Step 1

I have a tentative outline in my head for the next year, as it relates to running. It’s hard to visualize running at the moment. My tendon and the nearby vicinity do not feel right. While the knot in the tendon (which led to the surgery) is mostly gone, the entire tendon seems thicker now. [...]

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Achilles Last Stand. Again.

The title refers to the epic Led Zeppelin song off the album Presence. It’s not the first time I’ve used it. I’m actually a little surprised that it’s only the second time. Anyway, sometime toward the end of June in 2006, my lingering achilles tendon problems became debilitating. I took some time off and fought [...]

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Hypothetically

Stephen has the 5K at US Nationals in Eugene, OR tomorrow night. Looks like they won’t be televising it until 11 PM on the East Coast, so no one will see it. There are two things that could happen. First, Bernard Lagat is the prohibitive favorite. In national championship races, particularly ones where one runner [...]

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7 Down, 10 or so to Go

Little Stevie Furst just his 13:29.05 for 5K, collecting some good scalps in the process. He was sitting in last with 5 laps to go too – not exactly sure how he pulled that out, but a 7 second PR…Good way to start a season.

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Persistently Deluded

Yesterday was the sort of day I used to love running in. It was 55 degrees and raining – not just misting: a drenching, soaking sort of rain. I haven’t been running much, maybe twice a week – things have not been good, I’ve been thinking about surgery more and more – but I wanted [...]

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Big Day Tomorrow

I’m back, once again, from Connecticut. Just in time to try to find Stephen’s race online tomorrow morning, live from Scotland. The Times Herald Record did a surprise article about it here. Pretty decent stuff. Addendum The boy ran pretty well. He’s in the team race here. Here’s a breakdown with an interview.

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New Year

Little Stevie Furst picked up what might be the biggest win of his young career, the Emerald Nuts Midnight Run in Central Park last night. He definitely wasn’t favored; Bobby Curtis and Sean Quigley were the smart bets going in, but Steve sounded confident and aggressive when we talked about the race a few days [...]

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118 on “Honest Format”

Steve just did his highest “honest format” week this last week. To him, that means only one long run and one recovery day. How do you get to 118 miles a week? 11/7, 10/7, 15/5, 12/7, 11/7, 19, 7 With the 10 mile as an intense hill fartlek, 8×100 on Monday and Friday, 6 x [...]

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Globe Trotting

I do have things to post about. For instance, in the span of a week, I got a Kindle for my birthday, an internet radio (Grace WiFi w/ iPod dock) and we got an iPod Touch for Jen’s rotations. Our technological footprint just took a giant step forward. Next is a phone for me that [...]

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Just Like On TV

I had a strange thought walking into work this morning. Let’s be honest, it was more of a hobble. My left achilles is not doing well. I have a searing pain inside of it when I stretch. I feel it when I walk, it makes me short step. Needless to say, this is not good [...]

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Payton Jordan

There is a comically awful announcer for the Payton Jordan Invite, and hippies from Stanford are banging pots and pans to provide music for the event…I think it’s time for a live blog of the festivities. All times are in Eastern Time. By the way, Steve’s in the seeded men’s 5K. I think the race [...]

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Hot Dog

Today was hot dog day at work. You get a ticket, stand in line for a half an hour and get a hot dog with lots of fixins from the VPs, all in commemoration of the start of baseball season. It’s also a Tuesday. For the last several weeks now, Tuesdays are speed days. So [...]

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Opener

Little Stevie Furst opened the season at a cold, windy and rainy Raleigh Relays last night, winning against some good competition in 13:47. Definitely an encouraging start to the season. You can see an interview here.

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Yesterday’s Weather

Often, I’ll run in the dead of winter with shorts and a t-shirt. Why? Because it’s 55 degrees sometimes in the dead of winter. Everyone else is in parkas. Today, I ran outside in a long sleeve and gloves. Why? Because it was 47 degrees and windy. I ran by four people in t-shirts. I [...]

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US XC Nats

It’s worth mentioning…Little Stevie Furst, shown here stalking American record holder in the 5000m Dathan Ritzenheim, just placed a respectable 9th at US Nationals for Cross Country in Spokane, WA. He was aggressive, sitting 4th for the first few miles, right behind some huge names and in front of some others. Bobby Mack, known for [...]

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Meb!

Horse chart.

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Thus Quothe The Raven

A few things: 1) Tomorrow Jen and I travel to Washington/Oregon. We’ll be staying with her family for a few days, doing the Seattle tourist thing, Ranier, St Helens, then heading to Oregon for a few things and a drive up the coast etc etc. I hope sleep is involved, I’m beat. 2) Steve’s 5K [...]

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Tri As I May

In the category of “lowered expectations”, I sort of raced this morning. Here’s the story. Two years ago, after the first achilles sabbatical, I was doing well, responding to the iontophoresis and PT. My boss asked me to run a competitive triathlon relay with him. I agreed, despite the fact that I knew I wouldn’t [...]

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Big Man On Campus

Steve just ran 13:36.42 for 5th in the 2nd heat, a fantastic showing. He did it by sticking, sticking, sticking and sticking some more, just perfect. Better still, by my count, he was the 10th fastest American at the meet, overall. It is rare for Americans to run fast times, and meets like this are [...]

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14 Minutes

Or more precisely, something like 13:35. Young Stevie Furst takes his flying circus to Stanford University this weekend for the prestigious Payton Jordan Invitational, where he will run in the 5K with 25 of the best folk in the country/world. The meet is so competitive that Steve, despite being in fantastic shape, is not in [...]

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Penn

I’m on my way to bed, as I need to fight off the swine flu. But before I go, congrats to Young Stevie Furst for his 3rd place finish in the Olympic Development mile at Penn – 4:01.95 for a big PR.

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Race Day

Weather is looking pleasant for the USA Cross Country Nationals in Derwood, MD (near Gaithersburg) this Saturday. Steve is slated to run the Men’s Open Championship race – 12 km on a difficult course against some of the best American distance runners. Everyone should come. Trust me, running is a lot more interesting when you [...]

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The Loneliness of a Long Distance Runner

I am one of the few real distance runners alive that has never read Once a Runner. It has been sold out for years, but has maintained a raucous cult following. I’ve always been torn – I never needed to read the book, as I could have written my own about its topic, at least [...]

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Mundane Providence

I was going to stay on the south side of the Patapsco down by Daniels Rd until I passed a group of 7 horses. Staying on the south side would have meant passing them again on the way back – north side it was, horses are annoying. So, I crossed the rail bridge on the [...]

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Forward to February

After a handful of marginally painful miles with my little brother, I set him off for the remainder of his 18 mile run in Patapsco. It’s cloudy, he’s never been there before – he’ll spend most of the time having no idea where he is. In a half hour we’ll know if he figured it [...]

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Gebrselassie

I will run for the first time in 6 weeks this coming Tuesday, and not a minute too soon. Unfortunately, it will be at least three months before I can do anything aggressive – I’ll probably be clinically insane by then. I should at least be able to maintain a slow burn until I can [...]

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Never Thought I’d Live To See A Million

NBC didn’t let me see the 100 meter final until a few minutes ago, despite the fact that I knew what had happened 13 hours ago. Usain Bolt, OBLITERATED the field. He had such an enormous lead, he was able to prance across the line over the last 20 meters, flailing his arms and whooping [...]

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Sprinting

I’m normally not a big fan of sprinters, as a species. They run for a handful of seconds, then stop. I’ve never understood why that is interesting – you don’t even get a sense of how fast they are when you watch them on TV. Anyway, say what you will about sprinters in general. Tyson [...]

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Happiness Is A Warm Boot

I washed my night boot yesterday. It is the second time I have done so in the 2+ years that I have owned it. On one hand, one doesn’t often wash his shoes. On the other, he doesn’t often wear his shoes to bed. So it seemed reasonable to wash it at least occasionally. Last [...]

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On Track 1

An unfortunate repercussion of living on the east coast is how sports drag into the dredges of the night. Last night was the first day of the Olympic Trials in Track and Field and since I’m a well behaved running lifer, I stayed up to 1 AM to watch the conclusion of the women’s 10K, [...]

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That’s the Sound of Inevitability

It was a warm, sunny, breezy mid-September day at Orange Country Park, the year 1993. We had a dual meet against Pine Bush, the first race of the first season, on their home course. We lost. There was a tremendous hill, one that 12 year olds should not be expected to climb in their first [...]

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Iowa!

I like Iowa. And I like Des Moines. From our plane’s eye vantage, everyone had a yard, there were sidewalks all over the place, trees, a cute little downtown. Wonderful looking city. Except, I guess, for the fact that it’s essentially underwater right now. These poor Iowans, their rivers overfloweth – they’re at least 5 [...]

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Bringin’ Sexy Back

First off, as expected Steve is safely into nationals. Definitely something to be proud of, we’re all certainly excited to be going Meanwhile, today on my run I got a record 4 derisive comments from neighborhood kids. It should be noted that I wasn’t running in the greatest neighborhood, but still, it was abnormal. Most [...]

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Skin of Teeth

Tonight’s race couldn’t have played out much worse for Steve, but he did what he had to do to keep himself in contention for the nationals spot.  By dint of his time from Penn Relays, given that he was top-12 in this race, and based on the results of the other regionals, I am 98% [...]

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Pressed

Steve picked up some decent press after his wins at ACCs. Of course, you MUST play on the last name being “Furst” if you’re going to write an article on us. It’s a requirement – they’ll throw you out of journalism if you miss that opportunity.

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Lest He Get a Big Head

First, watch Steve’s Race. At least the last few minutes of it if you don’t want to watch the whole thing. You also might notice they called him Stephanie Furst. He’s hip number 14, white top, black shorts – he’ll become more prominent halfway through. Also, check out this picture.

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Momentum Rule

Steve continued his onslaught by WINNING the Penn Relays 5K – results here – in thrilling fashion. After pulling through the mile in 2-mile in 8:58, Steve, who had made a crucial move to join the lead group of 9 with 6 laps to go, hammered home a 4:17 last mile, 2:03 last 800, 57.4 [...]

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Captain Steve

Little Stevie Furst, shown below trying to grow facial hair, is, as of last night, the ACC champion in the 10,000 meters. His time of 29:29.71 (or something like that), is good for 7th all time at NCSt and is also a track record down at Georgia Tech. To finally get an ACC title after [...]

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Zero Sum

About a mile and a half into today’s run I happened upon a jogger chugging his way down the other side of the street. He was overdressed, in full sweats juxtaposed with my shorts and short sleeve. Cradled in his left arm like an oversized football was a bag of green and less green Utz [...]

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Part Two-Phase One

A month or so ago, I finished Part One of my first phase of running post interminable achilles sabbatical on a high note. As it turns out, that optimism was a little premature. Still, Part Two went acceptably well. The left achilles is still sore, though it tends to loosen up as I go. I [...]

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