Where I run (Florida)

I did this one other time but used by cell phone and RAN when I took the video.  The feedback was, THIS SUCKS, or words similar to that.  So, when I was down in Florida running through Smyrna Dunes Park, I took another shot at this to capture where I run when I am down there.

I didn't want to speak over the audio and video to try to capture what it's like to run through this park with the waves crashing in the background.  I start the video on Ponce Inlet Lighthouse, across the Indian River, pan right to see Daytona Beach 10 miles north and then dolly back (sort of) to see the whole park.  I do a 360 of my surroundings and you can see the boardwalk that goes through the park that you run on.  The boardwalk is approximately 1 1/2 miles. 

At the end, you will see a white round dome, which is a NASA tracking station.  Seriously, pretty cool stuff.

Enjoy!!!

A Good Sweat

I'm sitting here at the Daytona Beach (Florida) International Airport, in the shadows of the Daytona Speedway, waiting for my plane to take me back to Pennsylvania, so I thought I would share some thoughts.

I had a chance to run about three times down here on the boardwalk that runs through the Smyrna Dunes Park.  The boardwalk goes through a turtle nesting ground area and is about a mile and half long hugging along the ocean.  It's one of the my favorite places to run here or anywhere.  But, it does take some getting used to.

My first run was 3 miles and I was dying.  It is soooo hot when there is no breeze off the ocean and the sun is beating down on you.  The second time I went out, I did 3.7.  Juuuuuust a little bit longer.  And, finally, on the third run, I figured out there is a right way to run the boardwalk.  If you go counter-clockwise you get to see more of the ocean, Daytona Beach in the distance and the Ponce Inlet Lighthouse.  But, more important, you get a real nice breeze and the sun is behind you when you are finishing up when the breeze is still. 

So the third time out, I did 4 miles.  And, each time, I was drenched in sweat.  You know the kind.  The kind when, even when you take a shower afterwards, you are still sweating.  At the end of the run, my legs were wobbling, my clothes were drenched, I was hotter than hotter could be but, after I got some water, I felt like I accomplished something.  And, I couldn't wait to run it again the next day. 

For some reason, a run is different, in me, in Florida than it is in Pennsylvania.  If I ran in the same conditions at home, I would be complaining.  But, here, I was loving it.

I would much rather run in Florida in the hot and humid than Pennsylvania in the cold.  It just feels better. 

Slowly but Surely

I ran 6 miles yesterday. I ran 4 miles Tuesday. This is a big fat deal for me.

All this year, I have said, 'I'm coming back. Yup. Any day now. I'll be right on the road.' Only not to do so. I have been fine. But there has been some family health issues that I have been dealing with that have zapped my time and energy in dealing with. It has taken an emotional toll on me and running (or exercising) were not tops of my priority list. But, I've said this before and I apologize for doing so again.

But....

Like others I have used food as a substitute for exercise. I looked at life and said, it's too short to not enjoy and I enjoy all kinds of fattening food so why not? Why the f*** not? '

I am now 10 pounds over my normal running weight. I always prided myself for being roughly the same weight as I was when I got married 21 1/2 years ago. Not right now. And, in truth, in some odd way, I had to gain that weight to snap me out of my exercise funk.

What I found, when I have been getting back into running, was the difficulty getting over the mental aspect of it. I would only go a few miles, look ahead over the next 500 yards or so and decide that it's just too hard and start walking. I could not bear down and plow through. Until last Tuesday...

Last Tuesday, I went out on a run on Kelly Drive in Philadelphia. I ran two miles out, turned around, and headed back to my car. For the past few weeks, I would look down Kelly Drive towards Center City and it looked like a looooooooooong way to go, convincing myself I didn't have the stamina. Tuesday, when I did the turnaround, I looked right instead of left and focused on the Philadelphia skyline. Joe, I said, you are going to do this. There is no reason you need to stop. I didn't think of the pain. I started to think of anything and everything else and wanted to enjoy the day.

After the run was over, I felt good. Real good. I felt I had broken a barrier that was keeping me back. And, it was my own doing.

So, slowly but surely, I am coming back to myself I have come to know over the past few years. My biking (did I tell you I got a new bike? White Lightning I call it) has picked up and am challenging myself more. Swimming has been spotty but still getting out when I can. And, I am eyeing either the Moyer & Sons 5k in Souderton, PA on July 5 or Phil's Tavern 5k in Blue Bell, PA on July 14 as my first race of the year.

My problems have not gone away. I'm still dealing with them. But, I'm starting to run again because of the reasons I started in the first place. To help deal with the stress and to make myself feel good again.

St. John of the Cross School (Roslyn, PA) 1953-2010

I have been going there on weekends and reminiscing. Sitting on the steps and looking out over the playground. Looking at the walls on the outside of the building where I used to flip baseball cards in a child's version of gambling of our life savings away. Looking at the spot where, I swear to this day, I got in trouble for vandalizing the building, though thinking I was being efficient and smart, for banging the cloths used to erase the chalkboards against the wall. The smudge is still there. I guess Mrs. Paris was right.

I could go on and on about the lifetime memories I carry from belonging to this parish and this community. And, part of that is what makes me sad--it truly was the last time I felt a sense of community in my life.

So, these are the last days of my grade school before it closes down for good. So, thank you, St. John's.

Thank you, Sister Joan Bernard
Thank you, Miss Elgin
Thank you, Mrs. Dressler
Thank you, Miss Malloy
Thank you, Sister Amadeus (and Mrs. Adamo, and other substitutes that year)
Thank you, Mrs. Paris
Thank you, my seventh grade nuns whose names I have forgotten
Thank you, Sister St. Michael....


....for helping to make me the person I am today. You have been a great influence in my life and my classmates lives, and, let's face it, for good and/or bad. But, a major part of it, you were.

Looking at the school, it is showing it's age. What once was home for 8 hours a day to thousand of children at a time is now done to a few hundred. The last time alumni can walk the hallways is tomorrow night on June 4.

Good-bye, old school. You will be missed.

Starting Over

It's been too long since we took the time
No-one's to blame, I know time flies so quickly
But when I see you darling
It's like we both are falling in love again
It'll be just like starting over, starting over --John Lennon

I can see why people might get discouraged when they first start training for a race or just run for exercise. Back when I first started running and racing, my last race of the year would be a November 7.1 mile race at the Mount Hope Estates in Lancaster County, PA. The start/finish of the race was a small winery. They didn't give out T-shirts but wine glasses to all participants. It was a beautiful run through the Amish countryside which, I felt, was a great way to end the season. And, then, for the winter I would play racquetball once or twice a week to keep 'in shape' until middish-late February when I would start running again. (Unfortunately, that race doesn't exist anymore. I think it was folded into another race run in that area around the same time.) But I wasn't running marathons, half-marathons, and, for the most part, hardly anything more than a 10k.

Since then, the Blue Dawgs were formed with the idea of keeping us motivated knowing there will be other people showing up on a cold winter's Wednesday night willing to run the hills of New Britain, PA throughout the season. And, for the most part in the past few years, I was there on those Wednesday nights to be fit enough to participate in the Bucks County 5k spring series races.

But, this year, I went back to my old ways. Partially due to the 80+ inches of snow we had this winter (have I mentioned that once or twice or maybe more?) and other reasons, I took some time off from my running lifestyle. And, since the beginning of March, I started to run again. A few miles a week. Slowly getting back into it. And I mean slowly in so many different ways.

When I started again, I wanted to make sure I didn't overextended myself. And, I also always think I can do the same things I did 30 years ago. So, I set out to run about 3-4 miles with the Blue Dawgs on a chilly Wednesday night. I was TIGHT!!!!!! (and not in a good way). You could've used my hamstrings to play banjo at the Grand Ol' Opry. The next day, I was sore. Everything, including my feet, hurt. I mean I only took off a month and a half!!!!! But, I was discouraged that I felt this way having taken so little time off. I could only imagine those that are just starting out to run and train.

I knew the tightness would eventually go away once I got out there a little more. But, it wasn't the next time out. Nor the time after that. I was showing signs of Plantar fasciitis up until last week so I was concerned that I wasn't even going to be able to run at all this spring. But, again, like everything else, even my feet muscles needed to be stretched a bit. So, having known all this ahead of time and still feeling discouraged, imagine if you didn't know this beforehand? You can almost see why people would give up. I mean, I'm not sore when I don't run and then I'm sore when I run. So, why would I run? (If you are running for the first time, don't give up. There is a lifelong payoff that is hard to measure)

In my mind, at least, as the late, great John Lennon once said, it has been long since I took the time. Time does fly so quickly. This year, for me, it'll be just like starting over.

While I was away.....

To say it's been a long winter in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States is an understatement. It's been a very looooooooonnnngggg winter this year. Over 80 inches of snow in a region where we usually get 20 inches. Plus, I've been dealing with some other issues in life that made it seem that much longer. But, since springs arrival, it's been getting a little better everyday.

So, people have been asking me, what was up with my cryptic blog entry in February? Well, here's the story. Having to deal with the facts from above was bad enough. I hadn't been running, my mind was going blank for a weekly entry on the blog and, afterall, this is suppose to be a running blog, right? I couldn't really write about running if I wasn't running. But I felt obligated to write SOMETHING once a week.

The kicker was when someone hacked into my e-mail account and started to send spam to everyone in my address book. I had to apologize over and over again as I was really embarrassed by what was being sent. I finally got to the point and said, 'Stupid Internet' and decided to walk away for awhile.

Since then, the snow has melted, no more unauthorized e-mails being sent out, still dealing with things in personal life (they just keep coming) but handling it better, and doing some running. A little.

I had time to think about what I wanted to do with this blog going forward. I had time to think about what I want to do about running. My conclusion was I want to keep running (and triathlon training) but not as intense as I have done in the past few years. I want to spend time with my wife on a Sunday morning and just talk. I want time to rest up when I need to. Which is why I haven't committed to any race as of yet. Because if I do, then I will focus on that and do what I need to prepare. I will keep running (and swimming and biking). But, in the meantime, I want to take the time to smell the flowers along the way.

As for my blog, I will continue with it but probably not necessarily on a weekly basis. Best way to describe is from time-to-time. I used to be able to do it more during lunchtime but can't do that as much anymore. For those that have read it in the past, I hope you have enjoyed it and continue to enjoy it.

So, there is one bit of news and that is I am looking for my first bike for triathlon. I borrowed Mitch's from the Blue Dawgs last year but wanted to get my own this year. I am looking for a road (is that the right term?) bike as opposed to a strictly tri bike due to a few factors but mainly cost. So I'm looking at aluminum vs. carbon. Again, mainly cost will be a factor but want to make sure I'm not being short sighted on this. I'm looking for advise to find out if I would be sorry if I went aluminum if my intention is to ride one or two tris a year. (Sprint/Olympic at best).

So, there you have it. I wish you all the luck in the coming spring season.

2010 CB Family YMCA 5k Video (Bootleg Edition)

First of all, I want everyone to know that this is not the official video of the CB Family YMCA 5k held last Sunday, March 21, 2010. You can find it on the official Bucks 5k Spring Series website. TZ Sports does a great job putting the video together with the music.

This version is me playing with my newer toy (my laptop) with my video editing software. I needed an excuse to use it so here is my take (that's film lingo for those not in the know :-) ) of the race. It's a small start and it doesn't have any music with it. It's in the raw!!!!!!!

You will notice at the beginning that the National Anthem is played before the race. I absolutely love this tradition and it's something Skip S. does when he is running in the race. From all of us competitors, thanks for doing this.

As you may have guessed, I didn't run this race. But, I am coming back. Slowly. More on that later. Hope you enjoy the video.