Good morning, good people. Hope you've got a nice weekend on tap.
Dave--we all knew they had no business being the playoffs. That's why they were sellers at the trade deadline and are fielding a team that's 1/3 minor leaguers. But that's what made the improbable playoff push so much fun to watch! Alas, no miracle finish, so vacations will be able to proceed as scheduled.
Erika--every place is a trade-off, I always say. You're welcome to crash down here in the winter, if I can crash up there during the summer.
Steve--sorry to hear about your cousin. The older we get, the more common those stories become.
I skipped my planned ride yesterday due to crazy winds. It had that ominous impending-tropical-storm feeling but winds never got beyond 40-ish mph; still ridiculous to ride in, especially along open water. Today's winds are half that strong with a little cooler temps, which made for good running weather. After a couple of clunkers this week, I finally had a comfortable, decent 5-mile run.
NCAA hockey finals tonight. Go Eagles!
P.S. I'm not a fan of the medal change. You?
Be safe. Be kind.
Good morning Tramps and all who follow!!Nope - not a fan either!! Guess we won't be able to forget the sponsor!! The expo wasn't so great either!!
Ran 10.6 miles with the SS crew this morning. Unfortunately I took a spill at mile 6.6 () and messed up my elbow pretty good!! I can bend and move it, but it looks like the size of a golf ball sticking out!! My girl gang was great cleaning off the scrape and bandaging me up then we continued on at a slower pace. Some broke off the route to do 8 miles, but I felt good enough to stick with the 10 mile group. I had done a half mile before we started to get in a little warm-up too.
Oh well - hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday!!
denise
Good morning Tramps, Deez and everyone out doing stuff. Thanks for the start Tramps. I'm glad you had a good run this morning. It sounds like the wind that's been such a hassle here has reached your world too. Today was the first day that it was reasonably calm. Nope. Not a fan of the "new look" on the medal. The black made such a statement. Why do people always have to tweak things in an attempt to make them better?
Yikes Deez! I hope that elbow is just sore the next couple of days and nothing worse. You were a trooper to finish the 10 miles.
Erika - maybe just rent an air B&B somewhere for a couple of months during the winter? I understand your commitment to your mom and dad, and you definitely want to live close to Riley!
So, one of the local news stations here does a segment called "Small Towns" and this week's feature was on a young guy who has made it to the national race-walking championship in San Diego. He's 24 years old, puts in over 100 miles a week during "training season" and around 70 in the off season. He race-walks 7 days a week. His "easy" speed is an 8 minute mile. His race speed is a 6:55 minute mile. Wait. Are you kidding me right now?!! They had video of him and he was so smooth and fluid! His name is Jordan Crawford. Jay - have you ever heard of him? He just moved to the Fox Valley a little south of here for his job. An unbelievable pace!
6.75 run/walk miles this morning. IRC with 40 degrees and no wind, and a clear blue sky. I did the trail next to the Fox River, which was filled with boats of people walleye fishing. Ummm...not that warm yet!
I see the Golden Bachelor and his wife of 3 months are getting a divorce. Big surprise there, right?
Have a great Saturday everyone.
Mornin' Masters.
Thanks for the start, Tramps. I'm glad you got in a good, clunkerless run this morning. I'm also not a fan of the new Boston medal, but I suppose that BoA is contributing enough money that they can get away with saying they want to be on the medal. John Hancock was the lead sponsor for years and never asked for that.
Good run this morning, Deeze, but I'm sorry about the fall. I'm glad your girl gang was there to help you get cleaned up and to keep you company on the rest of your run. Where will you be stationed at the Marathon on Monday?
Nice 6.75 miles in IRC, Jlynne. I've heard of Jordan Crawford, but don't know a lot about him. Even with his amazing speed, he finished 4th at the 20K US Olympic Trials in CA last month, a little over a minute behind the winner.
Surly Bill, similar to you, before I had my torn meniscus diagnosed last Fall, I could racewalk pretty comfortably, but just walking was noticeably more painful. Wishing a good outcome for you, whatever you're dealing with.
Too many meetings, negotiations, and document reviews last week, but we got through it. Of course, there is more to be done on many of the issues and our Exec. Director is going on vacation, so next week will be fun too. The highlight of the week was being able to sit in on two "Lunch With A Scientist" days that we set up at a local middle school to give 8th graders a chance to hear from and ask question of people in different professions, ranging from the founder of an oyster farm in our estuary to two PhD students at UNH, a wildlife habitat specialist and several others. The Curriculum Director at the school was emotional when she talked about how well the program was going, and how involved all the participating students were.
I slept in a little this morning, and was out by about 5:10 for 11.3 RW miles, most of which was along the coast so I could watch the sunrise as I went along. It was so nice to see some sun, after all the cloudy and rainy days we've had recently. I did some necessary stretching when I got back, and am heading out for some yard work until it is time to head our for dinner with some neighbors this evening.
Have a greta Saturday.
Jay
Without ice cream there would be darkness and chaos.
Tramps - thx for the start.
also, not a fan of the medal. BoA did say they wouldn’t change the name of Boston Marathon to BoA Boston as they did for Chicago. Signs on the street don’t mention BoA although they put big banners in their windows a couple of months ago.
short walk this morning, with more later.
have a great w/e
marj
Carolyn
I ran a sproinky 5 miles this morning around the neighborhood. This afternoon I'm flying out to Las Vegas to meet up with DH, who has been on a solo road trip in our sprinter van. He's been out at Joshua Tree National Park in CA doing some climbing, and he's headed slowly toward home, since he has a couple of doctor appts in early May. Neither of us likes Vegas but it was a cheap place to fly to to meet him!
I don't like the new medal, either, especially the sponsor's name on there. Do we have any masters running Boston this year?
Deez, bummer about the fall and banged up elbow!
Jay, that lunch with a scientist program at the middle school sounds great!
I hammered down the trail, passing rocks and trees like they were standing still.
Hey folks!
As I was getting dressed and ready for my normal Saturday run I decided to skip my lonely run around Huntington and head to Charleston for Parkrun. 50°, sunny, and windy. I gave it a medium effort. It was just fun to be around other runners.
29:57 - 9:44, 9:24, 9:36, 1:11.
17 of 73 overall
13 of 35 male
2 of 4 male 65-69
I'm relaxing at home watching a live feed on YouTube of a race called "Gorge Waterfall 100k". The people covering the race seem to be having a lot of fun. Right now they are showing folks at an aid station at 33 miles..Occasionally they will have someone follow the lead runners while holding a camera. And the occasional view from a drone.
Tramps - The Caps aren't out of it yet.
The medal could become a collectors' item if Bank of America goes away. My Chicago Marathon medal says "LaSalle Bank" which doesn't exist anymore. (I think Bank of America acquired them.)
Jay - I'll be at Mile 22 with the Sole Sisters handing out the Maurten gels again. I loved the start line, but I actually love this spot even more - the only bad thing is I don't get to see you that day!!
Thanks, Tramps. Deez- boo on the fall. Welcome to my world. I hope your elbow is mainly OK.
10K race for me this morning, which yielded my usual intense pre-race dread. I hardly slept. Would be nice to solve that problem. It's a popular and good event (Purity Moosic City Dairy Dash). They have 5K, 10K and 15K. It's flat- I mean REALLY flat. I was a minute slower than last year, but ran well and evenly with a 1:02:25. Last two miles were the fastest. I raced hard and it hurt. Won 3rd Grand Masters, which is very unusual for a 71 year old since Grand Masters is 50 and over. First in my age group. I've outlasted everyone, I guess. It was a beautiful day- 50 at my start and sunny. No wind. Some of us went out to Dunkin for coffee/donuts afterwards, which was fun. They have great post race food- mac and cheese, ice cream, bananas etc. My 5K split was a minute faster than last week's 5K (which wasn't flat and had lots of turns, but still.....)
My Apple watch died- I've having real battery issues with it and I've tried all the fixes. Garmin was a trooper, as always, so no huge problem.
Out there running since dinosaurs roamed the earth
MM#209 / JapanJoyful#803
Tramps - whoops. Maybe so many sponsor logs on everything out here in the PNW that I had a hard time figuring out how the Boston ones were so different but, at least, the B/A sponsorship acknowledgment isn't as big as the BAA's. I never thought about it much before but the John Hancock connection to the BM has always been it's the building you can see as you finally approach the finish.
ps - is the unicorn the John Hancock mark?
Speaking of sponsor logos, the back of the Seattle Marathon shirts used to be so full of 10 or 12 of them that they were worthless to wear as identifiers during travels on morning runs around the Imperial Palace, Vancouver Seawall, Point Loma, etc., . . . until one of the slower local runners mentioned it to them and the "Seattle Marathon" on the back could generate comments on Seattle, the Seattle Marathon, etc. as the faster runners with Seattle connections or interest stream by him on his travels. In this regard, my Tokyo Marathon drawstring packsack from 2014 got a huge yell out while I was walking on the way to the US Post Office to mail in this year's tax return early without any extension to finally get around to it for the first time in years and years. Nothing like being able to spot King Henry in Seattle right away in his Boston Marathon jacket. Like the annual recognition of connsecutive streakers, they should have an annual recognition for the locals whose runnings go back the farthest to the sixties, etc.
Jeane - the toughest part of the Yakima River Canyon Marathon for a guy who thought there was nothing better to do with his life was fishing and fish was the Spring fly fishing for rainbow trout we could see going on along the way.
Dave - I always needed to incentive of local races instead of training on my own. However, you don't have to run so fast, you know.
Jay - the school's science program gives me hope there's hope, after all. Thanks
ps - let me know if any jobs for oyster tasters.
KSA - speaking of schools, NPR reports that Vanderbilt University's $98,425/year tuition for the upcoming school year is the closest to $100,000, . . . so far. With their good medical school, though, I guess it's well worth it.
ps - love your perspective on races, even after all these years. Come to think of it, I guess mine hasn't changed either.
Surly - nice knee. Good luck on avoiding surgery at all costs.
High hazies supposed to be clearing off again enough to let the temps reach into the sixties for probably the second time since last October or so. However, gloves and cold hands beneath at 43F when I got on the rental e-bike to the lakeside hillside park made it almost impossible to unclick the tiny strap on the bike helmet. I wonder if those people who make similarly tiny zippers for outdoor wear ever bother to go outside to try them.
"Enjoy yourself. Your younger days never come again." 100yo T. Igarashi to me in geta at top of Mt. Fuji (8/2/87)
Howdy..........
thousands of crazed middle school soccer players out today
Luckily
I knew one of the fields that goes underwater and is too squishy to play on
..........50-min squishy soccerfield..............trailboots, 2-lb handwgts
..nothing takes the place of persistence.....
Checking to see if there are any of Stumpy’s cookies left on the plate?
Great racing, KSA!
I have a stupid bug. First time I’ve been sick since 2019. Bleah. No running for me this week.
Trails are hard!
Greetings!
sorry, Econo. The speech therapy students finished them off!
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
I think we ALL need an RA meet up. The Redwoods was such a fun get together.
I posie hut is always here for any RA family, come as you are, stay as long as you want, you will always be sharished here
6 miles today up in the canyon to enjoy the sunflowers and orchards in bloom.
Remember friends, every mile is a gift.
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
Hi Masters! Been away from the daily for a while due to schedule overload - all good - but not away from the gym or the pool and have been lurking. Saturday I participated in my first swim meet since last June's Empire State Senior Games. It was probably the most fun I've had at a meet, ever, including when I was 10-year-old kid and got my first taste of invitational meets. It was the Skidmore College Spring Fling in Saratoga Springs, New York. The meet organizer is the head coach of the college swim team, and this was its third year and it seems to be growing. The competition in my age group made it interesting since there were guys I've never swum with before who were very fast and swam similar times to the 25 to 30-year old guys. I didn't notice if there were speedy women too - it was just fun to watch guys in their early to late 50's swimming right alongside men half our ages in the fast heat of many events. There was a lot of down time and I spent time talking to a guy wearing what I assumed was a college swimming shirt of his, though it could have been his child's college's shirt - I didn't ask - but this was definitely more of a crowd of former college swimmers and not people like me who got back in the pool in their 50's, then thought, I wonder if I can enter Masters Meets now that I have times that won't embarrass me. I swam in three events and scratched from a fourth - the 200 yard backstroke. I swam personal bests in the 100 yard backstroke and the 100 yard freestyle, and missed my personal best in the 100 breaststroke by 0.2 seconds. But I walked away very satisfied with the PR in the 100 free because I had set the PR of 1:10.25 in the same meet last year, and have wanted to break through 1:10.00 ever since. If I remember it correctly, the electronic timing was 1:09.41. As long as I had gotten 1:09.99 I would have been happy. The reason I scratched from the 200 backstroke was that the two were events 18 and 20 and there was only one heat of event 19, so I would have been trashed still for the free. I have a PR of 3:00.10 in the 200 backstroke and I'll save busting through 3:00 for another day. One of the coordinators of the local masters organization was there and is always encouraging to me. She mentioned that I'm the only person she knows who is still getting time drops in any of my events. I told her that's the benefit of starting competitive swimming in your middle 50's. Another excellent swimmer that I spoke to asked to what I attributed my improvements of late, whiter it was the turns or speed work or technique, and I told him I think it's the strength training. I'm actually 5 to 10 pounds heavier than I was a year ago, and of late I have cut my weekly distances back from a 12,000 to 15,000 yards per week range to probably half of that.
DW got back from her Mom's after a relatively short three day stay and brought barbecued chicken from our favorite place that's at the midway point between her Mom's place and here. DD came over to help us eat some, and she brought Magdalena who was an absolute joy to be around until her over-tiredness became evident. She's now 6 months old and doesn't like to take naps, and even I couldn't get her to go down for a nap.
Oh, and I started and finished my taxes yesterday between the time I got back from the meet and when DW arrived with the chicken. So much easier now that DW is working taking care of her Mom instead of working one job at the retirement home for nuns and another pastime job to boot. She' also volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, and has taken over the seasonal decor ministry at our church.
I'll try to pop in more in the next few weeks, but my hands remain really full.
BTY