Blessing of the Fleet Week

-Glad to see residencies have decided to return two runners back to the team. Brian splashed his way on to the blog, and via phone Sri sounds like she's geared up for her first half in Miami.

-Team's rocking 2 returning runners from last year and a rookie Blessing runner. Since most of my miles have come in the form of treadmill mileage (from the same guy who loathes them), I am hoping for a decent time.

-One of the x-factors for getting a decent time, weather, is being watched as excitedly as the stock market. Keep dropping, Friday's high temp.

-Due to some nagging issues in my back and knee, my 1:20 or less dream for the race may just have to be replaced by just finishing.

treatment:

frozen vegetables for my lower back + belt = ice belt

future:

yoga/ back stretches

-Packet Pick-Up

Saturday, I took a nice drive down to the south side of Rhody, with memories and flashbacks of my roots at URI. Never having gone to Narragansett High School, I was shocked to see it is a left right before New Dragon/Exxon/ O'Neil's Package Store. After the fiasco of Cherry Blossom's tech shirt, I was pleasantly surprised at the Blessing's shirt (especially since I google'd Blessing of the Fleet shirt and found our site). Finally, another shirt to add to the rotation. I'm also told this is the first year they used tech shirts. No bags or swag, just a shirt and a bib number with a weird foam tag/chip timer.

-Post-Blessing, I am going to try to add some muscle in between that race and the half in October. What does that mean? Lifting things up, then putting them down. And ingesting tons of cottage cheese.

Why? To discourage everyone at work from confusing me with a girl at work and for a brocation. In the immortal words of Eamer, VEGAS BODY.

Running Thoughts

Blessing of the Fleet t minus 1 week. To get an idea of what shirt I get this time (thanks to Cherry Blossom's new undershirt), I googled ' blessing of the fleet running pics'. Check out the 2nd row of page 3 for images.

While running through Cumberland and Blackstone, Knapp and I collaborated on a beach/run/picnic day at Goddard Park for the 30th this month. Brainstorming it but if you are interested, hit us up.

Fuel for the run:

Food:

I have been on an omelette burrito diet. 2 eggs, vegetables, olive oil, salsa, and two tortillas. The secret? My uncle taught me to throw the tortillas on the stove top at low heat.

I have been getting in to more electronic/techno music for my runs:

in the buds:

Digitalism-Anything New

deadmau5 feat. Kaskade-I Remember

David Guetta feat Kid Cudi-Memories

Coincidentally, artists brought to you by the letter 'D'.

Week in Review

treadmill-ing, I noticed some things:

-why do people grasp the front of the treadmill when they are walking with a steep incline? Doesn't that defeat the purpose? I think I am gonna term that "frankenstein-ing" due to the awkward gait and hands held out in front. Of course we all know it's Frankenstein's monster that does that, but it just isn't as catchy as "frankenstein's monster-ing".

-iPods are great but if you are clobbering the treadmill with your stampeding, your knees and my peace of mind crumble with each step. Here's a news flash; if you sound like a horse on a treadmill, SLOW DOWN.

-Sunglasses at a gym. The only non-Jersey Shore reason for this is if you just had laser surgery on your eyes.

-Be wary of your own forearm sweat. The front of the treadmill will look like it has been raining so be mindful of that.

Even if you mention you run every once in a while in work environments (say a water cooler), you may be fished for advice. While I pointed out that people starting out should run as slow as they can, I realized it is worth reiterating to you guys as well to stave off injury.

I think I'll give the Blessing a go for my first 10 mile race. We'll see how this race goes.

Miami Update

In case you didn't get the memo, (thanks Pat) if you sign up for the Miami Marathon, watch out for an active.com charge for 59 dollars. De-activate that asap (unless you like active.com)

Boston Tour

Naturally, my first run through Boston featured none other than Pat in tour guide mode. In 10 miles, we saw:

Ft. Independence

Neighborhood diamond with all the Red Sox retired numbers painted on

Cruiseport Boston

Ran by the Prudential Building, Hancock Center

Ran thru Faneuil Hall with a free mid-run chicken on a toothpick

Bobby Orr's statue in front of the Garden

the Charles River

Boston Pops' set up for the 3rd-4th

Ran on Boylston

the finish line for the marathon

some Tango store

Posada-Jeter sighting place

my embassy, China Town

and finally, in an effort to be like Pat (and Knapp), I have buzzed off the mane and am now 58% more aerodynamic.

mid season notes

Throwing my coach's hat on, I am proud of everyone progressing and I will throw out a special nod out to Jess for putting up 40 in a week and jumping in to the sub 2 hour half club for the first half of the year.

In an effort to promote safety by me messing up to prove a point, do NOT run down College Hill Road when it's raining.

Due to this, I took a week off and now understand what a taper kind of feels like; antsy to run again, and having fresh legs for the first run back.

Looking forward to my first trot around Boston with the albino Kenyan himself, Pat Henderson this weekend.

The Decision

Providence

Trophy Case

It appears that some of us will be taking our talents to South Beach as the Miami Marathon (http://www.ingmiamimarathon.com/ for Pat) will be hit with our diversified team as I believe the 5k, half, and full will be represented by the team. Less than 7 months away...

It's been ages since I've written here but in that time, I have been logging easy miles on the treadmill at the gym to save my knees from Providence's "paved" "sidewalks". I have saved some long runs for Providence: one with our ringer, Pat, and one for the heck of it as it rained today. If it wasn't for my knees, I would love to keep taking people over to the view of Providence or traverse the Blackstone park.

Balancing the books for the first half of the year, it's clear to see that this team prides itself on one thing only: awards per race.

(not pictured: half marathon award)

Firefly 5k awards with Poland Spring's southern cousin, Ozarka:

Firefly Run 6/4/11

Texas heat + Night time 5k + glow sticks = "fun" non-PR run.

Heather Tang

27:27

Lisa Tang

28:43

Also, good luck to the runners this weekend running Matty's 5k at URI.

TRC T's

The new screen printed T's are in and I gave them to Knapp and Tang to dispurse amongst everyone.

Half Pics

They're up, here's some good ones, for some reason i couldnt find any of jess, I tried by name and by number and nothing, she must have been really sneaky