John Finger dot com

So long, Dave

What’s the world like without a David Letterman show? What’s it like when the most dependable and consistent comedian heads off into retirement?

How much do we lose?

OK, this is probably the wrong question to ask a devout non-TV watcher. Sitcoms, dramas, reality TV … sorry, it’s too tough to sit still. Besides, The Wire, Taxi, Barney Miller, Johnny Carson and Cheers are off the air.

What’s the point?

That’s especially the case now that Letterman is finished. Frankly, it was a perfect show. It had it all, complete with solid interviews, sketch comedy, jokes and jokes and jokes, and, of course, music …

Lots and lots of music.

Maybe what made the Letterman Show so perfect was the music. It was the cornerstone of the show with Paul Shaffer’s band to the nightly guests. What could be better than a ripping house band that can play every single song worth playing as well as a different live band playing something new every night?

Some nights, the band saves the day. Maybe the guest isn’t interesting or the comedy a little lacking … at least Shaffer’s band and the musical guest are there to deliver. Better yet, Dave often broke bands that would otherwise be ignored simply because he liked them. He wasn’t afraid to book bands that rocked or we’re avant garde or whatever. As a result, other late-night shows followed Dave’s lead.

And lucky for us because there’s nothing like live music. Mix it with Letterman’s sensibility and comedy and it was the perfect TV show.

Anyway, here are the best music performances that stuck with me over the years. Some are on here simply because I like the artist. Others are here because I find myself thinking about them from time to time for whatever reason.

So, here we go … (not in any particular order)

1. James Brown 
Last week I was in the audience for the show and Paul Shaffer told a great story about the Godfather of Soul visiting the show. Though this one isn’t up to the level as James Brown doing 45 minutes on Soul Train in 1974, it’s pretty damn good:

2. Letterman and Nugent 
I met Ted Nugent at the 2000 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia. He was funny and cool, which made him stand out in that crowd. Funny goes far in my book. The Nuge is funny in this one:

3. Joe Strummer 
Joe died not too long after this appearance and it could be my favorite of the bunch. The performance is right on the money, especially when Joe tosses his Telecaster to his guitar tech, and the song is beautiful. It’s also a bit melancholy because Joe is gone … we could sure use some more of Joe these days.

4. Beastie Boys 
Surprisingly, no other group pulled off the street/studio performance before this one. But if it was going to go down, the Beastie Boys had to do it. And, of course, it may be Adam Yauch’s last appearance before his fatal cancer diagnosis …

5. Foo Fighters 
When Dave came back from his bypass surgery, he requested the Foo Fighters perform at his first show back. So the band stopped their tour in South America, flew to New York, played the song and went back to South America.

6. Red Hot Chili Peppers
Here’s an oldie from the NBC days. The story here is I saw the band the next day in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Cabaret. It was an over-21 gig and I was only 18 … yep, we snuck in the backdoor and saw a pretty great show.

7. Bruce Springsteen 
This is the last performance from Dave’s NBC show. It’s a bit of a middle finger to a company that didn’t treat Dave very well. I like it.

8. Pearl Jam 
This is a Bob Dylan eff you song. Dylan’s version is better, but it’s fun to see it on corporate television.

9. Bob Dylan 
Bob isn’t particularly good in this one, but the band is as hot as they come. Plus, the whole 10th anniversary episode was terrific. I wore out a VHS recording of it.

10. Warren Zevon 
Warren Zevon is one of those artists that a lot of people would have missed if it had not been for Dave. He filled in for Paul Shaffer a handful of times as the leader of the band and when Warren had terminal cancer and was dying, Dave gave him a week-long residency on the CBS show. This is his last performance a few months before his death …

11. Bob Mould 
This is one went down last month and it already is an all-timer. Word is, Bob’s band — Jason Narducy and Jon Wurster — knocked the plaster off the ceiling. Yep, this one …

ROCK!

12. The Ramones 
Joey Ramone would have been 64 today. The Ramones broke up shortly after this taping …

13. Sex Pistols 
Imagine the Sex Pistols on corporate TV in the ‘70s or ‘80s … it wouldn’t happen. When they put together the original lineup and went out on the road, a stop on Letterman was mandatory.

14. Amy Winehouse 
A lot of talent here. Prophetic, too.

15. Sonny & Cher 
Only Dave could get a divorced couple to sing a song on his show.

16. Liberace 
If you grew up watching Johnny Carson in the late 1970s, there were certain celebrities that made you sit really close to the TV set. Don Rickles was one and Richard Pryor was another. They were unpredictable and wild. But a notch above Rickles and Pryor was Liberace.

How do you describe Liberace?

If you didn’t see it, you missed it. Liberace was a piano player, I guess.

Watch and figure it out for yourself …

17. Bill Murray
Here’s Bill’s homage to Liberace:

And here’s Bill from the very first episode of Letterman’s show at NBC:

From first to last … how will Bill close it out?

If only Dave stuck around long enough for The Sophisticates to make it ... 

Hello ...

Yes, it's me. As you can tell there have been few updates on this site. However, this will change. Over the next few months the plan is to re-design and overhaul the site and get it back functioning like the old days. 

In the meantime, visit my Tumblr page for various updates. It's cleverly titled, http://johnfinger.tumblr.com.

Thanks. See you soon. 

First we take Manhattan ...

NEW YORK — Wouldn't you know it ... Anton Krupicka was in New York City today for a screening of In the High Country, a movie I caught at the premier in Boulder, Colo. last July. After the movie I had a chance to talk with Anton and told him about how tough runners don't just scale 14,000-feet of rock. Sometimes the tough guys run in the heat and humidity of Central Park.

As it turned out, it was humid in Central Park this afternoon. It was about 92 percent, according to the weather stats, and it would have been unbearable if it had not been for the snow falling over the city.

I didn't see Krupicka in the park on Monday or Tuesday, but I bet he was there. After all, where else is a guy going to run in the middle of Manhattan?

Central Park has it all. There are hills, trails, woods, lakes, waterfalls and wild life. There is also sweeping vistas of the skyscrapers to go along with the nature. Mix in the tourists, the city life and tons of runners and bikers and the park is the nexus of the world. 

It doesn't take long to see the genius of Frederick Law Olmsted within 400-meters inside of the park's borders. Central Park just might be the greatest piece of American architecture ever created. It's truly an inspiring place and there are few better places in which to run in the world.

The test in the park, of course, is running the big loop. Not only is it approximately 10 kilometers around without veering off to other trails, but also the big loop passes by seemingly every social, cultural and financial castes. In fact, one of the prettiest spots in the park is the Harlem Meer and the nature trails on the north side of the park. 

Neither the Meer nor the Harlem side of the park are not part of the Central Park Marathon, a race I'm jumping into on Feb. 23. Instead, the marathon course will be the very same five loops run in the 2007 Olympic Trials, one of the most exhilarating and tragic days in American running history.

It was a great day because Ryan Hall, Dathan Ritzenhein and Brian Sell made the Olympic team. Hall did so spectacularly while Sell fought for third place as if he was in a gang fight. Hall also established himself as the most talented American-born marathoner ever by obliterating the field and a hilly course in 2:09. Over terrain more favorable to fast running, Hall might have challenged the American record.

The tragedy occurred nearly 30 minutes and approximately 5.5 miles into the race when Ryan Shay collapsed and died on the course of a heart attack caused by an enlarged heart. By the time the ambulance got into the park and carried Shay to nearby Lenox Hill Hospital, he was gone. In a cruel irony, the ambulance carrying Shay passed the leaders of the race near the nine-mile mark. Hall, Ritzenhein and Sell had no idea what was happening.

These days there is nothing to indicate the exact spot where Shay collapsed. But for those who take their runs through Central Park, no marker is needed. 

We can feel it.

There is a rock along the side of the road just north of the Boat House on the east side where Shay fell. For those of us who know what happened on Nov. 4, 2007, our eyes are drawn to the spot as we close in on the Boat House. Running through that area of the park feels like a sacred act. It's like passing through a shrine site where one of "our guys" went down.

The memory of Ryan Shay is one of the reasons why many of us run. Distance running, and marathon running in particular, is as beautiful as a sport can be. Bathed in simplicity, running is as pure as athletics can be. But it’s also a cruel sport. Often, every weakness is exposed during a competition no matter how strong or well prepared a runner is.

But then again, that’s part of why we love the sport so much.

The only memorial to Ryan Shay in the park is a bench, located on the other side of the road from "Ryan's Rock." The inscription reads:

"It is necessary to dig deep within oneself to discover the hidden grain of steel called will.
Ryan Shay, 1979-2007

It's going to be an honor to run a marathon in Central Park along the course used for the Olympic Trials. It's also going to be tough and hilly. It's going to take a lot of strength.

It always does. 

***

Here's a shot of the Harlem Meer from a run around the park last January:

This is a shot of the park from the Essex House on 59th Street from last February:

And this is the statue of Fred Lebow, the legendary director of the New York City Marathon:

Quick turnaround

When you decide to run a marathon on low mileage and no long runs, it's difficult to gauge how fast you'll go. The only way to know is to go out there and run it.

So that's what I did on Nov. 30 in Sparks, Md. at the Northern Central Trail Marathon. The result was 26 miles in 3:21:13, (almost an hour slower than my best time) which was a good indicator of my fitness.

Here is what it looked like:

The splits for the race were strangely consistent, despite not training the way I would have liked. I got a little tired and tight around 21 or 22 miles, but was able to keep moving at a decent clip.

You know ... considering.

It was a pretty good day. The footing on the course was a little tough in spots, and it was cold. But the race was fun and well organized. 

The best part about the race was I didn't get too banged up. The day after I ran five miles with only a bit of post-marathon soreness. By the end of the week, I was holding myself back so I don't overload myself so quickly.

But that marathon itch is tough to scratch. Because I'm old and time is short, I'm running the Central Park Marathon on Feb. 23. That one is five loops around the park, a very familar loop from trips to New York City.

It should be a lot of fun.

And then after that one, how about the Garden Spot Marathon in Lancaster County, Pa.? Yeah, why not? I know a lot of serial marathoners and it seems as if the weekly workload isn't too hot. The key will be to drop some weight and get those long runs in.

I'm ready.

The plan ...

... was to keep this updated frequently. Sometimes, though, life (and work) gets in the way. 

Such a pain. When is that Powerball gonna pay off?

Anyway, if Anton Krupicka and those guys can be the masters of mountain running, I figure I can be the urban runner. You know, the dude who explores cities and tears through neighborhoods most people wouldn't go by car? For the past 16 (or so) months, I've been dashing around cities all over the country in search of interesting running routes. I even documented and recorded some of them and will begin posting stuff here about the travels.

So in the near future, get ready for running posts about Detroit, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis, Pasadena, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, Cooperstown, Estes Park, Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans, New York and Washington, D.C.

Additionally, I'm going to run the Northern Central Trail Marathon on Nov. 30. I can't say my training is where I want it to be and I'm unsure of what kind of time I can run, but what the hell ... It's been five years since I've run a marathon. It's time to get back out there and see what happens.

Of altitude, mountain climbing and running ...

So...

I had a bunch of in depth and insightful thoughts on how running in humidity is tougher and more difficult than running at high altitude. Then there were the ideas about the Trayvon Martin case has been one of the great injustices and how Americans are really bad at understanding nuance.

These were going to be trenchant posts all related to running and surely will come out on this site again soon enough. However, they are going to be put on the back burner for a time because I just got back from Colorado.

And just like always, it's a trip to Colorado that has jump started another build-up for a marathon.

How so? How could an old salty veteran like me be rejuvenated by yet another trip to Estes Park, the Rocky Mountain National Park and Boulder? After all, it's not like I haven't gone up there to put in some miles before.

Certainly this is true. Then again, I never made an attempt to run up to Longs Peak and attend a world-wide movie premiere featuring Anton Krupicka running up Longs Peak.

Anton Krupicka? Of course, in a sport like ultrarunning that is filled with badasses and envelope pushers, Krupicka is currently the baddest of the bad. Close followers of running already know about Krupicka because of the superficialities like his long hair, beard and shirtless runs for hundreds of miles per week. Then there are the victories in some of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the country ... these are all the things that get a guy known.

But the thing about Krupicka that is most interesting is that it isn't really about those things. Kind of like the running version of Ian MacKaye, Krupicka is interested in running for the sake of running. It means something to him that can't really be cheapened by categorization or a pursuit of resume fodder. Maybe that's why lately Krupicka has seemingly been focused on running the highest peaks in Colorado instead of trying to get from point A to point B faster than someone else.

Besides, as I learned again last week, there is something about climbing a mountain that teaches a person a lot about where he fits in. Some, like Krupicka and his partner in making In the High Country, Joel Wolpert, find a connection to nature and place in these pursuits. There's a transcendentalism to it.

Frankly, I go the other way. When battling the wind and the chill while moving up the trail up the east side of Longs Peak, I felt like I was small and insignificant. My sense of place was that I was nothing more than a tiny speck -- just a blip on a line to infinity.

Nope, it's not about me. The warning signs on the trail kind of spell it out. On the mountain (or anywhere else on earth), I don't matter. But you know what? That's pretty life affirming in some weird sense. The idea that we are insignificant should free us of our egos and allow us to be ourselves. In Krupicka's and Wolpert's movie, that theme is evident.

When running up a mountain, Krupicka gets that it isn't about him.

I especially felt that way when looking up toward the Granite Pass:

Anyway, Krupicka and Wolpert made a fantastic movie. It's a film that smarter reviewers than me say flips the script on conventional running movies. Instead of some inner battle or agonizing fight to complete or win a race, the movie was about running. Actually, make that running up mountains. 

Running. Pure and simple.

Better yet, Wolpert, the filmmaker, is a tremendous photographer. The film was shot beautifully along some terrain and spaces that may never have seen a movie camera before.

Here's a look at the trailer:

Distribution for the film is still being worked out. However, there are tentative plans to hold screenings in West Virginia, New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Lancaster. My suggestion is to download it and to go to a screening near you.

Meanwhile ...

There is nothing that gets a runner going than a trip to Colorado. The altitude, the weather, the lack of humidity, the hills and the scenery are just part of it. Running, in all its forms, really is a part of life in that part of the country. Hell, just being outside is the way it is out there. 

Before we get into the trek up the mountain, here's the week of running in Colorado ...

Tuesday, July 16, 2013
10.05 miles
Fish Creek

Ran down Fish Creek Road and then turned around and went back up. Started at around 8,170-feet of altitude and went down to 7,500-feet. It used to be that I had to run on the narrow shoulder going up (or down) Fish Creek, but now there is a beautiful new running trail made of crushed cinders.

Perfect.

Better yet, my pace held up and lends credence to my theory that humidity is more difficult than altitude.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013
10 miles
Fish Creek

Same exact run as Tuesday. The difference was I ran faster, especially down the mountain.

Thursday, July 18, 2013
10 miles
Fish Creek to Lake Estes

Mixed it up by going down Fish Creek and, instead of going back up, I circled Lake Estes. The trail around the lake is built up now, too. Good stuff.

We need more running trails at sea level.

Friday, July 19, 2013
7 miles
Longs Peak Trailhead to Granite Pass

I didn't think I was going to get too much farther than the Boulderfield on the Key Hole route to the summit of Longs Peak, but man oh man was the "run" tougher than I anticipated. Aside from the rugged terrain, the toughest part was the chilly and windy climate above the tree line. Like a dummy I wore a sleeveless shirt and got a little worried about exposure. Also causing worries were the clouds and threatening-looking clouds on top of Longs Peak.

Very tough. I worked my ass off and covered just 7ish miles in two hours.

Friday, afternoon

5.25 miles

Added a second run because I don't feel like I actually ran while on the mountain. About 3 or 4 miles in, I got pretty tired.

Saturday, July 20, 2013
10 kilometers
Fish Creek

Gassed. Quads were pretty sore. Felt OK through the first half and then fell apart.

Sunday, July 21, 2013
11.5 miles
Fish Creek to Lake Estes

Still tired and sore but didn't tie up. Definitely got tired at the end, though, but that was probably from the sun beating down on me instead of the altitude and the run. Perhaps the flatness of the trail around the lake helped.

The mountain ...

Yes, it was difficult. Surprisingly, it was more difficult than expected. At one point of the "run," I had a clear view of the Twin Sisters Peak, a run I bagged in 2008 that began at 9,000-feet and ended at 11,428-feet above sea level. On that run, I struggled on some of the switchbacks and long steps. I also got a tremendous headache above the treeline near the summit. It made me want to get to lower altitude quickly.

Twin Sisters from Longs ...

So maybe the reason why I thought the ride up Longs would be "easy" was because I forgot about the experience of going up Twin Sisters. It's like the old saying that a person shouldn't race another marathon until they complete forget about the last one.

Bingo.

Anyway, I didn't get any altitude headaches on the way up. I did feel as though I was going to freeze to death, though. I should have brought a long-sleeved shirt.

More importantly, I realized that I'm no Krupicka and maybe mountain running isn't my niche. It's really tough and maybe not as rewarding as running in cities, trails or near historical sites. Plus, you don't really run up the mountain. You just kind of keep moving ... you survive it.

Hopefully I'll remember all of that the next time. Hopefully it ends with a few pictures from the summit and not the clouds resting on top of it.

Progress, or something

So we tore off three more weeks of workouts and it's difficult to see any progress. Worse yet, July started with a case of the dreaded DOMS, which is somehting I never experienced except for after a marathon.

I guess this is what happens when a guy gets old.

Nevertheless, June was pretty uneventful. I missed one workout because I was up until 4:30 a.m. covering the NBA Draft and struggled with some heat and humidity while with the kids at the beach.

On the plus side, I got to run a bunch of flat loops in Philadelphia and the beach, which is a good way to check out strength and leg turnover. It also begs the question if there are any hills at all in Philadelphia?

The city is flat as a pancake.

Anyway, here's the non-eventful June. Let's hope July offers more progress and challenges. Tentatively, I'm hoping to turn out some good runs in Colorado, like an ascent of Longs Peak, as well as some quality miles in Detroit at the end of the month. 

That town looks flat, too.

Anyway, here's how we're building up for the Harrisburg Marathon in November ...

June 24-30

June 30, 2013
10.3 miles
Tired legs and a weak hamstring after running nine miles of hills on Saturday. Wasn't into it, but as the run progressed there was no point in stopping before 10 miles.

June 29, 2013
12.03 miles
After running on flat roads for a week, why not try a roller coaster loop for nine miles in the Lancaster County Park? The good part about the run is there was lots of shade in the park. I also saw a deer even though crossing paths with wild animals on a run freaks me out. The rough part? Up and down those hills. Oh well ... hills are a good way to build strength.

June 28, 2013
ZERO
Up all night the day before covering the NBA Draft. I didn't get home until 4 a.m. and didn't get to bed until a while after that. Rather than run tired and risk an injury with a weak muscle, I stayed indoors. Otherwise, it was a pretty crazy night. The Sixers didn't just blow it up, they nuked it. Hard to imagine that there will be many survivors from past seasons.

June 27, 2013
5.01 miles
Started out with some solid 7s and then the heat/humidity and a stomach ache ended the run. It didn't feel like typical stomach pain from heat cramps, but maybe it was. Whatever. Sucked.

June 26, 2013
6.25 miles in morning
4.11 miles in early evening
Felt a little better in the morning with the heat. Still tough to acclimate, though. The evening runs have been fun and I felt fairly fresh.

June 25, 2013
5.04 miles in morning
5.07 miles in early evening
Doubled up. Remember when doubles were 12 to 15 in the morning and 5 in the early evening? Doesn't seem like it was all that long ago. Nevertheless, the short, quick doubles are a good way to beat the heat. Seem to get more out of it, too.

June 24, 2013
3.6 miles
Planned to take a day off after driving all morning to Ocean City. But then I thought about Gary Player and how he always worked out after traveling as a way to combat fatigue and jetlag.

Week: 51.4 (more like weak).

June 17-23

June 23, 2013
8.35 miles
Covered the Phillies game all day and ran on Kelly Drive on the way out of town. Hadn't planned on running, but realized I would have felt like a piece of trash if I didn't do it. Ran steady 7s around the flat, river route.

June 22, 2013
10.01 miles
Slow.

June 21, 2013
10.26 miles
Slooooow.

June 20, 2013
10.14 miles
Hamstring grabbed a bit. Nothing to get worried about. Ran most of the time on grass. The change in surface may have caused the hamstring thing.

June 19, 2013
10 miles
Moved a little bit. Didn't slow down until the last 5K.

June 18, 2013
10.01 miles
Solid. Ran in the rain. No big deal.

June 17, 2013
10.07 miles
Just a boring, old 10-miler. Nothing to see here.

 

Here we go ...

Remember me? The runner? Yeah, well I'm older and much slower than I used to be, but at least we're gearing up for another stab at it.

That's right, on Nov. 10 I'm running the Harrisburg Marathon. Since I'm in the masters class now, the goal is to try and win as the fastest old guy. The problem is there are a lot more fast old guys and I'm not sure I'm one of them.

We'll see, though. I figure if Joan Benoit Samuelson can run 2:50 at Boston at age 56, I ought to be able to do it, too.

Right?

Anyway, as the weeks progress I will update the training progress. Mostly I'm doing it for myself because I like writing and reading other training blogs. I don't suspect others do, but whatever. Hopefully, it will be interesting to the other running-type geeks out there.

And since I travel often and take a camera with me on rare occasions, maybe I'll spice it up with different things I come across on the roads. Since I started the training again I've run in Washington, D.C.; New York City; Indianapolis; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; New Orleans; Boston; Florida; Atlanta; Philadelphia; Valley Forge; State College and probably a few other places I forget. I also have trips planned to Colorado and Detroit where I'm excited about getting out and running around. 

Anyway, here's the first week of serious training:

Tuesday, June 4 (morning)

7.1 miles
Not the start I wanted, but it worked.

Tuesday, June 4 (evening)

3.2 miles
Nothing gets a runner in shape quicker than doubles. I think it's a metabolism thing. Whatever it is, it's fun. No, it often doesn't feel like fun when you try to push yourself out the door. But once you get going the low-key easy ones are fun because they pay off.

Wednesday, June 5

10 miles
Didn't get out until after work and then ran in South Philly through the Navy Yard. What a treat that was ... empty roads of a near-deserted city as well as the remnants of American industrial and military muscle. The old Naval parts were bloated, tired, rusting and abandoned. Sprinkled in is new office space for the new American corporate and technological muscle.

And everyone had gone home so I had the roads to myself. Fun.

Thursday, June 6

10.1 miles
Consistent mile splits through the neighborhood. The pace was solid even when running on grass for a couple of miles.

Friday, June 7

4 miles
Dark and rainy. Ran on a crappy indoor track and a treadmill at the YMCA and hated it. It's not the YMCA's fault (well, the crappy track is). I just don't like running inside.

Saturday, June 8

12.1 miles
Ran nine miles of hills in Lancaster County Park. I had hoped to go 14-plus, but the hills were pretty tough and by the 10th and 11th miles I was shuffling a bit. Otherwise, it was a lot of fun. The County Park is slowly becoming a favorite place to run.

Check out the elevation ... it's not altitude, but there were some climbs.

Sunday, June 9

10.1 miles
Easy 10 through the neighborhood and some of the neighbors were out to chat a bit. Otherwise, the run was a lot like Thursday ... consistent and steady. Nothing to get excited about.

Total: 57 miles

It's a start.

Week 1: Solid

Ideally there has to be a goal, some sort of endgame. As that goes my plan had always been to run a bunch of marathons and if I was ready for it, the ultra marathon national championships in Boalsburg, Pa. at the end of the October. 

Hey, when the speed is gone, the endurance prevails.

Regardless, I’m not interested in running marathons if I’m not fit. Yeah, I can probably go out tomorrow and hammer out 26.2 miles. It would be slow and I might be out of commission for a couple of days after it, but what would be the point? The idea this time around is to be fit enough to bounce back quickly and jump into the next run or race.

And so we get to the base building, that steady accumulation of miles and miles of running every day. Because I’ve been off for so long, racking up the miles is tedious. Likewise, the changes to the body as well as results from the workouts come oh so slowly.

But maybe that’s the fun part. There is absolutely no stress on putting in the work. There are no workouts to hit just perfectly and no races looming. It’s just the miles and nothing more.

At least that’s what I’m telling myself…

Anyway, the first week of the new year is in the bag and it went rather solidly. I wouldn’t say strong, but instead it was solidly solid. It was pretty decent and almost good.

Here’s how it went:

January 1

11 miles

Ran to the Susquehanna River. I was sluggish in the beginning but felt good after getting loose. This is a tough run … not a whole lot of flat stretches.

Might not be able to tell from the picture, but just look at these hills:

 

January 2

10 miles

Easy does it. Got out later than I would have liked and ended up running most of it in the dark. For some reason I don’t run very fast in the dark. Even when I feel like I’m moving, my watch always shows a slower pace.

Oh well.

 

January 3

10 miles

 Ran after some hills. Felt good and did some work.

 

January 4

10 miles

Same exact run as the day before. Hills might make you go slow but they clean up the form.

 

January 5

13.25 miles

Ran all over the place. Weaved around the neighborhood, hit some rails-trails park, dipped into the city for a stretch and added a hill or three for fun. By far the best run of the week.

 

January 6

6.25 miles

Woke up with my quads feeling like crap. Took some extra coaxing to get my quads and hamstrings ready to move. They hurt, man! Must be the hills. Thankfully I only scheduled an easy one for today.

61 miles for the week. Solid.

Dope on dope on dope ...

Coincidentally, the reports that Lance Armstrong is mulling a confession for a career-long and systematic doping regimen that helped him win the Tour de France seven times as well as an Olympic medal and plenty of other races, comes just as I finished reading teammate Tyler Hamilton’s book chronicling those years.

Obviously, Armstrong’s admission is too little, too late. But, with anything involving Armstrong one has to look for a Machiavellian plan at work. What is the endgame for a guy who spent two decades attempting to destroy any one who told the truth? It can’t be that he simply wants to race triathlons or marathons again, could it? He can do that any time or anywhere.

Does he really need attention that badly?

An admission is a bit surprising because there are so many obstacles for Armstrong to leap over. For instance, if he admits to doping all those years, he’s wide open to an array of lawsuits. Over the years Armstrong successfully sued or received settlements from entities that claimed he doped. If it comes out that he actually did everything as reported by the likes of Hamilton and Floyd Landis, there’s going to be a long line of folks trying to get some money.

Armstrong also would be open to federal perjury charges in Landis’ whistle-blower suit against the US Postal racing team. In other words, in order to admit to doping, Armstrong would have to be reassured that he would not lose all of his money nor spend time in jail.