Thanksgiving Break

Well Thanksgiving Break is drawing to an end today, but I definitely had a little bit of fun. Thanksgiving was ok I guess, but there was to much family involved, and I really didn't put down as much food as last year.

Friday I just kind of hung around the house, until around 9:30 when I went bowling with Nick, Nate, and Katy. We had a pretty good time, but I forgot how much I sucked at bowling. I was horrid out there, my form was completely off. Nick was the complete opposite. I guess he actually used to bowl in a league, and he decimated all of us. Some of the stuff he did in real life, i can't even do in wii bowling.

Saturday was ok I guess. I had to go to my grandfather's, to start a week long house sitting venture. I did about 10 miles around his house, and it felt very good. It was my first real long run since cross country, and I didn't really know how my body would take to it. It was nice out at the time, and not all that cold, but it did get boring about half way in. I need to get used to running alone again.

That night I went out with a bunch of friends to celebrate a BDay which was fun. We went to Margarita's, where I got a beef and bean burrito. It provided for an interesting ride home, with the windows down. After we ate we went to Wal-Mart, where I got caught trying to climb to the top of the bike racks. It was some old guy who caught me, and he didn't say much. He was a major creeper the rest of the night though, and just kind of followed us around.

Now I am looking forward to getting back to school. Should be a good week, hopefully get some good training under my belt as well. We have 22 days until our first meet, the Bowdoin Relays. While I don't care about indoor a whole lot, I think after cross country's let down it will be important for me to run well there, to prove to myself I still have it.

As of late I don't even feel like I have the same spark that I always had before. I just don't feel into my training. I'm trying, but mentally I don't even want to be there now. I look at practice as more of a chore right now then what I used to look at it as, a time to get away, and the peak to my day. Hopefully things will start to change when we start practicing at Bates and having meets.

Runnin'

Today was another boring day, but things spiced up at around four today. Nick had called me earlier in the day, and told me he was home for Turkey Day, and wanted to do some running. I agreed, not knowing what I would be in for.

When we were talking on the phone, we reflected on each other's seasons, and how his freshman year of college was going. He was the number eight runner for UNH this past xc season, but had some real good races. I know of one in Franklin Park, where he split through the 5k in 15:49, before taking a wrong turn, putting a downward skew on his race.

We ended up hitting 6 miles, at a fairly easy pace. It was great, the first time I have run with someone since the end of XC. It was nice to be back on the roads in the afternoon too. Ive been doing all of my mileage in the mornings, at five, witha goofy looking reflective vest on. I'm not gonna' lie, running that early, and then having an hour and a half of sprint work at school in the afternoon sucks. I don't think sprint work will benefit me much, but thats just my opinion.

He talked about a turkey trot he is doing tomorrow, just a 5k. He said he is sick, so he would be happy with a 15:50. Think about that. Happy with a 15:50. He is sick so he is going to be trying for a 15:50. 15:50 is what he thinks he can muster out of himself while he is sick. What the fuck?

I can't muster a 16:50 when I am healthy. He will only be mildly enthusiastic with a sub 16 effort. I want to be talented and black.

I think we may end up running again on Saturday, and maybe even go to the Dead Season concert in Auburn later that night, which would be a pretty good time. Last time I went to a rock concert with Nick he started to tackle people randomly throughout the night. Needless to say, it was entertaining.

I guess that is all I got for now. My favorite holiday is a few hours away, and I don't know if I can hold off my urges to dig into the Pecan pie that is sitting in my fridge right now.

P.S Under the post it has two check boxes that say whether you like the post or not. Check the one you think. it will give me some good feedback for my style and what not.

Tis the Season

Holy shiznit. It is the holiday season, and it is in full force. Which means I am going through my yearly cycle of hating the world. Christmas is capitalist pigs taking advantage of the everyday consumer at its finest. Sorry if that came across a little to pinko. It makes me sick. Every Christmas catalog that comes out is pretty much going to say, "Hey, you're laid off, losing money in the market, don't know if you can provide for your family or heat your home this winter, so buy some more iShit you dumb fuck."

Everyday, I will get home, and see nothing more at the end of my driveway but an overstuffed mail box filled with the same catalogs from L.L Bean. The ones that say you can get a pair of slippers, that will never leak when you go outside and snow shoe in them, for just sixty bucks. Friggan' amazing slippers!

Now I'm not saying don't buy the bad ass slippers for that special someone in your life. I'm just saying if you can't afford to do it without taking a second mortgage out on your home, don't do it. Some people just ain't smart when it comes to buying in the holiday season, and this is going to be one of those years where people go over the top when they have already lost all of their money, and once again the big corporations are gonna' get the final laugh.

Another thing that pisses me off about Christmas is easily the music. I was working the other day, and the kitchen crew had TOS on, which is supposed to be "Maine's Mountain of Pure Rock." You know what they were playing? Jingle Bell Rock. Jingle Bell Rock. Jingle Bell Rock. What the hell? It's November. Turkey day hasn't even come yet, and that's the only holiday I like. Christmas music is what makes me want to break thermometers into my open wounds.

And the famed Black Friday. When people are willing to kill to get to the last Tickle-Me Elmo. You know that scene in Anchorman, where all the news crews fight in the alley? That is pretty much what happens on the inside of every Wal-Mart in this country, the Friday after every Thanksgiving. Replace the news crews with families, and Brick is the one kid who plays with dolls and his dad is ashamed of.

What a wonderful time of the year? Ohh, I love it.

I'll start out tonight, by saying that last night I wrote an entry so volatile, so powerful, that I cannot publish it. Family problems were raging and I took it out on the blog. I held myself back from throwing it up though, and it is now know as the Lost Blog Entry of 11/21. It was ugly, and the sorta thing that if it falls into the wrong hands, you die. I saved it into a word file though, and onto my zip drive which I will hide away until after I die of assasination in 2024, when a collective of my life's works comes out onto a Digital Book. You ask why am I assasinated? CIA did it, while I was leading a revolution in South America of course.

Anyways today was a day of cleaning the house and doing nothing awesome. I looked up some more colleges and found three more I might apply to later in the year. Two of them are in Boston, one of my favorite places to be.

I make this entry in the wake of news I heard on my Yahoo headlines today. It appears as though Bill Cowher is being courted to become next head coach of the Browns. What a dick head. Go from coaching the Steelers for something like 15 seasons, and winning a Super Bowl with them, to coaching one of their biggest rivals.

Thats what is wrong with sports today. No loyalty shown to anyone. It makes me sick.

In Da Season

Yo. I'm finally in season again. I had two painful weeks off, where I didn't do much other then try and learn how to scream. Needless to say, it was pretty boring. You see, I don't do a whole lot other then run, work, and go to school. Once and a while I might treat myself and go to the Auburn Mall, or a group get together, but living in my area puts a damper on things. I would much rather be in another area to hang out with people then the Poland/McFalls region. We suck.

There weren't even any good concerts I was able to make it to in my time off. It was really depressing. Holiday Bizarre is coming up, which is put on by CYY, but I don't know who is playing at any of the shows yet, so we will see if I end up going to that. Wow, I had such sucky down weeks, that I am struggling to write this blog. Like, literally, I have been starring at the screen for 5 minutes, before writing the last two sentences. This is pathetic. I need a life.

Oh, I know what I can talk about. College!! Very shortly, I will be sending my applications out. I am applying to USM, Keene State, NESCOM, along with a few others of minimal importance at the moment. All three of these schools have good writing or journalism programs, so they are my big contenders, USM and Keene being the two ones I like the most. NESCOM, is a communications specific school, but doesn't have any sports teams, which would put a huge college damper on things for me.

I was sort of recruited to a D2 school in North Carolina, and a D1 in Tennessee, but upon further review I won't even consider them. One doesn't have a good journalism program, while the other is waaaaay to religious for me. Even in the letter from the coach, every other line had something about God or Religion in it, or "God Bless." I just can't imagine going to school where religion would dictate what I do, since I have never been religious, and don't plan on being so right now. I don't really want to go to a Bob Jones University type school, because I don't like to shoot things and not be allowed to be affiliated with women. I want to go to a school with a liberal hippie bias.

Location is a key for me. I want to be in an area where there is a lot going on, but isn't huge, which is why I am not really looking into schools in the Boston area of NYC area. I want to be able to get 30-45 minutes out of the city to go kayaking or hiking, while being able to stay in the city to go out to out to eat, go to a show, or some artsy event. Burlington, Vermont sounded like a sweet place to go, but there really isn't a school out there suited well for me. St. Mikes is a lot of money, and UVM is more of an engineering orientated school I guess. But whatever. As soon as I am accepted to a school, and make my decision you guys will be the first to hear.

My Saturday

My Saturday was well spent, at least in my opinion. Originally the plan was to go to Portland, hit up the mall, and Maine Running Company. Well we did that. I didn't get much done at the mall excepet wander around a bit. I did buy a sweet ass hat though, that wins. I'll definitely be rotating that in and out with my famed bandannas on a daily basis.

After that we went to Tim Hortan's to grab some lunch. I was expecting nothing more then soup, bread, and a side. Instead I had a fairly cute girl (8/10??) checking me out, and making it obvious. Now, I don't want to sound cocky by acknowledging her checking me out, and I don't mean to make myself look like a "pimp," "player," or "G." But I was impressed. It sent me into shock though. I had no idea what to do. I'm the one that usually checks girls out, and then approaches them. It appeared to be different this time. I was so shocked, I could barely talk to her. Our small conversation was a disaster, I never even asked for a number, or a name for that matter, which means I can't facebook creep her out. But whatever. The food was good.

After that I went to MRC, to pick up Victories. After all thats what you guys voted for. But, they didn't have any. I was pissed. I have been waiting for these spikes to come out forever. I don't want to order them on the interwebz, because I am afraid the sizing maybe different, with the new flywire uppers.

As I went into the back room though, they had a few real nice selections. What immediately caught my eye was a pair of Eldo 2's. They were 11's, which ran a bit tight on me, but I think once I break them in they will work out great. These spikes really took on a cult following last year, when Kyle Merber started to wear them, and ran some real fast times in them for the mile. They have always been great spikes, but the market was legitimately revived for them, after Merber was seen rocking them so much, and even talking about how great they were on Dyestat.
They also had Nike Katanas there, which maybe some of the best racing flats on the market. I was thinking about getting them, especially at just 50 bucks, but I decided against it on the basis that I already have a pair of flats that are still in good condition, and I won't be doing a ton of road races until the summer. One or two at the most.

Monday is the first day of indoor. It seems like enthusiasm really picked up late for it. At first it looked like we had about 10 kids coming out for it, compared to last season's 40. But it seems as though a lot more people are returning to do it again, then what was originally thought. Even i am a little bit excited for it now. I think we may be going to Bowdoin Relays, which would be great.

One More Go Around

Most of you guys know that running is one of the few things I work hard at in life. Why? meh. It is the only thing that keeps me going. Can't say that about school or work.

Well after a relatively unsuccessful XC season, time wise, maybe more successful in gaining knowledge though, it is time for one more go around. Sunday will be the first day I put in mileage since the state meet, and Monday indoor practices starts already. I have no specific goals for indoor, other then to stay healthy, build some strength, and prepare myself to run a few big races with big times in the spring.

I ran a 10:23 in the 3200, and 4:42 in the 1600 last season. Now, I want to run 9:50, and 4:35 in the same events this spring. I think I have potential to run a 4:35 for the full mile indoors by the end of the season, but I have always been better at the mile indoors then the deuce. Partly because my training has always been more speed orientated in the winter. None the less, the biggest thing I want is to have fun, and get back to the way I used to run. Sure, I may open my first quarter in a 63, but hey, at least I am not over thinking during the race. Thats my biggest problem, admittedly is trying to be to smart of a racer.

During indoor, with not a lot of pressure on me, I can experiment with racing techniques, and find what will be best for me, so their is no wasted race in the spring.

Of course I need to get back on track. Some of you will understand this right away, others will not, while one of you may say "pun." I just have a ridiculous habit that always pops up during the winter season, that is almost guaranteed to be broken this winter, along with another goal I won't open up about on here, but you can find it on the more public dyestat.

Some blog entry huh? I'll try and make things more interesting, but my most interesting blogs are always after I run, or have a point to make, neither of which I am doing. Instead, I am trying to fill space if you will. I feel obligated to contribute to this blog somehow, since I haven't done anything to it since Monday, and my blogging counter parts seem to update it everyday.

I wish the Journey was still around. That would be the old blog for the few of you who haven't followed me from feed to feed, and site to site. I knew I should of saved my posts from their on to a hard drive. They would of made a book. And if OJ Simpson can write a best selling book so can I. If Ann Coulter can be seen as a legitimate author, then so can I.

Oh, and by the way vote on the poll. I'm buying the spikes on Saturday, and I am pretending that you guys are helping me decided which ones to get. Will I follow your advice? I don't know. Keep in mind I focus on the 3200. I also need something aggressive for when I am thrown into the 16 and 4x8. In my arsenal, and ready for use, I already have a pair of slightly used milers, Montreal shifts, and vents, with the sole and plate so flat I could use them as shot boots.

The final word. I have a long road ahead of me to reach my goals. This time I know I can do it though. I need to take action further then what I did for cross. I now know a iron deficiency problem may of caused some bad races during XC, and made me be in my sluggish mood all the time, and I am doing what I can to end that. I am eating better, not that I was ever that unhealthy, besides the nightly woopie pie. If there is one thing I learned during XC, it is that the little things always count, and they may not be hard to do, but they can make a big difference sometimes.

Taking the extra step to get more protein into me, more sleep, daily vitamins, or whatever thing comes up may be what pushes me over the edge from average goofy high school runner, to fairly awesome goofy high school runner. I know I want it.

My Tummy Hurts

My stomach hurts. This morning I was supposed to wake up, take a breath of fresh air, and be on my way to Boston for a field trip. Instead I found myself leaning over the toilet letting everything go. I shouldn't of eaten an entire tub of candy corn last night. I learned some interesting things though.

Under no circumstances will you ever find a good actor on day time television. It is pretty much the same thing as watching WWE, except with out the good old entertainment of fake blood, and chairs being smashed over the heads of juiced up ex-college football players.

In one episode of a show I cannot remember, Dusty finds the spitting image of his dead wife, and brings her back to the city. When he brings her to the family of the dead chick, they see the resemblance of her as well, and question both Dusty and the alive girl's motive. I think Dusty needs to move on, forget about his old wife, and find a new completely different girl. As touching as it was to see him finally happy again, this will bring nothing but trouble to Dusty's sad life.

In the middle of the next show CBS went to a live news update. President-elect Obama was meeting with Dubya. I could only imagine the amount of overweight women in their mid-thirties
who were cussing at their TV because the episode was being interrupted by news that didn't matter to him, even though Politics is a soap opera itself.

In a way that kind of makes me sick, that somebody could sit on their ass all day watching all these soaps and not care about the outside world. Maybe I am just stereotyping, but the kind of people who I can imagine following these shows closely, fantasize all day about about meeting there dream guy while riding horses on a ranch in Texas, and only leave the house to get Ben and Jerry's.

Weekend Update

Well I want to keep up with this, but it will be hard to do with my life. Let's give you a brief update though.

I started to get very pissed today. I heard about some great performances at the New England meet, so I decided I would log onto dyestat to congratulate people. Well, I logged on and it turns out a number of users on there decided to shit on me. They called me ignorant, un-sportsman like, and a toolbag. I didn't respond to any of the insults by calling them names, or accusing them of anything, because I have more class then that.

They were basically accusing me of insulting other teams, stepping on the little guys, and not knowing what I am talking about. It seems as though, I never insulted another team, unless by insulting they mean me saying that there are a number of teams better then some that went to New Englands, by looking at factual results from a meet last week. I am ignorant, apparently because I want our state to move towards the directions of other's. I wouldn't call this ignorance. I would call it knowledge of the sport, and using that knowledge to formulate an opinion on what I believe is right, and could be used to push the sport forward. Apparently not everybody wants to see it mover forward though.

Whatever. Less then a year left of High School running in me, then I won't have to deal with it, until I start coaching hopefully another 5 or 6 years down the road. I think by then people will have their head's out of their asses, consider a little change, and maybe stop blasting people for their opinion's.

That's it for now. I'll make another post tomorrow, along with posting a link to my team political blog. I'm off to figure out why we are getting a thunder storm in the middle of November.

If I Did It, This was How

Well I'm back to the blogging thing. It will be fun to start out brand new on this, because I have a few loyal readers who have followed me from blog to blog since last winter, but I will still need to build my fan base back up. A lot of you have been following my running blogs I have done, and while this one will be touching on running, I will still be doing my milesplit one this winter, while I will be more focusing on every day topics here. My own personal experiences. I guess you could call it the adventures of an ass hole.

As some of you know I volunteered for the Obama camp for a while here in Maine. Well last night, being election night I had a bit of fun. A group of four or five of us got together at a friends house, expecting to stay up until dawn waiting for the final results of the election. Well, interestingly enough we only had to stay up until 11 o'clock, to hear the race being called in Obama's favor on The Daily Show. It ended up being a pretty early night. Lets go back a little while before the final results though, so I can tell you one of many epic personal experiences that randomly happen every day.

When one of my friends decided he would be spending the night, at the other's house, he had to go back to his own to pack for the night. He wanted someone to tag along, so I decided to join him. Speeding down through Poland on Rt. 26, I got the ridiculous urge to steal some campaign signs. This seems like a really minor offense, but you can be fined up to 50 dollars for everyone you steal, and I am not a big fan of paying what would of come out to be about 600 dollar fine if we had been caught, if we even did it. While I will not go into significant detail of this story, for reasoning of me not wanting to totally admit to crimes. I may or may not of stolen these signs. Somewhere between 10 and 12, if I actually stole them.

I will tell you the two thefts, if thats what you want to call them, and if I actually did it and not just trying to entertain you, that stick out in my mind the most. The first of which was a doozie. If I did this, it was a bigger campaign sign, maybe 5 feet in length stuck into the ground by two wooden posts. We pulled in past the sign by about 400 feet down the road. We shut off all the lights on the vehicle, so we could not be seen, keep in mind that this is a major route. Not being able to see anything we ran up to the location of the sign, at the edge of someone's yard. The lights at the house were still on, so we had to be stealthy. On top of that we knew that there were some Androscoggin deputies out that night. It took some force to pull the fictional sign out of the ground, but we got it, and were running down the road holding either side of it trying to get back to the jeep. My friend managed to step in a big puttle, soaking his entire foot. When cars started to drive by us we put the sign back on the ground on an upright position, and ducked behind it. Eventually though we made it back to the vehicle with out a major problem. It was our best catch of the night.

The next one was a little more dangerous. It was a McCain/Palin sign, about 100 feet from someone's driveway. All the lights of the house were off, and there was no car in the driveway. It seemed like a no brainer. My friend left the car on, while I ran out after the sign. As I was bent over pulling the sign out, he started yelling to me, but I could not hear what about. I saw some lights flashing behind me, and as I looked up I realized that a car was pulling into the driveway. Uh oh. I realized that they were pulling back out too. I grabbed the sign and raced to the jeep diving into the passenger seat. We were off before I had the door shut. Looking behind us we saw the vehicle pulled over to the spot we were just at and the silhouette of a man wandering around looking for his McCain sign. Ahh the pleasure. Just remember though, this may or may not have happened. I am either telling you this as a work of fiction for your entertainment, or because I want you to here about one of my true life stories. You be the judge.