Where I Run (Florida edition)

I'm back from my Florida long weekend. The weather was absolutely perfect with highs in the 80's (F) with low humidity all five days I was there. I went to a couple of spring training games over the weekend, which was a lot of fun and, for the most part just relaxed and took it easy.

I did have a chance to get out and get some runs in as well. I was staying in a town called New Smyrna Beach, which is about 10 miles south of Daytona Beach. North of town, where the Indian River meets the Atlantic Ocean, (called Ponce Inlet) there is a park called Smyrna Dunes Park. This park has a 1.4 mile circular boardwalk where people go to get there walks and runs in. (The park also is a nesting ground for sea turtles which were out and about as I ran.)

I was able to get two runs in over the weekend. A 3 miler and a 4.2 miler. Running this just emphasized how out of shape I got over the winter and the work I need to put in to get back in 'racing form'.

One of the things I might try to do this year is post videos of places of where I run. This is my first attempt on this. Understand I am no Spielberg. (Especially when my thumb gets in the way of the camera. Unfortunately, there is no second takes to my videos.) Also, I'm using my video camera from my phone, so the quality might not be there. It was easy enough to use for a run.

In the coming months, I'm hoping to capture some footage of other areas where I run and also some races I'm doing. Races may be tough but I've deemed it a non-competitive year for me so there's more of a chance I'll allow myself the extra time to pull out the camera and get some footage. (Of course, I say that now in March. Just wait until I see Chief, Eric or another Blue Dawg in front of me. That camera ain't coming out then!)

So, to set the stage, below are four video clips (about 3 mins each, except clip 3 which is about a minute) of what it's like to run at Smyrna Dunes Park. Again, apologies as I know I had my thumb in the way in clips 3 and 4. (FYI. Be careful of watching this video if you get motion-sickness.)

While I was in Florida, I also had the opportunity to watch the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery. I have video of that launch where I saw it from my vantage point in New Smyrna Beach. I hope to have that posted later this week.

Any comments to the video would be much appreciated.

(Notes: The Bucks County 5k Spring series starts this weekend on Sunday, March 22. As most of the races in the spring are ones I have done before, I would like to bring back the race T-shirt exchange. The idea behind the race T-shirt exchange is to exchange shirts with me for upcoming races that you have done year after year and you don't necessarily 'need' that shirt anymore. So, send me an e-mail and let me know you are interested in exchange race shirts. Let me know the size of shirt you want and the address where I can send it. I will let you know my shirt size and my address of where you can send the shirt you got from your local race. As always, only non-worn shirts will be accepted. :-) )

The Interview

Thanks to Jennifer :-) at the Life is a gift. RUN. blog for these interview questions. Since you posed these questions to me over a week ago it gave me a good think. It was an interesting excerise to do.


1. When not running and blogging, what else do you like to do in your spare time?
Spare time? :-) I do like to travel. I like to experience new things so there have been very few places that I have gone back to for vacation. But, having said that, I like to travel to familar spots for long weekends like Boston or Florida. The one thing I like doing on vacation more than anything else is waking up and reading a newspaper and having a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. That, to me, is relaxing.
I used to be a more avid watcher of sports but not so much anymore. I'll follow sports but mostly can only keep up a conversation about baseball.
Still, after 20+ years of marriage, I like to hang out with my wife and play with our dogs. My dogs will absolutely crack me up sometimes.
I'm boring, aren't I?

2. What is your favorite race and favorite distance to race?
Do I have to pay attention to the verb here? What 'is' my favorite race? Or what 'was' my favorite race? What the heck. I'll answer both. What 'was' my favorite race was the 2006 Disney marathon for a variety of reasons. Leading up to that race, I was sent over to England (twice) for business. I had to do a 12 mile long run through central London and, a few weeks later, had to do a 16 mile long in the English countryside. But, the race itself was none other than I ever experienced. The course was set up well. The volunteers were wonderful. And, even though it was my second marathon, it was the first that I didn't finish limping in. If you ever did this marathon, you will wind up comparing this marathon to all others that you will ever do.

What 'is' my favorite race, year after year, is the Falmouth Road Race in August. I love the beach and the course is right along the water. It is a beautiful course to run. There are a lot of name runners that participate such as Frank Shorter, Joan Benoit, Bill Rogers and Catherine Ndereba and Deena Kastor from time to time that you get to meet and talk to. Interestingly, it is not a very good course for me. Though beautiful, there isn't a lot of shade and I have had some interesting times out there. Still, a great weekend when I can get up there.

Favorite distance? I've come to like the half marathon but I think, deep down, I'm still a sprinter so probably the 5k.

3. What is your greatest athletic moment? (Doesn't have to be running)
I thought and thought and thought about this. Not because there were so many, but because there were so few. :-) Let's just say that the one sport I lettered in high school was bowling (Which is true). The one I kept on thinking back on was the one I have few details on and have nothing to prove it ever happened. In grade school, I was the anchor of a sprint team (not sure of the distance) at an indoor meet at the Philadelphia Convention Center. I remember taking the baton and flying past someone who was in front of me and breaking the tape to win. We only won the heat, not the race, but it was the only time I remember breaking the tape. I've won championships with teams in volleyball, softball, basketball, etc. but I don't recall being 'the guy' that won the event for the team.

4. Have you learned anything about yourself since starting your blog?
I realized how much of my life is about riding on the coattails of Steve Runner. :-) I started writing this blog about 2 years ago. I promised myself, if I was going to do it, I would commit myself to it and post at least once a week. Barring vacations, I've been pretty good at doing it. I've also sort of fulfilled one of the things I wanted to be when I grew up and that was a columnist for a newspaper. I never pursued it because I didn't think I had the talent to maintain a living out of it. The other thing I find myself doing is looking at a situation and saying to myself, 'this would be a great post!' Or, looking at other blogs for ways to be more creative with my blog. I thought I would get tired of posting after a year but, surprised myself how much I continue to enjoy writing.

5. Since you gave up potato chips for Lent (brave soul) what is your replacement for their crispy, salty goodness? :-)
I would have a small bag of potato chips for lunch almost everyday at our cafeteria. And, I went cold turkey. I'll have the small bag of apple slices instead of the chips that went with the sandwich. And, it was tough for a few days. But, now it's not so bad. But, I also gave up snacking between meals. The snacks I eat are generally healthy. In the right amounts. I may have gone over the 'right amounts' from time to time. And, that has been more difficult. I haven't been great with this. But, it does make me think more seriously of what I eat.

To play along:

1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by emailing you five questions. (I get to pick the questions).
3. You will update your blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

(Notes: I'm off to Florida for a long weekend with my parents and catching some spring training games. I thought about doing a 10k when I was down there but, having gone out last Saturday on a 3 mile tempo run, I realized that I'm not in race shape yet. I got a LOT of work to do to get back into shape. I started playing with my new Garmin 405. It certainly not as noticeable to wear as the Garmin 101 is when you are running, which is a good thing. Also, picked up a pair of the Brooks Adrenline 9's today. So, if anything, my running might stink but I'll be stylish this year.
Last Friday, I was asked to give a speech to honor our fourth grade teacher who is retiring this year. Ours was the first class she ever taught. )
RIP--Tweety

Mother Nature's Sense of Humor

Whew! Thank goodness February is over. The first two months of 2009 has been a bit tough. Cold. snowy. Actually had to use my snowblower three times so far. Haven't done that in quite a few years. But, all that's over now. Because it's March! And the warm weather is coming. I just know it. As a matter of fact, I'm so confident that it's warm outside that I'm going to wear shorts and a short-sleeve shirt today for my run. I'll just tie my shoes up and I'm ready to head out the door. In. The. Snow.

Well, winter isn't quite over yet. I'm sitting here at my desk looking outside as the snow comes down. And down. And down. Predictions are for this area to get 6-12 inches of snow today. You can cross the 6 inches off your list, as we already hit that, and hope that it doesn't hit the 12 inch mark. I had to go out early this morning and shovel my yard. Yep. I have to shovel an area in the yard for the dogs. If we get 12 inches, well, I'm going to have to build a little tunneling system for them to get around.

Nonetheless, it was a productive week for me. I actually went out for a run on Wednesday! On Tuesday, I wasn't so sure I was going to be able to as I went to the doctor's to be told I had a sinus infection. So, I wind up living on anti-biotics and Mucinex-D for period of time. But, I felt good enough Wednesday afternoon and meet up with the Blue Dawgs and did a little over 4 miles.

Saturday, I went to the gym to cross train for about an hour and it felt great to get lost in a workout. And, Sunday, March the first, I decided this was the day to start training for my tri. So, I went for a swim. Or at least tried. Or, should I say, I swam but, boy, is that tiring! I was in the pool for twenty minutes. Freestyle. Breaststroke. And I ache. I purposely didn't try to push myself. All I wanted to do was to get some laps in. Oh, yeah. I got some laps in. But, geez, do I ache today.

I guess what I probably should do is to read up on how to get started. (Yes, typical guy's response to life. Start something and THEN read the instructions afterwards.) It was a bit discouraging to see someone next to me swim lap after lap after lap without stopping. As for me? About 4 laps straight and then catch my breath for a minute, breaststroke a lap, catch my breath, etc. After I got out of the pool, I was flat out tired. I got a long ways to go before July and the tri.

Still sore today but I got a new toy yesterday as well. So, it will be something to take my mind off my stiff muscles. I got a new Garmin 405. I haven't had a chance to take it out of the box yet. I have seen others wear one and it will be nice not to have a clock face halfway up your arm anymore. And, I'll be able to save my workouts on my computer which will nice to have around. Geez, maybe, I'll even start wearing it on my Wednesday runs and won't have to keep asking Eric or Melissa how many miles we've done? They'll appreciate that.

There goes a snowmobile up the road. Just 11 days away and I'll be in sunny Florida for a long weekend. Watching baseball. Eating a hot dog. Drinking a beer. Basking in the warm sunshine. In the meantime, excuse me as I tie up the laces of my snow boots and clear out the driveway.

Join Us At the Table (RRT Episode 18)

My stint as a guest on Runner's Roundtable was so successful that I have been asked to co-host from time to time on upcoming episodes. Or, to be more realistic, they needed people, even me, to help out once in awhile.

With that being said, please join Nicole, author of the blog Running Bébé , Mike, author of the blog Westy's Running , myself, and host Martin from the RunningRamblings podcast (currently on winter hiatus) on Tuesday night, February 24, 2009 at 9pm EST as we welcome Laura, author of the popular Frayed Laces blog to the Runner's Roundtable to talk about running and life in Hawaii, becoming a Marathon Maniac, and what it's like working with dolphins all day. (If you are wondering why SteveRunner isn't on the show, well, the powers that be wanted a witty and intelligent host as a change of pace, so they asked Martin to host instead.) It should be a great show and I look forward to participating. (Click on this link to join us live.)

Also, below is another video in the series, 'What are the Dogs Up To?' In this episode, Ellie Mae participates at the Rockland County Kennel Club Dog Show in Suffern, NY last Saturday. She was the only dog in her class, so won by default. Sadly, she didn't do much after that. Still, she looked like she had a lot of fun. (A friend of ours is showing her here).

(Notes: I'm feeling much better so I'm going to start running again. Last week, I had no energy but it is starting to pick up. As most of you know, it's still cold out but not as cold as before. Plus, more hours of sun in the afternoon, so it will give me more chances to go out for a 3-4 mile run before going home. Also, I'll be going to Best Buy sometime in the near future to get a Garmin watch. The blood is starting to flow again.)

February 25, 2009 Update: We stumbled out of the block last night, but, once we got the momentum going, the show went great. Click here if you want to listen to the Podcast or you can subscribe via iTunes.

The Buying of Tickets

It's not very often that I'll write a posting on a Friday but I'm a bit ticked off and want to vent.

As you may know, I am planning a trip from Philadelphia to Kansas City with stops in between to watch baseball games at various cities along the way. This trip is planned for the week of June 14. I knew the toughest ticket to get would be for a Cubs game as they are playing their crosstown rivals the White Sox during that time. The game, I was planning to go to, was either June 16 or 17. June 16 was my preferred date as it is a night game and was somewhat easier to get to. But, I would have settled for a day game on June 17 but a little bit tougher to get to as I would have had to leave Cincinnati early in the morning to make the afternoon game.

Well, today was the first day of single game tickets for Cubs home games at Wrigley Field. And, I was ready. I signed in a half hour before the tickets went on sale and waited in the internet waiting area. And waited. And waited. For three hours. Until the screen refreshed and told me that the tickets for the June 16 were sold out. 15 minutes later the tickets for the June 17 game were sold out. Errr.

Just for the heck of it I checked stubhub.com, which is the legal way to re-sell 'extra' tickets you have for a ballgame. So, for instance, Aunt Minnie came to visit you at the last minute and was going to stay with you for a month. Well, you have to sit at home and entertain Aunt Minnie during her visit so you can't make it to the game that you bought tickets for. You put the tickets on stubhub.com and try to sell your tickets because you don't want them to go to waste.

However, they shouldn't be allowed to appear minutes after the ticket booth opened this morning!!!!!! As of this writing, there are 671 tickets available in prices ranging from $78 to $1000 per ticket on stubhub.com for the June 16 game. Or 2 to 5 times the price of the face value of the ticket. So, people are buying tickets in order to sell them.

I'm sorry but I have a big problem with ticket resellers. For Christmas one year, my wife went to one and wound up paying $140 for two $20 seats for a Sixers game. The game wasn't even sold out. She didn't know any better because she doesn't usually buy tickets.

The only thing I will say about stubhub.com is that you are at least guaranteed there is a valid ticket waiting for you. If you ask me, this situation where, tickets are available minutes after the tickets go on sale officially, is highway robbery.

Always Blame a Sibling

It's my sister's fault, really. You see, when we went to the Temple-St. Joseph's college basketball game at the Palestra last Thursday, she asked me have I been sick anytime during the winter? Her and I have an unofficial contest of who is the first to get sick after Christmas. It normally happens that both of us will, at some point, it's just a matter of when.

I answered her confidentially, no, I have been able to dodge the bullet and feel pretty healthy. I think I'll be able to make it this year without coming down with a cold.

Naturally, the next day, when I was in a meeting, I felt a sore throat coming on. But, I was talking a lot in the meeting, so not too surprising. Come Saturday, the sniffles and sneezing started. And, then the body aches. By Sunday, I was laid up in bed. I'm just beginning to get a hint of feeling better. I do want to take the time to thank the company that makes the tissue product, Puff with lotion. It has saved me a great deal of irritation.

So, needless to say, I haven't been running except for last Wednesday night with the Blue Dawgs. Bit of a stop and start year so far. But, I am not worried. To paraphrase Rocky Raccoon, 'I'll get better, better, as soon as I am able.'

(Notes: Below are some pictures I took at the Palestra, one of the great venues to watch a college basketball game. It was a great game with Temple leading by 10 points with 54 seconds left and almost losing the game at the end. St. Joseph's were down by 2 points with 6 seconds left to go and the ball. But, the last shot was no good and Temple wins by 2.

Also, one of the things for me to look forward to is a long weekend in Florida in March. I won't have a chance to see any Phillies games, as they are based on the west coast but do plan on seeing some spring training games with the Braves and Nationals who are closer to the east coast, which is where I am going.)

Losing My Mojo

I've lost my edge. I've lost my focus. I've lost my desire. I've lost my gumption. I've lost my passion. In short, I've lost my mojo. And, I don't know where it went. (And, no, I don't think Dr. Evil is holding on to it.)

You see, I haven't felt energized to go out for a run for awhile now. I'm kind of just going through the motions at the moment. I'm bored running at the lake. I'm bored running by the river. I'm looking for new places to run but nothing is jumping out saying, 'run over here!'

Oh, I'm not too worried about it. I'm pretty sure it's a temporary thing. I think a lot has to do with the weather. You see, up until two years ago, I didn't really run in the winter. I would quit in November and not take it up again until mid-February to prepare myself for the Bucks County spring series. And, then I would participate in the spring series and my times would be crap and I'd kick myself for not continue to train in the off-season.

But, this year, the weather has been particularly cold. I haven't been too anxious to test my mettle. We've had little snow, but, what we did have, stayed around and made things icy.

And, I don't seem to have the competitive drive as years past. As I stated in an earlier blog, this year is about celebrating life and not breaking records. I want to stop and smell the Ben-Gay.

Besides, I'm sure a lot of people go through this but February is a particular bad month for me. I've learned this through the years that, in February, I keep my head down and try to plow on through without making any big life decisions. For example, after I graduated from college, I lived in a studio apartment in a town called Lynn, MA, right outside of Boston. I was working in radio but only making $10,000 a year and was struggling. I was offered a job in Philadelphia for three times that but not in the field that I studied for. Well, that winter in New England was a bad one. Snow storm after snow storm was hitting the area. I couldn't take it anymore, so in February of that year, I decided to quit radio and move back to Philadelphia and take the money. One of the worse mistakes I ever made and it took years to recover from it.

I also said, in an earlier blog, that I didn't have any resolutions this year. I think that's kind of hurts me. I'm goal-driven. And, right now, I don't have any short-term goals. Just things I would like to do later in the year.

So, how do I shake off the funk? Well, the snow melting this past weekend sure did help. I can see my lawn again (and the mud the dogs track in.) And, days are getting a bit longer. And, pitchers and catchers report to camp this weekend. Sure signs of spring. And, it won't be long before we get to daylight savings time again.

I think the best way to get back my mojo back is to run that first race. And, struggle. And, have Eric and Chief beat me. Soundly. And, despite what I say about enjoying life and not worrying about times that will be my wake up call. I also think shaking things up a bit this year is called for. Not sure what that means yet. But, it's February. Can't make that decision now, can I?

(Notes: Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers for my father. We received good news and he is cancer-free! He is doing a bit better every day. Again, I am very grateful for your kindness.)