Millrose Games

I spent last night at Millrose. My favorite race was the college 4x800. The reason was somewhat personal - don't get me wrong, the race was great, but it was only one of several excellent races. In this race, it took a little while to sort out, but around the midpoint, it looked like it was going to be a two-team race, University of Virginia and New York AC (yes, the organizers played a bit "fast and loose" with qualifications, but I think it proved justified). As the anchors took the batons, it had tightened up, with four teams within about 10 yards of each other. Then, the runner from UVa exploded - he just ran away from the field. The announcer commented that this runner was Robby Andrews, winner of last year's high school mile. Robby just blew away the field. It was really impressive, and it's clear that Robbie is going to be a star (it might be argued that he already is), at least if he stays healthy.
The man sitting in front of me was cheering frantically for Bergen Catholic in the Suburban 4 x 400 (I think) and in one of the turns, Bergen's runner went down and disappeared. He'd gotten tangled up or jostled, and went down, that's a part of the close quarters that indoor racing entails. It's sad when that happens, but sometimes it does.
Oh, and Bernard Lagat won his record-setting eighth Wanamaker Mile, surpassing the record he held jointly with Eamonn Coghlan. Lagat ran away from the field in the "premier" event of the meet. It was unquestionably the glamour event, but the women's mile was probably even more stacked with talent (Sara Hall, Sally Kipyego, Hannah England (who won), etc.), and the was lots of superb racing coming from unknowns and lesser knowns.
Aonther fine race came from the high school girls, with Emily Lipari of Roslyn, NY dueling Cory McGee of Pass Christian, MS. Before the race, I'd told my son to watch Lipari and McGee. I didn't realize that McGee had taken second each of the last 3 years, but she looked bigger and stronger than most in the field (my actual term was "looks like a horse" - and that wasn't an insult), and when it was announced that she'd been brought up from MS, it was clear she wasn't "field filler." The two of them set the race, but Lipari, who I believe is stronger as races get longer, faded late.
A good, intelligent recap of the meet can be found here. Another good recap is here.

A Fun Conversation

Last Friday, I got called to substitute teach. While having lunch in the teacher's lounge, a librarian struck up some conversation with me. I mentioned that I'm a bit of an authority on 1908 Olympic Gold Medalist Johnny Hayes. I mentioned my favorite "librarian fact," that Melvil Dewey, the Dewey Decimal System guy, was a big proponent of the simplified spelling movement of that era. So, while Dewey was born as Melville Dewey, he wanted to be Melvil Dui, but because the government felt surname changes would cause problems with public records, he died as melvil Dewey. Theodore Roosevelt was also a proponent of simplified spelling.
She left interested in this unusual characteristic of the American most associated with library science. BTW - I asked her about the difference between Dewey Decimal and the Library of Congress cataloging system.

Mention of how he liked to spell his name here. And here. There's a pretty extensive history of spelling reform here.

Finally!

Hey, I've got no real excuses. Today, I FINALLY got out for some aerobic exercise. It was a calm, cool morning, right around freezing when I started my hour-long walk. I covered just about 4 miles. Not a great deal, but if I'm consistent, my aerobic capacity should rise fairly quickly. The grass was all frosted when I started, but the sun had melted most of it off by ending time.

I have still not purchased a scale, but did but a calendar to serve as my training diary. I am also trying to do calesthenics to build some added muscular strength (and add to my daily calorie burn).

Actual running will begin soon.

Best Shape of My Life

My last post drew two responses, the first said, in essence, choose to get into the best shape of your life this year, and the second agreed with the concept. My response is "Impossible!" Why? As recently as the spring of 2005, I was running roughly 50 miles per week, and getting a 50 year-old body to that level from a state of poor conditioning takes much longer than a year, even if issues like the need to earn income, care for my son several days a week, and continue my education were not factors.
So, I still stand by my original premise of "getting into reasonable shape" this year. Now, it's time for a few mea culpas. I did not yet get the training log. I did not begin a formal training plan this week. While I have done a few basic and very limited exercises, they lacked the structure and volume to cause soreness, a sign that muscles were overloaded. So, forgive me dear readers, I have sinned by failing to make progress on my resolution during week 1 of 2010. I promise that week 2 will be better.
Still, how will I quantify my progress? I will establish a single goal, to be able to run 5 kilometers at will by the beginning of summer. I will also draw the beginning of summer to be the traditional start of the summer season here in NJ, Memorial Day. If any readers are outside the USA, that's the last Monday in May. As a secondary goal, I want to lose weight, but am currently unable to quantify that, as I don't own, nor have access to a scale. I will purchase on in the next couple of weeks.

Given $&:+

Shortly after noon today, I headed over to the race in town...I'd forgotten that it was going on. That wasn't the crime, though. One runner I know got on me hard about my lack of conditioning. I need to get a fitness log going and work to keep there from being many empty days. I will get into reasonable shape this year.