Friday, June 09, 2006

Staking my Claim

Happy Friday to all my work-a-week friends. This has been a long, dreary week filled to the brim with a lack of motivation and lots of running. You may ask yourself "Self, how can something be filled to the brim with a lack of something?", to which I will answer with "Just read the damn thing and don't analyze it."

Last night was the Thursday Night Run at Kennedy Park. I'm finally starting to feel like a regular. Some of those people have been running together for years, and it's tough for me to join up with a group like that no matter how nice they may be. I don't have the history so I try to work my way in slowly. Going out afterwards certainly helps because it gives me a chance to work my magic on folks. Plus the cute Polish girl (CPG) usually goes out when she runs, so that's a real added benefit.

After running 7 miles of roads with a few killer hills (okay, just one killer hill) on Wednesday, I was afraid I'd be really slow last night. I started off okay and figured I'd let the fast guys get up ahead and I'd hang back with the either the middle or slowest bunch for an easy cruise. Then I got to chatting with CPG so I had to keep up with her pace. I was huffing and puffing - not complaining - the whole time. At the end we finished in just under 47 minutes. My previous ass-busting record was 52 minutes, and before that was 56. It's funny what a little motivation will do. Of course, CPG claimed it was "an okay run" meaning she either held back for me or felt like 47 minutes was too slow and was pretending like she could have done better. It was wicked muddy and slippery so I wouldn't have been comfortable going much faster. Any way you look at it, I've shaved 9 minutes off of a 5-6 mile run and a girl talked to me. WHAT!

At one point, one guy came running up from behind and from seemingly out of nowhere. It turns out he was just watering the trees. He was talking about how his ankle was healing after an injury and how he had gone to see Bob Lee. I had heard of this Bob Lee character before and figured he was a therapist or something. It turns out that Bob Lee is also Dr. Robert Lee, my doctor. It's good to know I have something in common with my Dr. I haven't met him yet - he's really just my doctor on paper - but I'll be sure to play up the running angle with him when I do meet him. Sweet!

Okay, so I talked an awful lot about running. Sorry, it's what I do and I'm a junkie for it. I can tell you that the chicken parm sandwich I had at Cim's Pub was delicious and the chips and pickle that came with it were fantastic. I'm gonna add that place to my Approved Dining Establishment List. The service was a little slow since it's more of a bar than a restaurant but, like I said before, the company was good.

Oh, one last thing. What's the deal with the depressing programming on TV lately? It seemed like every channel I hit was either showing something about divorces, drug addicts or Waiting to Exhale. Is it too much to ask for some comedy? Dag! Plus my back is sore from lifting those concrete bags incorrectly. Oops.

Oh, another last thing. One woman at the run last night was talking about her annual run up Mount Greylock. It's 8 miles up, some quick celebrating at the top, then 8 miles back down. At this point I'm sure I can handle the 8 miles up, but downhill beats the shit out of me. She usually runs it herself, but this year she's looking for company. I have about a month to get into shape for that but I think it would be a good time. I'm looking for sponsorship if anyone's interested in sending me money for apparel or even a bottle of water. 16 miles would certainly require better gear. 6-7 miles isn't a big deal, but once you get much beyond that you really start getting into problems with chafing. Plus I could use one of those belts that holds a water bottle and some energy goo. I'm picky about my gear, so please just send cash.

That's it.

Over and Out,
Old Coot

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"Something inside of me just said 'Hey, wait a minute, I want to beat him.' and I just took off." -Pre