brains & luck & work & faith & results

I am smart, knowledgeable, know myself as an athlete and have great coaching support in my wife Jen.

I invite fortune to gladly gaze with her benevolence.

I am going to continue recovery practices, training, and eating right.

"He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness…"-Corinthians

I quit before I had to, first day back at 800meter Pace! 7 x 200 ~ 34,31, 5 x 28

Pah pah pah poker face pah pah poker face

Jen sits down quicker than gravity alone would have brought her down. Collapsed in a semi cross legged sitting situation she breathes heavily. “Up up”, I repeat a few times offering a helping hand bringing her up to her feet. “In through your nose, deep breaths, twenty seconds to go,” more advice offered to my laboring wife. Repeat quarters with about 45sec rest. Off she goes again, rounding, working back stretch, another curve and then down the last 100meters, face etched in determination. The face says it all, gone from the calm of the first few reps slowly turning towards grimace of self direction and desire. The face shows what she is doing, what we are all doing. Try as you might to hide the effort, you can't run the end of a race or hard workout with a decent poker face.

Keeping track of what to wear

When we run past Paddy Murphy’s a man standing 30meters ahead is staring at me. Jen focuses on the concrete sidewalk but I meet the man’s gaze. He kind of stops walking, nothing hostile or anything like that, three steps more and finally I know who it is so I quip, “Hey Matt” and then we are gone. The whole exchange lasted seconds, from pre-recognition to now. Jen inquires to whom I said hi to. When I say, “Matt the hurdler” we go into the ease to which Matt must of recognized us, in the same gear as every other time he has seen us. The three of us ran into each other at UMO’s indoor track. My lack of immediate recognition was due to the anomaly, Matt was in street clothing. I have only seen him in running gear before. Somehow he looked smaller, almost out of his element.

Curtin Call

Jen and I trained with NBB, or New Balance Boston, only for three months. Next to Jack Daniels Running Formula, and only barely, this was to be the most pivotal training theory education we have been subjected to so far thanks to their coach Kevin Curtin. First off, the man is a pro. Standing at the track wielding around a half a dozen watches he would dispense splits as different groups were going off, at singular times, even getting people at the 200meter mark across the track. All while carrying on a conversation with some bystander who is invariably around these practices. However, reading times is a nice trick, and showed us the logistics of running an individualized practice with many hard working people doing different things at once but it wouldn’t have made the impression it did if it wasn’t for the theory behind what we did.

The first workout I still remember clear as day. It was indoor at Reggie and I was a bit leery and skeptical of the practice. How was he going to individualize? He, in his calm but assertive way, said “Six by 1000 with one minute rest at about 3:20. Do you think you can do that?” For a second I was stunned. I had done this exact workout many times and other ones similar in the 6k volume and small rest scheme countless times. An 80second quarter was my anaerobic threshold pace and he nailed it meeting me. “Yes, yes I can” I responded.

It was not until the first day of outdoor season that we started practicing three times a week under him. We still have every workout we did, the paces he asked for and the times we did run. We are not “cookie cutter” coaches replicating the same workouts and seasons. We are fluid, dynamic and responsive in our theory. However, the paces, changes in types of workouts and intensities relative to the 12 week season, which could have been extended for four more weeks to club nationals, allowed us to understand when to start glycolitic sprint training and race pace buffering relative to the championship meet. Kevin gave us insight into workouts and paces that Daniel’s never talks about. His impression on us has gone on to effect dozens of people that we have helped. Most notably he was a huge impact, with many of the exact same workouts being used, on what Marco Bertolotti did for training the two months before he won the Hispanic games at 16years old in a 4:15.1 mile outkicking the previous year's returning best miler in the nation. Kevin, I don’t know if Jen and I will ever get to pay you back but we are always trying to pay it forward. Thank you!

b & b & e

So bored with waiting. The workout earlier was similar to ones I have been doing, not in the type but in the relative amount of running. Another 2/3rds workout. And I still cant run 800meter intensity for any real duration. Three weeks from tomorrow and I take a break no matter what. Whether or not I race, whether or not I get up to gear, the 17th of July marks the last day I am going to try and put together a race effort. Then I start next years plan, which always starts with a break from running. If my calf is up to it I will probably start sprinting right away , and def start with core exercises but no real runs for a week, two, or even three if my calf or psyche wants it. But if my calf needs it still, running can altogether stop after the 800 on the 17th of July. I just want so badly to run that day well. I would settle for anything in the 1:59 range but I am hoping to better my time trial 1:58.4 with an actual race time. The 800 the other day in 2:08 felt like butter, but there is a whole different gear and intensity to 800 meter pace vs. goal mile pace. Realistically, 2:08 is just goal mile pace and that just wont cut itt come the 17th. But still three weeks away, injury getting better each day, just nagging around, leaves Brendan & boredom & excitement to mingle.

excited coach

my run was 22ish minutes and a couple strides not too exciting. My calf felt pretty good all day a bit exciting. This link very exciting. :) http://athletics.umf.maine.edu/General_Athletic_Information/Jobs/P1116%20Cross%20Country%20Advertisement.pdf

Mileage isn’t all of it

Bottom line any athlete has a certain amount of talent. That talent can be talked about in a few ways. Talent is there for any given amount of time, say a season vs. two years. During a season you may set up the very beginning of it to focus on running drills, core and improving running form & economy through workouts such as bounding. However, by mid season you have switched to more race specific training and less theoretical training; that which forces athletes’ to improve on their personal “theory” of running.

Just looking at the season, talent is worked on in a “theoretical training” way at the beginning, recruiting as much as that specific athlete can learn, adjust to central motor patterns and then in a coordinated fashion display. Then it is looked at in a race specific way, with a quid pro quo as season continues in types of training emphasis. By training for race specifics you are recruiting a predetermined amount of theoretical ability. An athlete with 10 weeks left to the championship meet, has a certain amount of potential. Sleep, nutrition and race day specifics/conditions all factor in but, in about ten weeks not a whole lot of theoretical work can really be overly emphasized with the hopes of bringing around the most success. Unless it is a very beginner athlete, who is injuring themselves through poor form, than emphasizing race specifics the last 8-10 weeks of the season is smartest.

In two years you may structure different seasons to focus on recruiting different types of this theoretical ability and then working on it with race specific that is actually working other aspects of theoretical. Example would be training an 800meter guy for the 400-200meter one year so that the next year he can fully go after the 800-1500meter. During that year he may still do some mid-distance races but overall he is training and racing sprints. The beginning of that first year would emphasize true sprinting drills and acceleration exercises like shuttle runs and medicine ball throws. Also a lot of maximum velocity work with the first six months being 200meter races. This would then lead into more specific buffering for the 400meter race. The next year would then be structured on building that 400meter speed into 800meter during indoor and then during outdoor 1500meter gold. However, in 8-10weeks you can train race specifics so much but you have what you have as far as theoretical ability.

Theoretical ability can be further distinguished by genetic ability. Genetic is what it sounds like and is subjected to the haphazard of circumstance. Think of a seed, it may or may not possess the genetics to grow to be the largest tree ever grown. But, unless it grows in the right place with enough sun, not too many competitors and isn’t subject to the array of other issues like forest fires than the point is moot whether or not it will grow to be the largest. I believe Lance because he is amazing, and certainly not to knock the sport, but how many of the worlds greatest athletes ever really got into cycling? Maybe if more athletes had competed as cyclists there might be four or five more “Lances”.

This all brings me around to my final point. If an athlete has a certain amount of potential they sometimes, and all too often from sheer training blindness, foolishly place themselves in positions of over training. Over training is any time you do more work than necessary to prepare for an event. You certainly do not want to under train, which I define as not accurately recruiting the maximum of your theoretical and genetic abilities in respect to where you are in your season, yearly and multi-year plan. However, the detriments of under training with proper use of multi-system training means athletes might miss their potential slightly, but they will be pretty close. If an athlete is over training they might not race at all or have really off performances. Injuries and setbacks are usually signs of over training. So are streaky performances, both in practices and in races. But most of all, I find that over training leads to burnout in runners. They don’t think they can compete the way they did, so they give up or turn to the most insidious of over training; mileage and the longer races. Since they have never raced longer races they are PR’ing again, but in truth their performances lay miles away from their true talent. They then, like tough guy gurus, think if you don’t go long you just aren’t strong. It just seems like a bunch of macho junk training.

Haikulometer

Ten thirty at night
Now that I am out running
Day seems much better
(quote & poem by Jen Dagan)

Ready?

Step by step and rep by rep, today’s workout is definitely movement towards racing again. Still nervous to do my 800meter pace running but my calf might have been up for it. However, veering on the side of caution, I called the workout after an 800 in 2:08 that felt good. My calf is tight now, but way better than before my runs in the preceding days. Taking this as a good sign, I am returning to the track tomorrow, and if everything feels good post warm up I am attempting some 200’s at 800meter intensity. Wish me luck!

Off advice

Monday June 20th a day off from running with my legs but my mind turns to it freely. It is so impatient of me, but the run calls my legs towards the door. No, can’t go. Today is a day off pre-planned into the week. Just because it would feel good to run doesn’t mean I should. Planning in a day off is prudent and practical. Not listening to advice that I would give any runner would be otherwise.

Who’s day?

Not the tallest, not the largest, yet…”I dare to be all that a man can be, those who dare more are less”-Shakespeare if I recall correctly…

I'm a F#@king honey badger! My true thanks to the men who made me, create me, and allow me to be who I am; Brendan Richard mother f’ing Dagan and if you don’t know already, start….

Brendan, Peter, Skipper, Avi, M. Doug, Justin, Aaron, Rick, Andy, D&D Masons, Marc K., Meoli, Rob, Jimmy, Jonny A., Billy Cain, Dougy C., Jonah, Jared C., KMO, James Kenneth Cameron, Dan H, Churchill, Brandon-Brendan connection., Lenny, Coach Reilly & Gagnon, Mel, Mr. Costello, Kevin M. Kilroy, Colin Ford, Ryan Ferry, Canada, Paul M., Larry Campbell, Jordan, Matt Smith, Robby, Nathan Ainsworth, Mike Lansing, Evan P., Marco Bertolotti, Joey K., Tommy Doyle, Ben Blasi, Robby, Dan Lee, Michael Wayne, Action Jackson and all others that have been there and I definitely have "misplaced", but only in this moment and never in the character of this man!
Running away is never about failure, it’s always about realization or lack thereof….
I wish nothing but the best for those of the past and may the future hold luck for those who grace me next. Being a man, mantling the burden that you choose to hold, is about standing on the precipice of your experience! No one can look at you in the mirror except yourself. You will always be the men you have feared, loved, respected and hated. Only you can look yourself in the eyes and always, in an almost desperate way at times, be true to whom you are and who you can always become!

One track mind

Dogs, backpack, Frisbee, two beers, spikes, flats and a day off. For me. Arriving at the track with my High School teammate, visiting me for the first time in two and a half years, supplies are dispensed. Jen is doing a tempo run followed by 3 x 300 meters reps.. Standing on the track, watching Jen start her run it is the first time that Chris and I have been on track in the last decade. Not originally a day off, the idea of resting today grew freely from both prudence and spontaneity. An ailing calf, a friend from out of town and not having taken two days off in one week in months all factored in. Chirs and I won state titles together, medals from the New England meet and respect from our fellow athletes. At a time in our lives when we started to define ourselves by what we were doing, finally free to start creating ourselves from our own paradigm and not the concepts that we had no choice over, brought to us from our parents, schools, and early childhood friends. Frisbee hitting me in the chest, a few beers deep and Jen running around the track finishing the work for the day swirls into realization.
“The greatest thoughts cannot be thought because they transcend thinking, and the next greatest can't be told because they refer to that which cannot be thought. The next best are what we talk about.” – Joseph Campbell
It was a good day at the track.

the sum of the whole is greater than its parts

Sixteen 200’s! Two sets of eight with two to three minutes rest in between the 200’s and eight minutes rest in between the sets. Two 34’s, two 33’s, three 31’s and the rest were 32’s. A few weeks ago this workout would be gobbled up by the transcendent running experience, barely a blip on the memory radar. This is not a few weeks ago. Last Saturday, doing 100meter strides I couldn’t go faster than eighteen seconds.
Not that I was free of discomfort, and I didn’t dare run any faster yet, but the workout felt good, ending on a high note with two 32’s that felt amazing. Today, acclimating to the heat during the noon run, I am broken into segments; part of me lives in the past. Precious workout preserved forever, as all things are once they come to pass. Excited now, the part that is past bound is larger than the present part working way through streets on this hot run. Both parts are dwindling by the looming mountain growing on the horizon. The future part maintains primary grip on the multi tasking conscious, with all parts as always, symbiotically striving for grace and form.

freedom of the moment

Free to move free to run
free to roll in the sun
Be a man be an animal
devour past self like a cannibal
Dont turn back don’t gaze ahead
Stay with the moment, connect yourself instead
I am free I do run
I blaze freely, like the sun
Im a man Im an animal
Lift my shirt nothing but MAMMAL
I see the past and I see possibilities
I aspire to combine greatness and humility

... over spilled milk

Better then the last few days, way better. Even better then how it felt before I foolishly attempted the Mile this past Saturday. However, I didn’t try and run fast for more then a handful of brief strides. But it felt ok, my calf twinged a couple times but even those have changed. Not such rugged sharp pounding more gentle electric shocks like the tingly feeling when a limb starts to “wake up”. However, I am not going to do the Maine State games on the 25th. I am bummed, but if I am smart and patient I can better my 1:58.4 time-trial with an actual race time at one of the USATF meets in July and my last chance in Maine this season is the 17th.
It means this is week one of five, and in some ways, glass half full silver lining ways, I am kind of excited about this opportunity. My careless mistake has rekindled a slightly dwindled motivation and I am crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s with passion. This is a pretty unusual injury for me at this time of the season, so I get to catalog how well I come back and for me that is kind of cool. It will give me a better understanding on how to rebound from injuries, train through them and when an athlete I know gets injured this will add to my well of empathy. Ok, maybe I am just trying to be positive because I miss running fast so much I want to break down the walls of my house with my bare hands. Not that mindless physical indulgence isn’t good for venting, but I doubt it would make me healthy any quicker and would be foolishly immature. The injury is here but what caused it is gone, no reason getting upset.

Being & Time & Brendan

I don’t pretend to be some master of philosophy, but I will say I have a deep respect for it. A practical and straight forward look at life can be gleaned from these great texts and thinkers, succinctly, a way to be happier and more content. Martin Heidegger, a brilliant fascist, is considered one of, if not outright, the greatest philosophers of the 20th century and is renowned for his masterpiece “Being and Time”. Not that I have read it,although i hope to someday but it is not entirely difficult to discuss its concept because like many masterpieces it has been hashed over so many times and changed teh way so many think that it has become a topic unto itself. However, since i have not read it i would like to admit my understanding is second hand at best but as i undersatnd it deals with the concept of its title in a brave and unique way.

We are all being-towards something. The man sitting at a desk working on a 1000piece puzzle is yes the man working in the moment but he is being-towards the man done the puzzle admiring the finished picture. Typing this, in this moment, flipping fleetingly gone, do I exist more than now re-reading these words? Am I here figuring out the next sentence or displaying the finished words on my Blogspot, sipping wine with my wife fresh home from work in 20min? Heat pad pressed and wrapped around calf with knot in it, is actually being-towards calf roaring ripped man over finish line at Cony High School on July 17th.

Most people don’t really dwell on the being-towards way of thinking because it leads eventually to that being-towards which is so conclusive; death. No matter what we are being-towards, on some level we are always being-towards death. This scares people, but in some ways I find it liberating, a key to that “happier fuller life”. Death can happen, at any moment, but accepting that and then fully throwing yourself at being-towards what you want is the release. How much are you being-towards the things you truly want?

Work to be done

Twenty minute run, so little running work to be done but then stretch, massage, heat, massage, stretch, walk and then ice to make an evening devoted to recovery tactics. Forty days to the USATF Maine state meet in Augusta and I am resolved to be there running. In some ways, the anger and disappointment dissipating since the initial injury, I am just curious. I am pretty sure I will be able to rebound and put out a race effort by July 17th and it leaves me scratching my head to what that time will be. As of right now, one half ass workout this past Saturday behind me, I have no clue. So I will remain hopeful and positive and will attempt some faster paced running on Wednesday but tomorrow is just another easy twenty minutes. Of course, following that run there will be so much recovery work to be done.

June 5, 2011 – June 11, 2011

Week 6/8 Phase IV Jen's training is falling into place but i feel a bit unraveled with my calf injury

Sun, June 5
Day off

Mon, June 7
25ishmin min easy

Tue, June 8
B 4 x 200 with 2min rest after each 800 my calf was really hurting me so I called the workout early 32’s and one 31, 2:09
J 5min AT 4min rest 800 4min rest 3 x 200 with 35 sec rest after each 200
4:40 @1200 2:32 3 x 34’s

We both ran and met up later that night

Wed, June 9
J 3 x 300 at 53”s
B I only did strides because of my calf

Thu, June 10
An easy 25ishminutes

Fri, June 11
We did 25ishmin easy

Sat, June 12
J ~ Garelick Farms Milk Mile 5:12 then 3x300 with 3min rest 2 x 54, 53
B~ my calf’s knot broke in half when I took my first step a the race so I immediately dropped out. At the track later that day I did a 10min tempo (5:35 @ mile) in trainers and then 3 x 100 strides at 3k pace (like 18’s)

Season’s end?

My season seems so fragile. Months of hard work marginalized through a few weeks of carelessness. The knot in my calf exploded in half as I took my first step at the Milk Mile today. Walking the way to the finish, cursing the sun, the advice Jen gave me, then Jen for not running to see what was wrong, but mostly just myself. How could I be so stupid, so careless? After running with Jen to the second half of her workout, a quick set of 3 x 300, I had let the fact that my season might be over set in as a real possibility.

After the race, when Jen had gone to receive the award she had won with a 5:12 road mile, I stayed home, stretched and let my mind make sense of the morning’s turn of events and all the weeks that had led up to it. By the time Jen had returned and we started jogging to the track, we were both laughing and at ease. She banged out a couple of 54’s then a 53 and we joked in between, with me doing strides and feeling out my calf’s knot. The very real possibility is that my season might be over, but it also might not. Rest, recovery, therapy and a comeback plan might have me ready for the Maine State Games on the 25th and subsequent races ending on the 17th of July. Either way, it’s not the end. Ha, I take wonder at the athlete at the "end". Where is it? The great way I see, is one with no end but me always on the journey.

Warm wishful thinking

Tired and ready for bed but the clock doesn’t even read 8pm. My leg is laid over a heating pad tucked inside a pillow case; Jen administers a bandana wrap to keep the pad in place with concern for her charge clear on her face. There is a mile road race tomorrow and I am curious to whether or not I will run. I won’t rule the race out completely until tomorrow morning, but this heating pad will have to work wonders for me to feel 100%. Still, I have never dealt with a cramp like this before, and so I am optimistically speculative that it will disappear as easily as it arrived.

Playful storm

The rain that greeted us today was playful at times. Towards the beginning the rain that gathered seemed to call us into the humidity with a wistfulness to not be alone. The drops glided around us glad to have us in their midst. The weather’s friendliness, all playful, then growing into full out assault of rain, thunder and wind that chased us through streets. Small streams new to roads dry a few hours ago flow with force through curbsides and shoes to find gutters and drains then to call home. The crescendo not reached but our run done, we laughing and jumping into puddles to further wet each other. Home and smiling, the first real wet fun run of the year behind us.

Berating Brendan

Water drips down lower leg, small rivers casually cascade through wispy hairs spread curly over calf and ink blot like marks appear on the wooden porch. Below a small beauty mark massaged by melting ice cup, on the inside of my right calf, is a wretched companion of the last two weeks. A nagging friend, invited through sheer stupidity and carelessness. One too many drinks on a night after a big workout but before a day with some quick 200’s, neglecting my stretching routine and then not icing have brought on this injury. It fully peaked my attention when, for the second time in the last few weeks, my workout was ended before the last rep in the name of my calling calf. If any of the athletes I have worked with had been so absent with preventative measures I would thoroughly let them know that culpability and prevention was always in their hands. so here goes,
“Brendan, you only train about five hours a week, with one day off each week, are you really telling me that you didn’t have time to do your stretch and ice routine?”… “Well I was doing my full body stretches, and it didn’t really hurt, and yeah I dropped the ball.”…. “It is really important at this point to avoid a setback at all costs, so ice, rest, massage and be positive. Take the lesson from this that you can’t take advantage of the cooperation you need from your body. If you want to perform at a certain level, then you need to allow you body the tools to perform and for right now that means, no heavy drinking the night before workouts & races, ice every day and no new stretching limits but stretch each day within your already established stretching limits. I know you care about something deeply and I want to give you the tools to accomplish that.” …. “Thanks coach.”

Bright light

Hunkering down a sinking feeling, I continue running past the rendezvous spot. I quickly holler “jen” but silence sounds back. Quickening the pace, and then reminding myself to relax. I tell myself she will be right ahead. Moving over a small hill I see an LED bright light in the distance, sparkling white crisper tonight. I have never run this far, so I move quickly again, not sure if this is a mirage from some funky house’s light fixture. No, it is moving! I relax again. Jen is with me moments later, smile and explanation. Her LED needed a new battery and she hadn’t checked before she called to say to meet. The changing of the battery threw her almost four minutes back. A small amount of time, but not to us two who’s running is symbiotic and connected to the same spot each run. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to be uncomfortable for four minutes rather than she be uncomfortable for the 14min until we met. In fact of all the things I did today it was in a way the bright spot.

Changing on the fly

Bare chest, black shorts and the seven pm setting sun mix with an enjoyable 75degrees. Breathing comes easy, and a reminder to not get excited is admonished. Hitting the “landmark”, a set of lights about 5min into the run, a good thirty seconds early I have to almost forcefully relax and continue rolling down Essex street. As the rendezvous approaches a reminder of a cramp brought on during last weeks workout rears its ugly head with a twinge in my calf. An annoying injury, brought on by improper hydration. Changing my toe off, and adjusting my stride to more of a rolling lunge I try and relax the muscle. This is a great technique used in races as well as at times like this. Maintain pace even though you change how you are running. Here it allows me to continue running, have blood flow to my calf and the pain subsides. During a race, being able to stay loose and maintain a stride as acid removes muscle coordination can be the difference of up to four or five seconds at the end of a mile.

May 29, 2011 – June 4, 2011

Week 5/8 Phase IV

Sun, May 29
Day off

Mon, May 30
17 min easy

Tue, May 31
J 23ish min with 3 good strides
B 4 x 200 with 2min rest after each 600 8min rest 600 (I called it early, hottest workout of the year so far)
32’s and 33’s, then 1:39, 1:27low or 1:26high Later that evening I ran to meet Jen

Wed, June 1
J ~ 1000 just under 4min rest 3 x 200 w/ 35 sec rest in between each
3:05, 33, 35, 35
B ~ I paced jen through her 1000, then after 8 min rest did a 600 in 1:27.2 Later that afternoon I did 4 x 200 all 28’s

Thu, June 2
An easy 20minutes

Fri, June 3
We did 23min easy

Sat, June 4
We did cobscook 5k, a usatf certified course. Rolling hills, beautiful weather
Then in the afternoon we went to the track for a light workout
Jen ~ 5k, then later 200, 300, 200, 300
18:19, 35, 54, 36, 54
Bren ~ 5k then later 4 x 200
16:19 2 x 28, 27, 28

A project started is a project....

Waking up at 3:48am, bathroom piss, plop back down in bed and wait. By 4:30am, futile sleep still elusive, I make way through the morning routine. The dogs sense the day has started but are a little slow to react, not sure if this is another bathroom break. With the first light turned on in the room adjacent to where Jen is still sleeping they are quick to action. Stove on, water poured into kettle for tea, and out the door the three of us go. Unceremoniously squatting within moments of breaking outside, they turn their heads in a territorial sweep of their yard. Swiftly resuming sniffing, as if the bathroom break was part of the plan, they then circle once or twice in unison paralleling the Rockettes and start the second part of the morning outing. Steaming soft serve fecal piles left without remorse and inside we go. Pouring water over tea bag, four eyes and two tails avail my attention. Sitting down in the living room, steeping cup of tea nearby it isn’t even 5am. Somehow, two and half hour drive to 10am race ahead of me and light track workout later that afternoon, as I take the tea bag string and wrap it around the bag to wring dry dripping water, everything already seems half done.

A running excuse

In a mirror fashion “how you doin” is exchanged. The guy, toting a six pack in each hand and somewhere around a third inside, was slightly red in the face. “Lookin good!” is shouted as I move a few strides past, some for my benefit some for the benefit of his two friends also holding six packs and some for the benefit of the beers the men had already drunk today. Not letting the moment shake me I pipe back, “Not as good as you guys holding beers on a day like this!” In that moment, winning the trio of men over, they hastily try to take out a beer calling for me to have it with them. “No,”I laugh as I continue to run away, “I have to meet my wife.” And off I go, words only half true. The whole truth is I just want to run, meeting my wife just happens to be where I am running to. Funny, not too long ago I would tell guys trying to convince me to stay for a drink that I had to go run when really it was my better half who I was attending to.

Dagan’s dog dance

Loping along, light brown or rust hued with a white underbelly, tall with fierce eyes and the forced “grin” of the canine companion. Now, the grin looks like the impudent pup is laughing at her owners yelling for her a few dozen yards back. Not in a particular rush, both Jen and I on our easy run and the eloping dog seem at ease. But now that I see her, and with a flash to social duty, expecting my neighbors to do the same if my dogs were loose, a small chase is ensued. Not one of top speed but of calculated bursts and precise angles. She moves in response to me, so I guess I lead our chase but somehow I am always following her. Cutting between yards and cornering her in the meeting places of fences yet still she runs away on all fours. Five minutes into our sauntering salsa, I zig, she zags and I catch a look in her eyes; now I know the truth. Damn dog dancing away is having the best of me and the best of times.

Hello old friend

Stepping inside the large tunnel area that runs underneath the Bangor Track stadium, Jen and I start our waiting. The wind that ushered us here at a slightly quicker clip than usual also ushered another friend; greeting us alive and grey is a spring thunderstorm. We had been warming up for nine minutes, but knew within the first few that we wouldn’t make it the bout before the storm made us stop. The minutes sting by with questions as Jen and I sit backs against the High Jump mats. Twenty-five minutes of waiting, me cursing myself for not finishing what I had started the day before and Jen nervous she wasn’t going to get a run in at all. Twenty-five minutes of wishing we started sooner. And then it broke. Not suddenly, but a consistent temperament change to a reasonable sprinkle and strong gusty wind. As we start our workout my eyes wander to the horizon. I see in the distance the lightning still waves good bye and then moments later the thunder quietly remarks, “next time we may stay longer.”