Getting Chicked

On Wednesday, I went running at big local park. As I was getting started, I saw a woman running like a gazelle closing fast. I let her pass, then made chase, and managed to hang with her a few miles, though it took some work. She was cranking along pretty good, and all I could do with her was 2.5 or 3 miles. She's one of the top runners in the area, though she's out of shape by her (very high) standards. (She wins big area races and often beats guys who win some of the smaller races.)

I've seen the term "getting chicked" used, usually by younger male runners, to describe being beaten in a race by a woman. Here in practice, I was handed my head. She kicked my butt, and deserved to, she works damned hard at her running. So, yep, I got chicked, and it's OK with me.

Answers to Some Questions

I've never done this before, but liked it when I've seen other blogs do it, so here are some responses to questions in the comment section. My recent Goals post prompted several questions, they're answered here.

An chat friend, Bruce, commented:
Howdy! WOW!! A sub 20 minute 5k is really FAST! What is your current 5k PR? Happy trails, Bruce

My response:
Bruce, my recent 5K PR is 19:32, set almost exactly 2 years ago. I've been dissatisfied of late with my racing and want to race harden myself a bit before my fall marathon. Whether 20:00 is a fast 5K may be up for some debate, but we can only measure according to our abilities. If my judgement is right, my 10:56 2-mile PR set in HS would equate to about a 17:20 5K, a time that looks pretty slow when you look at road race results in my area, even for masters runners.

Blaine Moore described his similar situation:
Now I do not feel silly for having similar goals. I want to run a 2:45 marathon and a sub-16:00 minute 5k in the same year. I'd also like a sub 33:00 minute 10k, but will settle for getting into the 34's again.

My response:
Blaine, I'm of the belief that training to run fast helps at any and all distances. Since I don't know where you are now, I can't make any judgement of how realistic your goals are, however, I will make this comment, Arthur Lydiard, the legendary coach, trained his half-milers much as he trained his marathoners, the volumes were similar, though the long runs weren't as important and the speed was more significant. Building your aerobic base will help on both sides of the equation. My base is at a level that should permit that sub-20 now.

My friend, Randy, wrote:
Where does the Boiler Maker fit into your plan? I thought you were running that as a goal race, too. Any chance I'll see you in Philly this fall?
Randy

My response:
Boilermaker will be treated as a training run, essentially a tempo run. My plan is to run Steamtown in early October (if the floods don't change that) and use Philly as a possible backup race.

The Plantar Fasciitis Saga

I mark my current case of plantar fasciitis from the Johnny Kelley Road Race that I attended as my birthday race in August 2004, so I’ve been dealing with it for almost two years. A few months back, I advocated doing heel drops as a stretch for it, but I’m now using a ball under foot as a means of massaging and stretching the tendons under the arches of my foot. I am using a lacrosse ball, but have used both tennis balls and baseballs for this purpose. I like the lacrosse ball because it’s hard and rolls easily. I’ve seen other people advocate golf balls, and they may be a better choice if you want to carry the ball, a lacrosse ball fills a pocket pretty well.

To use a ball for the stretch, place it on the floor and place your foot atop it, then roll the ball with your foot. If the area feels tender or tight, press downward a bit harder. After a few seconds, that area will begin to feel looser. Continue as needed or desired until the whole foot has been loosened up.

I’ve found that this technique is a bit slower than the heel drop, but it can be done seated almost anywhere (including under a table at a restaurant, at the library, etc.). It’s now become my favored stretch.

A Picture

Just for my own purposes.

Goals

A recent discussion reminded me of the importance of goals. Since Boston, I've been a bit aimless, so I decided to establish two short-term running goals:

Run a 5K in under 20 minutes.

Requalify for Boston this fall or winter.

While these two goals may seem very divergent, the first should be a very short term one, likely requiring only about 4 weeks of fast running to achieve, once that's done, prepping for a fall marathon becomes the primary goal. Thus, there is little conflict between the two.

Remember, a goal without a schedule is just a dream.

Off To Camp

Yesterday, we took our son to camp. It's his first time at sleep away camp and he seemed to be having some mixed feelings about it, he seemed a bit clingier in the couple of days prior, but was also excited to be going away on his own. He's not entirely on his own, as his cousin is in the same cabin with him. He's just gone for two weeks, and much of week 1 is to be rainy. We delivered him in a downpour. I was surprised at how young many of the counselors were, I suspect mostly in college, but some looked younger (maybe my age is showing).

Still Half-Blind

I'd mentioned before that my son had broken my glasses. Last week, I got ahold of my optometrist and on Friday of last week I got my new glasses ordered. I was told they'd be ready on Friday and that perhaps they'd be in on Thursday. Thursday came and went and I heard nothing. On Friday, I called in the afternoon and was told that they still hadn't arrived, but they'd likely show on Saturday. On Saturday afternoon, I called again, still no glasses, but they should be in on Monday. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this.

I'm stuck wearing either my contact lenses or my official early-1990's "Mr. Peeper's autograph model" glasses (which I don't like to wear out of the house...they'd been replaced after I'd needed to wire them together). I can't function without glasses - my better eye requires 4.0 diopters of correction and my worse eye 6.5. The result is that the old expression "couldn't hit the broad side of the barn" really applies for me...but in my case it's because I can't see the barn, at least without correction.

Dealing With Emergency Pit Stops

On Thursday morning, I found myself having to interrupt an already short run in order to make an emergency visit to the toilet. This rarely happens to me anymore, because I've learned to keep my food and drink intake very limited before my runs in order to keep my gastrocolic reflex from acting up. When participating in active sports, the activity stimulates peristalsis which increases the chance of needing to make one of these emergency stops.

Because I live in a town and it was nearby, I was able to stop in at the local YMCA to use the toilet. I've also been known to visit the porta-johns at area construction sites or the facilities at area parks and businesses. Those in the country have more difficulty with this, and if you have trouble with it, carrying some toilet paper sealed in a zipper-type sandwich bag can make an emergency visit to the woods much less unpleasant or risky.

Crunch Time For Paul Staso

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while are probably aware of the kids at Russell Elementary School in Missoula, MT. They made a virtual run across the United States. The payoff for them, aside from the health and educational value, was making their phys. ed. teacher's husband, Paul Staso run across the U.S.

Paul is slated to depart this week, and he still appears to need a lot of help with lodging. So, I'm going to try to make something happen to ease his path, and I hope you will help. For most of you, this just involves sending a few e-mails to people you know, especially those in proximity of Paul's route. (Note: using the concept of six degrees of separation, if we are smart about this, we will not limit ourselves to those in close proximity. There's a chance that someone you know will know somebody right along the route who would love the chance to offer lodging to Mr. Staso.) If any of you are near the route, then it would be great if you could step up and invite Mr. Staso into your home, and perhaps give him a meal or let him use your washer and dryer.

Mr. Staso's PACE Run website can be found here: http://www.pacerun.com/
The page listing his lodging is here: http://www.pacerun.com/route.htm (I'm unsure if the hotels/motels I'm seeing in the first couple of weeks have been donated or it they are being paid for out of the run's limited coffers, as a result, if you can offer a place to stay without charge, it may be appropriate to make the offer if a hotel is shown.)

I'm hopeful that those of us in the running and walking community (and others) can make Mr. Staso's path a bit easier. Would you please e-mail a few friends and acquantances and ask them to repeat the process until we have Mr. Staso's lodging fully taken care of. Thank you for your help.

If you wish to forward a link to this blog post in your e-mails, please copy this: http://scootersweightloss.blogspot.com/2006/06/crunch-time-for-paul-staso.html

Startled!

This morning, as I was taking my run, I was in a small park. I began to close on two women chatting ahead of me on the trail. I worked the math, carefully figuring when to make the shout of "coming behind," so I'd neither startle them excessively, nor cause them to step off the trail for a period longer than necessary to let me pass.

Ahhhh! went the shreik of one that shattered the peace of the park, they stepped to the sides of the path. I said, "That's what I was trying to avoid." The one who shreiked responded with an apparent mix of amusement, embarassment and annoyance, "It didn't work."

Later, I followed some trails into a less used part of the park. I crested a small rise and thought I saw a deer, lying in the brush to my right. As I focused, I realized that there were two deer, the one lying down and another one standing. I stopped, looked at them, spoke calmly to them, then began a slow jog along the path that mostly encircled them. They never moved except to turn their heads to watch me.

Treadmill Versus Outdoors

One issue that has shown up repeatedly on some of the sports related message boards is whether it's better to run or walk on a treadmill or outdoors. The related question is, "Which is easier?"

My stance is that outdoor activity beats indoors for several reasons, but it may not be appropriate for some people or for some people at some times. First, let me explain why I feel outdoor exercise is superior. On a treadmill, out feet are always striking a smooth and unvarying surface; this contrasts with some amount of inconsistency on all outdoor surfaces, with trails usually being the most inconsistent, followed by grass and with paved surfaces being the most consistent.

Why does this matter? Each time our foot lands on an inconsistent surface, our brain receives a lot of information, most significantly it finds out what parts of the foot are bearing most of our weight and then it tenses muscles in and around the ankle to keep us stable and upright. If the load overwhelms our ability to handle the unevenness, then we may turn an ankle or fall. This may make running (walking) on very uneven surfaces a poor choice for the elderly or otherwise infirm. For those of us who have spent a lot of time running on the treadmill, we will find the additional demands placed on our body to be very fatiguing. Because of this, people who are moving from treadmill to outdoor activity should do so gradually in order to learn to process this information effectively and to permit these stabilizing muscles to condition themselves to the loads applied.

Most people find running with the unchanging scenery of a treadmill to be very boring, so they will usually find outdoor running to be more satisfying. Outdoor running, however, takes a degree of judgement - in some areas or at some times, running or walking outdoors may put you at risk of attack, being struck by a vehicle, injury due to weather, or of injuring yourself due to the inability to see or handle obstacles.

So, outdoor activity is best, but use some judgement in when, where and how you do it.

Loser!

On Saturday afternoon, my son had a birthday party to attend after we'd done the Father's Day weekend visit to her folks. We'd left a bit late, so, the logical way to get me home was to drop me close the the highway and have me walk from there. I ducked into the Barnes and Noble to use the toilet, then began the walk home. I'd picked up a book as well, so was carrying a small bag. Near the town line, there's an overpass over some railroad tracks. As I walked across it, from one of the passing cars, I heard the yell, "Loser!"

Yep, if I am a loser, then I need you, a teenager, riding in a friend's car to point this out to me. And, if I'm not, then your yell will doubtless change my life. I'll collapse in a miasma of despair and become a loser, all thanks to your well placed yell. Yep, that's a good way to spend your time and energy.

Oh, and one other thing. On this same overpass, there was a small berry tree, and I ate a few. My first reaction was that they were black raspberries, but the plant wasn't right, so I'm now learning toward black mulberries, and this image convinces me that that's what I was eating. They were quite good, and there were lots of them. These weren't on a person's property, so I felt OK in taking them. I've since noticed many others on my runs, and I'm starting to wonder if I should make some jelly from scavenged fruit.

Hardest Workout

On Wednesday night, we faced a battle with the lightning alarms. They had gone off shortly before practice, but since the weather seemed OK, we waited to see if the alarm would clear. By the time it did, we were left with a core of 10 kids. We often play a game which we refer to as "The Chase Game," and taht was on the agenda for the night. This was our last regular workout prior to our intrasquad meet and ice cream party on Friday which would finish off our season.

To play the chase game, we set up a square with cones and station two teams of kids at opposite corners. The teams start running at the same time and in the same direction. The idea is to catch your opponent's runner. I'd wanted to try the chase game with a group of 8, as I felt the 20 or so that we usually had playing gave too much rest to the kids. Here was the chance I'd wanted. We also had a problem with runners taking off before the tag. As we were about to begin, an idea struck me, the kids always seem to like using the baton in relays, why not use the baton to avoid the cheating problem. It worked like a charm. The kids ran themselves virtually to exhaustion and learned to make good baton passes, too! It was probably the hardest workout of the season. While the benefits were not going to be meaningful this year, we learned an improved version of the game that will benefit our kids next year.

Does Trans-Fat = Hydrogenated Oil?

My recent "Hard Fats" post caused Randy to ask about whether trans fats are the same as hydrogenated fats. The answer is no, but for all practical purposes, we could consider the answer to be yes.

In checking this, I went to the US Food and Drug Administration's "Revealing Trans Fats" web page. On this page, it says, "A small amount of trans fat is found naturally, primarily in dairy products, some meat, and other animal-based foods." So, there is some naturally occurring trans fat. (And, if I remember correctly from my college chemistry, trans is a prefix used to designate a family of items on a molecular basis.) The result is that while our bodies can process trans fat, when we start to add it to our foods (take in more than the naturally occurring amounts), we quickly overwhelm our body's ability to process it. This is why hydrogenated oil is so unhealthy.

So, while trans fats is a larger grouping that includes some naturally occurring fats, we can in general consider trans fats to be the same as hydrogenated fats. In general, we'd all be wise to look beyond the big claims on the label (As in the calorie wars, some manufacturers mislead you by claiming "0 grams of trans-fat per serving", and simply use small serving sizes.) and read the ingredient panel. If it includes hydrogenated oils, put it back and buy the brand without them.

Some Pre-Run Eating Basics

A recent incident reminded me that what you eat and when you eat it can have a big impact on the quality of your runs. Also, you want to be well hydrated before your run, but if you're a morning runner, you don't want to overdo it or the gastrocolic reflex (see this post) will force you to visit the toilet while you're on your run.

This post focuses on pre-run eating. In general, there are few sensations more disconcerting for a runner than that burning and churning as you're trying to crank out a hard interval and your last meal is rebelling. I find these guidelines to be helpful:
• Fatty Foods - at least 4 hours prior
• Spicy Foods - at least 4 hours prior
• Most other foods - 1½ - 2 hours prior

In the final 90 minutes before a run, limit your intake to very small amounts of fruit, or high-carb snacks. Beverages are usually fine, but I find that too much salt can cause me trouble. I understand that some others have the same problem with sugar. If you have these problems, be sure to drink copiously to keep their concentration in your stomach low.

Hard Fats

When making foods for the public, certain fats tend to be more stable and offer better mouth feel in some products, often the desired fats are "hard" fats. By that, I mean those that are solid at room temperature. Hard fats can be synthesized from liquid oils by adding hydrogen as you cook the oil. The problem with this is that our bodies can't readily process these hydrogenated oils, so they tend to build up in our bodies. Recently the government has required the disclosure of hydrogenated oils on the nutrition data labels. This is a positive step. We should all insist on natural oils or fats in our food. Simply put, DON'T BUY FOODS CONTAINING HYDROGENATED OIL!

There are natural fats that will do the required things that the food chemists need, though they may be a bit more expensive and may result in a shorter shelf life. Can you live with crackers that will last 90 days well after opening (rather than a year)? If so, then oils like coconut oil (much maligned in the 1980's) or lard (another "bad" food that probably isn't as bad as it was described) can likely be used. Also, plastics and nitrogen packing can keep virtually all food breakdown from starting until the package is opened.

I had intended to make this post for a while, but an amusing ad for lard was posted by G.R. Hamm on his Twice The Man blog, please check it out here.

Two Track Meets and a Road Race

I began my weekend on a bike supporting an area road race. It was a five mile race, some of the race coverage can be found here: Race Results and Mike Kerwick's Personal Story. After this race, I grabbed my son from my parents, spent a little time with by sister and brother-in-law, and went to a local sub shop for lunch, then headed over to a serious regional track meet which my club runs. Blustery winds made conditions tough, and the $1000 bonuses for a sub-4:00 mile (men) of sub-4:30 (women) were not awarded. The men's field saw a big group of athletes go well under 4:10 (I think several slid in uder the 4:05 mark) and on the women's side, local favorite Erin Donahue beat an Ethiopian woman who had been in the area to race last week at the Reebok meet in NYC. I think they broke 3:40. We finally arrived home at about 10:00 PM.

Sunday began with me unloading the bike from the car, then repacking the coolers, and heading off on an hour-and-a-half trip to the Junior Olympic meet. My son was to run the 1500 and 800. Unfortunately, departure delays combined with getting lost at the end of the trip resulting in our walking into the meet as his 1500 was going on, so he missed it. Perhaps being fresher meant that his 800 would be better. He had qualified by running a 3:42 (he's 7) and trying to get out a bit quicker resulted in his setting a big PR, by running a 3:18.56. Both races were won by the same kid, who lives only about 20 minutes away. He ran a 5:42 1500m and a 2:51 800m. I met both his parents, they don't seem to be the overbearing stage parent types. He seems like a nice young kid who his mom says just "loves to run." He's just a few months older than my son, and can easily see them duking it out come high school track.

It's nice to see the kids coming up through these kinds of programs. I will say that some of the parents shouting onto the track are sometimes a little scary. Mostly the kids get it. I didn't see any trash-talking, but did see lots of work going on with skills, relay teams practicing passing the stick, young kids practicing their start positions (and having their friends critically appraise them).

We Wuz Robbed!

The last couple of nights, Matthew and I have been watching our beloved Red Sox getting beaten by the d$#&@d Yankees. Last night, after a brilliant performance by a young pitcher named Pauley, the Sox were trailing 2-1. Manny Ramirez then hit a home run, well it would have been a home run EXCEPT that Melky Cabrera made a beautiful leaping catch to take it away. It was a beautiful catch, and Cabrera deserves to be congratulated, but since it took away the chance of the Sox to win the game, I have mixed feeling about it.

Ping!

Last night, my son was playing around, swatting me with his shirt. He hit me in the face and I heard a ping sound. Suddenly, I was blind in one eye! The left lens of my glasses had fallen out of the frames and the frame had actually broken.

When my son saw what he had done, he burst into tears. He was afraid I'd be mad. What I needed to explain to him was that the glasses really were overdue for replacement. I showed him that the tip of one of the earpieces was broken off and that while I'd have been OK with nursing the glasses along for a while more, it wasn't that big a deal.

He seemed OK with that explanation, and actually laughed when I told him that the lens had dropped into my shirt pocket.

Oh, we got a letter from the school system today. He's been put into special education classes. For those of you who read regularly, you understand that this is a good thing. If you don't read this blog regularly, see this post.

D-Day

June 6, 1944 - The allied forces made a landing on the coast of Normandy, France in order to begin to retake western Europe from the Nazis. A great many men died or were wounded on the beaches that day. I'd encourage all of you to take a moment to remember their sacrifices.

For those of you who want to find out a bit more about it, the following are some suggested books:
Cornelius Ryan's epic The Longest Day is probably the best known book on D-Day. It was made into a movie of the same name.
Alex Kershaw's The Bedford Boys: One American Town's Ultimate D-Day Sacrifice is one excellent book that I recently "read" as a book on CD. While it's a bit more narrowly focused, it provides some graphic accounts of what being on the beach was like.
Stephen Ambrose has several books on WWII that are also excellent, including D Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II and Citizen Soldiers: The U S Army From The Normandy Beaches to the Bulge to the Surrender of Germany

Get Out The Old Silver Goblet

Get out the old silver goblet
with Lehigh upon it
and we'll open up another keg of beer.

MORE BEER!

For we all came to college,
but we didn't come for knowledge,
So we'll raise hell while we're here.
- Lehigh fight song

For me, my reunion began (after check-in) with cocktails and dinner on Friday evening under tents by the Rauch Field House. The setting would have been lovely, save for the fact that a Friday storm had dumped several inches of rain onto the area. The result was that water had flowed to low lying areas under the tents and those us us attending wound up working areas of the ground into mire. Women were losing shoes, and many women chose to remove them and get the mud between their toes. It was one of those situations where you could either laugh or cry. I wasn't going to let some mud bother me.


Barb & Bob Daley with Stu Van Winkle (Jack McKeown in background)

We were to be seated by class, and when I walked in, I was the fourth member of the class of 1981 to arrive. So, I greeted the three people seated at the one occupied table. I can't recall who the others were, but seated in the middle was Aurora (de la Cruz) (someone please help me with her married name). A few minutes later, another couple walked over, and I introduced myself. It was Bob and Barb Daley, who had come in from Cleveland. I want to publicly thank them, as they were very gracious about keeping up conversation while I was feeling a bit like a fish out of water. At one point, while getting a beer, I got a greeting from a woman, it was Terry Pagan ('86), who I knew as a TEP little sister, who was up with her husband Mike ('85), a Psi U brother. We had the chance to chat a bit, they had their kids there, and I met them. During dinner, I sat with the Daleys and Jack McKeown; his wife, Brenna; her mom, Jackie, and their kids, who were "in and out." As the evening wound down, I headed back over the mountain to Taylor, where I was staying.

Saturday began for me with the 5K fun run in Saucon Valley. As I drove over, I was a deer in the fog up near the intramural fields at the top of the mountain. I took that to be a good omen. At the run, I managed to place second, but was absolutely crushed by Jonathan Fitton ('91), a Major in the Air Force. In talking to him, he told me that he'd won this race five years ago and was fearful about his ability to defend his title. Trust me, I was no threat. Fitton clocked something in the high 19 minute range. I was five minutes back. I'd gone out fast, trying to hang with him, but a couple of miles in, with nobody on my tail and the discomfort ratcheting up, I decided to walk a bit (I really wish there'd been some competition, it would have been fun to be really racing.) I loved running on the grass, something I rarely get to do at home, and aside from a bit of foot dampening at about 2.5 miles, conditions were excellent.

After showering and getting dressed, I joined the tour of Linderman Library. They are doing major renovations there. I'll make a post soon with some photos of the library and the work being done.

I then attended the Class of '81 lunch under a tent in front of Taylor. It was here that I started seeing significant numbers of familiar faces. Following the luncheon, we headed to the steps of Grace Hall for the class photo and the parade. For the parade, we were decked out in black tee-shirts with silver printing. (I'll add photos of the shirt.) Our theme was "the old silver goblet", which we sang for the judges. We were each equipped with a genuine plastic silver goblet. We did have the only "float" in the parade. It was Anne Kline's husband's old BMW motorcycle with sidecar and riding along with it on the triler was a keg of beer. I don't think that the "float" had much impact on the judges, but I think it was a hit with the class (and many others who helped themselves to some beer). In fact, the fact that many of the goblets were partially full probably hurt our presentation, as were weren't going to thrust our goblets into the air as we shouted the "more beer" line. I doubt the ensuing beer shower would have been well received.

More Beer!
Jerry Sova and Mark and Peggi Taylor (do I have the last name right?)

The class of '56 swept most of the major awards at the reunion. Anne Kline gave me a very amusing recap of the seriousness with which the '56's approached reunion. Clearly, their efforts paid off.

There were six residents of Warren Square at the reunion. I made it a point to get their pictures. (I'd been hoping for a group picture, but we just couldn't get together, so I got them individually.) Here's the mug book:
Anastasia Yeulys Fassuliotis with her husband, George
Tom Wiese lifts a glass of wine
Murray Wilmerding and Barb Engel (need her married name)
Karen Miller Hencken
Tammy Minnick had come in from Switzerland
Rich Titus and me, Wayne Baker

I had a nice time reminiscing with several of the other Warren Square residents about life in those little off-campus dorms and the people we shared our lives with as we embarked on our collegiate careers.

Sue Royer and Rich Mahalko

Most of these pictures were taken at the Class of '81 dinner. One of the more colorful events of the evening was when Fran Sturiale Bartlett sang while being accompanied on the piano by Ricky Coppolla(sp?). I'll just say that in a vocal competition with William Hung, of American Idol fame, it would be close, but I'd rather look at Fran. The saddest point of the evening came when Anne Kline read the list (fortunately, still relatively short) of our classmates who'd passed away. For those of us who'd lived in Warren Square, this was particularly poignant, having three people on that list, Lili Archer, Scott Christ, and Dee Dee Foley.

Tim Kemper and Fran Sturiale Bartlett
Eric Boehm, Aurora (De La Cruz) (Need Married Name), and Anne Kline
Following the dinner, we headed up to Taylor to continue our festivities under the tent. After a good night's sleep, many of us attended a brunch under the tent, said our good-byes and departed for home.

If anyone has any stories they'd like to share, please use the comments section. If you have photos you'd like to share, please e-mail them to me: wayne(dot)f(dot)baker(at)gmail(dot)com [Please make the necessary changes subbing the "." for (dot) and "@" for (at)]. I'd prefer to get them at fairly low resolution - the photos posted here had been reduced to 500 pixels in the long dimension, making them a fairly compact 30Kish. If you can't do that, then send them as they are. Finally, if you want to write something to share, I'll gladly post it. (If you have your own blog and have already made a post, please let me know the permalink and I'll link to it from here.) Lastly, if I've made errors or if you can provide a missing name, etc., please share it, if possible, dedicate the comment ONLY to corrections, as I'd like to delete these when completed.)

College Reunion

I spent the weekend at my 25th college reunion. I feel obligated to disclose that while I entered college with the class of 1981, due to a change of majors and a semester off, I graduated with the class of 1982. My college (Lehigh University) permits you to choose what your class affiliation is, and since many of my college friends were made in the first year, I chose to keep my affiliation with the people I entered college with.

I had a very good time and would encourage those of you who have a milestone reunion coming up to seriously consider attending. The value of these events comes from the mass of people being there, if few people attend, the experience for all is diminished.

I will be making a few posts related to the reunion, so that's your heads up regarding it.

New York Is Where I'd Rather Stay!

I have another commitment, otherwise I'd be at the Reebok Grand Prix Track Meet at Icahn Stadium in New York on Saturday. There is a good preview of it on the IAAF's website. If you are in the New York area and a fan of running, you should be there.