Message Boards

Pearl Jam!

I have been blessed this holiday season with the use of my Mom's car. In the Chevy Malibu (that's right, Michiganders buy American made cars) exists a wonderful little XM radio player. The move to XM was a great one by my Mom. It allows for a lot of Jamming out and singing along in long car rides or quick jaunts to the video store (of which I frequent when in Bath). It has definitely been a perk to the car on my quick trips back home. This vacation, however, there has been an even greater surprise: The addition of a PEARL JAM RADIO STATION.

Up until today this thing has been awesome. It plays rarities, full concerts, even anything that's related to Pearl Jam (which led to the amazing "I'm The Ocean" by Neil Young listening before a workout (to which I had to have an amazing workout)). While only about 1/3rd of Eddie's lyrics are understandable, I sing along to 4/3rds of it.

Everything was great and the Xmas vacation was going off without a hitch. THEN, Pearl Jam Radio did something terrible. They invited in hosts to talk. And these guys didn't stop talking. I thought I would listen to it for a while and eventually they'd play some music. I was wrong. It was like watching ESPN where instead of showing sports they just talk about it...it sucked. I was still playing it out hoping for the best when I heard one of the speakers say this:

"Now on the message boards..."

I changed the channel immediately. If there's one thing I've learned in my 25 years here, it is to never believe anything you read on a message board. The things are stupid. They are a bunch of anonymous people spouting off rumors. They actually get me upset.

The things don't make much sense. For a band's message board, it is people speculating when the next album will come out or what songs they will play at their next concert. How about you just wait and see or let the band announce it instead of trusting some dude who lives in his mom's basement and scours the Internet looking for info about Phish on WikiLeaks?

Or message boards for sports teams. If I have to hear how awesome some recruit that Duke, Miami, or Michigan is getting in two years, I expect him to be the greatest person in the world. And let me tell you, every Duke basketball player is awful.

And while the reason I wrote this entry was to complain about the Pearl Jam Radio Station, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Let'sRun.Com "World Famous Message Board." I hate that thing. The front page of Let'sRun is pretty much invaluable, and I go there for all of the running related news I am looking for. But the Message Board itself is stupid. As Sam Bair, Jr. (the father of the father/son combo that broke four minutes for the mile) said in a piece I was writing about him and his son: "They're [the message board posters] a bunch of guys who haven't done it. Probably a bunch of 5-minute milers." Yikes, that 5-minute-miler reference is like the kid in "Sandlot" telling the other that he plays ball like a girl. While I know a few people that are definitely not 5-minute-milers who post on the message board, the thing that upsets me the most about Let'sRun Message Board is how highly they themselves think of it.

Say there is a coaching opening at Oregon. Most likely, the message boards will be humming with rumors about who the next coach will be. Probably ten names will be thrown out there (along with about 30 names that have absolutely no shot of getting the job). They will be big coaching names and logical heirs to the Oregon coaching job. Then, one of those names will be hired. Instead of just announcing who the new coach is on the front page of the site, Let'sRun praises their message board, saying, "As previously reported on Let'sRun.Com's World Famous Message Board". They ignore the fact that about 30 other names were thrown out there.

The message board can be good for gathering a quick bit of information, but using it as an actual news source like Let'sRun sometimes does is a joke.

In conclusion, I don't really like message boards. I can live with the running ones because they get a little talk going about our sport. But when it messes with my Pearl Jam listening that's when it's enough.

So make it a new year's resolution to stop looking at message boards. Happy 2010, here's to a better 2011.

runLBP 2k10: The Video Game

Bust out your NES Power Pad, because EA Sports, in partnership with BP-Pizza Gaming, is proudly presenting the latest in track and field video gaming: "runLBP 2k10"...

Syyyyke. But they do need to bring back the Power Pad don't they? No, "runLBP 2k10: The Video Game" was just a better title than "runLBP's best (and worst) of 2010".

To go with the grain of pretty much every website/magazine/news outlet, here goes some of the highs and lows for the site and life in general:

Best Race: Ryan Shay Mile. It was one of the few races all year where I just said eff it and ran hard. It didn't turn out a W, but it definitely had me excited about running.

Worst Race: Tie, Puma Mile, Nova Scotia Mile, and Falmouth Mile. The Puma Mile was actually a really good race, but the lack of $10,000 definitely hurt. Nova Scotia I won $250, but I ran a time that barely would have qualified for NCAA Regionals and I didn't even feel that good doing it (thankfully that was a fun overall meet). And then Falmouth Mile was the first race I dropped out of since sophomore year of high school. Dropping out of races sucks, even if it is because of injury, and that wont be happening this year.

Lowest Point: The layover in Denver on the overnight flight from New Mexico back to DC after USA Indoors. The combination of New Mexico, a red-eye flight, a sub-par performance at USAs, a travel partner doing med-school homework, and reading "Born To Run" left me wanting to leave society and go live in the mountains. Sadly, I returned to DC and slept for 28 straight hours.

Best Blog Post: Tie, The Bet and the Leslie Nielsen Tribute. I liked the Leslie Nielsen one the most, but since it had absolutely nothing to do with running...although the Dan Nunn didn't really either.

Best Youtube Video: LBPjam7  See above video.
Enough said.

Worst LBPjam: There wasn't one!

Best Meal (savory): Criff Dog! This thing is unimaginable. If you read the blog, you know my affinity for chili dogs. Well here, you get yourself a hot dog, wrap some bacon around it, fry up an egg, add some cheese, put those things in a bun, and you've got yourself a meal. This was only discovered recently, and as my brother Will so eloquently put it: "Criff dogs haunt me."

Best Meal (sweet): The Pancake Sundae. I am haunted by this one as well. I'm sure not as much as Maggie, because while Liz and I ordered the dangerously delicious delicacy, Maggie decided to go with the tomato soup. Probably tasted like throw up.

Best Dessert of the year...

Best Tweet: REEEEEEESE'S. Not really. Instead Paul Pierce's after the Celtics beat the Heat.

Best TV Show: Tie: "Mad Men" and "Parks and Rec". Both were detailed, and both affected my every day life. I'm trying to work Don Draper's sidepart into my repertoire, and those shapes! still get me.

Worst TV Show: "Two and a Half Men".

Best Run: Central Park Reservoir at night. A nice little escape from the city.

Worst Run: Fricken' Snowmageddon in DC. That had a lot to do with the lowest point of 2k10 since flying back to DC was a less than ideal destination.

Best Call: The move back to NYC.

It's go time again. Overall, the running in 2010 sucked. So now it's kind of go big or go home (literally, since I need me some money or else see ya soon Mom and Dad!). But seriously, I am very excited about what the running is going to bring in the coming year. I have some goals set and the NJ/NY TC and Coach Gags are helping me work towards them. We're starting to piece together an indoor season and hopefully I'll be able to put my nose up in some races on the east coast throughout the winter. I have yet to really say it out loud yet, but the goal now is getting ready for 2012.

Top 3 in either the 8 or 15 on the right day is what matters now, so that's what we're working towards. There will definitely be highs and lows along the way, but might as well shoot high, because then if things go really well, maybe I can make a video game with the PowerPad. As always, I will document most of it right here. Happy 2010, here's to a better 2011.

$50 Haircut

That's some long ass hair.

Every Monday and Friday morning I catch the 8:25 up-town 1-train at 116th and ride it to 168th St. before walking to the Armory to get picked up by my coach and taken to practice at Rutgers. Public transportation, while sometimes packed with people like sardines in a can, can be a nice treat. There is always a person on each bus/train that is “that guy.” The person you look at because they’re either yelling or singing, or just in need of a shower. One of my trips I was looking around the subway car and didn’t really notice anyone of the sort, but then I saw my reflection in the window across from me. I was “that guy.”

I was dressed in running pants, a big winter coat, and my hair was out of control. I had showered the night before, but with my hair looking like a rolling tumbleweed of the old west, if visible stink lines would have emanated from me, I wouldn’t have objected.

The hair being out of control thing isn’t for any reason, I just decided not to cut my hair other than a trim until New Years. I used to never cut my hair during the season. This all started because when I was a seventh grader, my brother and a group of his buddy’s told me they’d give me $50 if I didn’t cut my hair until the cross country season was over. Meanwhile, I was already a month removed from cutting my hair. By the end of the season I was Tom Brady as Bieber before Brady or Bieber even existed.

Now, I’ve gone with the no haircut until 2011 to go along with my current life mantra of trying to be a blue collar runner while being a white collar worker. Don Draper meets Rocky in Rocky IV.

Running wise, things are going very well and all the cross training (oh that god-forsaken cross training!) seems to have payed off some as my workouts have been going great and my mileage is up in the 70s again. We are starting to piece together somewhat of an indoor season and I am starting to get that racing itch, even if the real racing of the year is a long ways away.

It’s cold again, but Michigan boys love the snowy running. Plus, I have a lot of hair to keep my head warm.

The Wind, The Wind

RIVERBANK...

It felt like I got the wind knocked out of me and socked in the groin at the same time. I was running a 500 last Friday at Red Bank Regional High School and was rounding the turn into the 200 meter mark when it happened. Whabam! I was stopped cold. No matter how hard I pumped my arms or how quickly I picked up my legs, I couldn’t go fast enough. I thought it was one of the windiest days I had ever worked out on. But I forgot about the Riverbank Track at 145th St.

This morning was one of the worst possible days to run. Rainy, humid, and WINDY. The track is right on the Hudson River next to a sewage plant (I always used to joke that I had eaten the wrong foods if we ever worked out there at Columbia), and the gusts are plain foolish. I have been doing my tempos in Central Park, which is a little tough because of the hills, but I would have loved to be there this morning blocked from the howling wind. Instead, kicking up puddles of water in my face were Will and Delilah as we all took turns taking the brunt of the wind.

I have no one to blame except myself however. I have consistently chosen windy tracks as places to train my entire running life. And the least windy track I have ever been on (aside from high school), wasn’t even a full 400 meters.

The Bath track has actually been the least problematic weather-wise of all the tracks that I have called home. It would get some gusts on the back-stretch here and there, but overall it was a darn good high school track.

The Baker Field Track opened my eyes to what winds could be. Situated on the northernmost tip of Manhattan, it gets some bursts of wind off the Hudson as well. It also seemed that whenever it was calm there, someone, *cough*CoachWood*cough*, would mention how calm it was and within minutes a monsoon would be approaching.

The Duke Ellington Track at Georgetown didn’t have many meteorological mishaps, but 4 and ¾ laps to a mile? C’mon.

Now, my two main home tracks are Rutgers and Riverbank. Somehow, Rutgers is windy as hell. Not as bad as Riverbank, but not much is.

Nothing you can do about weather, unless you choose to live somewhere with great weather. But in my mind, it’s not really worth it. I’d rather live in New York and toughen myself up than somewhere without wind. Now if only it would stay light past 5pm.

Leslie Nielsen: A Tribute

Frank Drebin, Police Squad

Every other Sunday, my Dad would take my brother and I on his Sunday morning errands. This meant a trip to the Lake Lansing Rd. Meijers. With milk, lunch meat, and other essentials in the shopping cart along with twine, a screw driver or any other home fixing gadget he needed, we would pull up to the in-store video rental section.

Like any good father, he wanted to impart his wisdom of amazing movies on his two sons. So, one week it was The Pink Panther or The Naked Gun, the next it was Police Academy or Monty Python. Like other 5- and 8-year-olds, we laughed at the classics, albeit with some complaining here and there about not being able to watch Terminator.

We finally reached the end of the list of movies my Dad wanted us to watch, but a funny thing happened the next time we were in the rental aisle: “Let’s get The Naked Gun again!” My brother and I agreed.

We laughed at the cheesy: “It's fourth and fifteen and you're looking at a full-court press.” The oddball: “Doctors say that Nordberg has a 50/50 chance of living, though there's only a 10 percent chance of that.” Even the way-over-our-heads:
“[Jane climbs a ladder]
Frank: Nice beaver!
Jane: [producing a stuffed beaver] Thank you. I just had it stuffed.”
But we loved that movie.

It didn’t stop then. As two sequels to the movie came out, we couldn’t have been more excited. The Naked Gun 2 1/2 had us peeing our pants, The Naked Gun 33 1/3 left us in side stitches (although it wasn’t as good as the first two). Frank Drebin of Police Squad was one of the funniest people I knew.

Even in high school, 16 years after the first film had been made, I loved the movie. I was one of our schools valedictorians, and while some left my classmates with words of wisdom from the likes of famous Americans, I left them with the great advice of Frank Drebin: “Like a midget at a urinal, you have to be on your toes.” (There is rumor that some in the community didn’t appreciate my speech).

Still today I go back to those movies. I have somehow convinced myself that the girls I like need to like my favorite trilogy of movies. I force them to watch it with me, and then repeat the quotes right after they play in the movie as if to reinforce how hilarious they are (looking at this now, clearly not a way to pick up the ladies…).

The Naked Gun acts as a comfort for me. If I need a laugh, I pop the DVD in, if I just got dumped by one of the girls who I made watch the movie with me, I watch it again with a pint of Ben & Jerry’s by my side. Yeah, The Naked Gun is awesome.

Leslie Nielsen was the one who played Lieutenant Frank Drebin of Police Squad. He did it so perfectly that I still chuckle as I read these quotes as the scene plays out in my mind. He passed away last night. This isn’t sad for me in the way it is sad for me when someone I know passes, but instead it reminded me that a hilarious movie can brighten a day. So, thank you Leslie Nielsen. Your acting will be missed, but your movies will not.

An Ode To Dining Halls

Thanksgiving Dinner at John Jay with CU Mid-D

I approached Weisbuch at VCP, seeing him for the first time since leaving Columbia.

Excitedly, he grinned and asked: “How’s life without John Jay, Liam?”

John Jay, being the cafeteria at Columbia, I forced myself into smile and replied in monotone: “Oh, it’s great, Buck. I’m eating really good food, and it’s easy to cook and all the food is very nice.”

He smiled even more: “Gee, I can’t wait ‘til I get to make my own food!”

I looked down at him, reached over and grabbed him by the face, “Don’t you ever say that,” I tightened my grip, his smile morphed. “Don’t you ever say that. Stay here, stay in John Jay as long as you can,” his cheeks were jiggling I was holding his face so hard. “Cherish it. For the love of God you have to cherish it.”

True story.

Well, not exactly. Mike Weisbuch, now a senior on the Columbia team and a fellow Michigander, is well aware how great he has it at John Jay and how nice it is to have a buffet of passable food prepared for you every night. Plus, he’s a lot bigger than I am, so I wouldn’t be able to “look down” at him.

But last night I was treated to the famed Thanksgiving Dinner at the John Jay Dining Hall. I joined the a group latest edition of the Columbia Mid-D crew: Matt Stewart, Dylan Isaacson, Phillip Pierott, and Mike Buck. A dinner filled with apple cider, turkey, corn bread, mashed potatoes, cookies, apple tarts, green beans, and, of course: GRAVY and STUFFING. Oh was there gravy and stuffing.

I am still full, and waking up this morning knew I had to write a special on the great dining halls that the fine institutions and universities around this great country provide. All you can eat on your Parent’s dollar, who can complain?

So, for those of you who are college students and take for granted this great eating period of your life, in the words of Billy Madison: “You have to cherish it. For the love of God you have to cherish it.”

UniWatch

Alan Weeth, Columbia UniWatch Co-Creator

January 2006, the Columbia Track and Field Team receives some fresh new duds to wear to meets. Boathouse makes the uniform, and to the team who was split between Hind and Adidas singlet’s, they are happy to have the new singlet’s and short shorts.

The next weekend, my buddy Alan Weeth and I, who were obsessed with an ESPN column called “UniWatch”, decided to do our own Columbia version of “UniWatch.” Complete with a long analysis of why in the ham sandwich would Sarah Decker be running with a hot dog in her hand?

Now, Columbia has moved on to bigger and better unis…sick right? But that doesn’t mean there can’t be a runLBP mini version of "UniWatch". Where we look at all things track and field uniforms. Just two things to point out for now…

- So what’s the deal with arm warmers? I guess they kind of make sense in terms of not wanting to wear a long sleeve under your jersey, but just put some socks on your arms! Plus, it could lead you to looking like this… But then again, you could be Ritz, and anything you wear is cool, cause he’s from Michigan. Midwest boys have style.
- The other new trend popping up is compression socks. Chris Solinsky may have broken the American 10k Record in them, but if he thinks he looks as cool as Bill and Wilt he’s got another thing coming. If he pulls the Kerry Kittles, he may be onto something. Meanwhile, Columbia runner Tom Poland may have just qualified for NCAAs in XC (a big congrats to the first guy to do so in over 5 years!), he has quite the style going…

Times change, and soon enough, there will be a new compression sock or arm warmer out there…and I’ll probably be all over it. The original Columbia UniWatch is currently being searched for, but Alan Weeth is too busy making clothes for Ambercrombie and I am too busy worrying what my new uniform will look like (I’m thinking Empire State Buildings all over it). Until then, don’t wear anything that foolish, kids who wear headbands are losers.

New Post

Look for a new one tomorrow morning...working on it this evening, it's going to be a very interactive one (meaning lots of links).

The Bet

The 10K-Dub-L: Dan Nunn

I made a bet with Dan Nunn six months ago. There is some serious money going to the winner ($250, or 1000 chicken nuggs) and a long time period to decide who said winner is (4 years). But before I get to what the bet is, a brief history of Dan Nunn and I is necessary…

(And by brief, I mean long, but enjoy.)

Dan Nunn did not want me to go to Georgetown. I visited Gtown in December of 2007, and I did not make a great impression on the PAJC (Dan Nunn is a man of many nicknames: His freshman year, he was the Pan-Am Junior Champ in the 10k – “PAJC”. His 5th-year, he ran a 28:24 to win the Stanford 10k and was the World Leader for a week – “10-K-Dub-L”. When I was there, he ate a lot of Bacon – “Bacon”. And then he was weird and twitter-named himself “La-La” (perhaps he likes the old mtv v-j)). But I digress, because D-Nunn (there’s another) did not like that I was joining the team.

According to him: “Liam came in when I was watching a movie, it was Anne Hathaway’s great film The Princess Diaries 2, I believe, and he just would not stop talking! I told him to quiet down so I could enjoy the wonderful acting of Julie Andrews, but he just wouldn’t shut up. So I figured he was just a talker.

“So then, a bunch of people are over on his last night here and they’re watching The Shining, and I ask a question. Liam shushes me. The guy has the nerve to do that. He tells me to quiet down so he can watch a movie. Can you believe it? So yeah, that’s why I didn’t like Liam and didn’t want him on my team. He was an asshole.”

Whoah, whoah, whoah, Dan…an asshole? Isn’t that a little strong on choice of a word?

“Nope, I meant it.”

The problem for Dan was that I was going to be his roommate. So we were going to spend way more time together than he would have liked.

You always view yourself as a littler cooler than you actually are, but I think I did a fairly good job of being cool at Georgetown my first semester there. Overall, I was pretty liked by most guys on the team. As right or wrong as it is, I was doing well in workouts, so respect was there, and I tried not to step on any toes, so most of the guys were at least alright with me.

Dan took a little more work. We would start to bond over him cooking bacon when I would get home from class around 10pm. We would talk about girls and how Dan wanted to weigh 300 pounds at least once in his life but I could tell something about me still irked him. Then, a movie brought us together for good.

There was a party during the offseason that the whole team was at. It was right next door to our house, which was great for us. We both took the 10 foot walk home at separate times but found ourselves in our living room as Zoolander blared on TBS at 2am. But we didn’t even really watch the movie. Instead, we talked.

And a mutual respect was born. Talking during movies could make Dan hate me, but in a twist of fate, it also made him my friend.

From there, we were cool. We did workouts together…if he ran a 400 in 55, I would run it in 54.9 (granted he beat me by 8 seconds on the 1200 leg of the ladder). We hung out…we were roommates at NCAAs in Fayetteville. And we even met up when I was in the Bay Area last year, where Dan is now that he’s done with Georgetown.

So there you have it: Dan Nunn and I from the start.

And now, to the bet. Dan stopped running competitively last fall. He is in school in the Bay Area to become a 2nd Grade Teacher, but I was able to see him last May for the Payton-Jordan Invite at Stanford.

At dinner, the conversation turned to one we used to often have:

“Dude, I am going to get up to 300 pounds at some point in my life,” Dan said to a group of us at dinner.

“No way in hell,” I called him out. “How much do you weigh right now?”

“I was 160 at the doctor’s office, but I had a bunch of stuff in my pockets.” He laughed. “But, dude, I’ll get up to 300.”

“Guaranteed you wont. I’ll bet you anything that you don’t.”

“Fine, 250 bucks.”

“Deal.” And we shook hands.

Dan and I have a $250 bet as to whether or not he will ever top 300 pounds. I couldn’t give him his entire life, because at that point $250 wont be anything. But I gave him four years, and he accepted. So by May 5th, 2014, if Dan Nunn hasn’t weighed in at 300 lbs or more, he will owe me the money. If any time before then he does, I will owe him 1000 chicken nuggs because he will need them to sustain his diet.

D-Nunn and I at some banquet...Classy.

**UPDATE** Dan Nunn is reportedly training for a marathon. Things are looking good on my end.

REEEESE'S & Costumes

Halloween has come and gone, and I am five pounds heavier due to the influx of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups that took over my diet. Jokes, jokes. But I did eat a ton of Reese’s a la Walt Pett every October. Aside from the candy, I’m not necessarily the hugest Halloween fan (luckily, candy plays a huge role, so I really like Halloween).

Dressing up isn’t my favorite thing, but I play the part if need be. A favorite costume for the children of Walter Pett was Bee Keeper and the white jump suit and mask you had to wear with it. It was easy enough, even if the suit for a 6 foot 2 inch man was a bit big for us. This year I was Zorro, and the drawn on mustache was legit.

While there are thousands of costumes out there, in the realm of running related costumes, there are only a few to consider. Halloween always falls around the Conference Championships for College XC teams, so here are some things for the college runner to consider for their after conference Halloween get-together:

1 – Be Usain Bolt. Get the arms. Get the outfit. Strike the pose. It is an easy and awesome costume. My brother Will pulled it off even if it was only because we had no other costume options.

2 – Dress up as one of your coaches. It will always get a few laughs amongst your teammates. But don’t wear it to a non-track event, then it won’t make much sense at all.

3 – Be an awesome runner that you know. My buddy Jonah pulled it off perfectly:

I knew I had made it when someone portrayed me for Halloween. Too bad I couldn’t make this list for you all before Halloween…

The Cut-Off Hoodie

It was Labor Day Weekend 2009 and a group of Columbia grads was up in Loon Lake, NY for a bachelor party celebration. I had made the trip up from DC, and was happy to be spending a weekend doing all things masculine. There was a lot of sports playing and a lot of unhealthy eating. Plus, there was my cut-off hoodie. I figured what better for a weekend amongst the guys than for a sweatshirt that keeps you warm and looks awesome, yet also shows off your muscles.

The cut-off sweatshirt turned out to be such a big hit, that Jon Pastore (the friend who was in Amsterdam this summer for one of the euro-posts) offered me $1000 for it (it was actually $60, but that’s still a lot). I obviously declined, and instead wore the sweatshirt at all times that weekend. Even over a flannel in an impromptu street race relay of Zach and I vs. Will and Kevin Verge (see above picture--albeit dark) that I was clearly on the winning team for. Needless to say, I love cut-off hoodies/sweatshirts of all sorts.

There was what some may call a ballyhooed frenzy over the picture at the bottom of my last post. It was an awesome sweatshirt. I am always on the lookout for a new cutoff hoodie. Meanwhile, the process of turning the arms coming out of those sleeveless wonders from linguini to sculpted rock continues.

And by ballyhooed frenzy, I really mean I have no idea what kind of reception the picture received (there was one comment from Joseph that said: “that’s bad-ass”….I’m assuming he was referring to the sweatshirt, not the lifting schedule). Viewership of the site neither ebbed nor flowed, and all in all it seemed to be a pretty normal week for runLBP.com. All except for the awesome news that I did get a new sleeveless hooded sweatshirt; it is bright orange, and it is legit. I do love myself a man-made cut off, but this one that has been hemmed to perfection is no slouch.

Recently, David Torrence posted a blog post about what we need to do to help track and field. No sleeve hoodies are a huge part of my life, and any time I get a shot at one I take it. I’m somewhat encouraged to race in one…maybe what the Fab Five’s long shorts were to college basketball, the cut-off hoodie will be to track and field.

For all of that to go to plan, however, I need to win me some races. So, I’ll keep working out, I’ll keep lifting so my arms look awesome without the sleeves, and I’ll try to win some races. Once sleeveless hoodies are the norm, track and field will be on the map.

Night Running

For a city that never sleeps, Central Park at night is at least in nap mode. Instead of kids yelling and cars honking you hear bike spokes whirring and footsteps clomping. And it is a welcome break.

Wednesday’s are going to be my busiest day of the week for the next long block of time. Here’s what I have on tap:

7:30am – Wake up and do ankle exercises that I have do every morning in bed (a lesson from Ron Warhurst back in my high school days).

7:34am – Brew a pot of coffee and have a bowl of cereal. Check out some really important news sites.

8:00am – Get a call from Gags telling me not to run the first mile of my tempo too hard.

8:30am – Head out the door for my run.

8:41am – Meet Will in Central Park and start up the tempo four minutes later.

8:50:24am – Run the first mile of the tempo too hard. Curse at Will under my breath.

9:06am – Finish up my 3 mile tempo in 16:25, getting the pace right for the rest of it.

10am through 5:30pm – A lot of stuff goes on here, and since it was going to be a really long post if I continued with the minute-by-minute update, I’ll start doing some blocks of time. Here is where I make sure to eat some bfast, get in an ice bath at Columbia, head down to work, do some work in usual Mad Men fashion, and then take the god forsaken rush hour train back up town.

6:00pm – Out the door for my evening hill session. It is really nice running in Central at night because it is just a little bit calmer. You can hear your own breathing, can look up at the glowing buildings, and actually relax while running. You can get this in Central at other parts of the day, but it is a lot easier at night.

7:00pm – Get back from the hills (8x100 meters) and make myself some dinner. Today it was burritos. *it most likely will be burritos every Wednesday, considering how much I love burritos.

8:00pm – Let my friend, Krisch, in because he locked himself out of his apartment. Keep him company while watching “Man V. Food” (one of the influences for “Will Run For Food”).

9:00pm – Shower time.

9:30pm – write a runLBP post.

10:00pm – Bedtime. Boom.

And there’s a day in the life. For one of the first times in my life I am really busy, and its actually pretty nice. But it’s 9:58 as I’m finishing up, and as you can see from the schedule, 2 minutes ‘til bedtime. Let’s Go (to sleep)!

Workout Wednesday

There seems to be a new trend developing on runLBP.com: The Wednesday Post. I guess it’s the day that works best for the working man, so from now on, check back Wednesdays instead of Sundays for new journal entries. Fittingly, I will often times be working out on Wednesdays (hence the name steal from FloTrack), so there can hopefully be a few good posts to check out.

And thankfully…the workouts have begun for me! Last Friday I was able to put my first workout in at the Rutgers Track and drop 4x800 in 2:32, 2:32, 2:30, 2:29 before rocking some strides after. Then yesterday, I was able to hop into some 1ks with Delilah and Frances Koons (one of my new teammates). As chivalrous as I am I led the last two. Then I discarded my gentlemanly ways and tried dropping them…alas, it was to no avail. But I did get in 4x1k at around 3:15 (~2:36 ½ mile pace) before running some 150s and concentrating on form.

On top of getting back into running, I have been doing some more strength-based exercising and trying to get jacked. I am incorporating a lot of hurdle work, drill work, and push-up work so that I can rock that last 120 of a race. Delilah and I were doing some exercises a week or two ago. One in particular proved extremely challenging:

Someone must be sitting in a chair in front of you, their back and the backrest facing you (they are sitting there to anchor the chair). You lie face-down on the ground and reach up with your hands so that you are grabbing the top of the chair, thus your back is arched (kinda like the cobra pose in yoga but your arms are up in the air grabbing a chair). From there, you pull yourself up using your core strength. The book we were using told us that it may feel as if your back was going to break in half. But that you would make it through and then complete the exercise by standing over the chair, it defeated below you.

I got about halfway through the exercise and, sure enough, I thought my back was going to break in half. I stopped immediately and cried out in horror.

Needless to say, I didn’t beat the chair that day. I have always known it, but I am really starting to understand that to be great at this sport, you really have to work your ass off. So keep in touch for when I start beating that chair, and really start to fill out the shirt in the picture below... Let’s Go!

Re-Adaptation

While “fresh air” in New York City can sometimes be reminiscent of a bio classroom filled with formaldehyde soaked frogs, when I stepped out of my apartment building on West 118th Street and took in a deep breath, it was as if I was on top of a mountain, sucking in sweet air. That’s because I was going for a run for the first time in about seven weeks.

My highly overpriced orthotics made their way into town and I found myself chugging away on a 30 minute run and enjoying the awfulness of it all. While I have kept in fairly good shape via the elliptical machine and the pool, there is only one way to get in good running shape: running. I am three runs into my season now (with a fourth coming tomorrow morning), and there is still a long way to go. Luckily for me, there is still a long way to go until I need to be ready. I’m working my way through a light workout this Friday and then seeing the doctor next Thursday to hopefully get cleared to go full blow.

I can’t wait to get going, because even though I just said there was a long way to go, I know January is fast approaching and I am going to be ready to run come indoor season this year.

Meanwhile, I am adapting back into the New York swing of things. While I spent a summer in sweatpants, I am into the “Mad Men” routine and styling the hell out of New York. (The second part of that sentence was an complete lie: I do dress nicely now for work, but I miss my sweatpants sooooo much.)

New Jersey awaits on Friday for my first “workout” of the year. Let’s Go!

Ps – Only East Coast Electricity was offered as a possible team name. I liked it quite a bit, Furcht.

East Coast Enemies

All Black Outfits are a Must for the East Coast Criminals

After struggling through last year’s 5th Avenue Mile, it was great to be a spectator at this year’s event. It also was a somewhat upsetting event as last year I remember sucking air through a 1:55 first half mile and this year they crawled through in a pedestrian 2:02 that I would have been much more capable of running last year at the time. Alas, I wasn’t out there, and was viewing from the sidelines this year knowing that I will be out there next year giving it a go.

Instead, I continued my trend of exercising inside all last week. I get in an hour on the elliptical before work and then 30 minutes to an hour afterwards. Once the orthotics make their way to my antsy feet, I’ll be out and about in the parks of New York and working my mileage up. While I’ve been a 70 per week guy the last two years I’ll be going in 3 week stints at 70-70-60. Working in that “recovery” week will keep me nice and fresh and fast for the upcoming races.

But the big news from last week was the introduction of our yet-unnamed team. Let’sRun had this up on its site:

“Gags (Frank Gagliano) Has Started Another Training Group--From the Reebok Enclave to the Farm Team to OTC and now an unnamed team in New Jersey. It seems like every prominent East Coast grad is in the group, including Erin Donohue, Rob Novak, Julie Culley, LBP and Max Smith.”

I had to like the call out…especially that the running community does recognize my LBP self-proclaimed nickname (although it wasn’t really self proclaimed, they are my initials and all). Here’s a link to the article that Walt Murphy put together with a roster line-up of our team: http://www.trackandfieldnews.com/index.php?option=com_content&id=290&Itemid=115

Practice on Friday had us all thinking of names for the group. Gags liked “No Money Track Club” and the boring—yet most likely actual name—“New York/New Jersey Track Club”…but Delilah had my personal favorite: “East Coast Enemies.” We would wear all black or gold and purple. My Jordan Brand headband wouldn’t seem out of place in the least.

Any suggested team names would be great. As always, Let’s Go!

State of the Union Address

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Coach, Members of the Training group, and the Family of the Runner:

I gather you all here tonight to speak not only to the great readers of this web-journal, but to speak frankly and directly to the running public.

And with that, begins my first State of the Union address from New York. Essentially every one of these blog posts is a state of the union type affair, but I am going to go over a few of the standards in my life with a report on each of them. An address like this can be expected every once in a while. Especially when I can’t think of anything else to write and can use this gimmick to get by.

Things are finally settling down in New York…as much as they can settle down in this city. I am getting into my routine and it’s nice to be on a schedule where I’m doing basically the same thing every day with a few new things mixed in here and there. What follows are the four topics that will be covered in every state of the union address:

- DIET: As you can tell from my tweets, I have a love of disgusting/awesome foods and I prefer to post pictures and mention putting it down my pants. Lately, the move to NY has halted my diet of fun-ness. A lack of funding has left me eating fairly healthily minus the odd Koronets run every once in a while. Currently, I am saving up for this in a call back to my REEESE’S nickname.

- MORALE: Currently morale is a mixed bag. I am waiting in the wings for my orthotics to come in. Sometimes people are afraid of getting orthotics, but two stress-fractures (the latest injury wasn’t quite a stress-fracture) in the same spot did enough convincing for me. Once they get in I’ll start up my running.

- IN SHAPE-NESS: aside from adding “ness” to a ton of words in this entry, my “in shape-ness” isn’t bad for not being able to actually run. Every day I spend an hour and a half on an elliptical machine. It is painstakingly boring, but I think it is pretty darn good for re-teaching yourself how to focus…I have imagined about a million possible race scenarios and what I would do in them the past 3 weeks. I also have listened to a lot of music.

- JAM OF THE MOMENT: indoor exercising can get boring. So there has been a lot of music listened to. In the search for the best exercise song ever I went through a lot of different options. From pop music to obvious ones, it took me listening to my top 50 songs of all time to really get jacked up on the elliptical machine: PEARL JAM – ALIVE

There you have it. The first runLBP State of the Union Address. Expect many more…or none at all if no one likes it. As always, Let’s Go!

Mad Man

HamDel...it's good to be back.

“You’re only as good as your last 800.” That’s what we used to say as part of the Columbia Mid-D Crew. I liked the sentiment. It didn’t matter if you were a 1:48 guy, if you were dropping 1:51s, then it wasn’t quite cutting it. Sure it was nice that you had the faster one under your belt, but you couldn’t rest on your laurels. Sadly for me, my last 800 the summer before my 5th year was a 1:57 rig-fest that was one of the worst things I had ever been a part of.

According to our maxim, for almost a full year I was a 1:57 guy. It was discouraging to say the least. Surprisingly it ended up being my best year. I split 1:46.00 and didn’t lose an 8 all year (in retrospect I should have run the 8 at NCAAs and tried to do some damage there). But those parentheses are the problem right there and the problem with Columbia’s Mid-D Rule in general. I’m not looking back at the past anymore (unless I’m looking at the 2007 Penn 4x8 to get myself jacked up).

This year, I am changing that motto. Instead: “You’re only as good as your next 800.” Play with it if you please and insert your event here, but that’s what it’s gonna be for the upcoming track career of yours truly…time to get going and run your ass off.

My last year at Georgetown was a little stale, and now that I’m up in NY, the intensity is back and it’s going to be a fun year. There are real goals now, and I’m ready to make some noise again. You can also look out for me in quite a few more 800s…time to turn myself back into a sprinter type. Boo. Yah.

The move to New York went smoothly. I am packed into a tiny room in an apartment with two assistant coaches at Columbia on 118th and Amsterdam. It’s nice to be close to Columbia and as a volunteer assistant coach I get to use the gym for cross training and stuff like that.

I started up working a part time job on Madison Avenue. It is exactly like the show “Mad Men.” Well, except for the whiskey drinking and the infidelity. Plus, I probably smoke more cigarettes than Don Draper, so that’s a plus (maybe not actually).

I am getting some orthotics, and as soon as they come in I’ll be up and running. It’s still a lot of time on the elliptical machine and in the pool, but I’m feeling pretty in shape so I won’t be too far behind once I get out on the roads, trails and tracks.

And in terms of housekeeping, sorry for taking a week off from the posting...because of it, there will be a Wednesday post with a recap and state of the season report.

Let’s Go!

The Humbling of a Middle Distance Runner

The bikes in Amsterdam...

Yesterday was the first time I had exercised outside in about 3 weeks. It was a crisp, autumn-esque morning in Bath, and I took my Dad’s road bike out for a spin. My foot feels great, but going to avoid running on it until I see the Doc once I get back to New York. Enjoying the fresh air compared to my now accustomed to chlorine tainted oxygen, I approached the corner of Chandler and Clark to take a left and head back towards my Dad’s house to finish up the ride.

At the same time, a biker with some serious gear was taking a right onto Clark coming from the opposite way on Chandler. I beat him to the turn and settled into my 15mph tempo that I had gotten so used to. Then disaster struck.

The dude BLEW by me. I thought about trying to go with him, and picked up the tempo for a moment, but when I looked up he was already 50 meters ahead of me and drifting further away every second. I shook my head in disgust and settled into my tempo trying to avoid looking up to see how terribly I was being beaten.

I need to stick to running.

After getting my ass kicked daily in the pool I was biking my own pace and thought I was doing pretty well until this joker rocked my world. It is a humbling thing to get beaten so soundly so many days a week. Especially to women who are clearly just better swimmers than I am. I tell myself I’m staying in shape, but I am getting antsy to getting out and running so I can show the weekend warriors what’s up. Man it sucks.

The one glimpse of light I’ve seen has been the improvement of my swimming. If I was 10-years-old I would have the Haslett Community Pool records from 25 to 200-meters. Boo. Yah.

Moving up to New York on the 12th…can’t wait. Let’s Go!

Brand Spanking New!

Falmouth right before dropping out. I am sitting behind my new training partner, Rob Novak...

New Month, New City, New Look. Same old idea. As you can see, some changes have been made to runLBP.com, hopefully for the better. It was starting to look a little cluttered on here and it was confusing with what was the blog—err, I mean web journal—and what wasn’t. So now, it should be pretty easy to navigate and the blog is all at the blogspot site just because it’s easier to post there even if I don’t have my computer. The first paragraph of each new post will be on the front page of the site, but you’ll have to head to the blog to read the rest…

There’s the house cleaning. Sadly, there isn’t much else to report. I am at home in Bath still and enjoying my time with nothing to do. Boredom is setting in, but that’s part of it. I found out at the end of the season that I had a stress reaction, so I have been in a boot and getting healthy. I probably could start running now, but we’re making sure that I get as healthy as possible before I start training so that I can go un-interrupted the next two years.

I am going to be living near Columbia U. in NY, but it is going to be a lot different than when I was at school. It will be a different experience, but I am looking forward to what’s ahead. But what that means for the frequenters of “runLBP.com” is that there will be a new arena for more LBPjams! Boo. Yah.

Coach Gags keeps emailing me telling me to be patient, and lord knows I am, but I am starting to get antsy, I want to get out there and run again. Soon enough, I know. For now it is the swimming pool and getting worked by the same girl every day who is a much better swimmer than I. I work my balls off to swim 25 meters in 30 seconds. It’s awful.

I’m getting there. Let’s Go!

Start Spreading The News

Embarrassingly enough, when driving around town or watching vh1, there are a few songs that I leave on to get the full listen. While I don’t call myself a Pop music aficionado, I do find myself bobbing my head to some catchy tunes. Recently in Pop music, there has been a trend of making a song for your city. Jay-Z started things off with the classy “Empire State of Mind” and things seemed to be going in the right direction. Then, Katy Perry decided to make a response to Jay-Z by putting out “California Gurls.” While catchy as can be, California Gurls as a response to Jay-Z would be like Blink-182 writing a response to Tupac back in the 90s. It just doesn’t work that way. Tupac’s “California Love” ranks as one of the best “city songs” of all time. However, some white guy back in the 80s tops the standings.

So through Sinatra’s song, I’d like to announce that I will be moving back to New York, New York to pursue my running career under famed coach, Frank Gagliano.

After meeting with Coach Gags, as he is referred to by most, I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to be coached by such a great mind. He has coached multiple Olympians and Team USA members, and I believe that he is my best chance to become exactly that.

I never thought that I would be moving back to New York unless I was done running, but Central Park and I have 2 more years left in us. I am going to be living near Columbia U. and will be living the life of a runner in the city that never sleeps.

I’m hoping the bright lights get brighter in 2011 and 2012, and I can’t wait to get out there and get training towards becoming the best middle distance runner that I can be.

Let’s Go!

Thanks to Dan Leyh for the pic...

Moving On

New York...

...or Michigan?

Falmouth was disappointing to say the least. The Friday shakeout for the Saturday race left my left foot feeling sore and flared up. I had a stress fracture on the 4th metatarsal of this foot as a senior at Columbia, so I have always been extremely careful with that area for the past 3 years. But I decided to ice it a bunch and figured that I could race one more mile on it and then call it a season. However, as soon as the spikes went on for the race on Saturday I knew I was in trouble.

The race had a money bonus if you got under 4, so the racers had decided to split up the pacing duties. I offered to take the first lap just for the chance that my foot wasn’t going to allow anymore. Turns out 600 meters was all that I would make it. The foot was getting worse so I decided to pull the plug, dropping out of a race for the first time since being a sophomore in high school trying to complete the 16, 8, 3200 double and not being ready for the heat and pace of the 2 mile. It’s not fun to drop out of a race, but hopefully I kept my foot from getting too bad. About to see a specialist to try to figure it all out as we speak.

The other big news in my little world is that I am leaving Washington, DC. I loved the city, loved the Georgetown team and really appreciated all that Coach Henner did for me both as a Georgetown runner and after. He has been an amazing coach and really will do anything for his athletes. However, we both decided that if I am going to run at the level that I want to, I needed a little bit more than a college coach.

I have narrowed down my choices to 2 different yet similar places/coaches/groups. I will either be moving back to my home state to train with Olympic Silver Medalist and his coach, Ron Warhurst, or will be moving back to New York City to train with Coach Gagliano. Both coaches are legends and really know how to coach middle distance runners.

I have been given a great opportunity and I am really excited about either group that I join. The next 2 years of my life are going to be all about running, and I am really looking forward to making a push towards my goal of making an Olympic Team (It is funny to say that out loud considering how long the odds are, but that’s the goal, and I’m going to make a run at it).

I was thinking of contacting ESPN to see if they wanted to show “The Decision Part II: LBP to Ann Arbor or NYC?” but I’m not sure they’re interested. Flotrack maybe?

Look out for the decision sometime this weekend or early next week….as always, Let’s Go!

Aunts and Trips

Halifax Track...Blue!

I think everyone has an Aunt Sue (I guess unless their Mom is Sue, then they have an Aunt Barb (I’m lucky enough to have both…boo yah, double parenthesis)). I bring this up, because this summer brought back a ton of my Aunt Sue memories.

I went on two long (there were plenty of other short ones that included her teaching us how to throw up on the tilt-a-whirl at Boblo Island and other amusement parks) trips with Aunt Sue. One was to Ireland and the other was to Nova Scotia.

On a kayaking/canoe trip in Ireland, Aunt Sue informed my brother and I that she had once been on a river excursion through Colorado with rock star Alice Cooper. On said trip, Cooper tried a backflip off a cliff and ended up with a serious concussion. Aunt Sue then stayed up with him to make sure he wouldn’t fall asleep. To this day I have no idea whether 0% or 100% of that story is true.

Then in Nova Scotia we found ourselves driving along some seriously steep cliffs along the ocean. Aunt Sue was a little afraid of heights. “LEAN!” she would yell at us as the rental van veered and steered along the curving road. Through the laughter, we would lean, as at that point we were 95% sure she was being serious.

The trips were a little different this year. When we were driving from the airport to Halifax for the race last Tuesday, I saw some cliffs near the ocean. I started chuckling. The other runners in the car with me looked at me. I almost told them to “LEAN!”
--
The race in Nova Scotia was an odd one. I won 300 Canadian bucks. However, I only ran 3:47. It was an odd race where I got out pretty hard and by 800-meters in I was in 2nd place and ahead by about 25-meters from 3rd. We were out pretty quick but then both the leader and I started to rig. The problem for me was that he rigged less.

I didn’t live a great week leading up to the race, and I think it finally caught up to me with 300 to go. Having slept in the Atlanta airport the Wednesday before and then moving out of my apartment and missing a day of training didn’t equal a great race. But 300 bones, what can you do?

I am hoping for one more race this year. Still waiting to hear back from a few people to see if I can get into one. As always, Let’s Go!

ps - the meet was the Aileen Meagher Invitational. It was about a Canadian sprinter who was an Olympian in the 30s. I was reading the bio of her beforehand and started cracking up at this sentence... “By 1932 she was part of the Canadian contingent at the Los Angeles Olympics. Unfortunately, a leg injury (charley horse) prevented her from competing.”
AHAH...now injuries aren’t funny, but charley horse?? Come on.

Ireland and Ryan Shay Mile Recaps

Finishing up the Ryan Shay Mile.

A lot has happened since I left Dublin. Almost all of it has gone unreported on runLBP. What follows will be a lengthy (extremely lengthy…save it for work on Monday) recap of the end of my European racing season, a recap of the Ryan Shay Mile race, and what to expect coming up. Please excuse the lack of cohesiveness to the post…it will be in a bulleted format.

• The Dublin race left a lot to be desired. It was nice to know that breaking 4 wasn’t a fluke as I was able to get under the barrier for the second time. However, I once again didn’t race the way I would have liked. I found myself mid-pack the entire way in a slower race. Thus my 57point last lap didn’t help as I was too far away from the real race to really take care of business. Bumbi was half a second ahead of me and felt similar to me as we both realized we couldn’t be that upset with our races but couldn’t be that happy either. We resolved the issue by listening to Rage Against The Machine…
• Speaking of music. My newest jam is straight Euro. Bumbi and I were loving it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTJSt4wP2ME
• Got the hell out of Ireland the morning after the race. It’s funny how I get to travel the world, but a lot of times I stay at an airport hotel and run at a track near said hotel. Needless to say, I didn’t get to see much of Dublin. I did, however, make it back to the good ol’ USA. Not without a hitch though. The Chicago airport failed to get my bag to the Detroit airport with me. Thankfully, due to forgetting this on the way to USAs and getting a stern talking to from Coach Henner, I had my flats in my carry on luggage. Thus, the lack of clothing/actual running shoes wasn’t as big of a deal leading up to Ryan Shay as one would think. And thankfully Will is the same size and had some running shorts I could wear. Oddly, I don’t think he followed my “bring two extra pairs of underwear rule” as I was relegated to one pair for most of the weekend up north. It was nice to be back on Michigan soil and racing for only the second time in my home state since high school. Also, my uncles cabin that he let us stay in is an amazing house on Lake Michigan. So we had a star treatment for the race.
• Ryan Shay Mile: the race itself was awesome. I was singlet-less and was almost forced to wear a way too tight women’s jersey that Christine brought along, but thankfully Rob Novak came through with an extra NYAC singlet. (Rob ended up taking 3rd in the race for a big what would be PR, but road miles don’t count officially.) It was a pretty cool experience. They announced us in front of the finish line crowd and then drove all of the competitors up to the start line in the back of a truck. Crammed next to the rest of the runners the drive seemed to be taking a really long time. I made eye contact with a Kenyan runner and nervously said: “damn, this seems like more than a mile.” He nervously laughed.
• There was an arbitrary start line and they sent us off with the blow of a horn. There was a $250 bounty for being the leader at the half-mile. Some people were serious about getting that cash money. I didn’t see the quarter mile mark, but we were supposedly through in 55 seconds. Approaching the ½, I looked up at the clock and saw 1:47…I was sitting on Jeff See’s shoulder at this point and somehow calmly said, “if that time is true we’re f!*#ed.” Rumor has it we were through in 1:53 and I was in around 6th place (it is also worth mentioning that one of the runners was clearly trying to get the $250 bounty because he dropped out before the half realizing he wasn’t going to get it).
• The next quarter things slowed down. I started to relax and realized that I had a shot at this thing. The runners ahead of me had gone out a little too hard and were starting to come back to me. I remained on See’s shoulder. With 400 to go there was a hill. I straight sprinted down it. Flattening out, I found myself right next to the leader and decided I might as well make a run for it. I probably went too soon. But when you go you gotta go…so I started rolling.
• The finish line seemed like a ways away, so I was charging and trying to avoid locking up. It didn’t quite work. With probably 100 to go, See went by me. I tried to find an extra gear, but probably wasted it on the downhill. I still fought hard and See only barely pulled away from me. I crossed the finish line in 2nd, with a 3:56 to my name and 500 bones in my bank account. And I was happy with how I raced. One of my mantras that Coach Wood passed on to me (and bear with the language, Coach Wood even said he doesn’t like to swear while telling us) is sometimes you just have to say, “F-word it.” Nothing is ever going to go perfectly, so you have to go out there and run. And that’s what I did that weekend. No luggage, no problem. Don’t feel good on the warm up? Who cares. Leading up to Penn last year, John Maloy told me that he didn’t feel that good. I looked at him, told him, “you don’t have to feel good to run fast,” then smacked his but and did a strider. He split 1:48 twice that weekend and was on a 7:16 4x8 team.
• Also…it was great to run in the Ryan Shay Mile. For those of you who don’t know, Ryan was a legend in Michigan running. He is the only person who has ever won 4 individual state cross country championships (he even won as a freshman!). I ran against his younger brother Stephan in high school (Stephan is also trying to pursue a running career right now…we don’t race much any more as he is more of a distance guy) and always had to bring my A-game if he was going to be around. Tragically, Ryan Shay died while running the 2008 Olympic Trials Marathon in Central Park. I was watching in the park that day and was shocked to hear of the terrible news. This was the 3rd year of the Ryan Shay Mile and they really put on a great race. The Shay parents were in attendance and it was great to be part of a race that remembers a great competitor like Ryan.
• Since the mile, life has been a little hectic. My flight back to DC was less than ideal as I ended up staying the night in the Atlanta airport. I then moved out of my DC house and don’t really know where I’m going to live. That will all figure itself out soon enough. I head to Nova Scotia on Monday for a Tuesday night 1500…I am extremely excited. The end of the season is approaching and last week wasn’t perfect. But you don’t have to feel good to run fast.

Let’s Go!

Dublin Track for the Morton Mile.

Climbing up the Sleeping Bear Dune.

Shay Mile Awards Stand

Beautiful Lake Michigan...

Quick Hiatus

Back in Michigan after a long day of travel. Don’t have my bags, but thanks to Coach Henner quietly yelling at Bumbi and I for not bringing our spikes carry on, I have some flats to race in tomorrow for Shay! It’s nice to be back, and I’m a little jet-lagged, but going to be ready to roll tomorrow.

The race in Dublin was alright, it’s hard to complain about a sub-4 mile, but was disappointed with the race. Still trying to get a big one, but sometimes you have to wait a long time for them. (Bumbi and I did spend some time listening to Rage Against the Machine after the race to get over it.)

For those of you have enjoyed the daily posts during July, I’m going to take a little break. I’m going to be up north and not check internet all weekend. I’ll post a recap of the entire trip sometime next week once I get back. Happy summer.

Let’s Go!

The Final Leg

Mmmm. Chocolates.

Made it to Dublin for the last leg of my European tour yesterday and now getting ready for the mile this evening. It is a pretty stacked field with 9 guys under four, so I’m pretty excited about what could go down. Overall, I’ve been pretty happy with the spacing of my races, although I wish one more could have been in between Brasschaat and this, but gotta role with the punches.

Staying at a Holiday Inn Express near the airport which is about a 5 minute walk from the track. It is a pretty Americanized hotel, so it’ll be a nice transition from here to home.

Last year leading up to the last race (which was in Brasschaat) I was ready to get the hell out of there and get back on American soil. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t excited about going home, but this year has gone by a lot quicker and I could definitely stick around for a few more races if there were any great ones. However, The Ryan Shay Mile is going to be way too much fun, so I want to get home for that anyways.

And I am running in Halifax, Nova Scotia on August 3rd to finish out the season. I’m entered in both the 8 and 15, and will probably find out a few days before what I’m actually running. It will be a nice way to end the season.

Lately, I have been reading books that I only really half read in middle/high school. Been getting through “To Kill A Mockingbird” lately, and Holy Sam Hill, that Scout is a pretty awesome little girl. I loved what Atticus had for his kids after Mrs. Dubose passed away: “It’s when you know you’re licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what. You rarely win, but sometimes you do.”

Right now, don’t have a link to the race...will post online tonight either here or on twitter how the race went. It’s 20.00 Ireland time...so 3pm for the East Coasters.

Go time this evening in Dublin! Let’s Go!

Adios Amsterdam!

Bumbi and I over a scenic canal (stolen straight from his blog...boo yah)

So first off, my apologies to those expecting an awesome new bball dunk. This wasn’t like a normal LBPjam in that the real things are actually athletic feats. I was a little disappointed with the fact that I’m not that good at soccer. However, even though LBPjams are fantastically amazing in an athletic sense, they are also meant to be fun, which is what I had when I was making the soccer jam.

But now I have to peace out on Amsterdam and head to Dublin for the Morton Mile tomorrow evening. It is looking like a pretty good field with 8 sub-4 guys, so should be pretty fun. Hopefully I’ll have internet in Dublin so I can give a few more posts from this side of the Atlantic.

Then I’ll be heading home to meet Kara Goucher in Michigan and head up north with the fam for the Ryan Shay Mile. Really looking forward to that one and hopefully can have a good race there even with some possible jet-lag setting in.

Then I’ll have only one more race to go with a trip to Nova Scotia for an 800 or a 1500 there to close out the season on August 3rd. Should be a nice little way to close things out.

Finally race tomorrow night, just got excited again! Let’s Go!

ps - leaving the LBPjam here because I haven’t been taking as many pictures lately seeing as I see the same things ever day.

Presenting: The Latest in LBPjams

Some beach soccer in the town square:

What would a trip be without a new edition of and LBPjam? While LBPjams became a hit this winter, I steered away from them in the spring after receiving messages from people like my cousin saying: “be careful.” However, you can’t contain the athlete within me, and I decided that a new edition of LBPjams was a highly necessary part of my 2010 European Racing Vacation. But, being in Amsterdam during a time when the Dutch were playing for the World Cup, I became inspired to do something with more worldwide appeal. So, I give you
“LBPjam10(euro)”.

The girls were gone in Finland this weekend (with some nice 4:10s for Maggie and a 4:11 for Liz proving her 4:09 was no fluke!). So I had plenty of down time. And while I didn’t injure myself, I did come close. And while I didn’t break anything in the house, I did come close. Not to worry, because instead I came out with a sweet LBPjam that I think you will all enjoy. There is even an awesome soundtrack and some video editing (albeit extremely poor editing, I wanted to get it up, so didn’t pull out too many fancy tricks that iVideo provide). As always, check the jams section of runLBP to see the vids after they have left the front page.

It is my last day in Amsterdam, and I have mixed feelings about it. Last year, I was ready to get the hell out of dodge and back to the good ol’ USofA. Now, I’m pretty excited about heading home, but I could stick around and run a few more races if I had to.

The mile in Dublin is shaping up to be a pretty good one, so I’m pretty excited about that. Then I’ll have to step up and deal with the jet-lag to be ready for the Ryan Shay Mile on Saturday, but I’m pumped about that as well and am going to run straight to Lake Michigan following the finish. Thank God for Northern Michigan in the summer.

Enjoy the jams…Let’s Go!

The Gouchers and Amsterdam Musings

Amsterdam...

It came to my attention recently that the Columbia Track Team adoringly called my brother, Will, Adam Goucher. For the non-runner out there, this is in reference to a running couple, the Gouchers (Adam and Kara), who are fairly prominent faces on the USA running circuit. The thing is, Kara is WAAYYYYY better than Adam. She’s a World Championship Bronze Medalist, an amazing marathoner, and, as it turns out, extremely good looking. Nothing against Adam, but Kara is definitely the bread winner in terms of being the better runner. As you can guess, Will was referred to as Adam Goucher due to Delilah being a legit runner. It’s not really fair because Will isn’t trying to be a professional runner, but I thought it a fairly funny nickname nonetheless. Then something terrible happened. I became an Adam Goucher as well.

My girlfriend was a pretty damn good runner, but then she had to go and place higher at NCAAs than I did the year before. I was watching the race in Indianapolis with my brother and Jeff Moriarty (Columbia’s runner who has taken all my school records). We watched nervously – me especially – as Christine rounded the turn and passed two runners to place 5th in the 800 at the National Championships. Pretty cool. I was pumped. Sent her the usual text. Then Moriarty called me Adam Goucher. It was like a knife in the heart.

Christine called and I forgot about it for a sec. Then she said this: “Wait a second…what place did you take at NCs last year?” as she realized that she had placed higher than me and laughed…Classic Kara, always rubbing it in.
--
Now just a few musings about Amsterdam…

1. There must be no problem with stage fright here. They have a lot of co-ed bathrooms and also have public urinals that are just out in the middle of the street. I am terrified of them.

2. The street names here are insane and when someone tells me to go towards one, I have no idea where to go. These are some of the street names: We are on Karthuizersstraat, next to us is Lijnbaansgracht, the Ann Frank Huis is on Prinsengracht, and I almost had an accident on Poopinmypantsinstraat. (ahahahaha. Elizabeth has told me I’m funny on more than one occasion on this trip. I always remind her that I’m trying really hard.)

That’s all for today. Had a nice workout with Bumbi and now relaxing on this nice Sunday evening. Last full day in Amsterdam tomorrow, I’ll have a treat on runLBP because of it…Let’s Go!

And for those of you holding your breath in anticipation...I did eat a Pizza Dog. It was awesome/awful all at once.

LBP Cribs

Short post today...but you get a movie to go along with it!

I didn’t get to edit the cribs of LBP Eurotrip, but check it out and you can see what the apartment looks like. Bumbi is coming up to visit today, and I’m supposed to meet him in like 15 minutes, so that’s why there’s not much going on for this post.

I did a little 4x800 workout tomorrow. There isn’t much of a point to do that much more working out...all the hay’s in the barn already. Now you just have to out there and give a good effort and hop something good comes out of it.

The only thing bumbi and I aren’t going to do today is hit up the red light district....NOT.

Alright, that’s all for now, maybe on some downtime later today there will be another post.

Race day getting closer, can’t wait!

Let’s Go!

There's Just Something About Those Shapes

Rocked my world...

“Dude, what the hell kind of art is this? It looks like a lizard puking up skittles.” – Tom Haverford, Parks and Recreation.

I used to be an artist. I even went to art camp in 5th grade (worst experience ever at Mystic Lake Camp…I tried walking the 3 miles to my Uncle’s Bass Lake cabin at one point as my cousin Joe looked on helplessly). I wasn’t that bad of a drawer (see FishMan.jpg). I even painted some things in my day.

As I grew older, I strayed from my artsy side. Not that I didn’t like artistic things, I just moved onto different genres within the art world. Instead of an art connoisseur, I consider myself to be an expert in television watching (not an ideal artform to my mom, the librarian).

HOWEVER, yesterday we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I was walking through, enjoying everything. I thought the paintings were pretty amazing, and Van Gogh was pretty crazy so it was interesting to read up on him. I was writing down some of the paintings I liked so that I could look them up. And then. It hit me.

Holy hell. I felt like those kids must have felt walking into Willy Wonka’s Factory. It was “Wheatfields Under Thunderclouds” (http://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/vgm/index.jsp?page=4596&collection=627〈=en). Those blues and greens were so rich and the clouds that were jumping out at me. Then that little splotch of red right in the middle of the field. I stared at that thing for at least 10 minutes straight. Looking. I set up shop front and center and gazed. I was entranced.

I started out with a Parks and Rec quote. This is because I felt like Tom Haverford when he had an emotional response to art for the first time. (check it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5l3C9zBGa0 ). He says, “There’s just something about those shapes!” I was thinking, “There’s just something about those clouds!”

I considered it a major breakthough in my art loving life. Then, I turned back into a Boylan and powered through the rest of the museum right to the café and got a hot coco to cure my low blood sugar and bad mood. But I keep thinking about that painting. It’s crazy.

Now I have to go do a workout, and I’ll probably think about that painting the rest of my time here. Good work Van Gogh. Now Let’s Go!