200 Days to ING Marathon- Will Joe be ready?

Umm... yes? Not that's done. I'll take my consulting fee of $10,000 in banker's check or electronic bank transfer only please.

I'll have your check tomorrow morning in the Park at 5:30AM.

First long run.

I just planned it.

Joe(I'll be wearing the Boston Red Sox cap)Nation

What does ING stand for, please?

I looked it up. Something like International Netherlanden Group. Don't trust me, I know at least the third word is wrongish.
I checked it out under the words ING Marathon and couldn't find a clue on anything that cropped up. Found it when I just put in i m g.

Birthday resolution to get your act together??? eh, Joe??

No idea. At any rate the full name of this is the ING New York City Marathon. Shorten it to New York City Marathon and think first Sunday in November.

http://www.nycmarathon.org/

I beg to differ.
I predict "yes"!

(I don't know what the ING Marathon is, exactly, but I just know Joe will be ready!)

OK, so we're talking about what I call the NYC Marathon. I understand now. ING meant nuttin' to me. Thnx, Sturgis. And Osso.

I think you are gonna make it to the marathon. I sure hope you do, because you are the onliest person I personally know who runs the thing...and I often mention it to people as a conversation stimulant.

Gonna meet my sister in town on Thursday, Joe...and we damn near always meet up in the park. Probably gonna be after any workout you may do that day, but I will let you know.

If you want to have a beer later in the day, I'm buying.

Goodie, Frank, I always like to see your sister, have a free beer and meet up with you. Yes, that is the order of importance to me.
~~~~~~~~~~
So... What the hell is this thread about anyway?
Me.
Well, yeah, but I'm going to try and make it interesting.
For one thing, I'm going to reveal the names of the voices in my head, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Okay, I'm going to run my fifth New York City Marathon this coming (Who said fast approaching!!!??) November 4th
that is:
196 days
4726 hours
283602 minutes
17016175 seconds
from now.
(At first, I looked at that list and thought I had a lot more time until I realized that the hours, minutes, seconds are all equal to the days ~~ 196. hmm.)

Now, let's drop in to see what the condition my condition is in???
(Are you trying to remember the words to that song now? Me too.)

Erm. I'm fat.
Okay, not AS fat as I have been in the past, but fatTER than I want to be.
That's one thing.
And ......wait for it.... I'm depressed.
(god, I love the privacy of a public forum, don't you?)
Keep that under your hat, all 65,000 gerbils and hamsters and abuzzers, Okay?
Running is the key to eliminating both the chunkiness AND I really get natural mood elevation once I get out onto the roads and byways.

Anyway, I would like you all (in portions of the USA that is spelled "ya'll") to swing by here now and again to see what going on.
Please add your comments, tips, sneers (My favorite is "You run as fast as my grandmother when she is pulling something.") or (Cue, Tsar) your most recent walkabout. (I like them.)
I'm going to send out invites to the A2K running community too.

HEY RUNNERS!!! OVER HERE!!!!!

and now today's report:
196
Mom got me out of bed, followed quickly by Coach who had a lot to say about whether we should have coffee or not. The Boyo said he didn't care, but he did, he just wouldn't put on his shoes.

Oh, I forgot.
I forgot to mention that I have voices in my head and well, they have formed something between a committee and a family.
Here they are:
Boyo: he is the man I used to be, the boy I still am.

Mom: Oy, such a worrier. Always asking "So. How's the back of your right knee now?"

The Coach: Mostly known as Coach, he is the one who is the most of everything, most critical (What are you going to do now, cry?) most supportive (Jesus, you're like a bull this morning.) and the most concerned with performance (What's your average pace? What your heartrate?)

You'd think he was my Mom, but she's always more concerned about pain and injury.
(AAAWKK! Don't run through those leaves, you'll twist your ankles!!)

The Whiner: There's no other name for this guy. He hates getting up. He hates running. He hates watching what we eat. AND he hates shutting up about it. I'm going to put a name on him, just not now.

asshole.

Joe: Yeah, I know. That's me. And a good cognitive therapist would have found a way to combine all these personalities into one being by now, but, except for Joe, they only exist while I'm running. At least, that's what Joe says. Actually, Joe doesn't say much at all on these runs. He mostly listens.
Like this morning when we were 4.49 miles out on a six mile loop, the committee/ family decided, led by Coach, that we should take the Long Hill home. It would be shorter, 5.7 miles instead of 6.1, but it would test my ability to trot up about a mile of hill.

Joe didn't say anything, he just went along with the rest of them.

So, we did that.
And that's today's report.

Racing tomorrow in Central Park 9:15AM.

Joe(it will be day 195)Nation

Loved your first marathon thread. Good writing and inspiring to boot.

I know what you mean about those different personalities. Go Boyo and Coach. But do keep an ear out for Mom. (Just ignore Whiner.)

ING is the marathon's official sponsor...

(wiki)

Looking forward to a lot more reports in the 196 days, 4726 hours, 283602 minutes & 17016175 seconds before the marathon Joe.
Sorry to hear you're down in the dumps.
Here's hoping that your running regime lifts your spirits .... & soon.
Wishing you all the best with it.

Woud it be easier to take a cab, wherever u r going ?

Yes.
As you well know, David, New York has several sports; football, baseball, basketball, hockey and taxicab racing, (NYCTaxi Cab Racing Association Motto: "Get Out Of my ******* Way, Asshole!") but I like actually being on the streets and sidewalks of the city. (Yes, some taxis actually do travel on the sidewalks of New York , but, as far as I know, it's something that is that is not encouraged.
Besides, when I am running well, I don't need a cab. The last time we met (actually it happened to be the first time we met as well, we need to remedy that) I left the group while they were piling into cabs, I ran North to Bloomingdales, bought a shirt and then ran to the Frying Pan on the West Side before the group could order a second round.
In New York our shoes are our tires, someone once told me, so I pay as much for footwear as the average automobile owner pays for four radial tires. It's worth every penny.
~~
So. Because I am a certifiable idiot, I have gained 13 pounds this past year and ten pounds the year before. (Ha ha, I said after the third marathon. I was ten pounds heavier and five minutes slower.) Last year's Marathon was a disaster. My right knee, accompanied by Mom and the Whiny Asshole, vigorously protested walking after Mile 17, so I massaged it nicely and then would run about .7 miles and then massage it again. I did this every mile or every .7 miles to the finish, finishing a full 30 minutes slower than the previous year an d booking the my slowest marathon ever.

Well, pack it in, pilgrim, give it up, fatboy, roll it over and out if you have the strength, you miserable .... .
Hey, you know what just occurred to me? You know who hasn't shown up in a long time as a member of the Committee/Family of my mind???

~AngerMan~

Oh, you would like him. He's a hoot. He's the one inside me who is SO pissed off at every miss-step, every bad break, every hesitant moment that he EXPLODES in verbiage that is impossible to report in text, it would take a graphic artist to convey the heat of the hot rhetoric he spews.

I've missed him.
~
Today's race was a four mile. My first as a 65 year old man. (That meant a new age category) I did 40 minutes and 58 seconds which was 58 seconds slower than my goal which I had posted in my brain as kind of a joke because we had been trotting along at 11 minute miles for the past two weeks (and not very many miles of that)
So I ran a 10:15 average. I beat about twenty guys, forty six beat me. There were seven thousand runners out there this morning, most of them wearing ponytails and tights. (I do not know why more single men don't use the NYRR racing schedule as a pick-up scene. It is crawling with nubile women. I digress)

Did I do well? No.
Did I do better than I expected?
Yes.

Am I back?

No.
~Angerman and Coach both agree: My fatass needs to lose about 15 pounds. Then they will start talking about being back.

Joe(i was happy with the result but what do I know?)Nation

best part of the city is discovered at street level, walking and running

a pedometer is meaningless when I'm in NYC cuz I'm going to walk and walk and walk ... no point in counting

have you done any running travelogues recently? I really enjoyed those

Hmm. I've run over the Queensboro Bridge a couple of times recently and sent some photos to Facebook. It would be fun to put one together for here.

Joe(much fog, much rain today)Nation

I like it in the middle of the night; the Earth is quiet.
Sometimes, I go for a little walk; a s l o w, little walk. I 'm in no hurry.





David

Sorry to hear about your knee, Joe.
Did u suffer trauma to it? Something hit it?
I hope that its OK now.

About 30 or 40 years ago,
I was too irritable, qua slight n minor errors that I committed.
A friend suggested that I get Pantothenic Acid in a health food store.
I did. My irritability was banished n vanished. It was and is wonderful.





David