Scott, a friend of mine who regularly read and occasionally responded to this livejournal of mine, suggested to me recently that I couldn't just suddenly end my posts with the inevitable "Things I Don't Like" from a couple months ago ( Read more... )

When I started my "Things I Like" series of entries, I hoped I'd never have to do the converse, but alas ( Read more... )

Bits of Excitement in my Life ( Read more... )

A woman about my age was standing next to me on the train. She was wearing headphones and reading a paperback novel, and I noticed a narrow trail of toothpaste dried just below the right corner of her lip. I wondered as we rode the F train together between 14th and 23rd St. if I should have tapped her on the shoulder, and as she removed an earpiece ( Read more... )

Lately, I wonder what the world was like before mirrors were readily available. How were people's senses of self-perception different when one's own physical appearance remained a foggy mystery? I'm not sure how long humans have been manufacturing and using mirrors (1,000 years? 2,000 years? anyone?) But I'm sure that whenever it was that the only ( Read more... )

On Sunday, the New York Road Runners Club celebrated its 46th anniversary with the NYRR Aniversary Race, a 4.6-K (2.9-mile) race through Central Park. A few days later, I'm happy to report my best race to date. I shattered my goal of 24 minutes with a 22:20, and my average mile time of 7:42 beat my previous best by 40 seconds. Coming around the ( Read more... )

So I made it almost 24 years without anyone close to me dying. Then my grandfather on my dad's side dies in April. Now my grandmother on my mom's side dies last week. Strange. I wasn't able to make it back to Chicago for the funeral, but I'll pay my respects when I visit in three weeks ( Read more... )

Yesterday I was taking a shower when I got shampoo in my eye ( Read more... )

NYC Summer Kickoff 10K

Saturday morning was great. My new favorite noise is the thundering sound of 6,000 feet slapping into the pavement over and over and over again during the first mile of the race, before everyone spreads out. I call it the Herd-of-Humans effect. It's very cool.

I had anticipated that the race would be one lap around the ( Read more... )

What's a better thing to do at 9AM on a Saturday morning than running a 10K race? Come cheer on the New York Road Runners as we complete one lap around Central Park in the NYC Summer Kickoff 10K. Or better yet, run ( Read more... )