).
14 min cooldown.
Total ~10.5 miles
16-Mar
59:42. 2 laps around haverford in the waning daylight,followed by neighborhood running. Trail running fast, neighborhoods slow.
9 mi
I went into Center City to do some lawyer work today. 'Twas not a terrible experience, and I made a few Washingtons. I finally got my watch battery changed, after 6 months of good intentions. I was rather sleepy today, as I couldn't catch more than a few winks last night.

The March madness has kicked off, and so far my bracket is beautiful (Hint--Villanova shocks the world by winning the whole enchilada). My picks are 15 for 16 so far, but don't expect my luck o' the irish to persist indefinitely. At least not past St. Patick's Day. They're always after me lucky charms, anyway. (Side note--do you think that Lucky Charms really are magical? Read about the debate here.) Have a magical St. Patty's day. I'm racing again this weekend--5k in NJ.

This blog needs more kung fu

Greetings fellow humans. I bequeath another blog entry and record my training for the ages. This cycle had ups and downs; lately the quality has been superb.

I enjoyed watching the Olympics, almost as much as the drunken bird above (memo to boozehound: Norway sucks). I spent many a lunchtime cheering on the heroic curlers, while I also thought the flying tomato was cool. I've already forgotten everyone else. It would be nice to have a biathalon version of running, maybe cross country running where you stop every mile to blast some targets with an AK? I read a recent article on the the biathalon, and how its origins are rooted in the military. More and more cross country skiers are not trickling into the military development program these days, however.

In law school news, I was accepted to Fordham Law School, and I am strongly considering gracing NYC with my presence. Only time will tell how my decision will unfold. As C.S. Lewis sagely advised, "The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." I agree, unless you're in outer space, but let's be realistic.

17-Feb
31 min relaxed, pre-race shake out. Say...4.5 miles. Drove to Princeton Junction and took NJ Transit up to NYC. Accidently took a wee bit of a detour on the subway to Queens, but eventually found Ed, Bruce, and Pete's pad in Manhattan (see photo of their view). That noche went out to a Mexican restaurant. Copious Mexican food at 10pm the night before nationals? Ole!

18-Feb
18+ min warmup.
12:05 4k at Van Cortlandt; 34th place.
14.5 min cooldown
'Twas bitterly cold out today; the wind was howling and snow was pooping out of the clouds. I had a mollasses start, and ended up trapped behind many gentlemen. The race was too short and fast for me to make up much ground from what I lost going into Freshmen hill, although I did manage to pass former Princeton miler Scott Anderson around 2k. I ran about even splits. I was a little race rusty, but I performed about as well as I could at the time. Thanks to my friends and parents for coming out.

Bruce whipped up burgers for lunch and later that night we went out to a few establishments, one where people were tap dancing on the bars. We met up with Mikolay, Sam, and Tristan, but not for too long. I was weary after a long day.

19-Feb

Made it back to Ardmore by the afternoon, and strolled out for 5 miles or so. Sore achilles, but nothing out of the ordinary.
35.5 min recovery run.
My congratulatory remarks to Josh Ordway and Ed Baker for qualifying for the Olympic marathon trials in Austin today.
20-Feb
1 hr 34.5 min
Decent long run throughout Haverford, Ardmore, Bryn Mawr.
21-Feb

I did about a ten-miler with 6 X 200s on the track during the middle of the run.
46min
9:20 1.5 mi on the track (6X 200m (200 rest) 32, 64, 32, 63, 32, 61, 32, 58, 32, 63, 32, 54)
12.5 min back

22-Feb
15 min WU (warmup).
39 min total workout. 6 X Mile at Haverford grass loop with 90 seconds rest. 5:01, 5:00, 5:01, 5:01, 5:03, 5:05.
13 min cooldown
Very solid workout at this course, with such rest. Slow course today--muddy and soft, especially where they are re-building the gravel path. Overlapped workout with Nova guys, able to say my good tidings. Met one of the new guys, who thought I was Ryan Hall at first (winner of last weekend's US 12k). Silly, stupid freshman.

That night in class, perhaps as a consequence of the draining workout, I developed a cough that would blossom into a full-blown cold.

23-Feb
35 min
Feeling sick today, ran out of time to do more. Easy day. Blah.

24-Feb
74.5 min.
up around Dru Hill park. 11 miles or so. Cough cough. Cold out, but glad to get a run in. Difficult to sleep at night with illness.

25-Feb
Took a day off to get better. Stacy worked today, but not too long.
sick

26-Feb

Determined to get some sort of workout in today.
16min warmup to the reservoir in Baltimore.
32:11 for 6 miles at Dru Hill (about 5:22 PACE)
14 min cooldown
Very windy, cold, and I was sick. Wore trainers, pants. All things considered, glad I got in anything today.

The highlight of the day was probably the brownies that Stacy and I concocted. I know how to put the brown down.
27-Feb
90 min.
Got up early and got in a long run. Good for me. Ran around zoo area. Afterwards, took a little drive. International marketing class tonight was challenging, as my team works to perfect our entry into the Latin American toothpaste market for a simulated business game.

28-Feb
36.5 min.
Quite slow, and late at night. Worked for Alan today, so sold out my training. Sore achilles. Direct marketing is rather not my favorite class.

1-Mar
15.5 min WU.
35:20 Workout, 8 X 1000m with ~95 seconds rest. Very windy today (15mph?). 2:57, 2:57, 2:59, 3:01, 3:03, 3:05, 3:05, 3:04.
14.5 cooldown

I did want to go faster today, but the short rest, cold, and wind did me in. Still, when comparing this workout to past 1k repeats, it's actually decent.

Strategic management class today was all right. I referred to one of my classmates as "clearly misguided", which was the highlight for me.

2-Mar
AM: 62 min. Solid run, 3 laps around Haverford I believe. Rainy day. I went to philly later on with a handful of other almost-MBAs to meet with a non-profit organization for which we are doing pro-bono consulting. It's a little nebulous right now exactly what we are going to produce, but looks like a marketing plan. I'm looking forward to it.
PM: 32 min. Went back for another lap of Haverford. First double in a while. Tired and very hungry.

3-Mar
15 min WU
35:41 for 6 lap tempo run at Haverford, 6.5 miles+. Not an easy workout, as it was windy, cold, and especially muddy. I fell 3 times, sometimes spectacularly. I bloodied my knee and tore my pants (see photo). One instance I fell on a hill and rolled down, through the mud. I managed to continue and kept the watch flowing. My laps were all around 5:20-5:28 pace. I was glad to get something in, and not to quit when the going got rough.
13.5 cooldown

Maybe next time I should do the workout on the track or road when it's so muddy.

I drove home and dined with my parents and uncle/cousins. SPRING BREAK HAS ARRIVED! (I'm not doing anything)

4-Mar

Woke up early to the sounds of babies screaming. Later helped drive to train station, then worked on my aforementioned toothpaste sales project.
65 min; 9.5 miles.
I tra-la-la'ed around my favorite loop at my parents' house in the afternoon. This is rather hilly and involves difficult trail expeditions. I survived 2 spectacular stream crossings, where I nimbly sprang from shore, shimmied across fallen logs, and bounded across rocks. On a third crossing attempt, however, my luck ran out and my foot slipped just as I was congratulating myself for being so awesome. I submerged myself up to the waist in water, and soaked my chest and arms. Brr... it was maybe 40 degrees outside. Luckily, I was only 15 min from home, and got back and into a hot shower.
5-Mar

1 hour 42.5 min
Long run around County park. Quite hilly, decent run. My achilles was sore on some of the steep hills. I turned my ankle mildly, which was already sore from one of my falls last week. A dog ran at me barking and I turned around and yelled at him, sending the mongrel packing with his tail between his legs.

6-Mar
AM: 64 min; 9.5 miles in County Park. Also did some lifting. I usually forget to note when I lift, but it's been maybe once a week. I'd like to do it more often. In the picture above, you can tell that Rudy the cat didn't want me to leave, but I had to nonetheless.
PM: 31.5min; 4.5 miles around Haverford.

7-Mar
14 min WU
36.5 min workout, 5 X (4 X 300), 100 jog btwn 300s, 400 jog btwn sets; (49, 38, 49, 38, 50, 38,50); 2:45; (49, 36, 50, 34, 50, 35, 50); 2:42; (48, 34, 51, 32, 48, 35, 49); 2:46; (49, 34, 51, 34, 50, 31, 50); 2:45, (50, 32, 51, 33, 51, 33, 51)
14.5 cooldown.

This was a decent workout, with short rests. I wanted to get something a little quicker in, but not too fast. Some of the Nova athletes were milling around.
PM: 35 min, 5 miles. Double trouble today.

8-Mar

I went in to work in Center City today on a slow-moving project. I was very tired as I had trouble sleeping last night (maybe overtrained yesterday?) Alan impressed with references to underpants gnomes and in referring to a potential new client by saying: "Skirts get upset by things like that." I actually managed to get in a decent run after returning, 2/3 of which was in the dark.
77min; 11.5 miles, up to around Nova. At one point, I found an electronic speed reader set up by the police. I took 3 runs at it: 15mph, 17mph, and 17mph. Then I spent 30 min trying to figure out in my head how fast 17mph was. (Somewhere a little over 3:30 per mile I think).
9-Mar
21 min warmup.
21:33 4 lap tempo run around S.Ardmore park, in trainers. Each lap is slightly over a mile, standard practice is to subtract 10secs per lap for mile pace. That being said, my laps were (5:29, 5:26, 5:24, 5:13). I was moving well at the end on this undulating course. I wanted to get a workout in on the roads to prepare for road racing, but I didn't want anything very draining, as I'm racing this weekend.
13.5 min cooldown.

I worked for Alan again this afternoon. I'm making a few dollars, but slipping further behind in some GA work. I e-filed my taxes for the 3rd time today. I made a few silly errors, but now finally have it correct. Tragically, I owe $450, plus I made more money than I realized, so I have to re-do my financial aid forms. The horror, the horror. Actually, it's not so horrible.
PM: 34.5min, 4.5 miles or so. Double Dare!