Rambling thoughts as I close in on my 100th hour of racing...

I keep thinking about my upcoming race, and while I may be at my heaviest from all of my previous "Coogan" runs, I am really looking forward to this Sunday. There’s something…I, I just can’t place my finger on it, that makes me go all out when I run Coogan’s. Is it the once- Armory now Track & Field Hall of Fame museum by the starting line, where I had broken my first “tape” ever in a 4 x 440 relay race in High School? Brother Kent, looked at me after I finished and was very worried. “You look very pale, son. Are you alright”, he cautiously asked. I broke out with a smile. Of course, I was alright. I just won the race for St. Francis Prep! It was one of my most shining moments in an otherwise, regularly-scheduled programmatical life.

But now my life is regular. The Superman cape has come off a long, long time ago. Now, it’s all about the fun of running and doing so at a pace that won’t win any races, but will win my enthusiasm of being alive and grateful for doing the things that I should never have quit on for such a long while. I no longer am ashamed of being “regular”, otherwise this site wouldn’t even exist right? Yes. I relish in my mediocrity. Fanfare for The Common Man, just as it was penned by Aaron Copland some 60 odd years ago, to be further improved later on by Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Perhaps “Lucky Man” might even be more updated and fitting of my current status.

Ileana will be joining me this Sunday. She'll either be watching at the finish line, or actually waiting in the car, ensuring I don't get a ticket. LOL. The cops in NY are not only hungry for donuts, but for giving tickets to anything that doesn't even look right!

Next Thursday is the New York Road Runner's Club Awards Dinner. It's at the New York Hilton next Thursday. Black tie is optional, so I'll be dressing to the nines for it. There will be awards, dinner and dancing. Well...."Two out of Three Ain't Bad"....LOL....

Every so often I take the opportunity to welcome all of you that visit my site, be it for several or even just once. I really appreciate the comments I get from all of you, and if anything I say is useful in your lives, then great! In a way, I guess I do this for everyone’s edu-tainment (educational entertainment), starting with my own. It’s fun to write about my triumphs and transgressions, my jubilations and my sorrows. One day, when and if I ever give THIS all up, I will have fond memories of it. That’s when I’ll start reading what I wrote, and re-live all of it as if it were a new spring.