Day 124 - A wonderful long run - A (temporary farewell?)... And my way forward

Hi All (readers of my 110 blog and my Teens Run Yonkers - I'll be posting this in both)

Well, like the Seinfeld Series, all good things - OK,depending on your opinion, things - must come to an end or at least a temporary end. While I haven't shared a lot very personally, I'll share that this has been a tough few weeks for my family and I. I've had family members that have been challenged with health issues and it's been sad to folks that I love lose so much of themselves to these things. Not going into a lot of detail but I'm guessing you get it. As such, I really needed a run today to just clear my head and not think. One of our kids in teens run yonkers mentioned that he loved the feeling of just running and not having to do lots of thinking. So, I ran and ran and ran some more and was happy to put myself right on my marathon training schedule with a 20 mile run. Sometimes, especially when things are tough and you can't control, just getting out there and pushing and pushing till you accomplish something totally in your control, it feels good. Again, this is why we do Teens Run Yonkers - to teach young people about moving beyond self-imposed limits and getting to the place where you're in control.

Anyway, this was Day 124 - 14 past my originally goaded 110 days of running. While I absolutely love(d) doing this blog, I'm realizing it's relatively time consuming - and sort of mind dividing - to do two separate blogs. So this will be the final post - for awhile anyway - for the 110 blog. Starting tomorrow, I will be doing all my posting in the Teens Run Yonkers Daily Runner blog. For those of you who have been reading 110 and enjoying our occasional Seinfeld Trivia, I'll still try to kick that in from time to time. No reason we can't have some fun while motivating others to run. I'll also start adding a bit more about my own personal running and lessons learned into the Teens Run blog. We will finish up with the tips but again, will infuse it with some new stuff.


For those of you who read either of these, I welcome your thoughts, comments, suggestions and ideas for improving the blog, life, liberty and the pursuit of a perfect pair of running shoes (but I do have a couple of candidates!!) See you on the street

Congrats Steve on the 10K - and day something, something - George and Real Estate

I am beat but I am posting - this - something - just to keep myself in the game. But before I forget, a big congrats to one of the steadies (at least on the Seinfeld stuff - not sure he actually reads this!). But a big congrats to Steve Vinick on his recent run of the Cherry (is it blousom or tree?) 10 miler. Sounds like it was a great time. I'm also a little big familiar with that one as Teens Run DC, I guess what we'd call Teens Run Yonkers DC-cousin, participates in that one.

Anyway, had kind of a fun couple of runs today both 3++ ish so I'm calling it 7 for the day which is what I was supposed to be at for the marathon training schedule which I seem to be keeping more by accident than design. Did the run with the TRY team today which was fun, interesting and kept me going at a variety of paces - kind of fun to change it up like that. I've also been eager to run on this trail I always drive by at Tibbetts Broook where we do so many of our training runs. I had decided that if time worked out after the TRY run that I would hit the trail. So, I brought along this pair of Newton trail shoes I've been loving just as walk-arounds. But I was eager to see what running trail was like and I have to say - very cool. There is definitely something special about finishing a run - even if it is just 3 or 4 miles and having the shoes caked with mud and looking like you just ran Australia or some other super remote place. Very cool and on the radar permanently now.

Finally, since I've been in the hunt for office space now for a bit, I'm reminded of George's original career (before the Yankees, Play Now, Kruger Industrial Smoothing and probably lots of others). But speaking of George's real estate adventures, you may remembers he quits Rick-Bar properties. What instigates the final blow-up between him and his boss? What are some of the alternative career choices he contemplates after quitting? Finally, after Jerry is robbed, he finds a great apartment for Jerry to rent - tough one here - where EXACTLY is it? What's it very, very close to? Good night or good morning depending on when you're reading this!

junk miles - or not?

for some reason I seem to be in a junk miles phase - over the last two days, I've been a bit treadmill addicted and particularly around doing speed intervals. By the way, and as I often say, speed is a very relative term. Just to be clear, for me, doing speed intervals is doing a 9 mph pace for 100 to 200 meters and then doing a light job for two minutes - that's what these things are...Anyway, looking forward to hitting some dirt, gravel and cement tomorrow with Teens Run Yonkers - there's a cool looking train that I think we'll hit tomorrow just to get us moving again - yea!

I don't know what got me thinking about it but obviously superheroes play a key role in Seinfeld. So now for something at least a little bit different, let's talk about non-Superhero "mentions". I've always been a much, much bigger Batman fan and as someone noted last week, Batman is referenced in the Chinese Restaurant episode (unless I was Batman and just saw the Bat Signal). So when else is Batman referenced? And even more interested, which episode includes a mention of Aquaman? What other hero's are discussed in context? UP and away...

just a few quick things -

just a few quick things

not alot on the running today - did a good tempo on the tmill for 6+ - nice and steady...

But more on the Seinfeld stuff today as I had a similar experience to one of his. I was invited to speak at an assembly today for one of our schools (all shall be kept anon)and due to several factors, my time was limited. Anyway, very reminiscent of when Jerry is asked to speak at his former school for career day about his work. Remember that one? He's bumped two times I believe before ever getting on. Why? Also, he invites George to join him -what is George's initial plan for addressing the students? What does he ultimately do? What famous late night talk show host does a cameo appearance?

Off my routine - another 16 miles - how's your "internal clock"

Wow, I never realized how much a change in your routine can throw you off. I'm writing this at 2:20 PM (weird time I know) because this morning I took my dogs to get groomed which took up the entire morning. So I'm starting my day off really late. I've been able to get really steady with the blogging thing by making it the first thing I do - so I'm much more use to do doing this at 7:30 AM - so this is like 6+ hours late.

Anyway, had a decent 16 mile run yesterday on a killer route loaded - and I mean loaded - with significant hills. The first part of the run started with a straight uphill climb for nearly 2 1/2 miles, levels off for just a little bit then starts a roller coaster again. So, by design, I appropriately started off slow (as you're supposed to do on these but I always struggle with it). So I ended up covering 16 though I had wanted to hit 18 to be right on track with the training schedule i'm following. Nevertheless, a good run. I did a very easy recovery on my treadmill this morning. I have to admit - as much as I hate to - I feel kind of wiped today and not sure if its due to not enough sleep or possibly just a little bit of fatigue. Either way, onwards we go...

Speaking of feeling off the routine, there are a few Seinfeld episodes where Kramer references his lack of need for a watch and his comfort with his "internal clock". Can you name them? I believe a mishap or two occurs as a result of that clocks inaccuracies - what were they?

day whatever---

so I gave all of you a break with no post yesterday - it was Sunday after all.

Anyway, I'm just going to keep going with this thing till whenever. I think my legs and lungs have a good second wind; I've been lightening up on daily miles and will stick with a more typical marathon training schedule now. Focus on long run plus one good tempo and one or two good easy one's on the other days. And at least a mile or two a few notches below race pace on the other days. Why not - right. Plus I have to have some reason to keep coming up with the trivia stuff....

Speaking of which I was watching the - let's call it "Marisa Tomei" episode this morning. I never realized that 1) it's actually a 40+ minute episode and 2) they pack three separate story lines into it - A) the one about George getting fixed up with Marisa Tomei B) Jerry buying his dad the Cadillac and the subsequent impeachment of his father who is forced to leave the Pine of (something) Gables in disgrace - very Nixon-like ending and C) Kramer's fued and standoff with the cable guy - by the way, if you've seen the movie "The Artist", perhaps you know about the controversy surrounding the use of the music from Vertigo (one of my all-time favorite movies) The chase scene where the Cable Guy is chasing Kramer also "borrows" from this classic - what is is it about that movie??

Anyway, watching Kramer run so fleetingly from the Cable Guy reminded me that in various episodes, Kramer has been characterized as somewhere between "lean" and fit to desperately out of share (hint: the Walk is tomorrow - you're never going to make it!). Name a few of the episodes where his physical fitness has been a factor. Some have involved Charity Walks, the ability to where jeans, and his agility as model. No right answers here - more of a thought provoker for a Monday morning where I'm at my office a bit early and can't get myself quite started..

Yes, on to Day 112 - this stuff is positively addictive - or addictive in a positive way

so I can see that this gets kind of addictive - the thought of having to write something like "today was the first day I didn't run" is not sitting well with me. I actually thought today would be that day. Even though yesterday, I ended up having a nice run by testing out the course that we used for today's Teens Run Yonkers 5k+, I hadn't planned on running today. While I love going on the runs - really my favorite part - today, I wanted to be at the start/finish line to give up medals and congratulate all our finishers. Which I did - so, no runners.

But by 5:30, 6:00 I was feeling like I wasn't ready to give it up. So I did a 6+ miles tempo run on the treadmill. I have noticed a bit of benefit between alternating between pavement and treadmill so definitely sticking with that. So we are now at Day 112 - we'll see what tomorrow brings..

On a slightly different note, I was challenged to find a friend willing to help me move around some furniture in our house - having some pieces redone. SO what Seinfeld comes to mind?? Keith Hernandez of course. By the way - must be a sign of age, demographics and other stuff that I couldn't find a friend either willing or that didn't have some issue (i.e. bad back, hernia) that could move the stuff! Anyway, how do George and Jerry first bump into Keith? Who were the Mets playing in the tall-tale that in the inspiration for Kramer and Newman's anti-Keith sentiment? And what's the deal breaker that drives the wedge between Elaine and Keith in their dating? And for the fun of it, what is Keith Hernandez doing these days?