In Sleep

...today is the last workday of my vacation. Monday I have to go back to school. That means on Sunday I have to shave again. That means on Monday I have to wake up at 5am to go run. That means on Sunday I have to go to bed around 10 pm and not the midnight hour that I have been pulling off the past week. That means on Monday I have to prepare my body for the flu to come back. That means on Sunday I am going to sleep filled with anxiety and wondering what the next day is going to bring. That means on Monday I have to wear nice work clothes (BUT THEY LOOK SO NICE). That means on Sunday I have to make my lunch and iron my clothes.  Welcome back to reality.

One thing that I have been able to do during this time off is that I have been able to troll around on the old FB. I got a message from some guys for a group run a couple days ago and viewed it and responded to it. Now here is the interesting thing, I saw that my old private message were still on FB. Let's see how long these go? Oh they go all the way back till I got FB back in 2007. Some of those messages I read. Some made me laugh. Some made me go, oops! Some made me think about things.

It's interesting to read things from the past and see how they turned out. Oh let's see not friends with that person anymore. Oh let's see I don't talk to that person anymore. Oh let's see I TOTALLY REMEMBER THAT CONVERSATION AND WHAT IT WAS ABOUT. Oh let' see I TOTALLY WANTED TO SLAY THAT BRO, but you know things didn't work out the way it should have.
Of course there is always a recourse to thinking about these things. For some reason I never deleted them and didn't delete them after reading a couple of those things.


...I took a nap a couple years ago. It was during a time when I wasn't feeling that great. I woke up and for a split second I wondered if things that had happened were actually a bad dream. I woke up and for a split second I thought, yeah it actually was a dream. There was probably a few seconds where I was happy, and then I realized that no in fact it wasn't a dream. That all those things happened. That was probably crushing. There are times that when I take a nap (and those are usually on the weekend, when it can happen) and during those times I drift into la-la land and sometimes, sometimes where I'll wake up and forget where I am. Am I in DC? Did those things happen in real life or a dream? I'm not really sure sometimes. They can be good dreams and bad dreams. Throughout my life I remember all the good and bad.

Run 8 miles @ Rock Creek Park

It was cold this morning. The temperature was about 34 degrees, but it felt colder than it did yesterday. There was some frost on the ground, the saving grace was that there was hardly any wind. I did get the satisfaction that when I was going out to my run I saw some people in my building getting ready to go to work. "Have fun at your job". Is what I wanted to say, I decided to silently troll them.  I finished my run to do four strides.

Rockville Twilight 8k: Relax

I've been sitting back, resting, and lying about my place and thinking over the race from last night. I guess I could say the one word that comes to my mind is disappointment. I had a goal of running under 27 minutes and didn't come close to running it. But at the same time I have learned to put things into prospective and realize that there are certain positives to take out of this race. As I was doing my run this morning I remembered that I had been only seriously training for this race for about three weeks, so to run 5:30 for 5 miles after three weeks isn't to shabby. Also (and not to use this as an excuse, but to point it out) while the temperatures were in the high 70s/low 80s giving an appearance of it feeling cool, the humidity was out there and I'm sure the dew point was in the upper 60s. I'm not sure what the dew point was but after doing an eleven minute warm up, I was already sweating a bit. As this was a new race in a new place I wasn't really sure what the course was going to be like. I had been told the race was hilly, and while compared to what I've raced in Charlotte it wasn't that hilly, but looking at my garmin stats three of the five miles there was a net climb over a net descent. With that being said this was the fastest 8k that I've run before, and looking over the many positives I'll take this result and go forward. After this pity party of sorts let's go to the new and improved running diary!

6:30 am This is my sleeping in time now. Ah geez! I went to bed the night before at 9:45 because I was just to tired. Waking up at this time I walked around my place and got ready to do an easy shake out run.

7 am Ran a nice 4 mile shake out run. If my friends in Charlotte were doing the 4 miler well why not do one myself. The morning was gorgeous this morning. In the 60s nice breeze made it feel cooler. Opted to wear a long sleeve shirt. It felt good. Ran just under thirty minutes.

8am After eating breakfast see that I received a text message from my sister last night. Apparently I didn't hear it at all. It was at 10:15. I then realize that I am an old man in that I slept through the message. I had the phone on vibrate and it was right next to me. That must be sign 1 that I'm getting old.

9-11:30 am I decide that it would be a good time to relax and watch the tour and the open championship. It was at this time that I took a nap. It was probably a thirty minute nap. It was also a nap where I fell asleep in my nice relaxing chair. It was an old man nap.

11:45-12:45 pm As with my usual custom for a pre race meal I needed to get my shells and pasta from Harris Teeter. The closest one to my place is off the U Street metro. I ended up taking the metro and then walking to just under a mile to HT. Let me tell you about this HT. You have to walk up stairs to get to it! But they didn't have my meal. Instead I bought some spaghetti for lunch.

1:15-2 pm Eat the spaghetti and cook the take and bake bread. Is there any other bread that's better to make than the take and bake bread? I think not. It's also at this point to say that when I was working at Harris Teeter I use to work the bread kiosk from time to time. I can't tell you how many free samples I would eat there, but let's say it was anywhere from 2-3 loafs.

2-5:30 pm Not a whole lot going on here. I watched some tv and then tried to take a nap. The nap went alright, but it wasn't that great of a nap.

5:30-6 pm I get ready to go to the race. Get all my things that I need. Got that, check! Got that, check! I make my way to the metro station and find that the train that I was going to take just leaves as I make my way down the stairs. Total bummer. The next train will be coming in fifteen minutes, total bummer!

6:25-7:35 pm The amount of time that I spent on the metro. The Georgia Ave/Petworth train came at 6:25, then I had to transfer over to the Red line at Chinatown, which it seems that they were doing construction. That meant there was roughly 1,000 people waiting for the trains on one track. One train comes by and I get on and realize they are going in the opposite direction that I want to go on. I jump off in time and then wait a couple minutes and get on the train I need to. I end up standing for most of the train ride and sit down for the last couple stops. I start to feel a bit of motion sickness, but nothing to bad. It was a reassuring sight to see the sun again when we get into Maryland.

7:35-8:15 pm I arrive at Rockville and take the quick trip to the expo. The race is near the town square, which is very nice. A bunch of restaurants, a movie theater, basically a really nice place to spend a Saturday night. Also it's packed. The stores and restaurants are packed. I get my packet. I notice that I get a dry fit shirt. Looking over at the festivities I realize that this race is a step above anything I've ran in in Charlotte.

8:15-8:30 pm Did my warm up. My garmin was acting up a bit and couldn't find a signal for awhile. I ran the first part of the course, which we ran twice. I come back from my warm up and put my bag in the bag check. This race has a lot of people in it. It's crowded. I'm hoping to run well.

8:45- 9:15 pm The race goes off...and immediately I'm way off pace. I was stuck behind the elite women and a bunch of scrubs. I look at my watch and see that I'm running 5:59 pace. It was at this moment where I started to press a bit and move to my left to find a space to move up. After moving up I see that my pace is 5:25, which I figure is going to be where I need to be. I don't check my watch again till the mile marker. The first mile had a small hill in it that I knew about, it also had a downhill right after it. The mile marker was just after the downhill and I hit it in...5:09. Well that wasn't what I was hoping for. Oh well. Also I should note that I'm probably in 25-30 place with a 5:09 mile.

The next mile we turned left into some neighborhoods, and let me tell you about the crowd support IT WAS MASSIVE. People were out in full force. The lines of the streets were packed. It was truly awesome. The second mile had the longest hill and the closest thing that it reminded me was the hill on Morehead, but not as long. I got to the second mile and it was 10:43. I actually felt good and was running well. I wasn't tired at this point. On the third mile we repeated most of what we did in the first mile. At the water stop I ran under this mist stream because I was sweating bad and was over heating. At times I was running by myself and at other times I was with people. One thing that I need to work on is to suck it up and run with a group, consequences be damned. I hit the three mile mark at 16:16.

The fourth mile was one that was probably the most out there from the spectators. We ran through parking lots going back and forth. It was at this point where I told myself that I had to catch three people and not get passed. I almost got this goal, I passed two people in the last mile. The fourth mile I wasn't feeling that great, but I still was positive and was flashing a smile. I hit the four mile marker at 22:06. At this point we were on the last mile. I knew that we stayed on the main street for the last mile. I figure ok it was time to start moving. I picked up the pace and realized that I stuff in the tank. I kinda used certain points in the course when to really pick it up. But I got confused and started to really pick it up earlier than when I should have. It didn't really cost me anything, other than not catching the guy who was in front of me with the truly awful stride. But I was able to drop a couple guys at the end and finished the last .97 with a 5:11. I finished with a 27:22. That's what my watch said. I'm taking that to the bank. My garmin measured the course at 5.04. Oh well. I was spent after the race, I probably could have ran a bit faster. I was a bit disappointed after the race, but I knew that there was much more important things going on with my life, and that honestly this wasn't going to get me down like it did after Twilight. I have another race lined up time to get to work on that race.

9:30 pm Did my cool down in my flats. It was slow and barely 3/4 of a mile. I got my stuff from the bag check, got some free food, and then walked back to the metro station. I got a free lemonade, but it had zero calories which meant that it tasted like crap. I ended up not finding a place to get something to eat and made my way to the metro station. I had at least an hour ride on the train, I was not looking forward to it.

9:54-10:55 pm Got on the train and was glad that I was able to find a seat. I was sending texts to Emily, which was good. Although some thoughts were going in my head. A) I hope I don't have to go to the bathroom, B) If I do have to go, where would I go?, C) Why is nobody sitting next to me? I looked in the glass and saw that I looked like death, I also realized that I smelled really bad and that when I got up from my seat it was covered in sweat. I am a disgusting person.

11-11:45 pm I ended up taking a shower. I was going to eat some chicken strips, but I was to tired to make them, so I just ate a bowl of cereal. I was tired and after I ate it I went to bed.

In looking back at the race when I was walking back to the metro station I realized that running really does show a person about life. And for me I need to find a balance and relax. I started to flip out a bit on the train going there, thinking I wasn't going to get to the race on time. I got way to impatient in the first mile and it cost me. I think that in order for me to go forward I'm going to need to pick my spot when I need to push it, and at the beginning of the race is not it. Maybe in the second mile? Also I realized that I might need to change things up a bit in training.

But I also looked and really want to focus on the positives. I never gave up and quit in the race. I competed as best as I could. I never totally broke my stride. I like how I ran the last bit hard. I like that I was able to bounce back in this road race after Twilight. I like how I was smiling during and after the race. Also I like how I enjoyed this race. Maybe it's work or maybe it's a change of scenery but I'm feeling good. I do realize that right now I'm only three weeks into some training and that three or four more weeks I'll be in better shape. This race was a good indication of where my fitness is. It was a summer night race and those are tough mentally and physically, but I feel that I held up well and can only see myself getting stronger. I'm working on things and feel that I'm getting better. On to the next race.

Half awake and half a world away

...there's many things that I have been thinking about lately. Is it to late for me to write up something as a good bye to Charlotte? How challenging/rewarding is this new job going to be? I wonder how I am going to get to some of the places in DC now? Why is my neighbor banging a hammer at 3:30am? No really what does that mean? But I guess everything that could be answered will be answered, although I'm not really sure that I want to know what that banging noise was. Now to recap everything that has happened in the past couple days, including the move, and what not I think it calls for a old school running diary. But I'm gonna have to mix things up a bit and do it backwards! Just like the Seinfeld episode to India, don't go to the bathroom the entire time your there, paint your shoes black to give the appearance that your a couple inches taller...oh we ready!

Sunday: Well that's today and I've just woke up from a nap. I took a nap at 10 and napped for 90 minutes. On the agenda today: reading. I start orientation on Wednesday and I have to read a couple of short articles on literacy in DC and I have to read a book about the two individuals who founded KIPP, Work Hard, Be Nice. I read the book earlier this year, so re-reading it is giving me flashbacks. I shorta remember this and sometimes I really don't remember it. For the two articles I have to print them out to bring to the orientation. Which has lead to a problem. I brought an old Deskjet 722c with me. I have a macbook. I probably should have done this before I left, but I found out that I can't connect them at all. Looks like another trip to Columbia Heights!

As for running I decided that instead of trying to find a group to run with I really (really) wanted to run to the monuments and memorials. I looked at the map and saw that Rock Creek Park went through them, so that was my plan. Honestly it was pretty cool. I got to the Lincoln Memorial at a quarter to 7 and was able to run up the steps. I haven't been here since the summer after 8th grade so my memories weren't that fresh. I was glad there weren't any tourist there. I stopped during my run and just read what was above the memorial, then walked to the the sides and read the Gettysburg address. It was pretty cool. I then ran down the National Mall (which unfortunately is being renovated. The reflection pool totally dug up. The only bummer of the trip) and ran around the World War II memorial, and then made my way to the Washington Monument. I can see this from my apartment, but I wanted to go up close. It was something that words honestly can't describe. I don't know what else to say, but it was pretty interesting. I was able to the Capital ahead of it, and then ran a bit and saw the White House. I was pretty tempted to run around it, but at this point I was at 8.18 miles and knew that I had to run back. Honestly I found this run to be pretty cool and very inspiring. It kinda made me affirm to myself what I want to be as a person and as a runner. I really don't have any more excuses anymore and it's time to man up! First race is in less than three weeks. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Saturday: I ended up leaving my apartment at 10:30 to go to the Super Giant in Columbia Heights to buy some grocers. If you looked in my fridge and drawers you would have noticed that either a) a homeless person was living there or b) a 5 year old was in charge of the food. Frankly I really didn't have anything in there and needed to buy some real food. While the Safeway by my house is close, it doesn't have that great of a selection. I walked out of my place and saw all these people sitting in chairs on the sidewalk. Whaaaaattt? I didn't know what was going on. I saw a couple people dressed up in costumes, the best at which I can describe as something out of a street festival. Well they were having a street festival. The DC Caribbean Festival was having a parade that went down the street I live on. When I got back from shopping, I ended up watch the parade for 45 minutes. It's pretty hard to describe in great details. I mean you kinda need to be there to understand it. But let's see there were guys dressed up in some sort of costumes, that I don't know what they were, covered in baby powder. At the same time they were dousing the crowds with baby powder in their hands. There were semis that had a band attached to them and a gigantic sound system as well go by every couple minutes, each representing a different country. There were dancers. Singers. People covered in red paint. People covered in brown paint. Some guy dressed up as the Death. Pretty awesome and intense at the same time. Take half of the street parades that you see on Treme and the other half the double album of The Clash's Sandinista and that's what you had. I had a pretty good time.

When I got to running this morning the plan was to do a 4 mile tempo run in the middle of my run. I wanted to run on the roads to the park, but ended up getting a bit lost and as a result my warm up was about 3 miles. Nevertheless I started my tempo with the hopes of running the 4 miles at 6 minute pace. If I could do this it would give me a good clue as to where my stamina and endurance were at. I had honestly no clue where they were at, so this was a feeling out workout. I started the first mile and felt alright running a 5:57. But on the second mile I knew that I didn't feel that great and was wondering where I was going to get the strength to do two more miles. When all of a sudden this guy that I had passed going the other direction runs up to me and asks if he could continue with me. Why not! His name was Kent, he was from Maryland, and here at a conference. He really helped me out. Without him I don't think I could have ran this workout that well. The second mile again was 5:57. The third was 5:50 and we finished it strong with a 5:28. We finished right around the Kennedy Center and just pass the Watergate building. We cool downed together and he went into the zoo the run more miles and that's where we traded our good byes. He helped me out and he also taught me that I have a lot in the tank and can go to the well when I need to. This run helped me out a bit in terms of confidence.

Friday: UGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!! That's the feeling I got this morning. Oh why Oh why! I guess I'm not getting any younger. Oh no I'm not. A night out turns into a bad decision. Ugh I was feeling it. My run surely suffered as well. I was hoping to run about 90 minutes, but I knew that wasn't going to happen. I decided to run on the park towards Maryland and I'm glad I went this way. I felt really bad maybe 2 miles into the run and was saved that there was a public bathroom. Saved! I got a bit on the trail and was so shocked to see how similar it was to the trails in Blowing Rock.* The trails were dirt and very hilly! Oh lord were they hilly! I found a spot where I could do hill repeats. But what I really noticed was how weird it was to be running on this trail, where it felt like I was a hundred miles from civilization, yet I was in the heart of a busy metropolis. There was the creek next to me and the faint sound of cars. Another thing that made it similar to Blowing Rock were the horses and their poop.

*Out of all the things I missed doing while I was still in Charlotte was running at Moses Cone. Never had the time, but surely want to go back!

Thursday: Well after the only human interaction that I've had in the past couple days involved the Comcast installation guy today, I kinda figured that any opportunity I have to meet up with people I was going to take. My work had a meet and greet at an outdoor patio at a hotel in the NE part of town and I went to it. It was a great time meeting some of the people I'll be working with and some of the others that will be at different schools. You'll meet different people, that's what I found out. But that's another reason why I decided to take this position. It was a chance to get out of my comfort zone and the chance for me to have a new opportunity and challenges that lie ahead. I have to be realistic that this year is going to be tough and wear on me, but I have to start thinking more positive and I have to keep on task and remain focused. I'm going to do that when it comes to running and I'm going to do that with my job. I need to find the inner harmony that will let me achieve this, but what I really want to do is really take a chance in a new direction and no longer be that passive.

The other highlight of the night was...well...ole B-Mizzle was the top dog of the night. What I like to say is if you run hard, you got to party harder. When it comes to running, yes I enjoy it and want to do well. I get disappointed when I don't do well. But at the same time I realize that it's just running, and that no I'm not that great of a runner and that I'm not some super start. I don't take running for granted, because there are more important things to take for granted that running isn't a top priority. With that being said I'll have fun from time to time, and will not say a late night out on a weekend is 11. That's how I roll.

I did a workout this morning, the first workout in DC. But the weather made it appear that I was running in Charlotte. It was sticky humid in the morning and felt awful. During my cool down some guy said to me "pretty f--- ridiculous" I guess so. I did a fartlek workout of 3 minutes hard 1 minute easy. Can't say that this went that well. I ran the first one to fast and paid the price for it on the last three. Although the dew point had to be in the range where workouts suffer, so I'll take it for what it is. A chance for me to get back into shape.

Wednesday: I begin day 2 of having no interaction with the outside world. I assumed that nobody I knew was dead. Would that deserve a phone call? I hope not an email! Today I ended up unpacking everything. Getting things out of boxes, arranging them where I wanted them to go, breaking down the boxes, oh what fun! My brother ended up leaving at 8, so we woke up at 7:45. He was taking a train to Baltimore for a flight back to Charlotte. So for the remainder of the day I was by myself and had plenty of time to get my place up to my standard. The goal was to make it Kent Morris clean, and I think I was close to getting to that position. At 1 I was pretty much done with everything, made some lunch, and took a long nap. Really what else was I going to do? I really didn't feel like exploring the city that much. After dinner I was wondering what was I going to do? I ended up watching the NOFX DVD, watched the first four episodes and then went to bed at 10:30. Is this how people back in the 1800s lived? If so I don't want that?

For my first run in DC and my first run since Monday I was pretty pumped and I went out the gates pretty fast. I live about a half mile from Piney Branch Park which bumps into Rock Creek Park. I just explored the trails to see where they took me. I didn't really have a plan on where to go, but just wanted to see where they took me. At 5 miles I turned around and knew at some point I was going to pay the price. Oh was I dehydrated! This wasn't that great of an idea. I was still exhausted from the move yesterday and still felt a bit dead. I got back to my apartment and frantically looked to see where a cup was so I could drink out of it. I ended up finding the one after looking for a couple minutes. I was refreshed, but looking at my place I knew I had a lot of work to do.

Tuesday: The plan was to wake up do a hill workout then drive about eight hours to DC and then unpack. I woke up at 5:15 and felt like garbage. A shot of Jameson and two Samuel Adams the night before did me in. I walked my dog (for the last time till November) said good bye to my parents and decided to take a shower, eat some breakfast, and pack the remainder of what I had left. My brother woke up at 6:30 and was going to be coming with me, I wasn't to sure how much help he was going to be. I ended up hanging out with my dog for the remainder of the morning. I could tell the dog was not happy and knew that I was leaving. At 6:50 I decided that it was time to go. I said good bye to my dog (and did it without crying!) and made my journey to a new place.

The drive wasn't that bad. Hardly any traffic, but it was just a pain. It took forever to go in that van and it really was mentally wearing me down. I was thinking when I got to Richmond, ok I have to drive to the city, then I have to unpack all this crap, and then I have to return the truck. Oh great! We got to DC at 3 and go stuck in traffic. One thing that you wont see in Charlotte is a pack of skateboarders taking up an entire street. That's what happened as I was driving on 7th street. I finally made my way to my apartment complex. One thing that is neat I guess is that a Wendy's is literally right next door to my place. When I leave my front door and look down I see the Wendy's. I also can see the Washington Monument from my place. My apartment was nice and it was very clean. Also it was brand new. Now the move. Of course it had to be 100 degrees or so it seemed. Every time I looked at my watch I would say "just thirty more minutes" and then somehow it wasn't. Finally at 5:45 we were done moving. My brother doing all the heavy lifting, me bringing up what I could. Then the fun started as we had to return the uhaul van to a place in NE.

I didn't know anything about this place and neither did my brother. It wasn't close to a metro station and it was in a rough area. We returned the truck and decided to do the only thing we could do...we started walking around and looking for a cab. My brother sent one of his friends a text that read "my brother and I are walking around the hood and we are lost" after that his phone died. I guess it was a strange sight to see. One white guy in a red shirt, basketball shorts, holding a lock. And another wearing an yellow shirt. We talked to a cab driver but found out he doesn't take credit cards (really DC no cabbies take credit cards??? your better than that) found our way onto a bus, then to a metro station, and then back to my place. We showered and then meet my sister for a dinner at at place on U street. All in all an exhausting day and one that wasn't that stressful as I hoped.

Stay tuned for my thoughts about all things Charlotte running, memories, coaching, the good, and the bad.