Layin' Low

The sight of me in my Dad’s house is nothing special. I plop down on the couch in front of the tv and set up shop for hours at a time. Meanwhile, my Dad goes in and out the front door doing lawn work, car work, or just relaxing in the garage so he doesn’t have to listen to the vh1 show I’m watching. One time around Christmas ’08, my Dad was walking out with a steaming cup of coffee in his hand.

He took a sip on the fly said, “Gaahh,” and smacked his lips approvingly. “That’s a good cup’a joe, Lee.” I peered up over the couch at him. “It’s too bad you don’t drink coffee.”

I groggily responded, “Well, I actually do now.”

He stopped in his tracks, “Well shoot,” he looked down at his mug. “It’s actually not that good.”
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I have drank a lot of coffee on this trip. I think it is because there isn’t much else to do. Yesterday I had a pancake (crepe) and a cappuccino while relaxing around before my mini-workout. Both were delicious, and I’ve decided I’m going to head back a few more times to make it my regular stomping ground. Hopefully they like me by the end even though I’m not that great at talking to wait-staff in normal conversation.

Was able to do some strides at the track yesterday – 3 sets of 50-100-150 at 15 second 100 pace, then 14.5, then 13.5 for the last set. Do that kind of stuff just to keep the legs fresh and ready to move on Sunday for the race. It has been hot in Amsterdam (no, not comparable to the East Coast right now) so I jumped into one of the Amsterdam Canals after my run. I wouldn’t have done it, but a bunch of little kids were jumping in, so I decided to join in on the fun. It saved my day after the longest and hottest tram ride to the track ever.

Finally race day tomorrow…Let’s Go!

Bikes everywhere!

Spinach For Strength

A young Liam was a fairly odd fellow. Rarely was I actually just a young Liam, but I instead found myself in character at nearly all times of the day. For a time it was Tigger from “Winnie the Pooh”, then it was Leonardo, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Rafael from “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (with corresponding blue, purple, orange, and red arm, wrist, and headbands to go along). For a while I wore a belt so that I could hold swords and daggers and knives and guns on my person at all times. Then a coonskin hat sat atop my head so I could be Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. All of this was fine and dandy, but then I got into Popeye.

I’d squint one eye, curl my lip around a cork pipe, stuff spinach through the small opening in my mouth, and sing: “I’m Popeye the sailor man/I’m Popeye the sailor man/I’m strong to the fin-ich/Cause I eats me spinach/I’m Popeye the sailor man!” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZ9SYgTk_hY for reference.)

The looks my Mom got on the street were less than encouraging. But she provided the pipe, and I ate A LOT of spinach, so my iron levels were fine, and life was good.

Sadly, I wont be going to the pictured Popeye Coffee Shop in Amsterdam. It turns out, we are looking for cafés if we want some coffee, which seems a little backwards to me.

The workout on Tuesday ended up being a pretty good one. Ran 2x800 in 2:25 (meant to run 2:30) and then ran 2x4-3-2…going 65 pace the first set and then 58 pace the second set (although I ran a 55 in there and it felt really good to move pretty easily through that). It’s fun running at an Olympic Stadium, especially one from 1928.

We’re about to do some museum sightseeing today...looking forward to it.

Let’s Go!

The sites in Amsterdam

Our coffee maker to avoid the Coffee Shops.