New York, New York

I've made the move to New York City.

I don't think there could be a bigger difference between places than the difference between Delhi and NYC. For those who are unfamiliar with the metropolis of Delhi, NY (shame on you!!), let me fill you in. Delhi is a small town in central New York, it has a grand total of two stoplights, it is quiet and peaceful, people generally are friendly and warm, things are pretty much the same every day.

Let me say for the record that I love Delhi, and everyone there that I know, and it was an amazing place to grow up, I wouldn't have it any other way.

But upon graduating, I got the undeniable urge to leave the nest and strike out on my own, my destination of choice: New York City (for many reasons, one very beautiful and incredible one in particular).

Spoiler alert!!: New York is wayyyy different than Delhi. The first two weeks here have been a little overwhelming at times, the pace of the city, the sensory overload, the constant motion and array of things to do... exhausting.

Exhausting but one of a kind and something everyone should experience. I mean, where else can you see a midget micheal jackson impersonator on the subway platform and have it not be the most alarming or intriguing thing you've come across all day???

Outta shape

Le Tour de France started today, inspiring me to step up my riding. I have been getting out there for some miles a couple times a week lately, but I have decided that I need to get on it a little harder.

Well, went out for a ride today and decided that I would do one of my usual loops to gauge the ol' fitness. And the results are: desperately out of shape. Legs burned on every little climb, gasping for breath...

I was able to average 19 miles an hour for the very hilly loop, so all is not lost. If I stay consistent for a little while I'll be back to fightin' fit in no time. Hopefully.

P.S.- My pick for the tour, Andy Schleck of Luxembourg. He had a pretty terrible prologue today, but he'll get it back in the mountains.

High maintenance animals

To get you all up to speed, my parents left for France on Saturday. They asked me to stay home for the two weeks they are gone to take care of the animals. I said sure, I am a capable young adult, I have lived on my own for the last two years, plus it will be nice to not have my parents hovering around for a while. (They have really started to lose their minds, my father was literally walking around in his boxers muttering about how we have too many cats.)

I was not aware of how much attention our animals need until the morning they left when my mom gave me the list of animal upkeep. I'm not talking anything as simple as food, water, and shelter, I am well aware of what it takes to care for an animal. No no, there is a whole page of instruction on what animals get what medicine on what days and at what times, what times to let which animals in and out, what food to give them at what time...

I can't take it.

It takes up so much time of my day, I spend so much time thinking about what I have to do, preparing to do it, and then actually carrying out the care these animals actually need.

I also can see why my dad is going nuts. The cats just follow you around meowing because they want you to feed them, even if they have literally just been fed. I catch myself talking to them as if they can understand me.

For example, from this morning at 7 a.m.: "WHAT DO YOU WANT?!?!? I JUST FED YOU! HOW ARE YOU STILL HUNGRY?!?"

If you notice that I've lost my mind the next time you see me, take pity and humor me. It was the animals.

Back

Hello readership out there in internet land.

This is getting redundant, but I do know that it has been forever since I've updated this thing. I'm going to do better now, I promise.

To get those that don't know back up to speed, this is what I've been doing since the last post:

Graduated from college, still not sure how I made it.

Went to NYC a time or two to see some good people (one special person in particular).

Looked for a job in my major (communications with a concentration in journalism), with absolutely no success.

Started painting houses again because funds are quite low.

Planned a trip to Colorado in August.

Planning on moving to the city by the end of the summer.

Thought about how I need to find a job in the city.

That's about it, more to come on all of those topics soon. If anyone still reads this thing, it's good to have ya!!! Cheers, much love.

People that make my life interesting

Seeing as I'm kind of at a loss for witty shit to write about, I'm going to be doing a multi-installment introduction of all the people that make my life interesting in so many strange ways. I'll try to find the most embarrassing picture possible for each segment as well.

Now I simply cannot cover everybody, so if you get left out, don't feel bad, I still love you.

Here goes...

Name: Paul

Known Aliases: N.F.P. (Not Fun Paul), Peesh, and most recently: Zongo

I met Paul freshman year when we were both running XC at Cortland and we've been friends ever since. I've lived with Paul for the last two years, last year in Shit House, and now this year in Shit Apartment. (There will be a profile of both of those places soon). Paul quit running for the team sophomore year, and decided that he wanted to get big. So he started lifting weights like a damn animal. He did develop some real nice man breasts. That was fine, except that now he has decided to be a runner again, and his breasts are weighing him down.

Paul has earned the nickname N.F.P. over the last year, after he ceased to be fun. Maybe it's him becoming mature at a faster rate than the rest of us idiots, or maybe he's just a pussy. He used to get wild and do fun things like yell at crackhead townies, smear cake into the carpet, throw his phone down the street like Chad Pennington throws footballs.

Paul also may or may not be a serial killer, he disappears for long periods of time, makes up excuses to leave the apartment, like going to buy alfredo sauce at 11:30 at night. We're convinced he murders people like Patrick Bateman.

In spite of the probable homicides, and the lack of fun, he's still a blast to be around, and he has made my time here at Cortland bearable. Good job Zongo!

Herrro

Been a looong time since I've updated this thing. If anyone out there in internet land is still reading this, I apologize and I'll try to do better. I should have plenty of time, seeing as I'm not doing any school work.

What drive I had to do work has completely left me, so instead of just doing it, I'm ignoring it all until the last possible moment... it's a bold strategy, we'll see how it works out.

I figure that with only two weeks of class left, I can let it slide and it won't effect my grades that much, and to be honest as long as Bitterbaum The Birdwatcher hands me that diploma in a month I really don't care what grades I get.

More to come soon. Stay classy.

I hate treadmills

The weather has turned sour yet again in Cortland. When I got back from class to go for my run it was 35 and raining. Normally this wouldn't have kept me from the run, but Paul Fiore convinced me to go to the gym and run on the treadmill.

I hate treadmills.

I don't know why I agreed to it. Treadmills are the worst, it's always too hot in the gym, there is no scenery, they make my legs hurt, I always end up running at 6:15 pace because I'm bored, I can't fart without making the whole place nauseous (running causes flatulence... it's just science).

I do however enjoy the look on peoples faces when they see me on a treadmill. At 6' 2" I already stand out, add the fact that I am wearing split running shorts, running four times faster than any of the sorority girls or meatheads that usually inhabit gym treadmills, and that I am sweating profusely and I draw lots of bewildered looks.

Aside from the boredom and making a spectacle of myself, it turned out to be a decent run. Kicked up the incline and let the legs fly a little, felt pretty good. Would have felt better outside though...

The school will stand...for now

Maybe I won't burn down the school after all. I met with the "Executive Assistant to the President" the other day, and it turns out that I am only 1.5 credits short of graduating, not the 9 they had originally told me I was short.

How I understood it, if you go over the maximum allowable credits in activity/participation, the amount you are over (4 in my case) need to be made up. They don't just not count, they count against you in essence. So instead of needing 124 to graduate, I need 128.

While I am glad that I will be able to graduate on time by adding an independent study, I'm still frustrated and confused by the system of counting credits at this ass-backwards excuse for an educational institution. This is the first time in my four years here that I have heard about this, and we are told to register for the credits from sports every semester, if I had just stopped registering for those credits when I got to the max allowable, this whole situation would have been avoided...

Unfortunately because of the extra workload, I won't be able to run outdoor track this year. It sucks to end my running career at Cortland like this, I have learned so much and made so many amazing friends while on this team. And for any of those friends reading this, I just want to say how much you have all meant to me over the years.

That said, I will be around, it's not like I'm dying or anything. It was time for me to move on anyway, I feel like I've accomplished all I can in collegiate running, obviously I would have liked to run better, but now it's time to get to other things.

I'm training for triathlons now, so anyone at races this summer better watch out.

I could burn down the school...

I was recently called in to my advisor's office to "discuss an issue with my credits." I was then informed that I was 9 credits short of graduating due to a glitch in the way credits toward graduating are counted. My transcript says that I am eligible to graduate on time in May. BUT because I changed majors my sophomore year, not all of my participation credits (credits earned through XC and Track) count toward the overall.

Needless to say I was not a happy student.

I would need to pick up three more credits in the last half of the semester as an independent study, then take two online classes over the summer. One professor suggested I take his class "Films Of Spike Lee" over the summer. Oh fucking joy, I get to take a class about a racist african-american director that I hate, taught by a racist african-american professor that I don't particularly like.

The fact that this whole mess was brought to my attention a mere two months before I was supposed to graduate is completely ridiculous.

I'm not going to let this stand. I'm going right to the top. Emailed the president of the college a long ranting message about how this school is lying to its students to swindle their money away from them. That'll show 'em.

New Jimi

I'm back to health, and I'll try to do a better job of keeping this thing updated.

For now I'll share the news that for the first time in a looong time there is new Jimi Hendrix. Jimi's estate, Experience Hendrix LLC has gotten the rights to a massive library of previously unreleased material, and they plan on putting out several albums over the next couple of years. Hendrix spent a lot of time in the studio before he died, when his studio, Electric Ladyland Studios in New York was built, he practically lived there. From what I understand there is a whole lot of stuff that never got put on a record, so there should be a steady flow of it coming out. The first new record, Valleys of Neptune, was released today. I'm listening to it right now and it is great.

Double whammy

I finally went to the doctor today after being sick for the last three weeks. Turns out I have a sinus infection AND bronchitis. Fun stuff. I did get some antibiotics and an inhaler, so hopefully I'll be back to some form of good health within the next couple of days.

Sick

Slowly dying... be back shortly.

What to do?

Just got back from Sunyacs. Bored. Tired to the point of being delirious. Feeling like I want to go out on the town and go wild. Or at least go somewhere other than my apartment. No one wants to accompany me. What to do?

Making friends

I made a new friend the other day!

We were doing a workout on a road a little outside of town, 2x2 miles at lactate pace. I was running with Brusso, and toward the end of the first 2 miles, I almost got hit by large red Dodge truck. It literally came within inches of me, so naturally I turned and threw up a middle finger. A few minutes later the same truck pulls up alongside of us, with a fat toothless man hanging out of the window, "You got somethin' to say to me boy?"

I did in fact have something to say to him, "Yeah you almost hit me, you can't move over?!"

"Well if you would run on the shoulder like a normal person..."

Right, this guy knows a lot about how "normal people" behave.

The shouting match continued, I actually did apologize (albeit a half-assed apology) to him at one point because I didn't want to get into it with the guy, try to be the bigger man in the situation.

This did not appease my new friend. At that point Kyle started to argue with Friend, which lead to Friend getting out of his truck, walking toward Kyle screaming "You shut your fuckin' mouth."

People think that because we are out running or cycling that we are all just a bunch of scantily-clad sissies, fat guys in trucks think they can fight eight runners. We may look scrawny, but we're scrappy, and we're clearly not quite right in the head... we're crazy enough to be out on the road in all weather, maybe people shouldn't take us for defenseless wimps.

The asshole eventually got back in his truck and drove off, but if anyone is ever out on Kinney Road, be careful of my friend in the red Dodge Ram.

Goodbyes

I think it's sad how much the meaning of goodbyes have gotten diluted from overuse. Things like "have a good day/night," are thrown around so much and so casually that they have lost the emotion that should be attached to them. I don't like to think that when people say those things that they are just empty filler to dull the awkwardness of saying goodbye. If I don't want to "talk to you soon," I won't say that. If I will not in fact miss someone after they are out of my sight, I won't lead them on with a hollow farewell.

If I say "have a good night," I genuinely do hope that the person to which I am speaking has a good night.

My favorite goodbye is "sweet dreams," it might sound kind of sappy, but I think it's the best possible thing you can wish for a person, after all what's better than waking up happy from a good dream?

So next time I say goodbye to you, know that I meant what I said, and I said what I meant

The boy is tired

Had a pretty decent workout today, and as a result, I am way too tired to think of something witty to write. Here's some artwork from the wall of a local watering hole to tide you over.

Bahston

This will be the first time I've ever been to Boston. I was talking to Popovici about the city the other day, and he said that if we do a longer run, we can run through the campus of Harvard. This is perfect, now I can go all "Good Will Hunting" on somebody. Like Matt Damon, or Charlie.

"What's yah majah dude?"

Back to business

My ribs are finally starting to feel better. Ran today and felt pretty good. Actually I felt like shit because I haven't done anything in a week, but it was good to be running again. I'm excited to get back down to work. I need to start lifting again, start doing core and drills again. Get back to fightin' fit.

I'm running in Boston this weekend, despite the fact that I missed a whole week of training. Hopefully get a sunyac time in the books.

I'm feelin' positive. Feelin' like I have something to prove. Ready to rip.

Over and out.

Downs and Ups

This weekend has only confirmed my belief that an equilibrium is always achieved in life.

Last night I went out and got a little too drunk, a little too irish, a little too feisty.

I woke up saturday morning with a slight headache, went to the meet in Syracuse feeling less than 100%, and very bummed that I couldn't run. I watched and cheered for my teammates, wishing I could be out there pounding around the track with them.

Got home, rode the bike for a while, ate dinner, still not feeling real well, not excited at all for saturday night festivities.

One thing lead to another and we (myself, Newell, Pop) ended up at Red Jug. I was tired, not feeling great...ready to go home and go to sleep. Pop wanted to go to Dark Horse, so as a good friend and wingman I agreed to go in for a little to check it out. Not at all thrilled about it.

(By the the way we were wearing newspaper pirate hats and I had a fake mustache on.)

Sometimes life is funny. Sometimes you go into a bar and see the girl of your dreams. Sometimes that girl tells you that she has a crush on you. Sometimes you have that conversation wearing a fake mustache you got from K-mart.

Sometimes life's not so bad.

Cabin fever

I'm slowly losing my mind. I haven't been able to do anything for the past five days. The trainer told me that I couldn't do anything that involved heavy breathing. Breathing heavily causes my ribs to shift, which aggravates them more and more. To be honest the first day or two was kind of nice. A break from the grind of running in the cold was good. But by now I'm getting real antsy in my pantsies to start doing something. Things that involve heavy breathing are all I enjoy. I can't run, I can't bike, I can't lift. I don't even have any school work to do because this "institution of higher learning" is a joke. I've been reading, watching TV, drawing, and eating (a lot).

I can't take it anymore. I'm going to ride my bike. I feel like an idiot having a bike and trainer taking up 3/4 of the space in my room when I'm not even using it. I'll see you on the other side if I lose my mind. I take comfort in the fact that most of my friends are clinically insane already so I'll have plenty of company in the looney bin.

Injuries

Getting injured is a part of any sport. Actually getting injured is a part of life, especially if you live an active life. Whenever I get hurt, people inevitably tell me that I'm accident prone. No, no I'm not. I'm active. I may get hurt every once in a while, but for the amount of activities I do, I'm actually quite safe.

I have always said that I would never let my running or cycling take over my life, that I wouldn't be afraid to live my life just because I might get hurt and risk missing some time. I've been thinking a lot about this, especially now that I have to take a few days off because of my ribs, and the subsequent back spasms brought on by favoring my left side.

It's hard to know that because of something you did, that in one instant, all the fitness you have worked so hard to get will all be lost, to know that day by day, that fitness is leaving you, and there's nothing you can do about it. Maybe I should just stay in my room except when I go out to run.

I've decided that I can't live my life like that. My wild side is something that makes me who I am. I may get hurt now and then, and that may not be the best thing for my fitness, it may not be the best way to get to my goals, but I truly believe that living a full life, that experiencing everything you can trumps being cautious and timid.

That may mean getting hurt occasionally, but the beauty of endurance sports is that the pursuit of fitness never ends, it is ever-present. An injury gives you the opportunity to come back more motivated and hungrier than ever before.

Ribs

As most people that read this probably already know, I've been running for the last two weeks with a rib that is most likely cracked. I crashed snowboarding and came down hard on my left side, and I've been in pain since. This has not been an enjoyable experience. Imagine if you will, a large russian man named Drago jamming his fingers between your bottom two ribs as hard as he can every time you take a deep breath. That's how it feels. I'm doing my best to run through it, seeing as they don't really do much for cracked ribs anyway. But it's tough to run when you can't breath. I think I have a pretty high tolerance for pain, but this is starting to get to me.

Cold...again

I'm such a sucker. Every time it gets warm, I think "wow this is great, it's not going to be cold any more this winter!" Even though I know full well that it is going to get cold and shitty again in a day or two, and that it will be months before it is actually nice out again. I've been living in the northeast for almost 22 years now, but I get my hopes up anew every time there is a warm day.

Training in weather like this is tough, real tough. Over winter break, when I had no one to run with, I resorted to something that I thought I never would... running with an ipod.

I used to condemn ipod runners. But it got to the point that I just couldn't mentally handle another day of slogging through the freezing, howling cold, on the same road that I've been running on every day for the last two weeks. I got an ipod shuffle for christmas, and one fateful day I clipped the little bastard to my waistband and set off in shame.

I am now eating my words, it is actually quite enjoyable to trot along with some of your favorite music playing happily in your ears. The singer is always happy, no matter how terrible the weather is.

So go ahead irunners.

Motivation

Running is a sport that requires a lot of motivation to succeed. You have to be motivated to train, motivated to race, motivated to eat well and get enough rest, motivated to do the drills and all the little things that make a big difference but are easy to forget about. As distance runners, it's not always easy, and often times it is guilt that gets us out the door to run on days when we really don't want to. Guilt is generally a bad thing, but in this case, it is something that we have worked for years to cultivate in ourselves. No matter how much we may want to stay on the couch, we can't shake that nagging voice in the back of our heads that makes us feel guilty about being lazy, the voice that says other people are out there running right now, and they're getting faster than you.

Lately I have been more motivated than ever to run. I've been running more than I ever have, and enjoying it more than I ever have. Training has been going great, but race times have not even come close to reflecting what I am capable of. For some reason I just can't seem to get motivated to race like I did in XC. I've sort of lost that cutthroat attitude I had. I need to get that back. I need to focus in on the race. I was talking to Jeff Marrone last night (a scholarly man) about how it's hard to have that focus and drive every weekend for the whole year. I'm trying to get that focus back.

Shamus Nally, a man that can focus!

Puking up yellow stuff

I know that I have been a bad blogger lately. I apologize to my readership for my blog neglect.

As this was originally intended to be more or less a blog about running and sports and whatnot, I guess I should post something relevant to that.

This is a something that has happened to me a couple of times, the phenomena known as "puking up yellow shit" (that's the medical term). It's always brought on by running, but not necessarily from running too hard, like after a race, and it's not from being too full of food or anything. The most memorable instance was on a certain 20 mile run last winter with Shamus and Jeffrey, a half-mile from the end, I just randomly stopped and threw up yellow liquid onto the sidewalk as Jeff and Shamus cheered "YEAHHH SEND 'EM!!"

The reason I thought of this is I came across this picture on the interweb, I don't know who it is, but she seems to be throwing up yellow shit as well.

Good day

Today was a good day. I'm happy to be back in the routine of being at school, when I'm home I seem to revert back to being a child. I sleep all the time, don't really get anything done, basically just take up space (as long as I get my run in, I feel like I've accomplished something for the day).

But when I'm at school I can act like a (somewhat) functioning human again. This week has been nice, I wake up at a reasonable hour, have a good breakfast, go to practice and run with good people, eat lunch with good people, go home, shower, be productive. Good stuff.

Today had all those things, good breakfast, good run, good lunch, then time to relax.

Around 4 o'clock this afternoon I got hungry, but it was too early to eat dinner, so I decided I would have a salad. Salad never used to be something I liked, but it's been growing on me lately (figuratively, there is not literally salad growing from me, although that would be interesting). I cooked some chicken for my salad, as I am a growing boy and I need my protein. I then came to the startling realization that there were no croutons. I stood crouton-less for a minute, unsure of what to do next. Then I had an epiphany... croutons are made of bread, and I have lots of bread. So I put some olive oil, spices, and bread in a pan, and poof! croutons!

Maybe it's a bad sign that I am so easily amazed, but I am damn proud of myself for being all resourceful and self-sufficient, even if it only involved salad toppings.

Good music

Here's a little taste of some of the music I've been listening to lately. I listen to a pretty wide range of stuff, but these are some of my favorites. If you've never heard of some of it, I would encourage downloading it (legally of course).

Phrazes for the Young, by Julian Casablancas. Since the Strokes are more or less broken up (although there are rumors of a new album this summer), all the members have put out their own albums, this one is from lead singer Julian Casablancas.

Good tracks: 11th Dimension, Left & Right In the Dark, I Wish It Was Christmas Today
Thickfreakness, by The Black Keys. This is one of the older Black Keys albums, but one of my favorites. The band is just two guys, Dan Auerbach on Guitar and Vocals, and Patrick Carney on drums, I love the simplicity of small bands, it sounds like they are raging in some shitty dive bar...excellent.

Good Tracks:Thickfreakness, Set You Free, Midnight In Her Eyes.
In Rainbows, by Radiohead. Radiohead's latest album, the complete opposite of The Black Keys' simplicity, with multiple guitars, drums, bass, and various instruments and synthesizers they weave sounds together into hauntingly beautiful songs.

Good Tracks: All I Need, Reckoner, Jigsaw Falling Into Place

Invisble Girl, by The King Khan & BBQ Show. This is some serious underground stuff, a two man band that sound like they think they are in the 50's. I love how they sound, and you can tell they enjoy making music.

Good Tracks: I'll Be Loving You, Lonely Boy, Anala.
The Mountain, by Heartless Bastards. Good songs without any clutter. The lead singer, Erika Wennerstrom has an amazing voice.

Good Tracks: The Mountain, Hold Your Head High, Out At Sea.
Furr, by Blitzen Trapper. A band from one of my favorite cities, Portland, Oregon. Kinda weird, but great songs about everything from werewolves to robots to murderers.

Good Tracks: Furr, Black River Killer, War On Machines.
Dear Science, by TV On The Radio. One of the best albums of last year, a bunch of crazy guys from Brooklyn making music.

Good Tracks: Halfway Home, Shout Me Out, DLZ.

Back to Cortland

Today is my first full day back in Cortland after a far-too-long break. I got back to my apartment saturday evening and was discovered that it was 50 degrees inside. I figured that it might just take a little while for the furnace to heat up or something so I left the thermostat up. Nothing happened. I piled blankets on my bed and tried to get some sleep, as we had practice this morning at 10 a.m. I finally got warmed up and fell asleep, but every time I moved, a gust of cold air would get under the covers and wake me up. The run this morning reflected the poor night's sleep. I finally called my landlord and "he" came and fixed the furnace. I am happily sitting here now in warmth.

It's good to be back in Cortland. It might not be the nicest place in the world, but it's really nice to see everyone after a month of isolation and hibernation at home. It is especially good to run with someone other than myself. The run today may have been miserable, but at least there was company, after all...misery loves company, and there's plenty of both in Cortland, New York.

Knew York Knickerbockers

Tomorrow I'm off to New Yawk for the night. Heading to Edward Roberts' house and a bunch of us are meeting up for a Knicks game, this will be my second Knicks game, and if it is anywhere near as eventful as the last one, it's going to be a great night. I'll summarize the last one for your reading enjoyment.

We spent the day in the City wandering around, then got our tickets with time to spare before tipoff. Paul and Joe freaked out and needed to go back to the Bronx to change their clothes or something, Eddie and I elected to stay in Manhattan, perhaps underestimating how long we had to wait. We went into the Borders near Madison Square Garden. We both ended up falling asleep in one of the aisles like straight-up homeless people, an employee actually kicked me because he had to get a book. We stumbled out of the store and ate Nathans hot dogs, then found the Paul and Joe and went into the Garden. Our seats were legitimately the furthest seats from the court, so we went stealth-mode and snuck into open seats about fifteen rows from the court. We ate cotton candy and acted immature for the rest of the game. We left the game, took pictures of a dead rat in the subway, and later on in the night as we were driving in the Bronx Paul said "Ben stop the car I have to yack." He proceeded to throw up in the street for no reason.

The next logical step is streaking across the court, I'm moderately fit so I might be able to outrun security. Don't be surprised if you are watching the game and see my nude body running down the court.

Down with winter

I am officially over winter.

I used to like winter, I would go snowboarding and frolic in the snow. Now I just hate everything about winter.

I don't like having to get super bundled up to go outside. I don't like having to wait for my car to warm up. I don't like when it gets dark at 4:30 every day. And I HATE running in the freezing cold, with wind, with snow on the roads.

I want it to be warm again. I want to go swimming. I want to run without wearing arctic exploration gear. I want to wear sandals. I want to ride my bike in the sun.

For now I'm stuck in New York, and until it gets warm again, if it ever does, I'm hibernating.

Where beautiful women instinctively flock like the salmon of Capistrana

Tomorrow I'm off for a weekend to the land of milk and honey...Poughkeepsie.

My good friend Jeffrey is attending culinary school and has a bachelor pad in Hyde Park, so me and fellow rapscallion Chris Tavernese (Tvaz) are going to pay him a visit. For those that don't know, Jeff used to go to Cortland, but he decided to chase the culinary dream. He was already a great cook, so I'm sure he's killing it in school.

Tvaz is coming from Strong Island, and I'm driving down from my house. It's going to be like watching a hurricane close in on a tiny tropical island from both sides. Except instead of gale force winds and rain, Hyde Park will be experiencing record amounts of mischief and public indecency.

God help us all.

I need a bigger car, or a camel...

It's been snowing a lot here on the hill, so for my runs I have been driving to Delhi so I can get more variety of runs, and the roads are more clear, also I lift heavy things in the gym in town after I run.

This is fine, it's only a ten minute drive. The only thing is that I end up changing in my car, either in to or out of running/workout clothes. I have gotten so many strange looks from passing pedestrians as they look over to see a sweaty, six foot tall man flail around in a fogged-up car, trying to wrestle himself out of spandex tights. In my struggles, sometimes the horn gets honked at inopportune times, like when a lady is crossing the street in front of my car. Now I don't mind changing in my car, most of the time I look like I'm homeless anyway. It's the fact that I have such a...uh..."compact" car. It's a little cramped, and my clothes, shoes, skis, bikes, bags, etc... tend to fill up the back seat rather quickly. I like to think of myself as a sort of gypsy-nomad, and my car is like my camel, or maybe my yak, seeing as camels don't like the cold.

Runner's high...nope

This is a fan-submitted idea for a post, from Mr. Jared Francis Newell.

The idea of the "runner's high" gets thrown around a lot in running and fitness magazines. The idea is that the further you run, eventually you get a buildup of endorphins and adrenaline and whatnot and you suddenly feel great, you feel high.

Personally I have never experienced this phenomena, in all my time running, the longer you run, the worse you feel. I think the runner's high is being confused with being fit. When I'm fit, I can feel great on a run, and run for a long way feeling fantastic. But when I'm out of shape, running sucks.

It might seem strange for a runner to say that running sucks, but most of the time everyone can admit that...it kinda does suck.

Being fit and running fast is great fun. But some of the time running isn't fun at all. Ignorant people always have some sort of witty comment, like: (whiny voice) "Well if it's not fun why do you do it so much?"

We do not do it because it is fun, there's something deeper than fun that makes us do it, something darker.

Fear and Loathing in the Adirondacks

The last couple of days have been a whirlwind of activity for me.

On thursday I was planning on racing a 5k in Oneonta, then going up to Albany to spend New Years eve with some runner kids. I had gone to my friend Mike's house to play poker on Wednesday night, got home kinda late and rushed in to get to bed. The next morning as I rushed around to pack everything I needed for the race and the trip north, I discovered that in my infinite wisdom I had locked the keys in my car. With no spare ones, I tried to open the door with the ol' clothes-hanger in the window trick, I've done this before, but it requires time and patience, neither of which I had at the moment.

I ended up taking my parents' car and making it to the race on time, got second place, puked in a flower bed outside the YMCA after my breakfast bagel decided to make an appearance after I crossed the finish line. Showered with a sock as a washcloth and a t-shirt as a towel, because I forgot to pack those items. Then it was off to Guilderland.

We all met at a nice restaurant for dinner, had a good meal, and went back to Mr. Justin Wager's abode to celebrate the new year. We went on a little jog to celebrate midnight, which culminated with Newell taking his clothes off and giving the Wager's neighbors a free show. Opened a bottle of champagne that I did not need to drink, then fell asleep with my hat on.

Woke up the next morning and reminisced with everybody for a while, then headed further northward to pine-tree filled Queensbury for a stay at the Newell residence. We met up with Thomas Williams for a run, the highlight of which was definitely stopping to watch Tom dry-heave in the middle of the road halfway through the run.

The next morning woke up early for a snowy run, then went to watch Jared's brother in a cross-country ski meet. This was a new experience for me, as I have never skate-skied or seen a meet. It was just like a track meet, only on skis. I may or may not be a child-prodigy on skate skis.

Overall a very enjoyable weekend, good to see everyone, especially Shamus Owen Nally, who is leaving for Oregon to be a hotshot pro runner. (Best of luck Seamus, send em and show those Oregonians how it's done.)