well, that wasnt what i was looking for...

From the tone of the last email you'd be hard pressed not to notice that i have been struggling something mightily with my running over the past few weeks.

Friday marked my first workout since last summer before Hood To Coast but i was pretty optimistic since i have been running consistently since november and while feeling bad lately figured i would still get the results i was hoping for.

I set reasonable goals going in, 4xmile in 530 with 2min rest. This should of been easy, more of a tempo effort. I did the first mile in 5:36 and it was ok, a little slow but it was the first one. Still, in the back of my head i was embarrased by this. The next one was 5:30 but the last lap hurt. Not a stinging "this is fast" but more of a flat this is all i have got today kind of feel. My upper body seemed to be twisting too much, breathing was labored.....bla bla bla. It didnt feel good.

Started the next one and came through in 240 and just pulled off. Yeah, i pussied out but something just isnt right. My HR was 190 after the rep. waited 2min and did another that felt better but i think only because it was the last one.

Many reasons come to mind, i havent been under 6:00p since summer, probably still feeling the after effects of the flu, not mentally tough enough to do workouts on the track alone at this point, diet is awful and ive been on the road selling in.....the list goes on and on.

I talked to my yoda in San Diego and he basically said listen, your not 22 anymore and its time you start taking care of yourself. He advised getting a physical for the first time since hs, getting an iron supplement and buying a crock pot to cook for myself. I also thought that its high time to get serious about the core work. I relayed these back to my good friend in San Francisco and he says he is going through the same thing and by god, we are going to make some changes.

Fast forward 6-8hrs and im talking to him on the phone after going to the grocery store and buying some Cuervo and sitting in line at the Wendy's drive through as he was at In-Out Burger.

As for the consumption yesterday is goes as:
breakfast: venti white mocha and glazed donut
Lunch: 2 bowls of cocoa pebbles
Dinner: wendys chicken sandwhich and biggie fries with large coke and 3 shots of tequilla added.

Now i sit here on saturday watching balls of fury despite it being awful but holy jeez the asian woman is beautiful and hope to find one like her at the ebony event.

Below is a video of my dog sitter, liams girlfriend, my old teammate/roommate and the author of an album i cant get enough of lately

Torn and Frayed

So its been far too long since ive posted an update and my 3 followers have probably left me to cruise Perez Hilton a few more times a day.

Last month i really got cruising. Chicago had a few weeks when it was just cold, light wind and no snow. Promising weather, times and workouts loomed brightly on the horizon. Sadly enough a very adorbale 17month old baby is what did me in. That lil tike gave me the worst sickness ive had in the past 5 years as i was laid up from sunday-thurs. The nickel i ate when i was 4yrs old finally passed and im pretty sure i also puked up a lung.

While on my death bed i did feel that i finally hit my running weight but unfrotunately i have spent the last few weeks trying to regain strength and get my legs back under me. 80min was becoming routine now i want to walk home after 40min. I feel exactly as i did my last year in track. Overtrained, tired, flat and just worn down. That year i worked myself into the best shape i had been in throughout college only to be beaten down by an insane practicum schedule and could never regroup and my SR year culminated in an embarrassing 8:58 3K at Illinois in a last chance meet. Awful thoughts of Boston have been creeping into my head....i wont lie.

so instead of getting some great training im road weary from work and only suffering on the crete for 45m a week. Far from mediocre and definately less than what its going to take to even run average at Boston.

On the music front I got a few new records of late. Ben Kweller, Stone Roses, Balun....

Below are the few that ive been listening to the most

Grandaddy


Hurricane #1


Neko Case

Punk Slap

I have been slacking on the blogging and i apologize. I dont have any more or less subscribers but im guessing all the extra hit are coming from Keith's page which got linked in Letsrun.com thumbs up/down section last week.

Last week i talked of taking it up a notch, adding doubles and doing core work religiously. I did no doubles and only did core work twice as after the 1st day of 100 situps i felt like a gave birth to the thing in Aliens or an olson twin. Same difference.

I ended up getting in 55miles which in looking back was my highest total since June of 2008 and probably March of 2007 to be paint an even bleaker picture of the injured running of which i was participating in. Chicago's sidewalks have cleared up enough that one can stride out and get in some decent efforts if thats what they are looking for. After a couple of medium tempo efforts and a very late night out watching the Prairie Cartel on friday the saturday long run was looming. The temp had dropped to a mark hovering right around 0 and it was a balmy 4degrees when i left the house to meet the OMTC. This was simply the best run have had in a few years. Effortless and not wanting to turn back i started having hopes of making this the first 2hr run of the year. Unfortunately after turning around the small headwind started to chill me....to the bone. The last 25min were in silence with the pace picking up gradually with each block. I was in serious pain and pissed that the brush tights and runderwear were not enough and that i may not have kids in the future. I only made it 86min but covered almost 13miles and after 15min spent doubled over and in near tears all was well with the word.

As with every saturday for the last month i met up with the EBONY crew (emptyblogofnothing.blogspot.com) and this led to meeting up for a combo of britton and costello's birthday.

The first few days of this week have been very solid if not overly ambitious. Monday saw an actual morning run of 7m and then a 6pm run of 4miles and today i may have outdone myself with 10.5 in the a.m. and 3.5 at 7pm.

I have never been one to rely on technology to get me through my runs but the shuffle has been a godsend. This weeks jams have been:









Andrew Bird--lush, great hooks and chill with some great guitar and string arts, Coconut Records -Davy: poptastic. simple, straighforward and bright, The annuals band: much like whiskeytown which is never a bad thing and lastly Frightened Rabbit: Indie pop rock with amazing lyrics.

Im lazy.

In a bit.

Case of the Mondays

Short post...mostly uneventful day.

Met up with Rick and Kyle for a run which had me leery since i hadnt eaten a good meal since saturday night and was running on coffee fumes. I felt flat and shitty the whole way. Despite being cold and the path being in terrible condition Chicago's fair share of loonies were on the path.

we saw this guy but he was bundled up in 4 layers of sweatpants, bill rogers running gloves and had a medal around his neck from the 1963 Tippecanoe Marathon acting as his bling. I kid you not when i say he was wearing a medal. I hope i dont get senile when i get old.



Next on the loon path we passed a woman who we could describe as.....a hippy/nature nut who sang the classic song by Gerry rafferty and stealers wheel "stuck in the middle..." as we ran by. Kyle wondered aloud if she was thinking of cutting mens balls off but oddly enough i only remember an ear being cut off in that movie. Kyle may have been watching the vivid version.

Emptyblogofnothing has added some features. check it out.

RH--- IN a Bit

Take it up a notch

The hectic scramble of sell in is over for the most part, I still have about 5 accts to show product and get some orders from but due to our tight timeline sometimes you have to just take them when you get them and move forward and double back later.

Running on the sell in had been ok until the Minnesota trip as the weather totally ripped into the running week. I was stuck in a blizzard on Monday, temps were -20 on tuesday, i ran 6m in chicago on wed, thurs it was -14, Friday was -17 and saturday i just said to hell with it as i had a late night doing order entry and battling with our servers going in and out.

Its ok though on the running front as i wanted a little down time before i tried to take it up a notch. Originally i did not want to do the Boston Marathon as I have been hurt for some time and just wanted to run consistently for a good period of time and get some legs back. My comeback is nothing like KK's and even at our best we had nothing in common on the running front as he was world class and I was admittedly an average D1 runner who got good for one year out of college before an accident put my running on an hold for what has been 5yrs now. Having a job that allows me to run and have a flexible schedule has made this all the more frustrating as i have the time to do it, am around supportive people and get to run in some of the best product out there every day and travel to world class events on the company time(--sidebar---shocked we have to pay for our Boston entry but whatever...) so i cant complain one bit.

Next week I'm going to attempt to take it up a notch by incorporating some doubles and get in a good tempo effort. This will likely be dependent on the weather and condition of running routes but im sure i can manage.

Unfortunately i still believe in my head this is what im capable of:


unfortunately this is where I'm at....having Meb of all people think I am the "other" Ryan Hall.




On the upcoming shows front I think I am going to see Frightened Rabbit Saturday at the Empty Bottle
www.myspace.com/frightenedrabbit

The previous day i am going to hit the bottom lounge to see my friends in the Prairie Cartel play which is always a festive time that should brighten up the dog days of winter. http://www.myspace.com/theprairiecartel

Thats all for now.

RH-- In a bit.

Deadline day and the state of music

Being a deadline day i will ultimately consume to much coffee, fast food and not remove my sweatpants for the entire day as i feverishly type in orders i have recieved and will pray to get those that have not shown up yet.

That said after walking the dog and checking in on facebook this video caught my attention on VH1Classic:




Its safe to say the Stones sold out long before this but i cant imagine Keith sitting in Villa Nellcotte France shooting smack with Grahm Parsons and saying "you know what parsons, i can see us evolving and taking on a chubby actress and have her covering our songs in the 80's. Yeah, thats going to be the vision....pass me that spoon".

As i type the next video is good old John Cougar and the video is for blood on the scarecrow and blood on the plow....seems like it would fit well in with what is going on with the middle class these days in that it seems to be disappearing.

Unsatisfied

Last time I dropped in i was sitting in a hotel room in Woodbury, MN preparing for a round of acct visits in the twin cities area. With the deadline looming days away and again having to tell buyers they had precious little time to prepare them and get them to me i was dreading this but yet again they were more than accomodating and willing to give me time and feedback that was both critical and praising yet honest.

The weather was supposed to be 0 to -20 without the windchill but there was no mention of snow. To wake up early and look outside to blizzard like conditions + a bitter cold was no good. I was scheduled to hit my last appt at 3pm for a run then some food before showing the line and when i showed up it was snowing harder than i had ever seen it years. When i asked if the run was still on the reply was "lets go get some drinks". This had me taken aback a bit but before i could answer there was a sign on the door that said "sorry, due to weather we are closing early". A nice little session of some beers, pub food and pulling product out of a bag with the buyers and employees insued for the next 8hrs....easily my longest showing ever.

Riding home i was glad the trip went well and despite the constant talk of the economy and how accts are wanting to play it close to the vest in 2009 i remained optimistic...its going to be a good 2009....be positive.

I'm home, finishing up a run in 7degree weather which wasnt bad but only 6miles. I dont want to slog around much more than that in the muck. At least it wasnt -30 since i wasnt in Mnpls anymore. That was the end of a good start to the day. Soon after i got a call that many of my friends and people who i work in the same industry with were let go and now looking for a new gig. One thing i kept thinking of is how many people think just because you work for a large company, you have an infinte amount of product, $$$, time to provide them and should do this without giving much in return.

I feel awful for my friend and fellow blogger but know he will likely land in a better position and be more apt to buy me pints very soon.

The feeling i have at the moment is that i can not wait until the snow melts, the sun comes out and it warms up and things will be much....much much better.