My 22nd running the Utica Boilermaker 15K has come and gone, and as is my tradition, I wanted to write down some of thoughts about the race. For those of you keeping track, this year was the 17th year I was gunning for under an hour. A while ago I had decided to go after Paul Humphrey’s record of 23 consecutive races under an hour, and had done so ever since 2005, despite injuries, emergency Read more…
Having kids, and trying to educate them about the world, has led me to realize something about myself: I am fantastically literal. If you had asked me this years ago, I would have scoffed and told you that of course I am not literal; rather, I tend towards the sarcastic and absurd. Being literal is for chumps. But one of the great things about children is that they have this amazing sense of wonder about Read more…
Last year, I found myself in a bit of a slump when it came to running. All of my personal bests are behind me and receding quickly into the distance, and the lack of races and my preference not to run with anybody as the COVID numbers rose made it hard for me to find motivation to get out the door and train. Plus, I’ve been feeling the cumulative effects of all the mileage I’ve Read more…
As everyone knows, running is a metaphor for life. Hard work always pays off, humility is beneficial, and while uphill battles are challenging, the view from the top makes it worthwhile. So it may come as no surprise to my four readers that your favorite workout says a lot about who you are as both an athlete and a person. Read on to see what yours infers! 400 Repeats: You are a sick and twisted Read more…
Lately, I noticed a disturbing trend regarding my social media usage. While I have never been one to obsessively check Facebook or Twitter, and even had set time limits for those apps on my phone, I noticed that I was checking them several times a day, and feeling more and more angry, stressed, and worst of all, judgmental while scrolling. It wasn’t providing any useful benefit, but was detracting from my state of mind. I Read more…
Much like the majority of large races this year, the Utica Boilermaker 15K, typically held on the second Sunday in July, was moved to September, and then went virtual. The race window opened Tuesday, September 1st, so a group of other guys looking to run under 60 minutes and I met at the starting line to run the course at 7am that day. After getting almost no sleep the night before, I was almost relieved Read more…
Anybody who demands your respect is undeserving of it. Real respect is earned, not required.
For a little while earlier this year, I was biking twice a week pretty consistently. Sometimes I would ride outside, and other times I would plop my bike on my very cheap, very dumb turbo trainer, and spin while reading emails. Then, as always happens when I try to do something ancillary to running, my motivation faded and I found myself only running again. In a turn of events that nobody could have seen coming, Read more…
Avery (and Hadley to a lesser extent, too) loves bugs. All kinds of insects, gastropods, arachnids, worms, and anything else small and crawly fascinate her. I am pretty sure she is the only five-year-old girl I know who calls spiders, grubs, and maggots “cute.” Fortunately, I don’t have any photos of her with those three creepy-crawlies, but we have been finding a ton of praying mantises around our house lately. This is exciting for both Read more…
A lot has happened on the homestead in the past few months. Our friend Dave came over and we continued working on the split rail fence, and it now stretches into the backyard. Only 400 more linear feet to go! On the chicken front, unfortunately tragedy struck one night a few weeks ago. We had started keeping the chicks outside in the coop at night, which went well for a few days. Then one day, Read more…