24th April 2005

Running
Mon - Intervals dirt rd near Michael's way Weston CT. Felt ok considering long run yesterday did 12x280 1min recovery ave 49.05 f 46.4 s 50.3 ran in the arvo - 8.75mls
Tues - Run out to Orchard Farm Rd . A little tired . 52.40 plus strides 8mls
Weds - morn intervals Old Hyde Rd Weston. 5 x 1040m approx 90secs recovery slugglishslow early reps , last rep far and away the best rep. s 3.37 f 3.24.6 ave 3.32.5 - 8.25mls
Thurs - Orchard Farm Rd. Best I've felt for awhile cold has now gone. Faster splits. 7mls 48mins plus strides - 7.5mls
Fri - Rest
Sat - Race Bridgeport 1st 5k 16.57 80 starters. Felt a little better overcast. Course flat a little windie in early parts then followed the ocean back to the uni. Good till 2mile 10.51 got a little stomach cramp but splits didn't drop off . Had someone with me for me for 7mins. I'm improving . Hope their is more to come.
Sun - Long run 720am rd Route 57 Georgetown Rd. Ok in parts 91mins - 13mls
Overall a better week as rid of cold by Thursday 54mls and quicker 5k. Looking forward to further improvement with a routine again.
Life
Been a very loud week. Amy's friend Ann brought her 3 kids down to Connecticut . The kids played well together as two of Ann's kids are a little older and more responsible. Nancy's kids while enthusiastic tend to annoy Kieran a little as they are right in his face. Kieran's cold has now gone too and he is sleeping a lot better.He is now calling me Michael as he has heard Amy call out to me so many times that he has twigged that is my name. Also cotton on to Amy's name so he is coming on in leaps and bounds.
I have been watching plenty of Baseball to keep me sane and am starting to pick up on the ins and outs of the game. Unfortunately I have seen quite a bit of the evil empire the Yankees. Finally spotted some English Soccer althoughit was not a particularly inspiring match.
Amy went to NY with sister Nancy and my time with Kieran went quite well. Sometimes when mum is not around the boy behaves himself quite well but when mum is around he is constantly demanding her.
We went to a Passover dinner at Brother in Law's Peter's parents place. AlthoughI'm not Jewish it was interesting. Unfortunately Peter's father Gerry had a stroke the next morning. I hope he is ok. He is a really nice guy . I was having a chat to him last night about Soccer. You just never now what is around the corner.
Today Amy's brother Jack and family came back from their holiday in California and sister Susan and er family was here too. I was getting a bit of cabin fever and munching on junk food all day. Hopefully we are off to NY tomorrow . It will be good to take in last minute sight seeing. It would seem a shame to come all this way and not see NY.
Also visited my cousin Caroline in South Orange NJ. Caroline was in good health and her youngest daughter Mia with her you unfortunately Kieran clonked on the head with a book. Caroline sends her kids to a $14,000 private school at Morris town 15 miles away. We also visited Amy's friend David and Tamara with there 3 kids at Morristown. The kids were exteremely bright.
We intended to go to Vermont to visit Ann bu because of Peter's father's stroke we will be spending the rest of the trip in Weston. First mention of a move to the States from Amy. Talking about me taking 1 years leave and living in Haddonfield NJ. I don't think it will be approved as I already flagged the idea earlier this year when a possible relocation was on the cards. See what happens.It is getting incresingly harder for me to say no for move from Oz as much as I don't want to do it.
St Kilda and Stoke had success on the weekend. I have been trying to put my footy tips in the Coool Running footy tipping comp but for the life of me can't remember the password and also can't open work emails and blog comments. Oh well just will have to do without.
Till next week.

April 10 2005

Running
Mon - Had a rest day my calves & body was sore from travel and running on the road . First day off for about 11 days so just needed a rest.
Tues - Medford NJ Pine Barrens did 6x900 90secs rec a bit slugish early reps but improved as session went on. Ave 2.58.9
Weds - Ran for an hr in Medord Pine Barrens just kept criss crossing in the trails to avoid road.
Thurs - 11x260 1m15 sec rec ave 44.6 in Pine Barrens got better as I went along . I felt better than Tuesday's session.
Fri - Ran Pine Barrens and on the road for 43mins and did a few strides
Sat - Ran in Pine Barrens .I did Tues session again to see if I improved 3 secs per improvement. Started quicker reps were slower coming back as windier. Ave 2.55.9
Sun - 730am start slow early but the last 25mins of the run were quite strong. Ran in Pine Barrens and road up to Baseball field. 85mins 12miles . Only saw 2 people running.
52.5miles . A pretty tough week .I have not been that tired and sore for along time.
Life
Now staying with Amy's eldest Susan in Medford NJ. It is very flat and the roads are well paved and it is very quiet.Kieran's sleep and biting are still a concern . At least with the biting he showed some remorse for his actions the other night but stil along way to go he thiks it is all a joke.We took him to an old schoolfriend of Amy's sons little league Baseball game and he straight away picked up a bat and started swinging it.We have been taking him on bike rides and he even ventured on to a skateboard today. I found a tick on him when we were playing in the backyard. He really seems to idolise older kids and wants to play with them and I think the older kids find it all a bit of a burden. We took a trip down to Cape May which is about 90mins south of here he was tired all day but when he finally fell asleep at 4pm . He was more like his old self when we got back to Medford.
Saturday was a bit of a disaster for me . I was going to run in a road race at Gloucester Township at 930am . Amy's dad kindly volunteered to drive me there unfortunately we got lost and took 90 mins to find the race location. It was a bit frustrating as I don't get to race much these days but what can you do. Sometimes things are just beyond your control. I got bad vibes that morning as when I checked the AFL scores juust lost it was not a good omen. Amy was very understanding when I got back and let me go straight out for a run despite minding Kieran for afew hours previously. So I went out and did a hard session to compensate. Hopefully I can run a race next Saturday at Haddon Lake Park. I will keep my fingers crossed.
The weather has started to fine up and the temp is a litle warmer now. We have been doing plenty of clothes shopping as everything is so cheap with all the sales on in clothing stores.We will either go to Philly tomorrow or try and catch up with my cousin WOrange NJ .
One pleasing aspect of the trip has been the fact that Amy has had sometime to run and has run 6 days so far and already is back to 30minutes. It is a pity her work and household demands stop her from doing something that she enjoys doing. Boy if I couldn't run I would go nuts.
I have been keeping on eye on my football teams results . So disapointing Saints losing to North. Stoke now out of promotion contention. The saving grace is if you follow enough codes someone has to win and Newtown have won 2 on the trot. Gordon won a cricket premiership in lower grades. Still with my teams I never get too optimistic.
I am so looking forward to going to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox play. We have the tickets for the 17th. This is right up there with 81 grand final, Lords cricket test,StKilda play at Moorabbin and seeing Stoke play on my European trip of 93.
It is going to be tough for awhile when we go back to Oz after Amy has visited her family but just got ride the storm and enjoy the holiday.
Better go . Till next week.

Sunday April 4 2005

Running
Sun - Ran by myself early around Centennial Park did 2 laps of 6.2k course then back home. I felt good.
Mon - Ran early in the morning from home did 10k course then home . Felt good.
Tues - Ran early did interval session at the lake in Centennial Park . 3min,2min,1min,30secs efforts . 15min worht of surges with half the time recovery jog. Ran ok without being brilliant.
Weds - Ran in Weston Connecticut for 41mins felt surprisingly ok despite long flight.
Thurs - Ran in Weston ran out for 16mins did 14 strides then ran back. Felt ok.
Fri - Ran for 40mins in Weston plus some stides
Sat - Ran a road race at Easton HS in Connecticut. It was pouring rain and only 4c. I was not going to do it but sister in law Nancy talked me into it. If I didn't go their was no way I would have got out for a run. Only did 17.33 5k but bleak conditi0ns. Won a trophy about 100 starters.
Sun Long run Cedar Rd and Chesnut Hill Rd hilly 79mins
Life
Everything was packed and we were ready to go thanks to Amy's orgainisational skills. Still doesn't stop stress though. Kieran was good on the flight . He slept for an hour early in the flight and then took quite awhile to get to sleep for the 13hour flight to San Francisco. We occupied him with games and putting trash in the garbage bin at the back of the plane. He finally had 3hrs sleep at the end of the flight. I got 1hour sleep but was woken up by the worlds most boring man droning on at the back of the plane. We sat next to a nice lady from Reno who had been to Oz a few times and commented on how much busier it had got. Met another nice lady whose American daughter now lived in Bermagui of all places.We had a 3hr stopover in San Fran before our 5hr flight to NY. A grumpy old New Yorker did not like Kieran playing near by and wanted to convesigate his ball when it landed on his paper that he was reading from cover to cover. My wife ever the joker tried to make a joke when we got on the plane that her and Kieran seats were between him and his wife. His wife got it but he didn't get the joke.
I feel a little bit like Ben Stiller in meet the Fockers. You know the guy that always does wrong no mater what he does. We have been doing a bit of shopping as it is quite cheap. It is very hard to find anything that fits . I have 32 inch waist but try getting your leg into a 32inch pair of jeans. I noeed a straight leg fit. I bought a pair of Etonic running shoes only $21.98 what a bargain . I only tried on the right shoe as we were in a hurry to pick up my sister in law's daughter from school. I open the box in the car 2 right shoes . Too late to take the shoes back . Oh well I hope my sister in law can take them back before the end of the trip.
We had a big birthday party for Sarah who turned 3 and the whole family is here. Kieran has trouble adjusting to the time zones he has 2 nights from hell and 2 nights. Unfortunately when he still up at 2am we cannot walk him like at home as it is too cold and no street lights. So have to wait till he finally crashes. This puts a lot of pressure on Amy as when he is tired he is clingy and always wants her. So she is short with me.
I will just ell you a little about my brother in law Peter . He took me to the race in the pouring rain and is trying to arrange Red Sox tickets for me at Fenway Park which is fantastic. He is a great guy. Which leads me to my Sunday morning run . I set out and the dog Jesse follows me . I think when we get to the main road he wil turn back but no. He keeps following me so what do I do I keep going. I try to follow a road that has 25mph speed limit but eventually hit a busier Rd meanwhile Jesse keeps following. I keep running very silly because Peter has gone out looking for Jesse and very worried.A lady pulls up and asks me if it is my dog . I say no it is my brother in laws dog. I have now been running for 50mins . Luckily the lady pulls up again and is concerned. So I explain how to get back to peter's place and the lady take Jesse home. Boy do I cop it it when I get home . I should have just Jesse home and gone back out for my run but I just wanted to get out and do the run. Running can be self indulgent at times can't it . Amy was furious and Peter took it quite well although I think he stayed away from home for awhile to cool down as he was worked up about Jesse going missing. Oh god . Hopefully I will be on my best behaviour for awhile fingers crossed . Luckily Amy's family told Amy to calm down she was giving me the evil stare and dougbting my abilities as a responsibile person. Better go Kieran has just woken up. If anyone in blogger land knows how Newtown got on last weekend and could let me know that would be great. StKilda won by a point phew . Baseball starts tonight and hopefully I will see a bit of the great rivals Rd Sox and Yankees game.
Off to flatter country in South Jersey this afternoon and hopefully the rain thaws and I can run in the pinelands as a little sore from running on the roads all the time and hopefully wildll adjust tthe time zone. Note daylight saving started today. Catch you next week.