Ted Breen

Q3; way overdue.

2011-11-25T20:36:00.006-05:00

This should have been done a while ago. Ideally the day Q3 ended! Anyway, here are the stats:

Days 183-273: 993 miles (10.91mi/day)

Not bad, but I didn't meet my goal of 1,040 miles. Just missed some miles here and there. It all adds up you know. That said, the training and racing was steady and consistent. Race rundown:

Sep 24 - Codfish Bowl "8k" XC race at Franklin Park, Boston, MA 27:00 results
Sep 3 - First NH 10 miler road race, Auburn, NH 57:03 results
Aug 27 - Thomas Chamberas XC race at Great Brook Farm, Carlisle, MA 18:15 results
Aug 20 - Puma 5 miler road race in Westford, MA 26:23 results
Aug 13 - Bridge of Flowers 10k road race in Shelburne Falls, MA 34:04 results
Aug 2 - Yankee Homecoming 10 mile road race in Newburyport, MA 57:24 results
Jul 30 - Carver 5 mile road race in Carver, MA 26:31 results
Jul 17 - Stowe 8 miler in Stowe, VT 44:19 results

That's a lot of races. I don't think I've ever run this many summer races in all of my years running. Fortunately, they all went pretty well. In full disclosure, the two 10 mile races were not "race efforts," but tempo runs in disguise. I went to Newburyport so the club would have a full team, but it was only a few days after Carver. As for the NH one, I was already going up to Conway for the weekend, so we did this instead of a traditional tempo run. As for the rest, I definitely gave honest efforts to run my best. The highlight was Bridge of Flowers. This was my sixth time at this race, and it was my best. The result was a 13 second PR. I'll take it!

The year is almost over now, but I still have some races left on the schedule. As for mileage, I don't think I'll meet the goal of 10 miles a day. Here's why:

Three quarter total: 2,698 miles
First 57 days of Q4: 525 miles
What I need to run for the remaining 35 days of Q4: 395

11.29 miles a day for the rest of the year? No chance. For now, I'll be content with 350 miles. We'll see!

Race schedule for Q4:

Dec 31 - BU Mini Meet #3 at BU indoor track in Boston, MA
Dec 24 - BU Mini Meet #2 at BU indoor track in Boston, MA
Dec 10 - Club Nationals XC in Seattle, WA
Nov 26 - Talking Turkey 6mi XC race in Holyoke, MA
Nov 6 - New England Championship "10k" XC at Franklin Park in Boston, MA 33:33 results
Oct 29 - Johnny Lawson Tamalpa Challenge 4.25mi XC race in Mill Valley, CA 22:51 results
Oct 1 - GBTC Invitational 8k XC race at Bradley Palmer Park in Topsfield, MA 27:17 results

Midyear report

2011-07-01T23:29:00.009-04:00

Today (day 182) marks the end of my second quarter. Summer is here and the weather is warm. Fortunately, not too warm. Hopefully it stays like it is.

The numbers: I ran 950 miles. The goal was 910. Great success!

Much better than Q1. This quarter went by very smoothly. No unexpected conflicts to hold me down, although there were some races I wanted to do that didn't happen. So it goes. Speaking of races......

May 1 - James Joyce 10km road race in Dedham, MA 33:29 results
May 8 - Medical Center 6km road race in Nashua, NH 19:24 results
May 22 - Harpoon Brewery 5mi road race in Boston, MA 25:40 results
June 11 - New Balance Boston Twilight Meet 5k track race in Waltham, MA 15:27.38 results

Overall, I'm pleased. The only race I was not not so keen about was the track 5k. Thought I would run a little faster. No big deal though. I'm just glad my training was consistent. Now I'm ready to take my training to the next level. The goal is 1,040 miles.

Tentative race schedule:

July 17, Stowe 8mi road race in Stowe, VT
August 13, Bridge of Flowers 10km road race in Shelburne Falls, MA
August 20, Puma 5mi road race in Westford, MA
September 24, Codfish Bowl XC at Franklin Park in Boston, MA

Q1

2011-04-01T20:24:00.008-04:00

Today is the 91st day of the year. It's officially Spring, although you wouldn't know it in Boston. I just ran in a wintry mix. Terrible!

Life is good. Just got back from an awesome vacation. Training could be better though. I'm a little behind where I hoped to be at this point. On my way back from Utah last month, I got really sick. That sidelined me for a week. Mileage was low for a while, but it's finally back to 70+ again. Unfortunately, I haven't done a single track workout, tempo run, or even stride since February. I still plan to do James Joyce 10k on May 1 though. I won't be properly prepared, but it will still be a good workout. Hell, maybe it will go well. No expectations.

I have run 755 miles so far. That's 155 miles less than I wanted to run. I'll work on closing that deficit in Q2.

Utah snowboard trip

2011-02-28T13:21:00.005-05:00

I'm wrapping up an excellent trip to Utah. Taking the shuttle to the airport in half an hour. Snowbird on Friday, Solitude on Saturday, and Brighton on Sunday. Friday and Saturday were powder days. Sunday was just a packed powder day (still excellent). I had the most fun at Solitude. Honeycomb Canyon is great!

This was an easy trip to organize. We flew to Salt Lake City airport (SLC), stayed at the Radisson hotel in downtown Salt Lake City, and took the Utah Transport Authority (UTA) for transportation to and from the mountains. The UTA was not exactly quick or comfortable, but it was cheap and convenient. At night, we dined at restaurants downtown. That was pretty much it! A real "business" trip, if you will. Now I'm exhausted. Looking forward to getting home.

Price breakdown (not including food):

Flight to Salt Lake City, $435.80
Airport ground transportation, $20.00
Radisson hotel, 4 nights (shared a room with Marc), $132.27
Mountain transportation on the UTA (three roundtrips), $28.50
Lift tickets for three days and three mountains, $183.00

Grand total, $799.57

Outdoor Track vs Indoor Track

2011-02-17T09:29:00.010-05:00

My indoor track season is over. Here's my performance list for the season:

5000m, 15:28.34; IAAF 759
December 4, 2010; Reggie Lewis

3000m, 8:54.56; IAAF 776
January 23, 2011; Harvard

5000m, 15:16.60; IAAF 795
January 29, 2011; BU

5000m, 15:12.14; IAAF 808
February 12, 2010; BU

Note that I included the IAAF score for each performance. Scores are listed in the 2011 IAAF Scoring Tables. The tables were created by Dr Bojidar Spiriev (1932-2010) for the IAAF to compare results achieved in different athletic events. According to the author, the scores are based on "exact statistical data." I'll assume he did his due diligence.

One use for these scores is to predict performances in the near future, assuming the proper training was done for the event in question. For example, predicting a 10,000m performance from its equivalent 1,500m performance may not be very helpful if the 1,500m performance was achieved from a training period that was not high in mileage and aerobic development. Since I will be focusing on the 5,000m and 10,000m this Spring and Summer though, we can disregard this issue.

According to the Outdoor Scoring Table, my best score of 808 equates to the following performances:

5,000m, 15:00.68
10,000m, 31:48.23

This is interesting. Scores and performances are not equal on the Indoor and Outdoor tables. If scores from Indoor and Outdoor indicate equivalent performances though, I will run faster outdoors than I did indoors - the table says so, damnit! I would certainly like to believe this. However, sometimes circumstances in Massachusetts tip the scales in favor of indoor track.

Indoor track in Boston is not slow. Most of the tracks are banked and very fast. The meets I ran in were very big and competitive, including fast collegiates and post-collegiates from all over. Plus, conditions indoors are always good. This is a huge factor. Good racing conditions in the Spring and Summer are not nearly as consistent. You never know when it will be hot, humid, rainy, or windy. Worse, it's usually some combination of those conditions. Sometimes I wish outdoor track in Massachusetts was in the Fall.

Nevertheless, I do believe I can run faster outdoors than indoors this year, weather be damned. My first outdoor track race is a New Balance Twilight meet on May 14, and I will probably do the 5,000m. That is 13 weeks after the BU Valentine meet! I certainly don't plan on losing fitness during that time. Instead, I expect to be fitter and sharper by that point. With excellent training and preparation, those IAAF score 808 performances should be a piece of cake.

Running: 2010 in review

2011-01-27T12:00:00.004-05:00

Number of miles in 2009: 3,090
Number of miles in 2010: 3,462

Average daily mileage in 2009: 8.47
Average daily mileage in 2010: 9.48

Highlights:

3000m PR at BU Terrier meet in January: 8:35.95 (5.45 second improvement)
Winning the Harpoon 5 mile road race in June
Finishing the Mount Washington road race (first try!), even if it wasn't pretty
Bridge of Flowers 10k road race PR in August: 34:17 (60 second improvement)
Running under 26 minutes at Franklin Park again, at Mayor's Cup in October

Lowlights:

Dropping out of two 5k track races, at BU Valentine in February and NB Twilight in June
Dropping out of Gobble Gobble Gobble in November
Blowing up halfway through my race at Club XC Nationals (Charlotte) in December

Goals for 2011:

Average a minimum of 10 miles a day.
Lower my 5k track time (currently 15:09)
Defend my title at the Harpoon 5-miler in June
Lower my Bridge of Flowers 10k road race time
At Franklin Park this Fall, run under 25:30 in the 8k and 32:00 in the 10k
Finish in the top half at Club XC Nationals in Seattle this December

Summary:

Not a bad year, but mostly unmemorable. The goal this year was to get back to the level I was at in Fall 2006, when I first dipped under 26 minutes at Franklin Park. With steady (albeit unremarkable) training, I achieved that. Had I not gotten terribly sick around Thanksgiving, I'm sure I would have raced a lot better at Club Nationals. That said, it's time to take it to the next level. Simply put, the key to a successful year is improving my aerobic fitness through higher mileage and consistent training. More simply, I just have to get out the door and get it done. Do!

3000m progression

2011-01-23T15:07:00.008-05:00

In the 2009-2010 season, I ran the indoor 3000m track race four times:

December 19, 2009: 8:48.82, Boston University
December 26, 2009: 8:50.11, Boston University
January 2, 2010: 8:44.68, Boston University
January 30, 2010: 8:35.95, Boston University

Today was my 3000m debut for the 2010-2011 season:

January 23, 2011: 8:54.56, Harvard University

Eh. Not bad. Running under 8:50 would have been nice, but I'll take it for a few reasons. One, it was my first race since Club XC Nationals on December 11, 2010. Two, I had to take some down weeks after Club XC Nationals, because I was sick. And three, Harvard's track is not as quick as BU's track.

Not sure if I'll run another 3k this season. I'm going to do the 5k at BU's Terrier Invitational this Saturday. I think today's 3k will set me up nicely for it. Shooting for sub 15:15.

In other news, I went to Flat Patties restaurant in Harvard Square after the race. They specialize in thin hamburgers. It's not new, but I've been meaning to try it for a while.

Verdict : thumbs up.

I love thin burgers (as opposed to big fat ones that most restaurants seem to serve). This place does it right. I had the BBQ Blue, a burger that is topped with bbq sauce, blue cheese, and bacon. Very very nice.

Codfish Bowl through the years

2010-09-27T11:17:00.006-04:00

Photo by Tom Derderian

This Saturday was the 43rd running of the Codfish Bowl cross country race at Franklin Park. The classic 7945m course was used, as it has been ever since I first did this race. The Codfish Bowl typically marks the start of my cross country season. A little history:

2010 - 27:25, 32nd out of 287. 2nd on GBTC.
Team finish 6th out of 25.
2009 - did not compete
2008 - 27:48, 40th out of 155. 9th on GBTC.
Team finish 1st out of 17.
2007 - 27:07, 9th out of 91. 2nd on GBTC.
Team finish 1st out of 9.
2006 - 26:58, 35th out of 169. 5th on GBTC.
Team finish 2nd out of 18.
2005 - 26:51, 16th out of 103. 4th on GBTC.
Team finish 2nd out of 9.
2004 - 27:25, 15th out of 107. 2nd on GBTC.
Team finish 3rd out of 12.

Unfortunately, the times and the places only tell part of the story. Weather and course conditions factor into the result, and some years are more favorable than others. This year, not so favorable. After a couple weeks of relatively cool weather, Mother Nature decided to turn up the thermostat. Alas, it was not pleasant. Let's hope for cooler temps for the rest of the season (but no snow, please).

Bridge of Flowers 10k

2010-08-15T08:49:00.005-04:00

Shelburne Falls, MA / photo by Krissy Kozlosky

2010, 34:17 (5:31/mile), 25th place *USATF-NE Grand Prix
2009, did not race
2008, 36:21 (5:52/mile), 62nd place *USATF-NE Grand Prix
2007, did not race
2006, did not race
2005, 36:31 (5:53/mile), 12th place
2004, 35:17 (5:41/mile), 16th place
2003, 36:32 (5:53/mile), 46th place *USATF-NE Grand Prix

My best performance at Bridge of Flowers! I don't think it could have gone any better, considering my training and current level of fitness. If training continues to go well, the Fall cross-country season should be a good one.

Thar she blows!

2009-06-22T09:27:00.004-04:00

Start of the race. Beware the posers on the left!

A little over a couple weeks ago, I did the Harpoon Brewery 5 mile road race. It's a road race that starts and ends at the Harpoon Brewery in South Boston. In past years, there was always a conflict with something else in my schedule, so I was never able to do it. No conflict this year though. Instead, it was a delightful day of hard running and nice weather, capped off with delicious beer and good times spent with friends.

First of all, I was rather satisfied with my actual race. Although it was not particularly fast (finished fifth), it was a nice effort, as well as a good indicator that I'm on my way back to previous peak fitness. The real fun happened after the race though. You see, Harpoon has been my favorite brewer of beer for a while now. It's typically my top choice at the bar or the store. So, you can imagine how nice it was to cool off with a couple pints of their freshest brew.

The selection on this day was fantastic. Old favorites like UFO, IPA, and Summer were on tap. However, I opted for a couple pints of the Helles Blond Bock from their limited 100 Barrel Series. Coming in at a strong 7.4%, this strong lager had a lot of flavor. I really enjoyed it, and hopefully I can find some at the store.

Posing with Harpoon big wigs on the awards stage with my loot.

As an added bonus to the day, I won some sweet prizes. For finishing third* in my age group, I won a ceremonial beer stein and a 6-pack of Harpoon IPA. Hell yes! Now, imagine some other possibilities. If I finished second in my age group, I would've won a 12-pack. If I finished first, it would have been a case. And, if I won the race, I would have received a case AND a champion's wreath made from hops. Just more motivation to keep training.

*I actually finished fourth in my age group, but one of the guys ahead of me didn't list his age on his registration. I may not have been the faster man, but nobody can fault me for incorrectly filling out a form.

Or-ree-gone

2009-03-28T02:09:00.006-04:00

Arrived in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday afternoon. Got in some nice runs since then, including Tryon Creek State Park on Thursday and Forest Park on Friday. Both were pretty cool places. Especially Forest Park, because it's huge. Also very hilly!

Wildwood Trail in Forest Park, Portland, OR.

Post run, hit up Voodoo Doughnut in downtown Portland. Heard about the place on Man V Food, so figured it was worth checking out. Did not expect it to be so small (hole in the wall, no place to sit), nor located in a such a seedy area of the city (adult establishments galore). I liked it though. Eclectic crowd. Loud metal music. Friendly service. Most importantly, plenty of doughnuts. Picked up a dozen assorted.

Sugary treats!

Mmmmm, doughnuts.

Heavenly

2009-03-25T03:32:00.009-04:00

View of Lake Tahoe from the top of Sky Express

Rented a big ol' SUV and drove to Heavenly on Monday for a day trip. The name was quite appropriate! 16 inches of dry snow got dumped on the resort over the weekend, so conditions were very nice. It was also a fantastic day, with bluebird skies for miles.

Nevada side

Heavenly is the first resort I've visited that spans two states! Both sides, California and Nevada, are swell.

Party on!

2009-03-22T01:45:00.007-04:00

A crucial food stop whenever you're in Cali:

Animal style

It's a huge tourist attraction, but for good reason:

Lombard Street, San Francisco

So ridiculous. What's more ridiculous is how it's drawn on Google Maps. Ha!

So I took the first train up to Oregon

2009-02-27T07:12:00.007-05:00

Paradise marquee

Blitzen Trapper played a show at the Dise last night. It was solid. Most of the songs they played were from Furr, but they had some older stuff too. There was some strong Oregon pride (yeah Katie!) in the house, especially during "Country Caravan," their ode to the Beav State. Some fans even came prepared with OR license plates to wave around. I wonder if this is a typical Blitzen Trapper show tradition?

Band, minus one member (dumb pole in middle of room blocked my view)

As the hour grew late, our bodies got quite weary. We left at the end of the normal set, forgoing the encore in favor of sleep. I'm all washed up.

Let It Ride

2009-02-22T12:14:00.011-05:00

Last night Katie and I saw The Cardinals at the Orpheum Theater. It was awesome! They took the stage around 8:25 and opened with a rocking version of "I See Monsters." The hot jams continued from there until 11 o'clock curfew (with a short break in the middle). Compared to their Bank of America show in September, it was equal performance-wise. It was more enjoyable for me though, because our seats in the mezzanine were fantastic.

The Cardinals

My favorite song of the night was "Wonderwall." They absolutely killed it. The band was so tight, and Ryan's vocals were so beautiful. Everything else was great too. Ending the show with "Down in a hole" was a pleasant surprise. Ryan was very animated and wailed pretty hard on the guitar. His double-fist pumps really amped up the crowd. Lots of great energy in the building. Too bad we couldn't get the mezzanine rocking like it was at the Vampire Weekend show in December. I hope Ryan doesn't leave the Cardinals like he says he will. If he does though, hopefully he comes back soon! It'd be such a shame if this was their last show in Boston ever.

Ryan Adams

When we left, we caught a train back to Davis right away, and ended the night with a crucial serving of JP Licks' oreo ice cream. Best ice cream flavor in the world. Also, pretty happy about the shots I got with my point-and-shoot tonight. Freeze frame!

JP Licks in Davis Square

Burning the candle

2009-02-02T10:03:00.009-05:00

Brian "taking a rest" in the Trials.

Hit up Mount Snow in West Dover, Vermont this past weekend. Brian and I met in Leominster at 5:30 on Saturday morning and carpooled to the mountain. Got there at 7:15, which is the earliest I've ever arrived at any mountain. Front row parking spot in the main lot was secured. When the lifts opened at 8, we were out there. Overall, it was a great day. Everything was open, and many many runs were done. We spent most of our day on North Face and Sunbrook, including a lot of time in the trees. The Trials tree run on the North Face was practically a secret. We only saw a few people in there at a time. Took a couple laps in the new terrain park at Carinthia too. It is pretty bad-ass. Never seen a park so big. I stuck to the kickers on the Small/Medium trail. Despite a few crashes from insufficient take-off speed, it went pretty well. Just lacking style right now. Funniest part of the day was Brian's 360-attempt on a little bump at the bottom of North Face. Not enough speed my friend! It was a total train wreck. Fortunately, he was ok (just a little banged up).

Back in Boston, Katie and I tried to go to her school's annual semi-formal that evening. No such luck. The organizers oversold the event, and it was at capacity when we got there. It's not like we were particularly late either. There were at least 40 people in the same boat as us. When it was determined that we would be waiting for a long long time, we split. By the time I got home though, I was finished. I had been up since 4 o'clock in the morning, and it was an action-packed day. As it turns out, I was a total mess on Sunday. Nevertheless, I label the weekend "great success!"

Roundup!

2009-01-23T14:55:00.011-05:00

Big time slacking on the blog. So, here's a quick recap of the most awesome events since last post:

Sugarbush, January 11
What a great day. Katie, Junyong, and I hit the road at 5 am and braved terrible driving conditions (falling snow, unplowed roads/highways) to get to Sugarbush in Warren, VT. The drive may have taken longer than usual, but it was worth it. The mountain was reporting 6 inches of fresh. This was the first time any of us had been to this mountain, so we tried to do a little bit of everything. Conclusion: Sugarbush is fantastic. Highlight of the day was the long tree run Junyong and I did near the end of the day. We must have gone a little out of bounds, because we ended up on the street in a neighboring residential area. Whoops! Definitely coming back, hopefully this season. On the way home, we stopped at Fire Stones in Quechee, VT for dinner. Tasty food, cool atmoshere. UFO on tap!

Riding the Castlerock Double at the Bush. (Photo by Junyong Pak)

Greater Boston Invitational, January 18
Not really great for me, but the meet itself was a big success. Lots of competitors and good races. Day got off to a bad start, because I had to shovel a crapload of snow. The woe continued in my actual race, the mile. Had a goal of running 4:29, but that didn't happen. Split about 2:14 at the half and felt TERRIBLE. Not a good sign. Fought as hard as I could for the rest of the race, but crapped out with a final time of 4:32.76. Meh.

Running the mile at GBTC Invite. Felt as bad as I looked. (Photo by Tom Derderian)

BU Terrier Invite, January 24
Tried my hand at the mile again. The race itself was a little crazy, with plenty of jostling and fighting for position, but I felt so much better than GBTC. Ran a fairly even race and finished in 4:29.56. For my career, this is not so hot, but it's good for right now. Halfway back to top fitness I'd say. Just taking it step by step!

Running the mile at Terrier. Smooth and relaxed. (Photo by Jack MacDonald)

Middlebury and Pico, January 24-25
After the track meet at BU, I drove to Middlebury, VT to meet up with some friends. Arrived just in time for dinner at the Bobcat Cafe in nearby Bristol. It was my first good meal of the day, so I stuffed myself silly. The next day, we slept late, had breakfast at a diner in Middlebury, and drove down route 7 and route 4 to Pico Mountain resort. It's located in Killington, next to the big resort, but it's kept separate from the behemoth. Katie and I cranked out a half-day in super cold conditions. Whew, it was frosty! Silver lining: almost nobody was there. We never waited in line and had the slopes all to ourselves. Pico is not a big mountain, but it's not a bad place for a half-day if you're in the area. Birch Glades, our favorite trail, is a nice run that has natural terrain and some trees peppered throughout. On the way home, we stopped in Hanover, NH and ate dinner at Molly's Restaurant. The food is good and is reasonably priced. The bread is awesome! Also, UFO on tap. Hell yes!

COMING SOON: Hell Night at the East Coast Grill, Sunday River, and assorted jolly good times.

Season debut

2009-01-10T16:22:00.006-05:00

Don't be fooled by these happy expressions - we were freezing!

Last Sunday, Katie, Junyong, and I went to Mount Sunapee in southern New Hampshire. We got there bright and early and were among the first people to hit the slopes. Despite cold temperature and vicious winds, it was a great day. The snow conditions were quite good, and we took full advantage. I estimate we did about 18 runs over the course of the day. Not bad I say!

I like Mount Sunapee, because it's close, has a decent selection of trails, and is not expensive. I had some $10-off coupons, so the lift ticket only cost $56. The food in the lodge isn't bad either. All in all, a pleasant day. Monday morning was not so pleasant though. I could barely get out of bed. My body was not conditioned for this type of activity. That first day will get you!

Next trip is Sugarbush. Happening tomorrow, in fact. I've never been before, but I've heard great things. Picked up some discount lift ticket vouchers from some dude on Craigslist for only $55 each. Compare that to the normal $72 cost at the mountain. That's what I call a slick deal.

Feast of the ages

2008-12-23T12:35:00.004-05:00

Plenty left over

My work had its annual holiday luncheon today, and this time it was catered by Redbones. As expected, I ate way more food than I should have. Pulled pork, beef brisket, pork ribs, mac 'n cheese, corn bread, rice - it was amazing. Now I'm resting at my desk as my body tries to deal with this sudden influx of tasty meats. This afternoon will surely be a wash, but I will certainly have enough fuel for the track workout tonight.

In other news, I now own a digital camera. (thanks Katie!) I no longer have to rely on my cell phone or other people's photos to capture those everyday magical moments. Hopefully this means I'll blog more regularly. (I am not a fan of photo-less entries) Looking forward to taking some shots when I go snowboarding this upcoming weekend. Cheers!

Fill 'er up!

2008-11-23T22:51:00.004-05:00

Main St, Medford, MA

It's pretty awesome to pay less than $30 for a fill-up again. The good old days are back? Maybe not in overall economic terms, but paying less for gas when everything else costs more is a silver lining at the very least. Hopefully it stays this way (or gets cheaper) this winter. 6-hour roundtrip drives to Vermont and Maine are coming up!

In other news, training is going well. I've averaged about 75 miles a week for the last two weeks, and I plan to maintain a 70 mile minimum for the remaining weeks of the year. The next race is the Gobble Gobble Gobble 4 mile in Somerville on Thanksgiving morning. This will be the first time I've run a race on Thanksgiving morning. Definitely looking forward to it. There are 2,400 people registered! Good luck SRR.

What Happened?

2008-11-10T12:21:00.004-05:00

2008 USATF-New England Cross Country Championships at Franklin Park

(photo by Tom Derderian)

Progress was being made in running. Slowly and steadily. Until this year. Let's look at results from all of my performances at the annual USATF-NE Cross Country Championships to illustrate this:

2004: 44th place, 33:30

2005: missed due to illness

2006: 31st place, 32:20

2007: 19th place, 32:23

2008: 91st place, 34:48

Ummmm, that last one is not so good. The reason is no mystery though. After running a mediocre indoor season (8:45 in 3k, 4;27 in mile), I decided to change course for a little while and play more ultimate. Learned a lot about ultimate and had lots of fun playing, but running training suffered as a consequence. Now I'm back to running. Not just back for now and play ultimate later, but back for good. I'll still continue to play ultimate, but running comes first. It's time to get back into shape. The past few months have been fine for getting back into it, but no more weeks under 70 miles from here on out. There's about ten pounds on my body that has to go, and I'm not changing my excessively gluttonous diet to get rid of it. Tally-ho!

Hurray for Democracy!

2008-11-04T23:34:00.008-05:00

On my way home from work, I stopped at Tufts University around 1730h to vote.

The scene at Gantcher!

The directions were clear!

The finished product!

Great success!

(photo from Boston Globe)

I'd love to stay up to watch the victory speech, but sleep beckons. Goodnight America.

The Blunder of it All

2008-10-02T20:15:00.006-04:00

I do not like Foxwoods. Gambling is not fun. Inhaling cigarette smoke is not fun. Being surrounded by sad and depressed people is not fun. Yet, there I was, a couple weekends ago, in the middle of it all.

Phil recently moved to California, so Foxwoods was chosen as the venue for his official sendoff. With this plan, I feared that the members of our party would only have one goal in mind: poker. That would mean deep concentration, very little talking, and possibly being separated from each other if it's busy. Unfortunately, my fear came true, and three hours of my life was spent sitting at a poker table with a bunch of people I did not and wanted not to know. Results of this ordeal included losing $28 and being dead tired.

To top it all off, I was driving back to Boston when the night was over. Good thing it was only two o'clock in the morning when we left! There is nothing like driving two hours while battling sleep. What an epic battle. From that day forth, I vowed to never go to Foxwoods again. The end.

Yes, yes, yes, this rocks

2008-09-10T13:20:00.005-04:00

(Ryan Adams Archive / La Cienega)

Double concert weekend at the Bank of America Pavilion!

My Morning Jacket on Saturday night. Ryan Adams & the Cardinals on Sunday night. I was practically out of my mind. It's pointless to choose which one was better. Both went over two hours. featured sick musicians, contained awesome jams, and had excellent crowd support. My body was sore from all the dancing and air guitar.

I'm glad I started listening to My Morning Jacket this year. Although Ricky and Tim have been listening to them for a little while, I didn't catch on until hearing them on NPR's All Songs Considered back in March. So, I picked up a few of their albums since then, and now I'm officially a fan. Especially now, after the show. Their live show really brings out their best. Jim James has impressive vocals, and really wails on the guitar.

Ryan Adams, on the other hand, has been a mainstay in my rotation for some time. He's currently my favorite musical artist, and arguably creates the best music - in the world! At least it feels that way. His show was interesting, because he split it up into two sets, rather than the typical one long set followed by a short encore. Hell, I've never been a fan of the "surprise" encore. Just play I say! Anyway, that's what he and the Cardinals did, and it was glorious. I was especially pleased with their choice to play so many great songs from Cold Roses and Jacksonville City Nights.

Unfortunately, I don't have any more shows lined up at the moment. There has been talk about going up to Montreal on Columbus Day weekend to see Okkervil River. Great band in a great city would probably result in a great trip. We'll see!

Ultimate pain

2008-08-20T16:30:00.002-04:00

WiPPs!

(Jose Invencio)

This past weekend my ultimate frisbee club team, WiPPs, played in the BUDA Summer Club tournament in Devens, Massachusetts. It was a blast. The weather was perfect. The fields were green and lush. The competition was formidable. My team played three games on Saturday, three games on Sunday, and ultimately (no pun intended) finished third in the Open Division 2 conference. What a weekend!

It was my first time participating in a two-day tournament. Previously, my only experience with tournament play came from one-day tournaments for BUDA hat leagues. Those aren't easy, but they don't compare to the two-day ones. Your body is just wasted from playing hard on the first day, so coming back to play on day two is killer. This was especially harsh on my team, because we only had eight people on Saturday and seven people on Sunday. Hence, I played every minute of all six games. Even though it was really fun, I was an old decrepit man on Monday. I could barely walk. Not surprisingly, I took the day off from running.

Sadly, I don't have any plans to play competitive ultimate for a little while. I have big goals for the upcoming cross-country and track seasons, so running is once again my athletic priority. I will miss playing ultimate though. This year was my first playing on the club level, which is a more competitive than the hat level. The experience and knowledge gained will be very useful for the future. In the meantime, if I can stay on top of my throws, the transition back to ultimate won't be too rocky. Perhaps, when the time comes, I'll even conduct a personal pre-season "training camp" so I'm really ready. I'm talking about drills and suicides here. This is serious!

Bridge of Flowers

2008-08-11T10:17:00.005-04:00

I'm Ted, and this is my blog. I'm paving new ground! So, for lack of anything important and thoughtful to write about, we'll blast off with a running-related tale.

(Paulina Smith)

After work this past Friday, I drove to Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts with some of the GBTC fellas. We were there to compete in the Bridge of Flowers 10k, a fantastic road race held every year in August. I consider this road race to be one of the finest in the land. It's unique, scenic, challenging, and well organized, with extra emphasis on the challenging part. Midway through the race, you are faced with the worst/hardest stretch of hill, unrivaled by any other road race in these parts (with the exception of a few crazy races, like Mount Washington). Although I'm not in very good shape right now, something has to be said for splitting 7:29 for one mile in the middle of the race and averaging 5:33 pace for the other 5.2 miles. The hill is that bad. One could walk, as I actually did a couple times, and not lose much time at all. In the end, it was a fair competition. GBTC men placed third (GBTC women placed second), and I was eighth man on the team. Hence, my result had no impact on the scoring. I just hope I provided moral support and comic relief.

After the race, a bunch of us went to the Potholes and took a swim. The water was cold and refreshing. There was a nice 10 foot ledge to jump off of. Junyong and I performed a synchronized jump at one point. I originally suggested holding hands for the jump, but that idea was shot down on the grounds of being "suspect." The swim was followed up with a delicious bbq at Dale and Gail's house in town. Dale and Gail are family friends of Dan, and were the best hosts ever. In addition to the bbq, they let us set up camp in their house on Friday night, and made us a wonderful spaghetti feast too. They even invited us to come back next year to do it again. A gracious and tempting offer!

Arts and crafts

Last Tuesday I picked up Conor Oberst's new disc at Newbury Comics, my favorite record shop. It's not a mind-blowing piece of work, but it's solid-good music. All I can say is check it out! I only started listening to his work last year, but I'm completely sold on his style.

Thank you for enjoying (or loathing) my first post. Fin.