THIS is why we run

(well, one reason)

Keith doing his 4 day school week. Sick AGAIN. Too much carbs, no exercise. His mother feeding him a steady diet of crap with no veggies.

Of course It's nowhere to be found-remember, he's sick from school n' It's out. He says It's with one of It's sick friends. Do the math. Ditch your son to be with ________. THIS is why we run: just put one foot in front of the other. Nothing else matters.

St.Francis this am. Nice. Low 40's.

good start

beautiful morning, cool, enough to call for sweatshirt, but with shorts, no gloves. FINALLY able to lose the gloves. Has spring actually sprung??? Dare I think it?????

St.Francis. Big surprise.

Spoke with Tom. Wasn't gonna do Aspire, with the Sun NYRR run, figured save it for that. But really, Aspire IS only a 10k, might as well. Would've most likely stopped there anyway to drop off race apps, then to The Parkhouse, but, anyone that matters is either running long or going to the Cherry Blossom. Didn't take alotta arm twisting did it?

the streak continues!!!

(REALLY dangerous way to think, but...)

RAIN this am, lots of it, yet weather peeps say it'll be gone by 8. So, woke up, got outta bed, n' OUTTA HERE. To The Parkhouse, still raining, but dissipating. Yes, WAS tempted to go to Suffuck, but no. If I want a boring run, I'll use other options, otherwise, need my peeps. You KNOW the Suffuck half is a nowhere run when even News 12-which will provide coverage of a puddle-didn't even cover it. 366 runners did the half, 125 the 5k. Amazing. Why bother.

Sho' 'nuf, by 8:30/9am, down to a mist, the peeps gather. Amazing, few things stop us. Even they that ran long yesterday. Most showed today. Wow.

So, St.Francis today. Yesterday, ran with Sue and Debbie, today, Laughlin. THAT'S the key, I can keep pace with him as long as he runs 20 the day prior. Got it.

Another wonderful weekend, take great pride in my peeps, great source of reassurance. Stan hit it on the head when he saw me @ the bagel place: "Oh, you stopped in, you're afraid you MIGHT like it." This whole social thing's not bad. These humans I read of, a wonderful bunch. So, explain Shebitch. Oh yes, Yin/Yang. Got it.


*****Sunshine Cleaning=this season's Slumdog. WONDERFUL film.

Now..gotta go carve initials into that tree. Lucky tree.

WOW!!!

y'know, sometimes, juuuuust sometimes G gives you what you need when you need it.

STILL getting over It going away, AND paying It's taxes (reconcile THOSE facts kiddies!), when the rains start this am. CRAP a streak ended. But.....plan as if anyway, so, woke up, got outta bed, off to The Line. STILL raining when I got there, connected with my peeps. Tom called, going home to sleep-was gonna run long with the long peeps, but with the rain...

STILL...hold out hope, the drops seemed to dissipate. Lock and the long crew show, head out. Saw Pret n' Chris (join our fucking club already), wait out the misting.

Lo n' behold, IT STOPPED! Just in time for the 9 am crowd. Thanks G. Got my week of St.Francis + in.

Got to see ALL my peeps, wonderful. They'll never know the good they do.

Felt totally rejuved. Got the juices flowing. Where's that paper towel????

MAJOR VICTORY!!!!!

big news conference this am re: repeal of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. 'Bout time. My classmate Jeffrion Aubry (D, Queens, 'natch) was right behind the gov. Impressive. My class certainly did alot.

St.Francis for the completion of a full week.

Now, the big decision. Run long manana or Sun? Sun rain/thunder predicted, and, none of the peeps do the Suffuck half, so...prob manana. We'll see.

Thanks guys, we made it!

the end's in sight

homestretch there kiddies! We're alllllmost in!

St.Francis this am, duh, NICE temps, we're getting there! Shorts, hooded sweatshirt, goves which I took off on the way back.

Now, gotta decide, do the 1/2 on sunday or no? If so, prep for THE MOST boring run in history, yes, worse than the LI marathon. But, a half IS a half. Mitigating factor: rain/thunder predicted.

In the meantime...Shebitch out, quiet night. G DOES exist!!! (downside of It being out: if YOU were out 'til 11, you'd mind the noise level-not here. Here they sleep by day and are up 'til G knows when). Hey, a quiet evening is a quiet evening.

hump (?) day

got THAT sucker done and done!!!

Hopefully the LAST of the cold days, fed UP with this post winter shit. But...got the miles in. St.Francis yet again. Felt good. At least one more day of this, then maybe a day off. No races this weekend, unless I do the Suffuck half, yes, Suffuck. THE most BORING run anywhere. MUCH better to do The Line, no cost and more challenging, but the Suffuck half IS a half. We'll see.

ain't that a kick in the_______

St.Francis this am, felt good. COLD yet again, can't wait til this front pushes through, then...SPRING!!!!! Yay!!! Hooded sweatshirt, sweats, glvoes this am. Sick of it, but gotta log them there miles.

Come home, Shebitch out, prob working, who cares, not there. Mail Is. Mail's open. A love note from the IRS. We owe over $1,300. Sorry, did I say "we?" You KNOW that means "me." It opened the envelope, surely looking for a check. Forgetting It's ssd is taxable. I didn't even have our taxes done yet and they say we owe for last year. Fuck me.

and there off!

another week is offocially underway.

St.Francis this am, COLD again. So much for shorts. Sweats and hooded sweatshirt this am, gloves too, natch. Felt better than I thought I would, after doing Central Park yesterday. REALLY glad with the results when you think I came in a full 2 + minutes slower last year, AND when I did the Northport 10 in '03, I finished 30 mins slower. I'll take it.

Pix @ the bottom. Love that colon!!! Also the famous fountain, scene of many fun runs and the epicenter of the boathouse area-REALLY fond memories of the Nike Half training run with the peeps before they fell apart.

another one bites the dust

did the Colon Cancer 15k, did well, not GREAT, but ok. Shouldn't've run yesterday, but wouldn't change a thing. Glad I did. Finished 9.3m in under 90 minutes, so I'm glad. Saw Andie and her S.O. running in the park, also ran into Noelia. A nice day for a longER run. Got there pre dawn, parked @ my spot of choice and slept like a baby. Race was a late start-10:15, the 4m was @ 9. Couldn't see going to NYC and running only 4, I'm not that smart.

Got my picture taken with the giant colon-no joke, there's a giant colon (like a pink tunnel) you walk through. When the staff saw me taking a pic, they offered to take the shot-of course I couldn't resist wising off: "two assholes."

So, home by 2:30. Good thing I did. Now, to all of you who incessantly tell me to walk away, THIS is why I can't. I come home, It's nowhere to be found, Keith hasn't eaten. Like, nothing. Bear in mind it's two-fucking-thirty. As in, It left before he woke up, leaving nothing. Good parenting. This shit kills me.

Glad I did the run, annoyed I did it @ the expense of leaving Keith alone, but It HAS to take some responsibility for SOMETHING. This is beyond ridiculous.

Ran into Dave The Superjew. GREAT guy to run with, that's about it. Nice guy, but....

STILL haven't decided to do Boston. Prob is the coordinator. Not exactly Mr.Reliable. Gotta decide this week.

shouldn't've, but felt sooooo good

should'a taken today off, with the Colon Run (save it, all jokes long ago exhausted...ok...go ahead) manana, but it was too beautiful today. Hadda.

Cruised on up to The Park, chilled for a bit-if no peeps were out, then I would'a packed it in. No such luck, peeps arriving. Off I went. Of course they were there, it was refreshment day, of course I didn't know-price you pay for living to the beat of a different drummer.

Intended to do only 5, was running with Laughlin, then Andie. Fast pace this am. Way too fast, but maintained. Means I'll do shit manana, but hey, all we have is today. Turn around, who runs into me??? Yep. Again, G gives you what you need when you need it. Ended up doing not 5, but St.Francis. Glad I did. Made my week.

Bless the peeps.

***Fresh 4 x 2 pix @ bottom.

we made it!!!

tough week, but we made it.

Snow this am. ????????????????

St.Francis this am, shorts, long sleeves, gloves. So far so good. Felt alright. Back on the unit, showered, then....SNOW. Surreal.

Fitting end to a tough week, come home, what's in the mail??? It's passport for the trip. Great. REALLY feeling good now. Somebody shoot me. Make sure it's a kill shot.

thanks G

ok, got up, got outta bed, headed to The Line.

Shorts, hooded sweatshirt, gloves. So far so good.

Felt good, glad to get back into the groove. Ran into a semi-familiar face, I'd be goin' one way, her the other. Turns out she was scared to run on The Line @ that hour, which explained why we passed each other @ St.Francis.

She drove from Valley Stream. Like I've always said, The Line is the best practice. People can and should come from everywhere to do it. She confirmed my thoughts-great prep work for Central Park. She's doin' Boston, bless her.

Was feelin' a lil' down, miss my peeps. Then G went and put her in my path. My miracle of the day.

day off?

ok, requested today to go take care of the veeeeeehicle. Now kiddies, what's wrong with THAT picture? Right, Shebitch is home also. So, took care of the veeeeehicle, clean bill of health, yay Chevy!!! Then, went to work. Get better rest there. Took all of 2 1/2 hrs off. Great review for the Chevy dealer, sucks for me re: chillin' @ the casa. Oh well.

hump day

for me @ least, off tomorrow, gotta take the veeeeeehicle in for scheduled maintenance.

St.Francis this am, second day in a row. Going for the week again. Weather SHOULD hold out-hopefully the knees will as well.

Warm, could winter be gone-cross your toes.

wallowing in it

really savoring the race yesterday-hey, when you never win, a ribbon means alot. Trading pix with the peeps, see below for a few. Gotta admit, we look good!

St.Francis esta manana-gloves, t shirt, shorts. Yummmmm. Might winter actually be over?????

Keith AGAIN home from school-scratchy throat. Right. Poor baby, 4 day school weeks. Tough. Sucks for him. (no, no mercy, this is bullshit).

Shebitch? Working. YAYYY!!!

New episode of House tonight.

DOES it get any better???

look at us we're walking!!!

so, we fielded 2 teams, Rob's "Alley Pond Thunder," and the team I was on: "Gerry's Kids" (hee hee, no expectations). Who won?? BOTH!!! NICE!

Was another of those odd days, though the race was a hop and a skip from Toxichouse, drove to The Parkhouse to meet the peeps. Odd. Then, drive to Eisenhower. They rode with me-obviously well insured, though it WAS funny that I forgot about the child protection crap-can't get outta the backseat-would'a been funny if she missed the race. By MY standards we were there JUST in time-8:30 for a 9 am race, yet we were the first to sign up (bib number 1, ouch). GUESS what color the baton was??? Right, AP green!!!!! BIG props to LIRRC.

Ok, so Rob's team was him, Jose, Tom, and Joe. My team was Gillian, Me, Debbie, Tom. Can you BELIEVE both teams came in third (dif categories obviously-ours mixed open). NICE!!! We expected absolutely NOTHING. Had a good pace also-8:00-again showing I CAN when I wanna, just usually don't wanna.

After we went to Friendly's for breakfast. Nice.

Lots of pix, check back manana.

Really a fun time.

answered prayers

in COMPLETE desperation, the other day I prayed for someone like me, as in: a get it done non whining/non psycho. Lo' n' behold, got it!!! The gr 11 @ my job heard about my step in front, VOLUNTEERED with his cousin to come ON HIS OWN TIME and fix it. Money never figuring into the equation. I'm @ the race this am, Keith calls saying he's there, they're on their way to Lowe's, it'll be done. THANK YOU GOD!!! Not only is the broken step fixed, the one above it as well. No more notes from the mailman. No more bitching from Shebitch or It's C**T friends. What amazes me is: even my BROTHER gave me the "you should fix it" bullshit-irrespective of whatever drama the Toxichouse contained. Like the step was even on the rader considering every day is in survival mode. NO ONE offered their assistance, except my peep. Bless him. G exists, grab an atheist. AND, fuck It's friends. Not a ONE offered to help.

Did the race esta manana-nothing great, but it DID cap out @ 5,000. Little wonder, a beautiful day. EVEN found a parking spot-no small feat for sat in nyc.

Thanks G, you put the right people in my path when I needed it most. Whod'a thought a dumbass step would mean so much.

done and DONE!!!

made it through a rough week. Not a BAD week, but tough. Out of my comfort zone, usual haunts etc...but still managed to get my miles in. St.Francis this am again. Makes a full week. Good. Feeling LOTS better-physically as well as what really matters.

Manana the 8000m. Saturday parking SUCKS but I've got Sunday to look forward to-hand with team pPeeps. 4 x 2's. Should be alot of fun. We have a fun team.

TEAM BRICKWELL????? PUHLEEEEEEEZ!!!!! What is WRONG with these people?????

t.g.i.o.

thank G it's over.

A REALLY good conference, but 3 days is 3 days. Too much work in the mere logistics. Drive to Queens, run St.Francis, shower, drive to Brentwood. Jeeeeeeez. To be fair, could'a run the Suffolk 1/2 course, that's where the training was-close to it-across the street from Suffolk C.C. But, St.Francis course more of a challenge. The shit we do.

THEN, Spike e mailed something for me to print. Our printer is dead as Shebitch got cheap cartridges, rendering the printer dead. So, he emails and I print @ the job. Of course, after running, conferencing, driving, I come home to "did you print...?" WHAT??? I was told it was due Monday. So, BACK into the truck, off to The Job, print this crap, come home. Finally. NOW can I fucking rest????? Has It EVER checked his homework??? Not once in his entire life, let alone help with it. And for this, I'm SURE It will again come home from work and awaken me with raginbg screams. Pray. Really. Pray.

When I'm up against it, I often-in desperation, wish I had someone like me in my life I could lean on. @ those moments, I remember what it-in the end-amounts to: only one person goes in the box. Yes, things get tough, so what.


...so it goes.....

another good one

St.Francis esta manana. Weather's cooperating. Long sleeves, gloves, and shorts. Rain held off until the conference was ready to start. How perfect was THAT??? Once again, G showing why he's G.

Spoke with Tom, can't make it Saturday-foot bothering him. Same thing as Pret-runs hard all the time so the foot pays. MUCH rather do as I do.

Conference is on Cultural Competency. Heightens awareness etc...like I needed THAT. With my "can you top this for a minority's minority?" background. Looking @ It, It;s white, all It's friends are white. No soul, no flavor. No wonder. Explains alot. Thank G Keith takes after me...for now.

my world

a minute spent in my shoes (this is NOT fiction):

soundly sleeping when mental female enters the house @ night, starts making WAY too much noise for that hour, wakes you up from a sound sleep by SCREAMING inches from your face, not getting the fight It wants, taking your guitar, throwing it, taking your laptop, throwing it. Oh, almost forgot, using Keith, as in "we're sick of....." "Even your son....." could anything be more painful? As if having my guitar and laptop thrown didn't hurt. Bitch. Pure psycho bitch.

THIS is my world.

When you go to sleep @ night, do you have to fear a psycho breaking into your house to go off inches from your face? This is my reality. When your work day ends, you look forward to.....I look forward to nothing, merely minimizing damage. I pray Keith realizes I could'a/should'a walked years ago.

Last night It starts with It's usual crap-adding the throwing of treasured items. Add to this one of the topics of the screaming: I should leave the house. Right. Topic two: my running. Surreal. It claimed It was going to court today to get an order of Idunnowhat. It doesn't realize, such an order could NOT evict me, that It needs proof re: any alleged abuse, and...in the end...an order of Idunnowhat could ONLY benefit ME. IT would lose the right to SCREAM me out of a sound sleep.

So...yes, St.Francis this am. Cool morning, low 50's late 40's. Nice. Ran into Rettmer @ the tennis courts-he beginning his run, me ending mine.

So yes, Virginia, drove to Queens, showered, then out to Brentwood. Hey, if you ran you'd understand.

Pray for It's death. Preferably painful. The only things that keep me going: the knowledge that I'm here for Keith, and knowing that It is one miserable bitch.


.......they're off to find the hero of the day.................

(tell me why) I DO like Mondays!!!

great run this am, t shirt and shorts, St.Francis. This won't last-rain on its way, but gotta jump on it while you can. AND, House is on tonight!!! NICE!!!

Now, a programming q: Scrubs (the OTHER great show on currently) moved from NBC to ABC. The pinheads @ ABC put back to back new episodes for 4 weeks, then reruns. Wassup wit' 'dat???? No fair.

THAT'S why G made running. The penultimate perspectivizor.

STILL dunno wassup wit 'da next 3 days, we'll see.


....the silicon chip inside her head, gets switched to overload...oh and nobody's gonna go to school today....................

a good day

should'a taken off, after doing King's Park. Was ambivalent. BEAUTIFUL morning, warm as hell, really wanted to run. But...save them there knees. So, Tom and I had plans to go to Bally's for their 9:30 spin. Really hardcore class. Called him @ crack of dawn to confirm-really wanted to run, was half hoping he'd bail, but no.

So, off I went. Met him there, signed up-like the Y-it's a sought after class. Trainer is an ultramarathoner. Came with a bag full of crap to throw @ us during class-t shirts and hats. We played music trivia, guess the song and.....I guessed, gave an answer to Tom, so we both made out. Actually out trivia'd me: song by Aztec Two Step.

Do I wish I'd run-no. Really was meant to be there. As we were talking in the locker room (my conversation centering around Sybil-It gave Keith $100 to go to the mall yesterday-didn't drive him, just gave him a pile of $$$. To buy sneakers!!!) a guy joined us-he was going through some shit with his 'roid. Tom and I convincing him to lose the lawyer, start running-asap, and spend AS MUCH TIME in the gym as possible, i.e. cheaper to keep her. He was saying his lawyer said....... total crap.

Glad I went. Miss my AP peeps, but so it goes.......

Gonna be a weird week. 3 days out east @ a conference. what to do, what to do? Drive into Queens to run or??? Dunno.

*** still don't get it: everyone thinks Watchmen was a killer flick. I'm still yawning.

payback's a what???

ok, did the Manhattan half some time ago, came in @ 1:54. People doubted. Ok, fuck 'em. I knew I could do it, just usually don't wanna run til my knees bleed.

Today, King's Park: 1:28!!!!! EAT THAT!!!!! REALLY HAPPY (in case you didn't guess).

Wasn't even gonna do it, regged yesterday. Was s'posed to be Tom and I, he decided (smartly at that) he wouldn't be able to get enough rest as he was taking his kid to the movies yesterday. Ok, so Lock, Rettmer, Eric, Fran, Nella, Dave, Vince, Sue, Ken, and I repped the green. College Point was there too. Cool. Quantum wasn't anywhere to be found, but we're not gonna beat a dead horse.

WARM for a run, 54 degs @ start. Wow. Who could'a believed it was snowing earlier in the week. NICE turnout, reconnected with the usual suspects. Nice to relive old days-this was one of the first Steve and I did, memories of Cow Harbor as I drove in in the am. Think of him daily, my bro.

Ok, so, intended to use this as a good training run. So much for that idea. Ken and I brought up the rear, the rest of the Striders way in front. Both of us agreeing the view was better (hee hee). Actually ran a few miles with Maria. THAT was when I knew I was doing ok. I couldn't resist asking if she was recently Tonya Harding'd/crippled. She said she lagged during winter, not much running, so was using this as a training run (my story too, and I'm sticking to it!!!). Fun running with a star-actually finished ahead of her. She MUST be crippled.

Took the hills ok, few walk breaks but made up for it on the downhills. REALLY warm for a run. Spoke with Tom on the phone prerace, he was missed. Reconnected with all the "do my race or I'll be pissed" long island peeps. Big bird asked me to pull him through a hill (ME pull HIM???).

So, why's 1:28 so good? Extrapolate it. 1:28 on 9.3 PROVES I didn't mess with the Manhattan half. Again, feel good about myself with it, if I wanted to, I could've done 1:15, but why????? I wanna run manana. Add to this: in '03 I did the East Northport 10m Classic (since defunct). Came in @ 1:46:30. Imagine, I still had knees then and came in WAY worse. St.Francis paid off.

(I like me, I really really like me). This too shall pass, sure Shebitch will see to that. (speaking of which, It gave me It's Social Security forms for income tax. Guess how much It received for Keith? $8,500. WHY????? It has a mental health diagnosis-which It has never revealed to me, ok, back down to earth now. Homeostasis achieved).

Spoke with Pret. Should'a been @ King's Park with the rest of us, but hadda to 13. Bullshit excuse to not do Kings Park-if you really wanna do something, you do it, but I get it. If my Striders weren't there I might've not done it......NOT I've always been a loner, it's just that my world of solitude now includes my peeps. Pret was missed. So it goes.........

more eye candy below, Brit-yummy.

done!!!

another week for the books.

SHOULD'A taken today off, with the big run manana. But, noooooooo. It was GORGEOUS esta manana. Hadda. Shorts, t shirt-and gloves. Did 86th ave. NICE.

Tonight, Spike n' I off to see Watchmen. For anything that long, they should give you a medal @ the end, but it looks like a smokin' flick.

back on track

back to St.Francis. Heavy sigh of relief. Path was clear, except for a foot of snopw 'round the softball fields. By manana, won't be an issue. Thank G!!! Regained my focus. Yes, even the air seems sweeter.

Gotsta flip a coin re: Saturday's race. Dunno.

back in the saddle, eve

ANOTHER day off!!! HATE IT! But, the knees love it.

Elliped, but chafing @ the bit to hit The Line. Gotta take it with a pound of salt: warm weather IS coming=puddles=ice. Little by slowly. Hopefully this'll be the last of winter.

Bored meeting manana followed by REALLY bored meeting. God I hate these things. Unfortunately, they ARE needed and vital to the club.

Snow day, redux

ok, one more day of this crap. Ice actually forced me to take a day off-except for the spin class. Really count that as a warm up/cool down.

Guess who visited today? The Oil Man!!! Yipeee!!! It's Christmas! Yes kiddies, pathetic.

Already temps rising 26 degs as we speak. Manana early 'round 10. Gonna have to flip a coin.

THAT hurt

tough day @ work, everyone called in. Can't be a pussy, of course I went in. And yes, ran. My feet are just about defrosted. BUT, it WAS beautiful!!!!!!!!

THAT was the good news.

Came home, It has the electric radiator on. Why? No heat. Remember, Shebitch pays the oil bill. Guess what didn't get paid? So, since I pay electric...do the math. And they're going to Aruba for a week. No, you CAN'T make this up. And yes, Shebitch STILL has no wiper (nor the arm it rests in) on the right side of it's vehicle. You think I make this up do ya? And you wonder why I try to run everyday?

St.John's and Mary Immaculate Hospitals closed forever today. These be's some tough times jack! Yet 2 more parts of my past, poof! Gone.


...so it goes.....(where's Vonnegut when you need him?)

Bitch

ok, did the Coogan's 5k, good. Hilly, tough run-short-but 4600 participants-can't really get goin'. BUT, another Q in the bank!!!

LOVE the Armory where it starts, helluva way to chill before a run.

How'd I do? Doesn't matter. I suck consistently.

Yariv, Deb, Jose, Noelia, Tom and I did it.

THEN, it hits the fan. Came home, It screaming about_________ fill in the blank with whatever bullshit you want, it IS bullshit. Really what lies beneath is taxes. It lost It's Social Security Statement, so I asked It to come up with it. It gives me last year's. Now understand: It received $$$ from Social Security and I get to pay the taxes. AND I get to deal with It's screaming. The kicker: It claims "...and Keith is sick of..." So I called it's bluff: asked him, he said "I dunno." AND, bear in mind I came home @ 3:30pm, he had had NOTHING to eat. As It leaves, the house: "Maybe Daddy'll make you something." It was going to make him pb&j. Nice. Ahhh, home cookin'.

Thank GOD for running.