50 Year Window

Sometimes I feel as though I am looking through a 50 year window. I am seeing things in the present, but somehow it feels like what I am witnessing occurred many years ago. It is kind of driving me insane. Of course, this most specifically happens while I am with my children. I will remember forever this past Friday when I stayed with my son on the ball field long after his team’s practice was over. We were practicing hitting and every time he would he the ball he would start running the bases. The look of pure joy as he rounding third and headed for home while I tried to chase him down with the ball was enough to make my heart melt. However, while watching him, it was as though this current event happened long ago. I am already longing for days that have not yet passed.

I passed a pleasant weekend. I played poker with some friend later on Friday evening (lost $40), but had to leave early so I could wake up to take my son to his baseball game Saturday morning. My son went 3 for 3 with 3 runs scored and made a play at the plate. He loves playing baseball and is certainly enjoying it infinitely better than I was at his age. After baseball and horsing around with my son and his friends we headed home for lunch. My wife and daughter were heading out for her soccer game when we arrived. I wanted to get to her game, but I couldn’t get my son back out the door since he wanted to hang around and rest for a while. I was sorry to miss her game and I vow to myself not to miss her next one. I was able to get in a good 25 mile bike ride in the late afternoon, when my mother came over and took the kids out to a movie. It was my best ride in months.

Sunday morning I took my kids out on their bikes while I ran a lap of Prospect Park. While circumnavigating the park, I ran into my coach who happened to do a duathlon that was held in it earlier that morning. We chatted for a few minutes and I let him know I am contemplating the Greenbelt 50k on May 12. He told me as long as I keep jumping into ultramarathons I will be just fine for Lake Placid. I just need to get in the pool a little more. We then finished up our lap of the park and soon headed back out to it to play baseball with my friend as his kids. I felt a little bad for my daughter who didn’t really seem to want to play baseball, but fortunately our practice didn’t last too long.

After leaving the park all of us headed out to Coney Island. We went to the beach and played in the surf for about an hour. Their clothes, hair and bodies were full of sand and saltwater by the time we left. Fortunately they were mostly dry by the time we got back to the boardwalk and I was able to easily brush the sand off of them. We then headed to the Wonder Wheel for a ride in the swinging cars. This was their first time in it and they had a thrilling good time. I then dumped a ton of money in the arcade where they played Skeeball and other games that award you tickets, which could be traded in for an assortment of crappy prizes.

After the arcade the boys at some pizza and I promised my daughter I would take her to Nathan’s for a hot dog. Before we went to Nathan’s though we went to the Coney Island Freak Show. The show can best be described as a collection of circus side shows reminiscent of years past. It was hokey and amusing at the same time. They had a contorting girl, Geek the Freak, a man who at the glass of a light bulb and a fire throwing. The show went on for a long time and was filled with pitches for donations to see additional exhibits.

The show went on much longer than expected, so we had to leave a little early in order to get to my mother-in-law’s house for dinner. We didn’t have time to get to Nathan’s for my daughter’s hot dog which deeply upset her since everyone else had gotten something they wanted to eat while at Coney Island. So after dinner I agreed to take her back to Coney Island so she could get her hotdog. She ate it during the car ride home and the look of happiness on her face was worth the side trip.

Prospect Park Duathlon – Saturday, March 24

I almost decided to sleep in for this race since it was a bit chilly outside and I wasn’t in the mood to wait around in the cold for the race to start. To top it off, I discovered that I had 3 flats over my two sets of wheels. I had put on my Zipps the night before and inflated them after they have been sitting since September ’06. When I went to my bike in the morning I discovered both of them had lost all of their air pressure. I can’t imagine why this was so as they seemed fine when I took them off all those months ago. My third flat was on my regular set of training wheels, so I had to spend a few minutes that morning, getting my hands dirty to fix at least one flat.

I met up with a bunch of other members of the Asphalt Green Triathlon Club. Since this was a club points race, I felt obligated to wear my AGTC tri clothes. No worries to Hammer Nutrition though, as before and after the race, I had on my Hammer gear. It was nice to be part of a team for a change.

My lack of serious training as of late showed up in the race. I felt like I was running through molasses. The last time I did this race, I was second in my age group. This time the best I could muster was 7th. It is what it was though and I guess I should just be happy to have been able to put in a hard effort. Overall place I was 33rd out of 111.

After lounging around the house for a while, I decided to head to the YMCA for a swim. I felt pretty good and wound up going 2000 yards when all I planned for was 1500. I could have gone longer, but I wanted to leave the pool wanting more. Hopefully this will give me inspiration to get back in the water soon. I do have Alcatraz coming up.

When I got off the subway when returning from the pool, I decided to stop into the local grocery to buy a lottery ticket. A woman was standing outside of it asking for money. She didn’t seem to be in particular need and I didn’t like the way she asked for it. Anyway, I entered the store to cash a winning lottery ticket and buy another for that nights drawing. As I turned to leave the store, this woman who only moments ago was on the sidewalk begging for money was right next to me purchasing her own lottery ticket. I couldn’t help but ask her if that was why she was asking for money. She replied “That’s right, there is no crime in that”. I could have thought of a million different replies to her, but I just kept going instead. Who knows, maybe one day she will become a millionaire from someone else’s money.

I guess the workouts from Saturday, took their toll on me. I went out for a 5 to 6 mile run this morning and completely lost all energy by the time I reached 2.5 miles. I stuck with it thought and managed to get in 5 miles without stopping, although it was a struggle. The fact that I had trouble with these 5 miles is concerning me a bit as this coming weekend I am signed up to do the Kurt Steiner 50K. At least this ultra will be over a short 2.2 mile loop so I can always easily bail out. I am counting on my friend Larry to get me through it. This 50K will also serve as my one and only long training run before the Boston Marathon. I’ll just have to see how it goes.

Silver Lining

I am off to San Diego with my family. I am heading there for a business trip and I decided that San Diego is too nice of a place to go without them. I was supposed to leave on Friday, by the Noreaster that stopped by cancelled all of the flights out of JFK airport. I’ll only get to spend 1 day with them and the rest of the time, I’ll be at a conference and the wife and kids will be off to Sea World and the Zoo. I’ll at least get to go with them to the tide pools and beach tomorrow (Sunday). Maybe I’ll even get a swim in at La Jolla Cove.

The storm did have a bit of a silver lining. My real estate class ended this week and the final exam for it was on Friday. Since I was no longer flying out, I was able to take the exam on the original time scheduled, instead of having to sweat it that day after I come back from San Diego. The test was quick and easy and I was home before 7pm. This gave me just enough time to take my kids to Prospect Park to do some nighttime sledding. We were the only ones out and we had fun going down the unmarked fresh snow. I also managed to get in a quick swim and run earlier in the day.

Today I extended my workout streak to 16 days. I did an easy 4 miler on my treadmill, in between packing for the trip. Yeah, I should have packed yesterday, but since my flight was cancelled I spent the time studying. So today was just a quick 4 miles and then it was off to one of my most dreaded tasks – packing for a trip. I hate it. I always worry about forgetting or not packing something I may want. It’s enough that it almost makes me not want to go anywhere.

I still haven’t done a long run in quite some time. To make up for this and to get ready for the Boston Marathon, I signed up to the Kurt Steiner 50K. I figure I will get all of my long runs in at one shot. Kind of like cramming for an exam. I am doing the race with Larry, so I really have no worries about finishing it. I know he will help me pace properly to insure success. Also, when I return from San Diego, I have the CityTri Spring Duathlon in Prospect Park. Just a short little race to get some of the cobwebs out of my body.

That’s all for now. The airplane is getting ready to land.

My New Thing

So I’ve got a new thing going for my training routine. Whenever my workout calls for a bike ride, I setup my computer right next to my bicycle so I can play online poker at www.fulltiltpoker.com while I ride. It is really working out for me. I’ve been able to achieve a higher heart rate while doing this than while ever watching a movie on TV. I guess the excitement of it is a constant thing unlike a movie which inevitably has slow and dull moments. I am not playing for real money, so no worries about me becoming a degenerate gambler. Playing for points is satisfying enough; but damn is it addictive. So now I am fueling two additions at the same time – training and gambling. Maybe I could somehow work sex into this equation and really reach nirvana.

Yesterday I blew off my 3 mile active recovery run and instead substitute about 90 minutes of ice skating with my kids at night. It was my son’s first grade school outing, so I took him and my daughter to the rink and skated amongst a bunch of 6 years old. It was a lot of fun. The night was cold and crisp with a light breeze. The air was sparkling clear and the lights in Prospect Park were twinkling beautifully. It was very heart warming to see a bunch of little kids all skating, sliding and falling with a rosy glow on their cheeks. My kids had a great time and didn’t want to leave the ice. My son is really starting to get the hang of ice skating and was off on his own for almost all of the night. Moments like last night serve as a reminder of how lucky I am.

Accosted

I was running with Larry in Prospect Park this past Wednesday and I got to talking with him about how much better it is to train in the city rather than in the suburbs. Here we were running around a perfectly paved road free of traffic under the cover of darkness. Those in the country don’t have that sort of luxury. We both agreed it is far more dangerous to be running on country roads with their blind turns than to be in a city park at night with plenty of other like minded people.

Well my confidence in that belief was somewhat shaken last night. I was running on my own down by the skating rink (sometimes known as the low rent section of the park) when several young punks started to approach me from an angle. As soon as I saw them I knew I was in for a bit of trouble. The leader of them came directly across the road, up from behind me and then paced me on my left hand side. He asked me for money, to which I replied excuse me (I was listening to my mp3 player). He asked me again and I told him I didn’t have any. He then replied “What if I hit you”. I could hear his friend laughing and running up to my right had side while this was happening.

I was glancing over my shoulder to see where his friend was (he was just about on top of me), when the leader called out to him “Yo Chill”. I am not sure what happened to make them suddenly stop and I just kept on running. Perhaps he didn’t like the look on my face or the fact that my demeanor didn’t change at all. I don’t think I changed my pace a bit during the entire time, but I was ready to start to make a break for it. I just wasn’t sure if I could outrun them. Fortunately I didn’t have to find out. Possibly they were just kids looking to horse around, but you wonder what type of parents bring up kids who think scaring people is a good time.

Besides thinking about how I was going to get out of the situation, I kept thinking about how my kids were waiting for me at home and how it would really be sub-optimal to get hurt while out for a run. What scared me even more was my daughter was a fraction of a second away from coming with me this evening and I had no idea how I would have handled the situation had she been with me.

I am really pissed off over this. Running is one of the ways I can relieve my stress and I enjoy my time being out in the park where I can let my thoughts and worries disappear. To have that solitude disturbed by several assholes is extremely disturbing. I am now worried about taking my kids out with me at night and resent having that pleasure taken away from me.

After the incident had passed, it took a while for me to pass anyone else in the park. I finally saw a single woman walking towards me into the direction of the incident. I stopped and warned her along with another male runner who happened to come up on me. Finally a Parks Department vehicle came up from behind me and I flagged it down. The people I warned must have already told the officers, because they already knew about the hooligans and were heading towards the area. At that point the alert was sent out and I saw several police vehicle enter the park.
This was not the way to end my week. Or perhaps it was a fitting ending to a crappy week. It seemed as though everything that could go wrong at work did. It was a stressful week and a stressful way to end it. At least in the end I had a good run and my legs felt great. I have a 3-day weekend now, thanks to MLK, so hopefully it will be restful and peaceful.