Nashville Jimmy

Running with the Cows of Owensville, Missouri

2007-06-10T09:40:00.000-07:00

I just wanted share a bit of an achievement. In celebration of my thirtysomething-th trip saround the sun, I wanted to do something really incredible. I thought it over, and well, the marathon has already been done, hang gliding/parachuting was out because I'm terribly afraid of heights, then it came to me- Running with the Bulls of Pamplona, Spain:

The only problem is the running with the bulls is in July. It's also in Spain and I'm in Missouri at present. Getting to Spain might be a little bit of problem, even with the excellent directions provided by Google Maps: getting to Pamplona

no. 2o on the list of directions is a tall order and I'm probably in the best shape of my life

So I thought I'd do the next best thing:

Running with the Cattle of Owensville, Missouri

It was an exciting day. The air was cool, the cow pies fresh, the sky a bright blue, perfect for weather for running with the Cattle. The first hurdle to jump was to locate the herd. After riding around the farm for 20 minutes on the ATV the herd was located.

Here the cattle are getting their game plan together or ignoring me, it's tough to tell.

I tightened my laces and looked over the herd, they looked ready to do business. The business consisted of eating grass and producing methane gas. Apparently they didn't get the day's updated agenda:

9:00 am Eat Grass
9:30 am Eat More Grass
10:00am Run with Jim
10:04am eat more grass
10:15am Union Scheduled 15 minute Break
10:30am Eat Grass
10:33am Move to pond
10:37am Exit pond, eat more grass
11:00am watch 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray
11:30am Eat grass
12:00pm Book Club Luncheon - On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan
1:00pm Eat Grass
1:15pm Move to far pasture, eat grass
2:00pm Jazzercise
3:00pm Eat Grass
3:30pm Free time/Bocce Tournament (The Utter Bowlers Vs Bovine Bocce Gals)*

*Please note that the profanity rule will be strictly enforced!

4:30pm Eat Grass
5:00pm Meditation

After a little discussion with the Head of the Cattle Local 19, a little "greasing of the hoof" with a salt lick, the agenda was updated among the herd and we were back on schedule and the RUNNING BEGAN:
It was challenging, traversing uneven terrain, fresh cow patties, and catching up with the herd.

Here we are on a slight incline heading toward the back pasture.
The excitement was running high, look at the dust being kicked up.
And so it went: they ran, I tried to catch up. It wasn't easy my friends. I won't lie and tell you I wasn't scared. I was. I almost stepped in several fresh cow patties. Then afterwards there was the ceremonial 'Tick Removal.' Fortunately I didn't have any.

So that's it sports fans. If you ever get a chance to run with cattle I highly suggest you try something else. The cattle were much more interested in eating grass and chewing cud. But it was just the right amount of excitement for me in my advancing age.

I'm already thinking ahead to next year, something a little more challenging, like running with scissors.

-JP

Yee Haw! Country Music Marathon Pt. 1 Getting There is Half the Fun!

2007-05-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

Here's the post you've all been waiting for--what was it like? I ain't gonna lie, it was tough. But it was a lot of fun too. But lets start at the beginning of the weekend -

The car, my super fantastic mentee, Heather (here she is at left), arranged to pick us up was outside my apartment at 5:00am.

I was the first to be picked up so, I had been up since 4:00. Coffee consumed, showered (sort of) as best you can at that un-godly hour.

The car then picked up Heather and then Lauren:

Look at Lauren here; she has quite a story of the weekend but I'll get to that later. Just a preview though- she's tougher than a coffin nail!

We were at Laguardia at 6:00am. Not the first ones there, but second, even before Shelby the event coordinator from TNT.

We sat, and waited, sat and waited, finally we were able to board and we were off. Everyone made the plane and in a few hours we touched down in Nashville.

A bus showed up shortly after we got our bags. The driver was a good ol' boy, a real southerner. How do I know he was a real southerner? Well, when he spoke, my New York team mates looked at each other blankly, but I being a son of the South (I was born in Monroe, Louisiana) was able to translate New York Team Mates. Here's a announcement he made over the bus's PA system with the New York Translation in parenthesis;

Y'all welcum ta th' great city of Nashvul.
(Yo! How's it hangin'?)
What cha' all fixin' to do here?
(What yous doin here?)
Do what?
(Fuggitaboutit! )
Well, bless yo' heart!
(Yous people are crazy)
I'm sure y'all are gon have mor fun dan a puppy a wit two peters.
(Yo, whatever pops your cork, I gots a cousin, Sammy, he likes the ponies, so you know whatevuh)
Be sho to git out an et some grits, give y'all some fuel fer da race.
(Don't be a cheap bastid, tip well)
Y'all come back, y'hear?
(Yeah, come back, don't come back, no skin off my nose)

The bus driver managed to point out the high points of Nashville-

One of the over 1000 churches:

The reason for all those churches - The Brass Stables - a place were people dance. (no I did not pay a visit to this place)

And of course the dominating building of the Nashville Skyline- the Bell South Building aka THE BATMAN BUILDING cue the music:
We were able to check in to the hotel with no problem. Through some luck of the draw I had a single room. The room was on the 11th floor. Upon entering the room I made myself at home immediately as you can see. Yep, lined up all my stuffed animals above the bed, threw my clothes on the bed, turned on all the lights, smelled all the little soaps and shampoos. The I opened the curtains and took in the view of downtown Nashville. Over whelmed by the beauty of our great nation and the impressive view I felt compelled to reflect back some of the beauty before me (this is not an actual picture of me):

So now that was done, I felt I was able to now focus on the next task- Getting to the Expo- it was off to the expo to pick up my number and see what kind of free swag was to be had.

Coming up next the Expo, the Race, The Finishers!

Country Music Marathon Finished!

2007-04-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Details on the weekend and the race coming!

Brooklyn Half Marathon

2007-04-16T18:28:00.000-07:00

So you pay a few bucks and they give you this nifty t-shirt. Let me tell you all about the run...It started on Coney Island Boardwalk and then out Ocean Parkway to Prospect Park. Here's a linky to a map of the route: linky

They call it a "boardwalk," because it's made of actual boards. No kidding, real wood and nails holding 'em down. The thing is, boards on the ocean, not all of them are going to stay nailed, what with wind, sand and left over Nathan's Hot Dogs eating away at the wood and nails. I saw a few runners take a stumble over a nail or a loose board and I promised my self, that I would not do that. Besides it's the first two miles of the race, there's no need to run fast, right? So I'm running along with my teammates Jeff and Melissa. We're talking about the weather, the clothes we're wearing, yada, yada, yada...and I then thunk, pblounk, I catch my foot on one those nails sticking up out of the boardwalk. I didn't do a face plant, but I came pretty close. Arms and legs flailing, like I'd just been stuck with a hot poker.

We weren't supposed to race this race, it was really a long run, since the marathon is two weeks away!!! Ok, so that's about it then, just tapering down the mileage till race day. Looking forward to the Nashville.

Where in the world have you been?

2007-04-08T04:36:00.000-07:00

Two Minute Re-cap:

Injured
Sick with Flu
Recuperated
Race
New Job
Back in the Saddle
Running Makes You Hungry

At the end of January, I was running well, tackling the practices and races, doing all that neat stuff. The February came.

Injury:
On February 1st, I took a little run in Prospect Park. Nothing fancy, just a loop around the 3.3. By the time I got to the end I was like, hmm, my heel really hurts! It hurt so bad I was limping. I limped home, iced it up and figured it will get bettter. It did not get better.

I saw my podiatrist and he took this neat picture. You can't quite see it here, but I have a little bone spur on my heel (towards the backwards 'R') on top of something called Haglund's Deformity.
Haglund’s deformity is often called “pump bump” because the rigid backs of pump-style shoes can create pressure that aggravates the enlargement when walking. In fact, the deformity is most common in young women who wear pumps.

Strange that I would have this condition, because a) I'm not a young woman and b) I don't wear pumps at least not often enough to get this condition.

As it turns out I have a high rigid arch and my shoes might be the culprit. This was not good news since I'd only had the shoes a month. I'm not giving up on them just yet. They still have some life in them.

The treatment- NO RUNNING, ICE and ANTI-INFLAMMATORIES. Well, that's not what I wanted to hear at all, but if I was going to have any hope of running in Nashville this would be the only way.

Sick:

While I was taking my time off from running I still had to fulfill my Team In Training mentor duties. This included watching bags in Central Park at night in freezing cold weather. A day later I came down with the flu. I haven't been that sick since I don't know when. I mean it kicked my A$$. I was home sick in bed for a few days, and then it seemed to be another two weeks before I was feeling somewhat normal! The only problem was I was tired all the time and couldn't train much.

Recuperated:
Towards the end of February I was on the mend. I managed to log a few pain free miles, then came a big run - the Three Bridges--from Prospect Park over the Manhattan Bridge to Manhattan, up to the Williamsburg Bridge over and back to Manhattan, down to the Brooklyn Bridge and head for Prospect Park. My teammate Jess kept me company most of the way.

Race:
The next day, a Sunday, I was feeling pretty saucy so I thought I'd try my hand at a race. Coogan's Pub 5K. The race was in upper Manhattan and started at the New Balance Training Center. The cool thing about this race was free beer and food at Coogan's Pub after the race. You read that correctly- FREE BEER AND FOOD! The beer was cold and the food- well, they had Shepard's pie, corned beef, bread, eggs --- just a note to self here - I do not like Shepard's pie. It seems like I would; ground beef, gravy covered in mashed potatoes. It's not a taste dislike, it is just not a very attractive dish. Once you break through the potato topping, well then it looks kind a like vomit. And I can't get over that looks thing.

New Job:
There was some adversity during February. There was also an opportunity that came up that I just couldn't pass up. I was offered a position with a company called www.thumbplay.com. I thought about it, and decided it was the right move for me. It was tough for me leaving my position with Intercontinental. My co-workers threw me a little party and gave me a most unique going away present; a bunch of bananas.

As you can see they drew my portrait on one, can you guess which one it is? The thing is I hate bananas. Hate them, I dislike the smell, the taste, the texture, the hype, blech!

Most people who know me know this about me. You can try and sell me on the "perfect food," argument, but it just won't work. I've tried eating them; I might as well be eating lima beans sauteed in ear wax. Eeew!

Back In The Saddle:
I suffered through the injury and the rehab and the sickness. I've taken on the new job with gusto! Things are going well. I had a 20 mile run last weekend, and it was fantastic. Yesterday I ran out to Coney Island and am I'm feeling pretty good about the marathon. Which is in a few weeks!

Running Makes You Hungry:

After my 20 miler last week, I was ravenous hungry. And I ...fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha...

Ok, it wasn't that bad. But I did do something you should never do- go grocery shopping when hungry. I was tired and hungry. This is what I came with from the grocery store:

Sea Legs (red and white mushed fished parts pressed together in pieces)
Cocoa Puffs - been craving this for weeks
Chicken Stock
Vanilla Oreos
Bagel Chips
Can of Diced Tomatoes

You'll notice that there's no milk on this list. I took the Cocoa Puffs straight and they were good (much better than bananas.)

So what's on the horizon? The Brooklyn Half Marathon is next weekend and the weekend following that is a four mile race in Central Park, then the biggie - Nashville.

Stay well my friends,

-Jim

HILL TRAINING BEGINS, AGAIN

2007-01-24T22:05:00.000-08:00

CAT HILL
WE
MEET AGAIN

yes, this is a picture of a shaved cat

Tonight's drill: run up and down Cat Hill till your legs fall off.

The specific instructions were to run from the bottom of Cat Hill to the top incorporating proper technique: short quick strides, low arms and good breathing. Then recover on the way down.

When I recover, I RECOVER. I take my time and slow my pace down so I can really get my breathing back to normal. People pass me on the way down, but I don't care. I got to get my breath back.

What was really cool about this practice was talking to everyone about their runs over the weekend. My mentee's had a great weekend. A few were running on Saturday morning (see earlier post) in the bitter cold (hardcore) and a couple of them ran the half marathon. Some had their longest runs to date this past weekend. I admire all of them for getting out there in the cold and running.

-JP

Manhattan Gran Prix Half Marathon

2007-01-21T18:17:00.000-08:00

Manhattan Gran Prix Half Marathon:

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First off it was freakin' cold! 21 degrees at 8:30am in the morning! I was out the door at 6:30am to catch the subway up to the park, to meet my teammates:

This is them in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Look closely, notice anything missing? ME. I'm missing from this picture because I was still on the friggin' subway on my way up to the upper east side. The adventure didn't stop with the subway.

I got off the 4 train at 86th street and Lexington and started to make my way over. I wasn't late for the race by any stretch, but I was late for the pre-race pep talk and that really drives me nuts. I walk the few blocks to the park and I cross Fifth avenue and start to head down town. As I'm walking down Fifth, I can see the baggage trucks parked in front of the museum but for some reason, unknown to me, I decided to follow a sign posted inside the park that said "Baggage" with a big Arrow. So I followed it thinking somehow the shortest distance between two points was a detour into the park. It wasn't.

The path took me inside the park, past the starting line, a slew of port-o-potties and the back of the Met.

DENG! I look around for my teammates (see those smiling faces above) and I can not find them. I resign myself to the thought that I'm going to run this race by myself. Ugh! I strip down to full fledged winter race wear, put my food (Clif Bloks) in my pocket, put the ear-muffs on and stuff all my other gear in my bag. I'm putting my gear on the baggage truck when I run into Lauren and Margaret.

By now it's quarter past eight, and I got to empty my bladder before the race. I say hello to Lauren and Margaret, and it turns out they to need to visit the port-o-potties. The three of us head to the rear of the museum to get on line for the toilets.

The lines are long but they seem to be moving quickly. I could avoid the line all together and just go pee on the Met like many, many, many guys did, but I didn't. It's bad enough trying to use the port-o-potty when there's 50 people waiting outside the door, I can't imagine trying pee in public, let alone in front of a throng of people and on one the world's most famous museums.

I got in and out of the toilet, met up again with Lauren and Margaret. And the gun goes off. We're right next to the start, all we have to do is duck under the tape and jump in the race. The start is crowded. Even though the gun went off hundreds of us are walking. This always happens, though. It doesn't matter much because of the timing chip attached to my shoe.

The race consisted of two laps of the park and a little extra. I like to think I ran a smart race. I drank water at each station (it was so cold the water turned to ice in the cup, and the Gatorade turned to slush), ran up the hills technically well (short strides, low arms), ate at specific points, which brings me to this: NUTRITION

Rather than Gu's I chose for this race: Shot Bloks. My good friend, Doug C. out in Alaska told me these are like Jello Shots with out the booze. He was spot on, these things are tasty. Shot Bloks are, in my opinion, the most palatable of all the sports nutrition. I had my little bag in the pocket of my jacket while I ran and these things were frozen solid. I popped one of these of these things in my mouth about broke my jaw trying to chew it. Ultimately I ended up keeping one in my cheek and treating it like a lozenge.

So, after all the fan fare how did it go? Well, I had a really good day, here are the numbers:

Last Name

First Name

Sex/
Age

Bib

Team

City

State

Overall
Place

Gender
Place

Age
Place

Finish
Time

Net
Time

Pace/
Mile

AG
Time

AG
Gender
Place

AG %

PURVIS

JIM

M37

8480

LEUK

BROOKLYN

2889

2055

779

2:08:48

2:04:58

9:32

2:02:43

2280

48.2 %

Ok, I'm still not breaking any land speed records, but the last half marathon I ran, I ran at a pace of 10:38 per mile. And you know what I looked good doing it which of course is the most important part: After the race I had to pick ice out of my beard and mustache, but other than that I was feeling pretty good.

-JP

Team In Training - Tougher than Nails

2007-01-20T18:34:00.000-08:00

THEY DIDN'T KNOW IT, BUT WHEN THEY SIGNED UP TO JOIN
TEAM IN TRAINING,
THEY SIGNED ON TO BECOME HARDCORE RUNNERS.

On January 20 we held our Saturday morning practice at 8:30am in Prospect Park. It snowed, rained then froze over night. It's about 17 degrees at this point in the morning and windy. VERY WINDY!

The man in the center of this picture is Coach Steve. He ran from his apartment on the upper east side to Prospect Park in Brooklyn. Streets were closed while de-icer could be laid down. I myself slipped and slid up to the park.

My fantastic mentee, Archie (click on his name, check out his site, look for the movie he's made the link is on the bottom of the page). Yes, he's smiling here, but that's only because his face is frozen.

Super Social Captain, Amanda dressed for bag watch. Her's was probably the toughest job of the day. She got to sit in the park in the freezing windy cold and watch bags while the group took off running.

Jen and Samantha, full of spirit on this very frosty morning.

I'd like to tell you that I joined them on this run, but I didn't. It was too damn cold. No just kidding. I took off this practice to rest up for a race the following day. But mind you, these pictures didn't "take" themselves. I was up there at 8:30am greeting everyone and telling them they were great for coming out.

-JP

Two Weeks in Review - Marathon Training

2007-01-15T17:45:00.000-08:00

Holy Mackerel! Has it been two weeks? Don't think that I've been slacking, no sirree Bob! I've been out pounding the payment.

Let me break down the training in the past two weeks:

1/4/07 - nice easy early morning run in Prospect Park of about four miles
1/6/07 - Long slow distance run in Prospect Park - 8.5 miles
1/7/07 - Easy run in Brooklyn, 3 miles; hit Cobble Hill.
1/9/07 - Central Park Group Team Practice, 5 miles practicing effort levels 4 and 1.
1/11/07 - Early morning run in Prospect Park, 4 miles
1/13/07 - 10 Miles Long slow distance run in Prospect Park
1/15/07 - 2.5 miles little run through Brooklyn

Miles run to date since training began in December: 97.3

So then, that's all pretty dry and boring isn't it. A few days of running here and there.

Saturday January 6th, was incredibly warm, temperatures reached 70 degrees. Some said it was a freak of nature that swept through the five boroughs.

After practice I swept up the kitchen.

Sunday evening the 7th, I got together with some of my running buddies at Floyd for a little beer and conversation. It was a great way to spend a Sunday evening.
Melanie and Amanda taught the punters hanging around how to play bocce. Don't let the nice smiles fool you, they are killers on the bocce court. But knowing that they're TNTers you know they are also really good people.

When I got home I made a little Mexican food. I had some left over chicken, so I whipped up some rice and beans and had a burrito.

Oddly enough and this is PURE COINCIDENCE the city awoke to the smell of gas. Honest, IT WAS NOT ME. Sure I had a few beers the night before and some beans, but come on. Even on my best/worst day I couldn't evacuate buildings and call out national security. They evacuated Macy's for chrissakes! All over a little gas. As it turns out the great state of New Jersey was the culprit:
I don't know what's going with New Jersey. It's a nice enough state, heck I lived there for a while. There are some nice parts, and there are some not so nice parts. So essentially what happened is this: Just like a big brother, a couple of townships in New Jersey got together and held down Manhattan and basically farted on Manhattan's head. For this we all suffered.

Apparently, the fart that frightened Manhattan also broke a water pipe in my office. The water flooded the elevator shaft which has put the elevator out of commission until further notice. Five flights of stairs, up in the morning, down for lunch, up after lunch and down to leave the building. Thank you New Jersey!

This past Saturday was a 10 miler. When we got finished, Coach Michael had us do some squats, lunges, step ups a whole extra workout after the workout! My butt is killing me! Why is that? I can barely sit on the toilet. On the upside I tried a new food on the run:Oh man these things were really good. The taste was actually palatable. I didn't want to gag and wretch like I do with the sport gels (see my 9/23/06 post on Food and Nutrition). The only down side to these is they're kind of chewy and a little tough to get three down. Someone suggested to put a block in your cheek like a wad of chewing tobacco. I'll keep experimenting and I'll let you know.

Well tomorrow night we have our test number 1. I think it's timed mile repeats, but with these coaches you never know what to expect.

Next week is the Manhattan Gran Prix 1/2 Marathon-

I'll keep you up to date.

-Jim

1/2/06 GTS in Central Park

2007-01-02T18:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the New Year!

Are you ready to run? To be quite honest, no I wasn't. I had kind of a long weekend, what with the holiday and all. I went to a lovely New Year's party and didn't get home till much later in the evening.

Work was tough. The heat was still on full tilt boogie. Again I was sweating through out the day. By the time it was the end of the day, I was ready for a nap, not a run. But I managed to get myself up to Urban Athletics.

There were a lot of people there. Happy New Year's were shouted through out the store.

The exercise for this evening: Effort Levels 1 & 4!

We warmed up from 91st street up to the 103rd street traverse. On the traverse, most of us did this: run like the wind (effort level four) till you see Ramon (he was the half way point), then for the rest of the way run at effort level one till you get to the end of the traverse, then turn around and go back to Ramon at effort level four. Get the picture, run hard, run slow, run hard, run slow. We did this for frickin' ever. It wouldn't have been so bad, but I swear every time I came to Ramon he'd start moving away from me.

I was pretty well plum tuckered out, by the end of practice. And I had pains in parts of my body that I didn't know could have pains. When people talk about "a pain in the butt," that phrase takes on a whole new meaning. For some reason I was having pain up the back of my leg and deep inside the gluteus maximus! Yeoow!!!

I'm recovered. For now. I just sat in a bucket of ice when I got home. It's all good.

-Jim

12.30.06 Coaches, we don't need no stinkin' coaches!

2006-12-31T16:50:00.000-08:00

Today we were scheduled to do our long run in the park. But practice was canceled It's not even New Years and our coaches are out celebrating the New Year.
Look at them, smiling having a good time. You know why they're smiling? Because they know they're going to sleep in on Saturday morning. And you know what they deserve it. These people donate hours of time, not just watching us run, but out side of practice fielding questions from people like me. Questions like, "I'm chaffing in a very private area, what should I do." or "is my toe nail supposed to be that shade of black?" They answer these questions quickly and with out judgment. (Although, a couple of them were looking at me funny last week.)

A group of us banded together, and we declared, "with or with out the coaches will run our long run this Saturday!" Secretly, we were all like, "won't the coaches be impressed by our dedication?" even more secretly, at least to myself, "I just want to run because it makes me feel good." Cheesy, I know, but it's the truth. As it turns out there was a group of us who all felt the need to run, so we organized our selves and had us a little run in the park.

Happy New Year!

-Jim

12.26.06 Effort Levels 2-3

2006-12-26T18:33:00.000-08:00

Practice was a joy compared to my day in the office. For some reason my office thermostat has two temperature settings: Yucatan Hot and Siberian Cold.

Today was Yucatan Hot. Hot and humid. I am not kidding you when I say that I was sweating at work. I mean hot.

I wore a sweater and a collared shirt under it. Well the sweater came right off as soon as I got off the elevator. Then in the ten feet it took me to walk to my office the shirt came off. Then my co-worker walked in on me with my shirt off. Ooops! I guess this took her by surprise, cause she kind of looked like this: Cause I looked like this:

Give or take a muscle or two.

I put the t-shirt on, but it had this huge silk screen print on the front that felt like a layer plastic coating my chest. Then it hit me. I have my running gear with me, which means I have a moisture wicking t-shirt. So I doff the t-shirt and don the running t-shirt. Again my co-worker comes in while I'm changing. She had a similar reaction:

I think it may have something to do with not having sun on my upper torso. I'm so pale, I look like a new born fish. A hairy new born fish at that. I guess that would be kind of freaky.

NOTE TO SELF: LOCK OFFICE DOORS WHEN CHANGING

I drank a lot of water through out the day, cause I was sweating it out just as fast I could take it in. What a relief it was to finally get to practice.

It was a light turn out because this was the day after Christmas. But those brave souls who turned out, God Bless them, had a good time. Effort Level Tuesday in the park. We started our run with a warm up run to the 107th street traverse. There we turned around, and it was ON!

Ok, for five lamp posts we run at effort level 3, then two at effort level 2. What's the difference? The depth of the breath. The length of the breath is the same, but at effort level 3 the breath is a little deeper and goes a little a lower. Make sense? No? Well then get out there and run for a little bit, and you'll get it.

-Jim

12.23.06 LSD - Ramon Visits Brooklyn

2006-12-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

BROOKLYN IS IN DA HOUSE!

Holiday weekend- who cares gotta run!
Rain in the forecast- who cares gotta run!
Cold outside - who cares gotta run!

Ok, it wasn't really that cold out Saturday morning. It was actually very good running weather. Temperatures in the mid 50's and a light mist left over from the rainy evening.

The task today - two loops of Prospect Park - about 6.5 miles. Theres a hill on this route that is just annoying. It has two false starts, little inclines where you think the hill starts but levels off, then your head does this mind trick on you and you think, this hill is not going to be so bad, then it starts. And it doesn't seem to end, because when you get to the middle you can see what looks like the top, but that's only because it curves out of sight and keeps going on its incline.

You know what, I can tell you about it, but I think it best you come experience for yourself. Consider this your open invitation to come run Prospect Park with me.

-Jim

Happy Holidays! Non Running Entry Enjoy!

2006-12-21T11:48:00.000-08:00

THIS IS A TRUE STORY -

It was Christmas time and I was in first grade. Our teacher, Mrs. McNabb said to us, “Today, we’re going to go to the nursery and pick out a class Christmas tree.”

As you can imagine we went crazy with joy at the thought of that. With our “buddies” we walked the two blocks to the nursery in the snow.

Once there we were given a tour of the place, and told all about Christmas trees. As a treat, we were given Christmas tree. Really it was abranch trimmed from a bigger tree. Obviously that didn’t matter to us. We were instructed how to care for it, water it but not too much, give it sun light etc. On the way back to class my little buddies and I boasted about the size of our Christmas Trees our families had or were going to have. Mine was going to be this big:

That afternoon I waited for my mom to come home from work to tell her about the puny class Christmas tree and give her a the first grader’s inquisition: “When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”

Apparently I did this to her everyday for a week or something.
When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”
When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”
When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”

And I guess you could see where that would get annoying. Right?

So, one afternoon, she comes in loaded down with groceries and a broom. Tired from work and I guess she just had enough.

I start in with my questions:When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”
When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”
When are we going to get our Christmas tree?”

She sits down, lights a cigarette and asks me to sit on her lap. (I guess back in the 70’s it was ok to smoke with a kid on your lap)
“I’m afraid I have some bad news,” she said, “I had to use the Christmas tree money to buy this broom.”
She pointed to the broom leaning up against the sink.

I was crushed.
“No Christmas tree?” I mumbled.
“Oh don’t look so sad. You know what we’ll do? We’ll use this broom,” she placed her cigarette in the ashtray and grabbed the broom, “It’ll be great. We’ll decorate it just like a Christmas tree. We’ll hang ornaments, lights, tinsel, we can even put the manger underneath. It’ll be our CHRISTMAS BROOM!”

She sent me off to wash up and get ready for dinner. While I was cleaning up, my Dad and brother came in and she let them in on the Christmas Broom.

For the next few days my family put up this elaborate charade: pulling boxes of ornaments out of the attic, checking strands of lights, stringing popcorn, dusting off the Manger, The Baby J, Joseph and Mary. But that wasn’t the worst of it. The worst part of it was the singing.
They started singing carols. Instead of O’ Tannenbaum they sang:

“O Christmas broom, O Christmas broom how lovely are your bristles,”

Oh they got a big kick out of that. They made up lyrics and paraded around the house holding the Christmas broom in front of them like they were leading a parade. They got an even bigger kick out trying to get me to join in. I’d like to tell you that I was strong, that I held out, but hey what do you expect from a first grader? I caved and reluctantly joined in the singing.

This seemed to go on forever. During the day at school I’d make construction paper ornaments for the class tree. At night I’d go through boxes bigger than me of Christmas ornaments to hang on the Christmas broom. How would we ever hang all these ornaments on the Christmas Broom?

At the end of class, on the last day of school before Christmas break, Mrs. McNabb said, “Ok, now children I want everyone to take out a piece of paper, their crayons and draw a picture of your Christmas Tree.”

That was it. I lost it. I started sobbing uncontrollably. The teacher had to take me out of the classroom.

“What’s wrong Jimmy?”

“We,” sob, “don’t have a Christmas tree,” sob, “we have a,” sob, “a Christmas bro-oo-mmm!”

In between sobs, I managed to tell Mrs. McNabb everything. Mrs. McNabb took me to the principal’s office where she called my mother at work!

“Mrs. Purvis,” she was trying to be as tactful as she could, “Jimmy has told me about your,” she paused, then whispered, “situation. And well the children have decorated a lovely tree donated by Rolling Ridge Nursery. It’s just going to sit here over the break, and I thought if you’d like, you could pick it up after school today,”

I don’t remember for certain, but I’m pretty sure that I heard my Mother laughing hysterically. Mrs. McNabb, bless her heart, thought my mother was crying out of embarrassment and stayed silent. My mother composed herself enough to explain the situation to Mrs. McNabb. She explained to Mrs. McNabb that this was just a little joke to keep little Jimmy quiet. Mrs. McNabb turned three shades of red before she was able to talk.

“Well. I. don’t. think. That. Is. Funny. at all. , Mrs. Purvis!” she spit the words out trying to control her anger, “you should have seen the look on his little face! I think that’s just an awful thing to do to a little boy.”

Now the jig was up. Mrs. McNabb told me that I’d have a wonderful Christmas. She also said, “And Jimmy if you ever want to talk about your family, you can always talk me. About anything.” She was kind of turning me around as she spoke and pulling up my sleeves, just to make sure there were no marks or anything.

That night Mom explained to me that we were going to get our Christmas tree on Christmas Eve and we would spend the evening decorating it. This apparently was “our tradition.” But for chrissakes, I was only seven years old, I couldn’t wrap my head around tradition.

I’m older now, and the scars of that trauma have healed. Sort of. My family never lets me forget the Christmas Broom. Each year, a Christmas Miracle happens and I receive a Christmas Broom. Sometimes from my family or sometimes from co-workers. Oh sure, now a days a mother would be locked up for such a thing, but those were different times.
Good times. Better times.

It’s made me come to understand the true meaning of Family: finding and exploiting a family member’s naiveté for all it’s worth. You always had to be on your toes in my house.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

-Jim

GTS December 19, 2006

2006-12-20T20:41:00.000-08:00

It was a hell of workout. But I should start with what happened last night. My company held their annual holiday party. And who should show up but my old friend:

Johnnie and I had a grand ol' time. Reliving old times and telling tales. Made me feel like I was 21 again! The night wore on and I was destined to meet another friend of Johnnie's that I have not spoken to in years:
After speaking to Mr. Wellworth
I crawled into bed secure in the knowledge that I wouldn't have to run on Tuesday because I was on Bagwatch.

The next morning, after apologizing to a few of my co-workers, I spent the good part of Tuesday morning drinking water and thinking about how nice it was going to be to spend the evening sitting in Urban Athletics while the team ran in Central Park. I'd look at shoes, try on a pair or two, try on some clothes, get a slice of pizza from next door...you get the picture.

Then it all went wrong. My fellow mentor, Deb, e-mailed me asking if she could bagwatch tonight because she was resting an injury. What could I say? Sorry Deb, I'm too hung over to run? I suppose I could have, but I didn't. I said sure.

Fortunately by the time I got to practice I had re-hydrated myself and fueled up. I felt good for the practice, Tonight was the Tiki Tiki run. Short quick strides and fast moving arms. Now the thing about this is, when I start to pick of the pace, I start lengthening my stride and picking up my knees. It starts to feel a little awkward.

Oh yeah, I'm never drinking again.*

-Jim

*Well not that much anyway. ;-)

December 16, 2006 Long Slow Distance

2006-12-16T20:30:00.000-08:00

Here we are preparing for our run. First and foremost on everyone's mind was where are the restrooms. I think they're over there....

There was a little more discussion . A little jumping around to keep warm. Then a little more standing around...

And finally we were off. We ran for time today - 70 minutes. I ran nice and slow with Peter G. for the entire run.

This is a great way to start a day! I highly recommend doing this.

-Jim

Group Training December 12

2006-12-13T19:59:00.000-08:00

Tonight's Session was all about cross training.

That means a lot squats, lunges, some push ups, sit ups, stepping up and down on a benches. This is a brutal workout. Or so I heard.

I was in transit from the great state of Missouri. But quite a few of my mentees said they were sore for a day or so after.

I salute their dedication!

-Jim

December 9, 2006

2006-12-10T18:58:00.000-08:00

Today was the second long slow distance run. I was not taking part in today's run.

No I was miles away enjoying the melting snow and ice of Missouri.

I was taking my rest "on the farm."

I was at home with one of the inspirations for me running: my Mom!

Don't let that smile fool you. She's one tough cookie! She had cancer and survived, but I don't know if that was anything compared to having raise my brother and me. If we weren't beating on each other certainly we were in some other type of trouble. But she had good training: Mom worked at the St. Louis Zoo as a zoo keeper for many years, studied monkeys in Costa Rica; so it wasn't as if she was unaccustomed to dealing with animals.

Speaking of which there are plenty on the farm. Cows, chickens, geese and these:
This bird stands about 10 inches tall and it scares the hell out of me. This is Jason and he is my Mother's bird. He's vicious, stay away from this bird. I was across the room when I took this picture. To give you an idea of this bird's viciousness I offer this: this bird once crawled down my mother's arm, casually pecked his way across the table, then charged me with open beak! I jumped and made for the stairs and I'll be damned but this little bugger FLEW after me! My mother thought that was pretty funny.

And then there's this animal:
Tige (as in Tiger with out the -er) is a very affectionate dog. Since I don't have a dog I always enjoy spending time with Tige. Tige doesn't like to sleep alone and to be quite honest there's something comforting about having a dog sleeping at your feet. The thing with Tige is he really doesn't like to share the covers. Its a hell of thing to wake up to the sounds of the low growl of a pissed off dog.

That's about it for the farm. Other than resting I ate a lot: bacon almost everyday and plenty of coffee.

-Jim

12/5/06 Group Practice in Central Park

2006-12-06T06:28:00.000-08:00

Tonight the entire spring team met in Urban Athletics. We kind of looked like this:

Can you see me in there? And yes, Elvis totally supports Team In Training, he is the King after all.

Tonights practice was running back and forth between 97th street and 87th street. Not much to it, right? Well, not exactly. We did this "lamp post on and lamp post off" thing. When we were "on" we were to exagerate the swing of our arms. Shoulders loose, elbows at 90 degrees, hands and wrists loose, and then swing baby, swing! Ok, there was a bit more to it than that, but you had to be there.

Not a bad start to the season. It was cold. And dark. Fortunately there were plenty of other brave runners out there so I didn't get scared. Cause there are monsters in Central Park, lots of them like this one:

-Nashville Jimmy

December 2, 2006 The First Brooklyn Practice for the Spring Season

2006-12-02T09:30:00.000-08:00

POP QUIZ #237

What are these people doing?
A)PrayingB) squatting for a cause
C)About to embark on a "duck walk" through the park

D)Meditating

And the correct is:

B. SQUATTING FOR A CAUSE

Give yourself 100 points if you answered correctly. Give yourself 50 points if you answered C. Zero points if you answered A or D.

Take a good look at the faces of these people, these are my TEAM IN TRAINING teammates. Each one of them has taken on the extraordinary challenge of training to complete a half marathon or full marathon and raise money to support the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

My teammates pictured above have just finished their first training run. They look good don't they?

I had the distinct honor of guarding their bags while they went running. Here's all their stuff:

It wasn't an easy job. First off it was a little cold just standing there. Second, see that water bottle on the corner of the table? It was a real hand full. Honestly, when I held it, it filled my hand.

I didn't want my teammates to have all the fun so, when practice was finished I ran home, dropped off my bag, then went back and took a little run around the park.