June Reading Update

End of another month. Only got in three books this time:

1. Early Autumn by Louis Bromfield. Good story set in New England about an old established family (a self important, self proclaimed American aristocracy) and the invasion of the Irish. Ended rather unhappily really.

2. Science and Thought in the Fifteenth Century by Lynn Thorndike. Read like a doctoral dissertation to show how well the author can research. But the thread was bare. It's not a good sign when you have to read the author's introduction after reading the book to find out why she wrote the thing in the first place. Tough one.

3. The Black Dwarf by Sir Walter Scott. Good Scottish romance with all the requisite characters - dashing hero, beautiful maiden, misshapen misanthropist, evil relatives, and secretive confidantes. Always enjoyable.

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45 minute recovery run today in dense fog. Felt good.

Beating the rain

An early 60 minutes at a slow jog under threatening skies was today's outing. As soon as I got inside it poured. That was lucky.

~6.5 miles recovery

Quality progression

My two hour run today went well with a steady progression.

First five miles ~ 8:33 pace
Next two ~ 8:23 pace
Next four ~ 7:12 pace
Final four ~ 6:49 pace

A half mile to make it an even 120 minutes and I was done. Felt good. Glad to have the temperature back down near 50 degrees with a slight sea breeze to keep me cool.

I'm enjoying this summer weather because the the memory of winter hasn't left me yet.

Let the run play out

Yesterday I thought I might do some pick-ups during my run. They would be of varying length and unstructured. But after a three mile easy jog the plan changed as I felt the legs were not entirely recovered from Tuesday's faster pace. I'm trying to behave myself and not do workouts that accumulate stress on the body where I end of missing (or jogging) another marathon.

So I ran how I felt which was slower than Tuesday's run but I was pleased to have the pace quicken near the end. It's funny how the legs just take over and fall into the pace that is best if you just let it happen.

~11 miles. Felt good. Nice weather.

And happy birthday to Chesty Puller - the most decorated Marine in history.

"All right, they're on our left, they're on our right, they're in front of us, they're behind us...they can't get away this time." - Chesty Puller

Good News

Another Eastport runner has a blog! Visit and say hello to my friend Eric. Eric is a valuable resource when it's time to do speedwork and hills. Strongest guy I know.

60 easy minutes today. ~6.8 miles in bright sunshine. 10 degrees warmer this morning.

First she kicks down the door and then she hotwires the car

My gentle ten year old daughter was sitting quietly on the couch last night devouring yet another book. So in passing I asked her what she was reading.

"What're you reading?"

"A manual, Dad."

"A manual?"

"Yes, it's a survival guide. I just learned how to kick down a door and now I'm learning how to hotwire the car."

Sometimes you're better off not knowing.

Quality run today. 90 minutes. First mile in 9:38 eventually getting down to 3 miles or so sub 7 then a couple of miles closer to 8 to ease off. 11+ miles total.

Yesterday I ran 45 minutes recovery at a crawl. 4+ miles.

Chew Bee or Not Chew Bee?

17 miles
17 bad jokes
Marc you missed it.

The title track is a question for Mike. Only he can explain.

Let's see. Today an easy 2.5 hours around the Boyden Sea*.

Highlights:

Three electrocution photo suggestions for Mike's blog, two moose, and one long story about Canadian check fraud involving a sailboat, Canadian residency law, and a French felon. (Sometimes I wonder if he's listening.)

* Boyden Lake had an identity crisis at mile 15. It had produced its own fog in imitation of the ocean two miles to the east.

What else? Well, there was the slug who slimed my piece of bread but I ate it anyway. Oh, and a long dissertation from Mike about the evils of Leporids. With a keen sense of the calendar, these hungry hoppers know just when to attack in order to disrupt the annual St. Andrews-by-the-Sea garden fete. Here's a photo of some recent garden damage in St. Andrews:



Can the show go on? Can the blue ribbon be won?

Fight on Michael!


Nemesis


Michael

Coffee and Muffins

Today's 60 minutes turned into 67 minutes due to a very good reason.

A local bank was celebrating their anniversary this morning with free coffee and muffins on their front lawn. So naturally I stopped.

Easy 60 minutes

Nice and easy today to recover from yesterday's progression run. Met up with Eric for a mile or so and just did a nice tour of the town for an hour. Beautiful day.

Reparation

Another beautiful morning to repay the winter we had.

12 miles @ 7:33 pace.

Don't play with puffins

I got up early this morning and decided to check the internet to learn about Puffins. Someone wished me ill will when I innocently extolled the virtues of living in a temperate part of the state. In my sleepy state I was shocked to read that my early morning run was rife with danger:

Puffin describes any of three auk species (or alcids) in the bird genus Fratdracula (Latin: goodbye little brother — probably a reference to their black and white plumage, which resembles monastic robes seen at funerals) with a brightly colored beak in the feeding season. These are homicidal seabirds that feed primarily by diving on their victim. They feed in large colonies in coastal towns or offshore islands, nesting in crevices among rocks or in burrows in the soil waiting to spring into the air and swarm the unsuspecting.

All three puffin species have large bills. They shed the soft outer parts of their victims after the knocking them to the ground. Their short wings are adapted for beating a lone person on the head causing disorientation - a flying technique uniquely suited to their size. In the air, they beat their wings rapidly (up to 100 times per minute) in swift flight, often flying low looking for people.

The male Atlantic Puffin builds the nest and exhibits strong violent tendencies. Both sexes of the Horned Puffin help to devour their victim. The burrows of the Atlantic and Horned Puffin are usually about 1 metre (3 feet) deep, ending in a chamber where one can find bones and jewelry. The Atlantic Puffin burrow is usually lined with material such as scraps of clothing, hair and eyeglasses. The eggs of the Atlantic Puffin are creamy white but can be occasionally tinged in lilac depending one what their victims ate last.

Like many auks, puffins eat both adults and children, and feed their chicks primarily with small chucks of human tissue several times a day. The puffins are distinct in their ability to hold several (sometimes over a dozen) small fingers at a time, crosswise in their bill, rather than regurgitating. This allows them to take longer hunting trips, since they can come back with more energy for their chick than a bird that can only carry one finger at a time.

45 minute recovery run. Beautiful morning but I won't mention it.

Fog with slight drizzle

While the rest of New England bakes, Eastport remains a paradise of fog and cool mist courtesy of the frigid salt water surrounding the city.

I'm still wearing long sleeve shirts.

10 miles @ 8:20 pace. Felt good.

Sugar, Ah Honey Honey

Some friendly bees dropped off a jar of raw honey last night and didn't that hit the spot this morning after a nice 7 mile run.

Now the Archies will be with me all day.

Back into the Sunday routine

A great run today with Mike and Ozzie. The weather was absolutely perfect. Poor Mike though, Ozzie and I got into a multi-mile conversation on ham radio (we're both amateur radio operators - as is Marc who missed a great outing) and Mike had to listen to us go on and on about antennas, transmission cables, and standing wave ratios.

17 miles @ 8:47 pace.

Sometimes we forget the r and r

Dinner theater at my house tonight as my 7 year old daughter decided to entertain me with a puppet show as I enjoyed my ice cream. The Program:

Two People Who Were Not Fiends Become Fiends

Cast:

Queen - Miss Hearts
Policeman - Himself
Lizard - Sparkles
Rabbit - Snow
Bulldog - Spike

The title set the tone and I roared with laughter from start to finish. One hilarious scene was in Act 1 when the Queen goofed her line and unaccountably smacked the puppet master in the side of the head knocking herself over. (I later found out that this was not part of the play. Margaret had forgotten there was a plastic puppet attached to her hand when she slapped her head. Still, it was pretty funny.)

But I'm glad to report, in spite of the title, the play ended happily.

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No run for me today since I was up and out early to drive my Dad to Bangor.

Sluggish

Felt kind of tired out there today for my 45 minute easy jog. But the weather was nice. In fact, I was slightly overdressed when I chose to wear an outer shell over my long sleeve shirt. Come to think of it, that's probably why I was sluggish.

Recovery continues (still)

Getting sufficient sleep but only running 45 minutes. Waiting patiently...

Start / Stop

Today was 'start'. 45 minutes along the ocean this morning. The tide was out and the seaweed in. Felt really good.