St Patrick's Day

Denis Leary‏Verified account @denisleary 9m9 minutes ago

#StPatricksDay Irish History Fact: We invented whiskey, sarcasm & bare knuckle brawling. All on the same night. In that order.

A few members of our "club", the Sals Racing team, participated in the annual Johnny's Running of the Green 5 mile race on March 11. Just coming off of power outages due to high winds (and thousands in the area still without power) we weren't sure if the race was going to happen. Over 800 people showed up to run though, with another 1,400 registered but not at the race. It was a balmy 15 degrees with the wind averaging 15mph, making a nice cooling effect. 

Save for one large tree that had come down across the road near the 1.2 mile and 3.8 mile section of the out and back course, the roads were pretty clear. Someone had chopped enough of the tree so that about 20 feet was clear for runners to get by, which was nice. Johnny's was the first race in the Rochester Runner of the Year series and we all got off to a good start. Pete won his age group, Mike W was second in his group and I was fifth, Jan was tenth and Eileen third. I'm not happy about getting older but it definitely helped to earn RROY points by moving into a new age group.

Wind Power & Snowmageddon

Last week we had the wind storm of the century in the Rochester, NY area. More than 100,000 people lost power, some for days, with the sustained 50mph winds and gusts of 80mph. Trees and phone/electrical lines came down by the hundreds across the region.Schools were closed, businesses shut, cars and houses damaged by the storm and trees falling.

Here's a question - telephone poles, are they really necessary anymore? How many people have a land line? Telephone poles and assorted wires are good for squirrel highways, bird perches, visual pollution and stopping cars suddenly that veer off the road. Electrical and other utility lines should be underground, this isn't an unusual practice. When a series of poles go down take them away, dig a trench and bury the lines. The process of burying the lines can be done gradually, sort of like TrumpWall, except lines underground will save lives (no cars will smash into the poles), trees will be saved and I will have one less thing to rant about.

We were lucky, our power was only out for about 6 hours. But how do you exercise if there is no electricity or other utilities, especially in the winter when the temperature drops below freezing? If you get all sweaty you can only shower with cold water. Doable, but not enjoyable. It's a bit dangerous outside, especially with 50 mph winds. The treadmill obviously doesn't work. I was able to climb on my bike on the trainer and ride in the dark in the basement with the sound of voices in my head for entertainment. That lasted for an hour. I could also lift weights, in the dark. At least it was something.

A few days later the snow began and didn't stop for two days. We ended up with twenty-four or more inches. Insane for a March storm. The village snowplows tried to keep up, they really did a good job under the circumstances. Our snowblower died two years ago, so Jan and I shovel, which is a good strength workout. We have a nice neighbor who came over yesterday with his snowblower, which helped immensely with the 15 inches that had fallen in the previous 10 hours. We never lost power, hurray! Exercise consisted of biking, treadmill running and weights, so not too bad. We just couldn't go swim. Actually we didn't leave our yard.

Any other exercise ideas in times of no power/storms? Any good or bad experiences with the storms?

Too Old to Wear? Ten rules to go by

Every runner/triathlete signs up for a race wondering what the official "free" race shirt will look like. We've all received shirts that go straight to the car or bike washing pile. Reasons for this include the color, the fit, a badly organized race you don't want to advertise, or you ran poorly.


I have another rule, if I pre-register for a race but don't run it, usually due to an injury, I won't wear the shirt. The same is true if I DNF. I just don't want all the questions about the race and then have to explain why I really didn't do it. I also don't get people who wear the race shirt during that race. That's just wrong to me. The shirt should be worn later, after completing the event. If it's a big race, like a marathon or long triathlon and you go out at night it's a badge of honor. Save the shirt for some bragging rights.

Eventually you reach into your shirt drawer and put on one of your favorite shirts. Of course today is a good day to wear this shirt, it still fits well, no stains, no embedded stink, so pull it over your head and be proud. Except then you look down and see the shirt is at least ten years old!

 

This shirt is from my 2005 Steamtown Marathon, a race where once again I failed to make the Boston qualifying standard by less than 5 minutes. A bad habit of mine. I found the shirt buried in my drawer a couple of weeks ago and began wearing it a bit. I like the sleeves, not short but not too long. But 2005? This shirt is 12 years old. I don't keep shirts for work longer than 2-3 years. 

There must be rules for tossing out race shirts, maybe ten of them? 

1.  Are there food or drink stains on the shirt that won't come out in the wash? Automatic rag pile. 

2. Did the shirt go through the wash, even with super power detergent, and keep a body odor smell?  Toss in the garbage. 

3. Are the colors too weird for the general public? I have a Marine Corps Marathon long sleeve shirt that is bright gold/yellow. A really nice thick material shirt, but it's kind of too flashy for wearing outside of the house. 

4. Did your significant other just say, "oh, you're wearing that shirt again?". Toss it. 

5. Does the design seem better for a younger generation person to wear? I did have, until recently, a tie-dyed shirt. I wore it a couple of times before realizing I'm 60, not 19, and the tie-dye look doesn't go well with me. 

6. I get it. You have an emotional attachment to the race, and the shirt keeps that memory alive. It was a hard race, or your longest or fastest or first time at that distance. Eventually it has to go though.

7. Everyone needs a pj top. Old race shirts are perfect for lazing around the house at night while watching tv or reading a book. But only until the dessert stains don't come out. Then garbage time!

8. Your significant other says, "Absolutely NO. You are  not wearing that thing out to dinner!" (much more vociferously than #4's passive-aggressive approach).

9. You have gained weight and the shirt no longer fits. Or you lost weight and it's baggy.

10. It's just old. Twelve years for my Steamtown shirt? Is that really relevant anymore? It may be time to let it go.

Locker Room Connoisseur

My gym locker at the college where I work is nice. It's large enough in width, depth and height to easily fit all of my work clothes and run or swim gear. The door closes easily and stays closed. My old-fashioned combo lock fits on nicely. The lockers are school colors, either all black or gold and the locker room is pretty clean. The ideal situation would be to a have a locker in the separate smaller faculty room adjacent to the student room I am in. I've asked many times if one is available, but it never is. I think someone has to die before a locker becomes free.

When I was changing for a lunch time run a couple of days ago I realized how much gym lockers have meant to my life. That sounds like a ridiculous statement but I think it's true.
In elementary-high school gym we had our own skinny lockers to change clothes before and after the class. We were forced to take showers, though I vaguely remember later in high school Mr. Beaney (one of my all-time favorite teachers) wasn't quite as strict about this "policy". When you think about it, having 40 minutes or so to change into gym clothes, do the class and then shower/change back to street clothes was ridiculous. I always walked out of gym still sweating. Some things never change.

When I played on the school tennis team we used the same locker as gym class since the courts were fairly close by. Tennis team lockers are usually clean. Back then you almost always wore a white uniform. There was just a racket (or two if you were fancy), maybe a heavier shirt for cold days. No dirt, little sweat, maybe a cool 1970's headband.

During football season we had a separate locker room just for the football teams in a ground floor space near the practice and game fields at the middle school. The lockers were fairly large since they had to fit shoulder pads, a helmet, cleats, a practice uniform, game uniform and other assorted pads. The football locker room was by far the smelliest of any I have ever been in. A gross mix of sweat, grass, mud, English Leather, Brut and Old Spice. I took some measure of pride in always having one of the stinkier lockers. Hey, if you are a marginal player you need something to have pride in! Eventually the coach would come around and tell us to take stuff home and get it washed. I'm not sure my mother totally enjoyed washing my football gear.

Fast forward ten plus years and I finally got a job at Kodak where I could run at lunch. I didn't have my own locker but could use the space to at least shower and change. Many years and a career change later I worked out at a local fitness facility- really I only used the treadmill in the winter. The locker room there was kind of small and I wouldn't even shower, just change my ultra-sweaty shirt, put on sweatpants and head home. When Jan began training for triathlons and forced me to really learn how to swim we often headed to SUNY Brockport for the pool. Their locker rooms were utilitarian, tough to find an open one, but good enough.

Now Jan and I swim at Roberts Wesleyan College. The teams must have their own modern space. Most of the lockers in my area near the pool are rusted, don't shut and are small. If I won the Powerball I might donate to the college with the stipulation they put in all new lockers and showers that do more than dribble. But the pool is nice and has lots of open hours for community members (with a fee) to swim, and the locker room doesn't smell.

Really it's amazing how many times I have been naked in public places over the past 50+ years. It still seems a bit strange to stand next to a locker and just strip everything off no matter who is nearby. Fitness facilities seem to be doing a good business nowadays, but I wonder if more people would stay members longer if locker space was designed for a bit more privacy?

Life Lessons from Grandfathers

A friend loaned me the book, "The Art of Brewing Beer", which I dutifully began reading Friday afternoon while waiting for my pick-up truck to be repaired. Years ago I used a Mr. Beer kit to make a few varieties of beer. It was fun, but not quite the same as using "real" brewing methods. Also, my wife began training for Ironman races, and my time to make beer became biking and swimming time.

But I digress. When reading the book I remembered stories my father told me about his father having a still and making moonshine in the basement of their home (last of 1930's-early 1940's). Dad and his brother would have to come home from school and help with the brewing. My Grandpa even sold bottles to the local sheriff, so there was no chance of him getting in trouble.

So, why couldn't my Grandpa McCullough have taught me that skill? I didn't know about his moonshine business until he had been dead for 20+ years. It just doesn't seem fair that this knowledge wasn't passed down to me. Now all I can do is drink store bought Bourbon or Southern Comfort after a workout.

I realized at that point both of my grandfathers had skills that I could have found useful to learn. My Grandpa Herman was an excellent swimmer. He would leave me in his boat anchored off the shore of Canandaigua Lake at 7-12 years old and dive in for a swim. I thought this was pretty cool as a kid, but looking back I realize he never took me in to swim. That would have come in handy years later when my wife began making me do triathlons.

Grandpa Herman also played football as a youth and adult. He even played center on a semi-pro team in Rochester (1930's?). I was consumed with football from elementary school-college. I was also skinny as a rail no matter what I ate or weights I lifted. Grandpa came to a couple of my high school games and afterwords told me I played well. I don't know if this was true but felt good coming from him. But why didn't he teach me more when I visited his home? Why didn't I ask him to?
Dumb ass (me).

Grandpa McCullough was good at mechanics. He spent the last twenty years or so of his working life as a tool and die maker. He owned his own small tool and die shop next to his house. As a kid I had absolutely no idea what this meant. I didn't know a wrench from needle-nose pliers. My father had little interest in mechanics and must have shared that gene with me. As a homeowner, bike rider and auto owner I could have used, and still could use, some mechanical skills. I have none. Grandpa should have taken a summer and used me as cheap labor. At the very least maybe I could do more than put air in my bicycle tires. Another opportunity lost for me.

Grandpa M was a farmer. He lived and worked on many farms. I have photographs of him with his huge horses plowing the fields. I remember him taking me around the small farm field by his house later in his life, but again, I was a stupid kid who just wanted to play sports, read and daydream.

Grandpa M of course had many farm animals throughout his life. I don't dislike animals, well, some I do, especially when they are chasing me when I'm running or biking, or fish who swim near me when I'm in a lake, those huge sunfish can be really scary. But why, why didn't I learn anything about farm animals? I could have my own chickens or sheep right now and get free eggs and cheese, homemade feta cheese. Mmmmm. Jan could be sewing clothes with our own sheep wool.

Every home owner can use building and masonry skills. That shop Grandpa M owned? Yes, my Uncles Bud and Tom and Grandpa built it. They fixed their own cars. Uncle Bud made a living as a mason and pool builder. Me, I sit at a desk. Maybe I should have worked summers building and cleaning pools with my Uncle and working on cars with Grandpa.

So, if you get the chance to pick up a few pointers on life from your "old" relatives, do it! Who knows where it will lead you or help it may provide in the future. 

Even Steven!

This is a year that I try to transform myself into a triathlete again. It's been a few years since I've really concentrated on the triathlon. Why should a person be mediocre at just one sport, like me in running, when he/she can embrace being inadequate in three?

Now that I recently joined a new age group, one made up of really old people (60), maybe I can actually compete in the triathlon? The odds are stacked against me. With a wetsuit on in a race I can finish maybe in the middle of my age group. On the bike I fall back. Then usually on the run, at least in a sprint distance tri, I can make up some ground. We won't discuss transition times yet, when people can eat a four-course meal quicker than I move from swim to bike and bike to run.

I keep thinking transitions are meant to rest. It's like doing intervals on the track, a rest period is necessary.

For the last few weeks my wife and I have been trying to swim, bike, run and lift weights within a seven day schedule. We want to get adjusted physically and mentally to more workouts and using muscles that may have not been used in a while. I think we have been doing pretty well but doubt can creep into my mind when thoughts of the 70.3 mile race we entered come to the forefront.

Last night, after a day of lifting weights at 5:30am, working all day, then an indoor bike ride of twenty miles, I checked my training log. The first nine days of February I ran 4x, biked 4x, swam 4x and lifted weights 4x. Even Steven. All by accident.

I need to run more though. The winter season is killing me. Getting off the bike and running is mentally killing me. For the rest of February my goal is to stay steady with the bike, swimming and weights and pick up the run distance/time/days.

Any readers have suggestions or similar issues?

Sports Business Venture - Alternative Facts

Now that it's appropriate to give information using "alternative facts" I've decided to change my blog to one that may stretch the truth regarding anything around sports. This should greatly increase readership and people re-posting my falsehoods, I mean "facts". In turn I can quit my day job and work from home writing bogus articles and collecting money.

I see this as a win-win. Readers get flamboyant headlines that will touch some raw emotion and stir them to share my articles and I get rich being a fake news writer. America truly is Great again!  How many readers bother to check and see if any articles are fact, semi-fact or all fiction?

To begin 2017 with a bang, here are the top ten sports news items you should know right now;

1. Jim Kelly is coming out of retirement to lead the Buffalo Bills at QB. 

2. Local Spencerport resident retires from factory after 40 years, trains an hour a day and wins the Lake Placid 70.3 mile race. Amazing for a 62 year old man. 

3. No performance enhancing drugs were involved in either one or two (sure)

4. Trump requires each MLB team to hire Russian coaches to be their strength trainers. No other coaches know as much about drugs as the Russians and they are his friends. 

5. The Buffalo Sabres get awarded the Stanley Cup. (awarded, they don't win it, that would be ridiculous. They just get to keep it for a night and dream). 

6. Derek Jeter is buying the NY Yankees. Yes, he will be back at shortstop, who wouldn't want to be a player-owner? 

7. Tom Brady will win the Super Bowl (again), punch NFL commissioner Goodell at the ceremony, tear the trophy open with his bear hands and drink champagne out of it. 

 

8.  Running with a dog is passe. People now run with their miniature horses. The horse can carry its' own poop bag, small shovel, water for itself and the owner, and is easily kept in any suburban fenced- in yard. Trail running will take over road 5k's as the most popular running event in the U.S.

9. I will have a side business hauling away manure from every runner who has a miniature horse. Renaming the manure to "Organically Grown Fertilizer: especially processed for gardens" will make this an easy sell. Jan (my wife) is sure to help me shovel poop! Cross-training at its' best.

10. My oldest daughter will create a dvd series of alternative exercise you can do with a miniature horse. They are sure to become bestsellers, since I will sell them on my million dollar making blog.