I just got up from a two-hour nap. After getting only 4 hours of sleep last night so that I could be at the park by 6:30 to volunteer for the Healthy Kidney 10K (the winner of which, BTW, set a new course record), I felt like going home, but had to hang around and meet a colleague to meet for brunch and talk about a small job he wanted me to do.
So when I finally got home, I decided to take a nap.
But what is this "take a nap" phrase? Why must we take it? Why can't we give it? That's so much more positive, the idea of giving ourselves a gift of a nap; rather than the negative idea that we have to steal a nap from our day.
Similarly, why do we get our children "put down for a nap"? Why "put down"? That, too, is full of negative connotations. If you apply it to any other breathing animal, it means to have them killed! Is there an unconscious desire amongst all parents that their kid's next nap might be their last? Here, again, we could use a better phrase - GIVE. "I'm going to give Johnny a nap," despite the mob-enforcer overtones, is at least marginally better than "I'm going to put Johnny down."
So today, I GAVE myself a nap.
Or does this entire line of thinking simply signal my transition into old person?
April 22, 2011
No blogging
Sorry, just can't do it. Many thoughts recently which would be great to work out in these writings, but I just don't have the interest anymore. The time of my life when this seemed important is done now. Many things changed in the latter half of last year and it is such a sharp dividing line between what came before and what comes after.
This was one of the primary means of communicating with my dad. This is how he knew what was going on with me. Realizing that, and with him gone, I don't know who I'm writing for. Maybe it's time to just delete the damn thing.
Well, I'll wait. I'm sure I'll enter some big race and go through a training cycle sometime soon - I'll come back to this as a training diary, nothing more.
This was one of the primary means of communicating with my dad. This is how he knew what was going on with me. Realizing that, and with him gone, I don't know who I'm writing for. Maybe it's time to just delete the damn thing.
Well, I'll wait. I'm sure I'll enter some big race and go through a training cycle sometime soon - I'll come back to this as a training diary, nothing more.
March 15, 2011
two year anniversary
Two years ago, I was diagnosed by my CF doctor w/ diabetes, pending confirmation. Two years, now. Jeez.
Too much going on in my life to blog, and I've pretty much lost the will to do so. Now that Dad's gone, I somehow don't see the point. Anything I want to say to the world is more easily summed up in 420 characters or less in a Facebook status post.
House is nearly done. Looking for a tenant for the big downstairs apartment. Happy with my changes upstairs and I hope I never have to move again.
Working at NYU full-time for a few weeks. Not the best time of my life. I'm also on oral antibiotics right now and that's causing havoc with my system. But I'm trying to avoid IVs until at least the end of April.
Too much going on in my life to blog, and I've pretty much lost the will to do so. Now that Dad's gone, I somehow don't see the point. Anything I want to say to the world is more easily summed up in 420 characters or less in a Facebook status post.
House is nearly done. Looking for a tenant for the big downstairs apartment. Happy with my changes upstairs and I hope I never have to move again.
Working at NYU full-time for a few weeks. Not the best time of my life. I'm also on oral antibiotics right now and that's causing havoc with my system. But I'm trying to avoid IVs until at least the end of April.
February 18, 2011
January 1, 2011
Midnight Run
Well, not much going on in my athletic life. Health is so-so. Feeling pretty good the last few days, so when I got a New Year's Eve invite from fellow runner and Pheddip listener, Marci, to run the Midnight Run with her and her friends, I took her up on it. Not that I had a prayer of running WITH them, but we spent a couple hours together beforehand and a little bit of recovery time after. Marci lives on 58th, very close to Central Park, very convenient for running meetups.
So after some of the usual pre-run BSing and worries and watching Marci squeeze on her Vibrams, we got going about an hour before the run. We needed at least half that to get to the Bandshell, where the party was, as many routes were blocked off by the popo. (The warm weather brought everyone out to Times Square, which on New Year's Eve sort of extends itself outward. Nuts.)
The Emerald Nuts Midnight Run is a great tradition, with runners dressing in costumes for a contest or just come as you are. I've done this run at least once before and volunteered at the mid-point "champagne" station two years ago, when it was in the teens. My impression at those times was that the run draws about 3-4,000 runners, max.
This year, however, there were a lot more. A LOT more! I'd guess at 7,000 or more, at least and perhaps one bandit for every registered runner. Things have advanced, certainly. They had the lead truck out for this and elites were warming up in a protected sprint area. This is moving beyond "fun run".
The start was amazing. There were no corrals, so we just squeezed in where we could. Midnight came quickly and the fireworks started. The fireworks lasted a LONG time - at least 20 minutes. I was a mile and a half into the run before they stopped. Or, rather, paused, because they started again as I was about a half-mile from the finish. Very nice!
As we started, I told the others to have a good run and just did this at my own pace. They were planning 10-minute miles, and I was planning perhaps 12s. The results are somewhat slower:
The first mile was pretty slow at 13:30, but I didn't walk at all until half a mile into it, when I was well up Cat Hill, even well past the bobcat statue! Perhaps the slow, crowded start gave me that energy. (Or perhaps it was the nasty caffeinated strawberry-banana Gu I took a half hour before.) The second mile was flatter and I walked only twice, for very brief periods, and turned in a 12:15. One of those walks was to slug down a few swallows of non-alcoholic champagne. I might have passed that, but the entire pack slowed to a walk there. So, whatever.
Mile three was a lot of hills and a fair bit of walking, resulting in 13:29 for that mile. Considering how tired I was getting, not terrible, but not great. However, the fourth mile was a real winner, as it's on the long downhill towards the 72nd street crossover. No walking (much to my surprise) and a bit of a push toward the finish, resulting in a sub-12 mile.
I wrapped up the evening with the mile-long hike back to Marci's and some hot cider. Headed home shortly after, knowing the train would be local and take 90 minutes or so.
Want to thank Marci for being a good host and turning my New Year's into a very memorable one!
So after some of the usual pre-run BSing and worries and watching Marci squeeze on her Vibrams, we got going about an hour before the run. We needed at least half that to get to the Bandshell, where the party was, as many routes were blocked off by the popo. (The warm weather brought everyone out to Times Square, which on New Year's Eve sort of extends itself outward. Nuts.)
The Emerald Nuts Midnight Run is a great tradition, with runners dressing in costumes for a contest or just come as you are. I've done this run at least once before and volunteered at the mid-point "champagne" station two years ago, when it was in the teens. My impression at those times was that the run draws about 3-4,000 runners, max.
This year, however, there were a lot more. A LOT more! I'd guess at 7,000 or more, at least and perhaps one bandit for every registered runner. Things have advanced, certainly. They had the lead truck out for this and elites were warming up in a protected sprint area. This is moving beyond "fun run".
The start was amazing. There were no corrals, so we just squeezed in where we could. Midnight came quickly and the fireworks started. The fireworks lasted a LONG time - at least 20 minutes. I was a mile and a half into the run before they stopped. Or, rather, paused, because they started again as I was about a half-mile from the finish. Very nice!
As we started, I told the others to have a good run and just did this at my own pace. They were planning 10-minute miles, and I was planning perhaps 12s. The results are somewhat slower:
The first mile was pretty slow at 13:30, but I didn't walk at all until half a mile into it, when I was well up Cat Hill, even well past the bobcat statue! Perhaps the slow, crowded start gave me that energy. (Or perhaps it was the nasty caffeinated strawberry-banana Gu I took a half hour before.) The second mile was flatter and I walked only twice, for very brief periods, and turned in a 12:15. One of those walks was to slug down a few swallows of non-alcoholic champagne. I might have passed that, but the entire pack slowed to a walk there. So, whatever.
Mile three was a lot of hills and a fair bit of walking, resulting in 13:29 for that mile. Considering how tired I was getting, not terrible, but not great. However, the fourth mile was a real winner, as it's on the long downhill towards the 72nd street crossover. No walking (much to my surprise) and a bit of a push toward the finish, resulting in a sub-12 mile.
I wrapped up the evening with the mile-long hike back to Marci's and some hot cider. Headed home shortly after, knowing the train would be local and take 90 minutes or so.
Want to thank Marci for being a good host and turning my New Year's into a very memorable one!
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