Sorry I haven't updated this lately, but I have been very busy lately. College apps, school, family, Christmas captialism, and whatever else decides to stress me out.

So today I am going to Bates for the first time all indoor season, with just a few days before my first meet of the year. It will be at Bowdoin College, and I am going to be running the open mile and the DMR. I get the 1600 on the DMR of course, making me run the mile twice. How fun. I don't know if the three other guys in my relay will keep up with the pack anyways so maybe I will be able to just screw around a bit.

I want to just run a 4:50 to open the season. Nothing special. I just need to work on making sure I am healthy.

Well I am in the middle of class, so thats it for now.

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.