The Joe Nation 2007 NYC Marathon Log

...and this is still the only thread to which I am receiving regular e-mail updates. Three days and counting. That's a good omen for you, Joe.

MerryAndrew--

The RAMed up hamsters may or may not do Backlog.

I've found that when I don't get my requested updates that canceling updates and then re-requesting them works.

I hate to think of you sitting all alone in front of a Virtual Mailbox with No Valentines. You deserve to be right in the middle of the nitty-gritty of discussion.

Hats off Joe....sounds like one hell of a challenge.

I'm planning a 450 mile bike ride from Elkin NC to Emerald Isle in the fall, but the marathon sounds equally if not more daunting.

what model Harley will you be riding for that weekend Bear?

it's a bicycle funny guy....a Trek

The bike ride ought to be fun, not agony, the marathon's not going to be agony either if I get my training right.

Many moons ago I was one of the training leaders for the Tulsa Bicycle Club, we took 400-500 beginners out on the road in March for their first five mile ride. We increased the mileage every weekend. One ride on Saturday, one ride on Sunday of 10, 15, 20 25 30 40 50 60 70 and by the last week of May they could ride a couple of eighty milers back to back.

Then they got a week off to pack for the FreeWheel that a ride from Texas to Kansas.

Riding is all about being in the saddle and spin spin spinning.

Joe(spinner)Nation

So how's the week going, Joe.
I see you ran 3 on the hamster machine Monday, but what else?

I did 3 Tuesday, 4 Wednesday, and am planning on 4 today.

Now you go.

If this can lead to wagering, Ill take the under.

O ye of little faith

Monday 3,
Tues 3,
Wednesday 1 mile sprint to the gym and 2 on dreaded tread,
Thursday 0.
Did weights line all three days.

If the weather holds and I can find Ginger Liqueur for tonight's dinner, I am headed to the park about 10:30 for a long run.

We'll see.


Joe(I think I dated a Ginger Liqueur once.)Nation

What's "weights line"?

Have a good one.
I'll probably do a circuit of the parking lots today, if that.

[I think caught Ginger Liqueur's number at the Two O'Clock Lounge back in '78.]

Well, this is all your fault, George. As I waited for the guy to come get the laundry at 8:30, I noted on weather.com that the temperature was 31F and the winds were nearly calm at 4mph. The guy comes, I do some email, I start a post for the blog and then I yell at myself for sitting when I'm supposed to be making with the footsteps.

So, I get dressed-- tights, shorts, long-sleeved shirt, hoodie sweatshirt, windbreaker, hat and gloves-- and I check the weather.com, now 34F but the wind has picked up to 11mph. No biggie.

Get on subway, get off at 59th and get started.

{I'm going to figure out how to put my routes on here in case someone else in NYC would like to join me. This loop I head East towards Fifth Ave and then North.}

By the time I topped the hill near the Chess Park the wind was blowing at about 25 miles a hour. I could barely run down the hill towards the Boathouse (which is only a mile from the start). I turned left cut across the transverse and trotted through the parking lot at the Tavern of the Green. Got on the local for home.

Joe(still not warmed up---- 1.7 miles)Nation

Not fun.

My parking lot route -- about the ugliest running route imaginable -- is at
least in the lee of a hill. I did 2.8 (computed on the Google Pedometer).

Tomorrow will most likely be a washout.

Keep on keepin on.

I've been trying to get fit overall so every time I'm at the gym I go down the weight machine line:
Ab Machine
Ab Swing
Leg Press
Leg Extension
Leg Curl
Lat Pulldown
Overhead Press
Vertical Press
Arm Curls
Pull Ups
Pressdowns
I have a thing on my Palm where I can tell what settings (seat height and weight amounts) to put on each machine. I am not very consistent, but I have seen a lot of improvement in my arms and shoulders.

My belly doesn't care how many abs I do.

I am supposed to emphasize one thing on each day-- Abs, Arms, Shoulders, Back, Legs - doing three rising sets on what is supposed to be emphasized, ie: Arms day I would do three sets of curls at 45, 50 and 55 (10reps each) and one set of 15 reps on all the other machines. But I usually end up just doing one or two sets on each machine at a single weight. I need a trainer to yell at me.

It only takes me about thirty minutes to do all that.

Joe(I am not an animal)Nation

Got it.

I do weights with my son Clive 3 days a week. We do it because he has
problems getting and maintaining muscle tone. We alternate a day of
back-shoulders-chest with a day of legs-arms. We do abs on a machine
one of those days and as sit-ups on another. I take the existence of my
abdominal muscles on faith. I've never actually seen them.

Pretty frigid this morning at the 110th Street Entrance to Central Park, the temperature was 25F and the winds were light and Northerly at 7mph.


Some people were moved to stretch themselves further..

I was not. I pushed my way up the first hill and then the second and then the third and began to wonder again why it is that most people run the Park in the opposite direction. Is it possible that there could be more hills in one direction than in another?? I really don't know. It's just one of those odd thoughts that come upon you in the middle of a run.



By the time I got to the South End after dodging the usual amount of baby carriages, dogs on-leash and off, tourist groups, walkers and runners who had stopped without warning, I was ready to face the North wind.

It wasn't there. I trotted up the West Side to 86th Street and here's something spooky. I had just finished listening to Dashboard Confessional's song Reason to Believe,

Is that a great running song, or what? Anyway, I was reminding myself that soon I would need to stop using the music ZEN thingie because they aren't allowed in the marathon. ( Hey---A person talks to himself all the way through a run, there are lectures and laughter and the occasional 'shut up and run' sort of thing.) Well, I had no sooner said that when in the middle of Coldplay's Yellow {look at the stars, look how they shine for you...} IT SHUT OFF ON IT"S OWN. Spirits?

I was left with the sound of my own breathing and the tap,rap,tap of my footsteps. I liked it.
Last week was about on this winter's average of fifteen miles per week.
Got over a hundred miles for the year.
Starting out this week with 4.8 miles through the chilly hills.

Snow supposed to come again tomorrow. Where is Spring?

Joe(shut up and run)Nation

I am eating a handful of Chitos and drinking a Bubweiser on this wintry afternoon in Virginia, Bookmarking,

You can have the vitual experience
OR,
for greater effect,
go hang two soaking wet tee-shirts in your bathroom.


Joe(Oh, and a wet wool hat)Nation

(As a total aside: I ran track when I was a 15 or 16 year old, Ran the mile. I was not very good at it. And perhaps that was because running around a quarter mile oval four times was just damned boring,
I got into running the cross-country thing. Back then it was scampering along trails where you might encounter a deer or a bear. That was a hell of a lot of fun.)

Running in the gym on the treadmill is okay for the body, but running in the park is good for the body and the soul. Go, Joe Nation.