Last Sunday & Thoughts of September

Sunday, 27 September 2009.

Now if I can just keep from being stupid, I'v gotten plenty of proof over the years stupid hurts.

In regards to Marathons; The training sucks for the second one as much as it does for the first!
Still modifing the training so it wasn't as intense as last year does make it feel less taxing in the long run. yet as it was this past Friday's 20.4 mile long training run sucked. My gluts were sore and my calves are still sore this morning. I am promising myself that this is the last marathon I will do. But I've been known to break a promise or two. So if I survive in good physical form through my 100th Birthday, maybe I'll don one then. Then clocking me in furlongs per fortnight might be a viable option.

This will be an easy training week as I am heading to Washington DC on Friday evening or Saturday morning to partake in the Army 10 Miler. It should prove to be an interesting run. I hope to finish at about one hour and fifty minutes. One hour fourty would be very nice and still I'll be satitsfied to complete the event in under two hours. But those are hopes and I shall see how well I've prepared on race day.

Autumn has struck and the temps are much cooler in the mornings now. Humidity is still farly high but drops off much faster as the mornings progress it seems. Still the cooler weather is a nice change from my late July, August and early September training sessions.

Last weekend I partook in two parades with the Stephen Driscoll Memorial Pipe Band, Fraternal Order of Police Lodge, 704. They exemplified my need for wider more comfortable walking shoes, which I had ordered. They arrived on monday morning after the parades (groan).

As for the past week itself, a few different things culmanating on Saturday. It was a matter of helping younger brother get his yard in order for the coming winter. Brush cutting, weed wacking, wood cutting for the barn's stove were on top of the agenda followed by assisting in remounting the plow on the rusting heap of a jeep. My youngest brother didn't ask me untill the last minute to house sit his geriatric dog untill late friday morning. I had to decline as I had already told my oldest brother that I'd be over on Saturday to help clean the chimney and stove at his place. There we actually got done in decent order. No unplaned toppling of chimney caps or replacement of bricks; This time it was planned to patch and replace those as needed. We even capped off the top with a coat of motar to protect the brick work from weather.

So for now my virus and malware sweep of the computer is complete, I'm consuming a bowl of soggy cheerios and wil be heading to the laundrymat a bit later this morning. Today shall be a good day.

September 3rd, 2009.

So what is new? Not too much and quite a bit.

Still training to run in the Marine Corps Marathon this year, My goals are just basicly to complete the run and finish as well as last year. if I finsih slightly faster that would be nice too. But I'm not going to push myself too hard. I 've finished a 18.6 mile training run on Friday the 28th of August leaving me with a 12 mile run for tomorrow, Friday the 4th of September. I did a 10.05 mile yesterday on the local hills around Putnam Lake, NY and New Fairfield, CT. Those had a few difficult climbs and descents of nearly 335 feet and grades near 4% and slightly better.

In addition to the Marine corps Marathon I also plan to run in the Army 10 miler about two weeks before that. Ant those two races will culminate my running plans for this year. Then anything afterwards is just gravy.

On the bad news, worse news and What the F' side of the dice.

My one Cousin is having a nasty bout with cancer, She's lost one lung and will under go a heavy dose of chemotherapy. Still she is a strong willed person and will push to make a recovery. I told her sister that if they need a hand to feel free to give me a call. Its no problem to drive to Northern Virginia and assist.

I almost amputated the tip of my middle finger on my left hand two & a half weeks ago. The finger is healing nicely but its still tender around the scaring.

Finally i'm waiting to hear back from Team Guinan, There is the standing offer to drive for them and I've heard nothing back as of yet. Still Its on top of perspective actions for the September 11th Memorial Weekend, second on the list is Piping with the F.O.P. at the Putnam County Memorial Services.

I'm still waiting for my running shoes and black sneakers I've ordered from Frank's Shoe Fitting. The old runing shoes are about shot and I do need new running shoes at least one for the long training runs and one for the marathon proper.

As for Today, September 3rd. I'm meeting with a good friend from the Army Reserve Center for lunch. German or Hungarian will be nice But I'm up for Bar-B-Que as well. Then this afternoon I'll look to get a 3 to 4 mile run in.

I've still got my sailboat and motorcycles up for sale. sofar no takers and I'll try a few different tacks, Craigs list and a note at the Beacon Sloop Club. I'd like to get a new motorcycle but I can't see keeping what I've got in addition to a third. It just doesn't make sense. Plus selling the small sail boat would allow me to get a smaller dinghy which I could use as a sailboat, rowboat or small power boat with the proper sized outboard motor. That and instead of needing to trailer it, I could use the roof racks to transport it, but untill I sell the 15 foot microcruiser its just a pipe dream.

In the I'm gonna be an ass department, i'm so fed up with the local discourteous drivers I've decided to take my cue from them. Simple things like staying at the speed limit, not tailgating, not allowing people to pass in a no passing zone by putting my van to the extreme left of my lane so they can't peer about me. If they are late it isn't my problem they can leave 15 minutes to a half hour earlier for their travels and appointments. As it was i allowed 2 hours travel to the VA hospital for removal of my stitches last week and arrived on time due to the asshats playing drive fast to the begining of a construction zone and forcing the merge thus slowing down traffic overall. Rather than merging in early and smoothly.

Yeah I'm a monster but the asshats created my mind set and attitude.

Well that covers this for now. Summer this year was lousy at best, the Fire Department Reunion was nearly a washout due to rains, and nearly every weekend it has rained. Still September has proven to be a respite from the heat and humidity of August. The first few morning s of September have been in the upper 40's with 100% humidity as opposed to the upper 60's and lower 70's with 95%+ humidity. 48 degrees with 100% humidity is nicer to run in than 60 degrees & 100% humidity.

Ok everyone stay safe & keep the greasy side down.