three days in one

have been away from the computer for a bit and not added a thing to the blog. funny how much more time there is while staying in the UK to write up the daily blog and how here i am constantly on the go and hardly ever have time to do it right.

but at any rate i will try to catch up. think of it as free flowing rather than in any kind of natural order.

ran 4+ miles this morning on the track at elkins park. i may have written about this track before, an old cinder track at the local junior high school, some two miles from where i lived as a high schooler and from where my mom now lives. and the site of my one and only 50k win.

the reason i mention that is today while i was on the track running a couple of guys came on the track who recognized me as the guy who had won the race they had also run in. just for kicks i looked it up in my log- August 4, 1990-the race start6ed at 7:15 am and it went up to 90 degrees that day- we ran on a cinder track and i was really out to get a good workout in. having run a wed. night race a few days before -the belle haven 8k as a tempo workout-each mile faster than the mile before-last mile that night was in 6:25. that was after 21 days in a row and no time off. had done a speed-workout the night before with a final mile in 6:31.

so i wasn't fresh, but then as now i was pretty strong. no hip problems back then though. ran mostly around 8 minute pace. in that heat i figured i could get 20m miles in at that pace. turns out they posted a leader-board and at 20 miles i was in 4th place. decided to keep going and some guy from pittsburgh was right next to me asking if i was going the entire distance. at that point i said yes and picked up the pace. went through the marathon and was in 2nd and i kept feeling stronger. dropped the pace just below 8's for a bit to see if i could close the gap on the leader and caught him at 28. cruised the last 3 miles in just over 8's and actually had to run an extra lap as my lap counter missed the 3rd lap of my mile. hard to believe i ran 8:08, 8:09, 8:08, 7:58, 8:08 and then 10:08-think they missed one?

anyway-it was good enough to win and i got a 100 gift certificate and a pair of gel
lytes racing shoes. plus a plaque i still have. and nice to be remembered 18 years later.

but today as we ran slowly around the track we talked about getting old and trying to stay healthy and find a running schedule that allowed enough recovery and still let you stay in shape. nice to know i am not alone in this quest.

i note that on this same log page i had run a 5:55 mile and a 6:01-- must have been nice- several weeks later i ran the marine corps marathon in 3:13-

but i digress-easy to looking back at the log i have kept in some fashion for over 30years now.

spent the rest of the day with my mom after breakfast at jack's with her friends. then drove back to alexandria and worked on the house a bit and then went to hit some balls and do some short game practice. just as i seem to be getting some touch back it is almost time to return to england.

yesterday i ran 10 hard and hilly miles. ran in my new bandito shoes which i had ordered and didn't realize when i went to put them on, that they were slip lasted. this basically means they are for people with better arches than i have, but i put my orthotics in and ran the 10 miles without any problems and they were nice and light also.

was out at sunrise, the river was pretty and i did the usual 10 mile no frills run-down to the 8 mile mark-stopped at john mercaldo's bench and said hi(11 years now since john died)and came back up the trail and cut over and came home the east blvd way. all of the houses on that street are now sold. fun street to run on and i was running well at that point. saw a couple of deer crossing the parkway and finally got to see two eagles flying towards ft hunt.

pretty much finished the run and went to philly. did hit a 100 pitch shots in the back yard and watered the garden a bit before i went up. a pretty day and no real backups in traffic. unusual for easter weekend.

this came after an uneventful 4 mile run on friday and some golf at hilltop and many errands being run. then the little dinner adrienne and i had planned actually happened and 7 of us showed up at the riviera restaurant. what i would give for a place like this in oxford. but if it is there i have yet to find it- good food, nice prices and good service. not in england.

it may be the economy stupid, but it must also be the WAR. when viet nam was the war that seemed to matter to the entire country. who does this war matter to? if over 60%are against it how would anyone know that? i do remember the front pages of the paper gave the numbers of everything during viet nam. shot down planes and casualties, etc. today they try hard to hide the fact that 4000 are dead. the big deal made about 1000 is way back in time and we hit 4000 today and who knows? somewhere in this country somebody got a knock on the door while they were having dinner and they were told that their_______________-fill in the blank here- was killed. i used to wonder when i was sitting in the bunker on night guard duty what my family would have been doing at that same time in case we were over run-weird thoughts i guess to have had. was always hoping that my dad would have been home just in case.

does anyone remember that when the viet nam war started they used to send cab drivers around with the notices of death and that people were afraid to call a cab so that people living on their streets would not panic. then later they had to change it as the cab drivers would arrive drunk- that was the story at the time anyway. wonder what part of the wall my little donation paid for.

on a lighter note, i listened to bbc news tonight while driving home and they had on questions for the prime minister. if it weren't real politics you would swear it was a comedy show. if you ever have the chance, listen for a few minutes. that is all you will be able to take as they yell at each other. bush could not do that as it takes a slightly quick wit to handle it.

it is very late and i need to get out of here and do some stuff. in a nut shell i have 3 days before i go back. 129 more days to go. spring is here and they are calling for snow showers.

wanted to talk about some other stuff, but will hold off. funny how i have no interest at all in march madness. most sports in fact right now.

i have more interest in the vote, the boycott and the protest. have we become so apathetic? the young zealots have become the old pilates class. me too- seems sad though. we were going to change the world and all we did was grow old.

track work in the morning- cold track work-looking forward to it though. peace

ps- i still think they could solve the mortgage crisis if they made the banks give everyone with an ARM mortgage a 7% 40-50 year mortgage so they could make the smaller payments while equity built up and the real estate world turned around as it will someday. do the banks really want to own all of those properties with no equity and no payments coming in and few buyers around?