The Long Day.

Unnerving.

It was 6am. And I was in a dead sleep. I was supposed to have been at Victory Oval, to do a 4 mile tempo practice run, but instead, all I was practicing was the last letter of the alphabet at Mattress Rectangle. Just as well too, because when I got up, there was already rain, and it looked like it was only going to get worse.

And I was right.

I left the house at 7:40am to a downpour that made me grateful for taking my golf-sized umbrella (what is a golf-sized umbrella you say? It’s a real large umbrella capable of easily covering two bodies from getting wet).

The car ride was an adventure.

Only bested by last month’s 2 hour drive home, for which there were literally trees in the middle of Grand Central Parkway, from the massive wind and rain storm, today’s drive would prove incredibly challenging as well.

I tuned into NewsRadio WCBS 880, to hear about the weather. Instead I got a story about an Unidentified Falling Object in New Jersey. A piece of metal and concrete fell from the sky and through a neighbors roof. The FAA stated their were no planes in the area, and there were no construction companies or tall buildings within miles of the house. Apparently, the item shot downward with such impact, that it bore a hole through the roof of this home in New Jersey. It continued, through the 2nd floor, landing onto the living room below. Fortunately, no one was home at the time. The item is being tested for contamination in case it came from outer space.

Meanwhile, the rain was coming down so hard, that traffic literally stopped. I called the office, where my boss had to leave because his basement was taking on water. Quarterly hour reports were flooding in on my cellphone (no pun intended) from my co-workers urging me to turn around and go back home. But I didn’t listen. At least not right away.
Company Man. Hoo Hah. Whatever.

It was now nearly 2 hours into my drive to work. I had gone exactly 10 miles. I decided to get off the Northern State Park(ing Lot)way, because I was going nowhere.

I tried to take side roads in Nassau County, and wound up getting lost for a short while, amidst the deluge of water and unhappy motorists. They too were seeking alternate routes.

While I was lost I kept thinking to myself, “Not only am I going nowhere, but now I
am going nowhere, in the middle of nowhere.” Frustrated, I see a Citibank up ahead. "Yes! What a few extra minutes anyway to deposit my disbursement check.", I thought.

The parking lot was about 5 inches deep of rain. It was so bad, that I actually rolled up my pant legs, and had to take off my shoes and socks to walk to the bank. Result? Lights on and nobody home. I made a Lewis and Clark expedition for nothing. Is there no one at work today, except for my co-workers?” I thought to myself.

After getting back in my Honda Civic canoe, I continued along I.U. Willets road at .00005 miles per hour. I had travelled 12 miles in two hours and forty minutes. But that still did not stop me from going to work.

I called the office again.

This time, my co-worker tells me that our senior manager’s rental (because his regular car had been demolished by a truck just a few days earlier) and another worker, had their car almost completely submerged in water. There was over a foot of water inside the car, and both cars had to get towed. It had rained 5 inches in the last hour.

I finally got the message. It was time to go home. It only took me 1 hour and 50 minutes
To get back home. Umm. Let’s see. 4 hours 30 minutes to go 24 miles. My Marathon times were better!!! (rain excluded, thank you).

I worked from home, using the 42” inch plasma as my monitor. I worked from my bed to rest my legs, but what I really needed was a nap from the stress of what had previously happened.

I didn’t get it.

Instead I got all kinds of crazy problems at my job that I had to deal with.
All dealt, All taken care of, but by the time I was done. Ileana was home and it was 6pm.
I turn on the news to see about the storm, when suddenly they talked about a massive explosion near Times Square. The video on TV was absolutely ridiculous:


Ileana was too tired to go to the gym. But I am committed, you see.
Regardless of how strange this day had been, the morale of this blog, is that if you want something really bad, that no matter how difficult or challenging the situation, you do not waver. You do follow your dreams. And if you keep your eye on your dreams, and do everything you can to stay on course. Your dreams will become a reality.

Wake up, Alex. Your dream is not over yet…..

So I get to the gym. And as I turn into the parking lot there are people everywhere. About a thousand (no lie). They are all staring at the building. What is going on? And why is their a swarm of cars leaving?

Heck, I parked anyway, and got out. With the gym bag in my right hand, cellphone in my left, I walked towards the entrance. On the way, I asked someone why was everyone outside. “The fire alarm went off twice.”

“Great”, I thought. Now I will be waiting here until dark. “When will I run?”

I was beginning to think, that maybe I could just run around the parking lot. “Nah. Too many cars and people”. Just then, two fire trucks came. What a ruckus all of this was.

After about 30 minutes of seeing that there was no fire. (Gee, what a revelation) we all went inside. I immediately went to the treadmill, did my 4 miles (2 in tempo mode) and got the hell out of there so that I could get my 8+ hours of sleep.

I must have gotten home in about 11 minutes. That’s 12 miles in 11 minutes. Door to door, parking spot to parking spot. And in Queens, New York, that is nothing short of a miracle. Came upstairs, went to bed. Long day finally over. Or was it?

The next morning (today) I wake up to find myself a few ounces lighter. Except it was not on the scale. In taking a look in my gym bag, I could not find my cellphone anywhere. My Blackberry of all things, was missing. My “Crack”berry has been my second right arm for some time now. On the edge of freaking out, I contacted LA Fitness, but the dumb morons don’t even have access to the safe until the manager comes in at 9am. I go ahead and do my run anyway, and I’m running a bit faster than normal from being so angry at myself this morning. On the way back, I check everywhere in the car, under the seats, between things, but nothing. It was gone. A feeling of dread.

My fate was sealed when I finally called (after 9) and spoke to the manager, who said there was nothing in the safe. Immediately, I contacted T-Mobile, and had my service suspended for 2 months. I figured that by the time I had served my sentence, that I should have the extra money to replace the phone.

I go ahead and send this email to everyone, acknowledging my stupidity, because when you have been on Earth for 42 years, you learn that the best way to admit you screwed up, is to do it irrefutably and immediately.

Here was my email:
Dear All,

I lost my cell phone last night. Due to the cost to replacing the phone, I have decided to suspend my service until I can afford to replace it. The cell phone costs me $150 dollars, so by suspending my service for 2 months, I should have enough to pay for a new one.
I apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Love,
Alex

Of course, we all know that in my family, you are not going to go to far without some kind of response….
Here was my dad’s response.

DEAR ALL:

I JUST REALIZED I LEFT MY HEAD AT LAST NIGHT'S RESTAURANT. I HOPE THE WAITRESS DID NOT TAKE IT AS A TIP. BECAUSE MY HEAD COST ME $149, I WILL WALK WITHOUT A HEAD FOR 2 MONTH IN ORDER TO OFFSET THE EXPENSE FOR A NEW ONE BY SEPTEMBER.
LOVE YOU ALL
HEADLESS.

I have to admit, it was funny as hell. But the icing on the cake was that he sent me this seconds later:

He called it “My Masterpiece” and boasted about how he did it with just his mouse, and with his right foot over the clicker, while wearing a blindfold, suspended upside down in mid-air, etc etc, etc…

Overall very funny, but I was still in agony over my gadget loss.

Entering the denial stage, I second-guess the gym manager, and step into the gym on my way home, but nothing doing. No phone.

I go home. Defeated. Dee FEET ed.

Back in the house. I go and pick up all of my worldly belongings, which were in the gym bag up until, and in a fit of anger, I held the bag upsidedown to let all of its contents fall all over the floor, earlier this morning

I picked up my left foot (no. not the movie with Daniel Day Lewis), I mean my left sneaker.

And there it was. MY CELLPHONE!!!!! YES!!!!! I AM THE BEST! (private joke).

Funny thing was that it wasn’t even the sneaker that I wore, yet it was there amidst the junk.

Morale of the Story: Never give up hope. ( I shall remember that for my next race ).

Gym-maniac

Today, I spent 3 and a half hours at the gym. I think I have lost my mind (or rather it is somewhere between the dumbells and treadmills), but am happy to report my first 30+ mileage week in nearly a month.

I ran. I ellipticalled (shit is that even a word?). I ab crunched. I overhead pressed. I dipped and chinned. I swam. And finally, when I was all done, I ate. Pizza. Lots of it.

I love Pizza.

I then made the mistake of going to Step In Shit, errr, I mean Stop N' Shop first before going to eat. That's a mistake too, because

I can spend a lot of money when going to a supermarket on an empty stomach.

Before we went there though, we actually saw an open house in New Hyde Park.

It was somewhat small, but it was all brand new, and very beautifully done.

My next race might be on July 4th. It all depends on whether or not I feel like sprinting

on the Long Beach boardwalk for 4 kilometers or not. My training needs to be more focused on the long run. But I have some unfinished business in Long Beach to take care of, and I need redemption there.

After that, it's not until the Long Island Corporate Challenge race, which will be on July 31st.

I am now 21 weeks away from the New York City Marathon. If I decide to follow a standardized regimen, my first "true" day of training will begin 16 weeks out, or on July 16.

Last Sunday, was the San Diego Rock N' Roll Marathon. Lordy lord. 9 of the top ten finishers were Kenyans. Talk about domination! Just look:

Top 10 Men
NAME, AGE, LOCATION, TIME, PRIZE

1. DANIEL YEGO, 27, KEN, 2:09:04, $20,000 Plus Vehicle

2. CHRISTOPHER CHEBOIBOCH, 30, KEN, 2:10:58, $20,000

3. SYLVESTER CHEBII, 27, KEN, 2:12:00, $10,000

4. JOSEPH CHIRLEE, 27, KEN, 2:12:10, $7,500

5. FRED MOGAKA, 29, KEN, 2:14:00, $5,000

6. BOAZ KIMAIYO, 31, KEN, 2:14:26, $2,000

7. RICHARD MAIYO, 30, KEN, 2:15:25, $1,300

8. JOHN BIRGEN, 32, KEN, 2:15:49, $1,200

9. PETER MUTHAMA, 35, KEN, 2:17:05, $1,100

10. MOGES TAYE, 33 ETH, 2:17:29, $1,000

...I would love to know what they spike their Wheaties with.

Well, there were AMERICANS in this race as well!

Here's one. Take a look:

....okay....where do I sign up?

I hear it's San Diego's a fairly fun race with the music all along the course. As for me, it probably would be the scenery more than the music, since I always travel with my iPod (life saver) in hand anyway. The background music would probably be something of a distraction.

And speaking, of iPod, I finally finished creating my iTunes playlist for all of the famous rock songs of the last 50 years. 4752 songs was the final count that I thought were meaningful enough to randomly fill my iPod.

The music I use in my iPod is sort of like a mixed drink. 2 parts Rock, 2 parts Techno, 1 part Disco. Then shake, rattle, and roll.

Tonight's the last episode of The Sopranos....Ever. I don't think Tony's getting whacked. I think Phil Leotardo' going to go and sleep with the fishes. Whatever the ending, all I know is that my ass will be in bed as soon as its over. Tomorrow, I am planning to wake up at 5am, leave at 5:30 and be at the gym and ready to work out from 6-7:30am. Then shower & change there, and get to work by 8:30am. Ileana is going to do the same thing. Should be interesting.

Food. Notorious Food.

For those of you who wish to read this, please beware. You may suddenly become hungry, and have thoughts of attacking your refridgerator. Therefore, please read at your own risk.
Today started on a downward slide. Typically, most runners can usually get away with packing in a few more calories. This is because the aerobic exercise of jogging will burn off more calories than just about any other activity. However, there are limits, as to what you can burn off, whereas the sky is the limit with how many calories one could consume.

Unfortunately, I just don't learn my lesson.

I try to have no more than 1500-1800 calories per day. A body weighing roughly 155 pounds will burn about 75 calories per day. Multiply that by 24 hours, and voilá! You get 1800 calories burned.

After a nice weigh-in after my Brooklyn Half last Saturday, I thought that if I could get to around 140-145 pounds, that I would then be at an optimal mass. However, I love to eat. And therein lies the problem. My weakness of eating. My stomach. My taste buds. They are all part of a non-stop machine. My stepmother Cristina calls me "Hooverito". She is Cuban, but one does not need much imagination to know why she calls me that. First of all, it means the vacuum of the same name, but only in Spanish. For me, there are more marathons than just running. Keep me from eating for too long, and watch what I'll do at an Italian restaurant.... What a disgrace!

And speaking of rampant and uncontrollable urges, today was no exception. For breakfast, I had not 1, but 2 bagels. And they were loaded with real Breakstone butter. At some point I will have to learn NOT TO BUY OR EAT THESE THINGS ANYMORE!!!!

But that was nothing. The assault continued later on in the day. I actually did a run at noon. But it was to my car. From there I drove on a flat road. But to tell you the truth folks, it was all downhill. You see, there's this
little deli called "Suburban Eats". It's right on route 110 in Melville....and their food is really, really good. And I was really, really hungry.

A foot long chicken parmagiana hero, a prosciutto, mozzarella, tomato and basil sandwich, and a bag of Garlic & Herb Roasted "Dirty" Potato Chips later, I felt as if I was in my third term. But let us not forget the Diet Coke. For we ARE watching our weight, right?! Yeah, sure. We are watching it all right. Watching it rise, like a bread in the over, to be sure.

The icing on the cake came later. Literally. The food truck (that damned food truck), which comes around every couple of hours by my office, honked his horn. "Coffee Truck is here", was announced over the PA. I was not going to go outside. No sir-ree! Heck, I ate enough already, didn't I? At least 2000 calories today, and it's only 2 pm!

But then I remembered...I owed Ken (the driver of that damned food truck) money for food from last week. I can't let the tab slide, right? I mean, I had to pay him. All I have to do is just march right out there, pay up, turn my ass around, and march right back in.

And that's exactly...what I almost did.......Till I saw them. The Hostess Cupcakes....Mmmmmm.
Hadn't had those in months. I fought and I fought. I circled the truck like a shark. I even started to mutter to myself, being careful not to let my co-workers see me (cause that might not be too cool). But the mind was too weak, and the digestive engines too strong. My stomach, like the plant in the movie, "The Little Shop of Horrors", had yelled to his rightful master...."Alex, Feed Me! Feed me Alex!!!" I pleaded with my brain to ease the sensations, but I caved. Then, I even rationalized, that "Hey? What's 350 more calories anyway?" I bought my sinful little treat, and then washed it down, with a Vitamin Water. LOL.

As penance, I went tonight to the gym, and just got back. 12 miles. After the first 6, my lower, inner part of left leg (about 4 inches down from my knee) was talking to me again. I got off the treadmill, and got on the elliptical machine, a non-impact exercise. I did this for about 20 minutes, then went to another treadmill. I'm glad I did this too because as it turned out, the second treadmill was in much better shape than the first.

I can't wait for the weather to finally warm up over here. I need to run the streets and the parks. All this treadmill running is taking it's toll on my legs.

Anyway, the lesson for tonight: Eat every 3 hours, eat small amounts, stay away from bad carbs, and if you must eat bad, be prepared to repent!

Remember.......to run like this:
you must not eat too many of this:

Treadmillosis Brokenitis.

More and more, gymnasiums (a necessary supplement) have been infected with this deadly disease. It starts with the host germ, called the gym employee, doing something other than working. This includes talking to the good looking girl at the smoothie bar, or checking out the -err- fitness quotient of some of the members. And how does it end? It ends with treadmills that work like c*%p and become unusuable to the feet & legs of many.

Of course, it would be nice to put a SIGN on the treadmill warning us to stay away from these

neglected, and overrun machines....but NOOOOOOO (John Belushi style), it is far better for you, the PAYING customer to get on the treadmill, and nearly get off --- on the floor behind you.

Oh, by the way, that was a rant.

Anyway, it had been 3 days since my last run, and my mini-strains on my calves are much better now. I ran a 5K in an easy, slow speed (about 10 min. per mile). My calves were a little tight after the run, but I think I am in a much better place now.

To all people of Cleveland......THANK YOU FOR THE SUN!

Yes, the streak of gray skies is broken.

However, the streak of late flight departures is not. 10 flights in a row and counting... (That was a 'rant aftershock')

Weather is miserable, raining swimming pools over here.

Pizza night tonight (Dani's special an entire pie for 8 bucks).

Cleveland Socks!

Well, I'm on the road again. Gearing up for an eventful day of work tomorrow, I flew out of JFK and into sunny Cleveland....

I left this for her on the bed as a joke before I left.
(BUT I AM SURE THAT BY NOW IT WAS REMOVED!)

...Anyway, did I say 'sunny' Cleveland? That of course, is a joke. There has not been one ounce of shine on this city in two years. Or so said the fella who was sitting next to me on the puddle-jumper I took to get here. --It is GRAY!-- I've been in Cleveland 4 times, and never ONCE have I ever seen the sun!


I'm staying at the Embassy Suites here in Beachwood, OH.

It's located about 20 odd miles south east of Cleveland. Upon checking in they gave me a pass to Bally's Fitness Center down the street. I drove there but they close early on the weekends. Perhaps Tuesday morning before I go back home?

I decided to check out the gym here. The treadmills are not top of the line, but they are brand new. I ran a 5K, without much worry, except for the slight soreness in my calves. My girlfriend would have like it here. The hotel has a large open air atrium with balconies on each floor surrounding it.

Inside the rooms there's lotsa granite. Even a granite sink in my room. Here are some pictures:

I wont be running at all tomorrow or Monday. But thanks to my efforts, March 2007 is one for the books. Most miles run in a month. Period. Even including my "Young Jedi" years (1984-1986).

Speaking of that. Please be sure to pay close attention at the blog index I have on the left. I've been putting in blogs of events that have actually "preceeded" the genesis of this website. So although, you may not see them here, they are new blogs! I've decided to start posting everything meaningful in the past and am calling it "Project Re-Run".

The Mother of All Gymnasiums.

Here are the 4 most important nutritional supplements a body needs:


1. Calcium
2. Potassium
3. Magnesium
4. Gymnasium...


As a runner, it is important to cross train. Imagine, walking on a sandy beach one hot summery day, while all the women look at you and whistle too (HEY! I CAN DREAM CAN'T I?). They are staring at your muscular, ripped legs. Those pillars of strength that allowed you to finish a 1 mile race in less than 1 hour! Then, you take off your shirt.....and the party's over.


Abdominals, Torso Rotations, Incline Press, Decline Press, The New York Press, all vital instruments of further, and undulating torture, which awaits you at the Gymnasium.





A couple of summers ago, I joined such a sweaty, grunt-filled hall of horrors. My dungeon is called LA Fitness. My batmobile is one of the more than 100+ treadmills. No lie. The LA Fitness in Lake Success is the largest gymnasium ever built (I dare anyone to prove me otherwise! Go for it! Yes! You!). To give you a feel for this place, take a Costco, and slap a Walmart alongside it. Now, blast the demising wall in between, and that's my gym...without the rubble.


Usually when I work out here, I really go all out. I even put some funny (and quite ugly) faces of me on the picture above to show you the look of pain (and puke).



I purchased a new orthotics at the Runner's Edge shop in Farmingdale. They are pretty different then the Ultra Arch Sorbothanes that I have.They actually had a higher arch, but were not as cushiony. I was able to sprint several times during the end of my 10K treadmill run tonight, and must admit, I was pretty impressed to have not hurt myself with them.



Last, and certainly not least, I must use my gross and powerful internet skills to explain to my father once and for all, that Wilt Chamberlain was the greatest (Bar-None) basketball player ever!