Running the World

Last week at this time I was running in Central Park before the NYC Marathon. Sometimes I pinch myself that I get to do this for a living. In the last 5 weeks, I have run in some amazing places: 

• Central Park New York City
• Lake Ontario Waterfront, Toronto Ontario
• Lake Michigan Waterfront, Chicago
• Illinois River trail, Peoria IL
• Kankakee River trail, Kankakee, IL
• Tiergarten, Berlin Germany

Workout Yesterday 

Run 62 min, 6.3 miles

Had to make it up as I went along. Hit the lagoon trail and the coast highway. 

Finished with drills and 4 strides. 

Yoga 15 minutes 

It’s a good life…..

 

Garbage

 There are days when you just feel like garbage. Yesterday was one of those days. I woke up too early and from the first feeling something was off. I went for a run. Typically I may feel out of sorts before a run and feel great once I return. That did not happen yesterday. The results are comical:

I have a trip planned to Austin for The Running Event. In my mind the trip was next week Wednesday-Thursday-Friday. I got home from my run, started my day and realized The Running Event was Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday. I’ve got the big 55,000 person race I’m working on and 3 races this weekend in Athens, Greece. I planned all that work out with the trip in mind. Then I got to planning my days in Austin. I contacted my Uncle who lives there to make plans. I contacted one of my good friends in the running industry to plan a run and I called my friend for a ride to the airport. Then I got working overtime on that 55,000 person race. The pressure was on to get it done before the flight on Monday. All day I had that little pit in my stomach. Get the work done!!! 

Late in the afternoon Mary comes home. I tell her about my mistake and that I leave on Monday. She says “On Veterans Day? I am fairly sure you have it on the calendar for next Monday the 18th.” You see we have a paper calendar hanging in the kitchen. That’s crazy, right? I go to the The Running Event website and sure enough the event starts on Monday the 18th. Then I check my flight and yes, I fly out on the 18th. I reverse all my messages to friends and family. 

All of that stress about getting the work done is gone this morning. I have 4 races to finish by Friday. No problem. 

Run 50 min 5 miles

I put one foot in front of the other and that’s about it. The saving grace is the location. I ran along the beautiful coast and took in the deep blue water of the Pacific. 

Strength: 30 minutes. 

I worked on something I learned on Instagram. The proper way to do a pull up. I followed the instructions. It worked. I really enjoyed doing pull ups yesterday. 

Friday Folies

 The end of the super busy time of year. Today is Friday and I’m home. Since the beginning of August I have been home on Friday-Saturday-Sunday less than I have been gone. 

• Falmouth
• Mexico City
• Berlin
• Chicago
• Toronto
• NYC

In between those I’ve also had events in. 

• Tokyo
• Amsterdam
• Valencia
• Marseille
• Frankfurt
• Warsaw 

Only 5 more events to go. 3 this weekend and then two in December. 

It feels good to accomplish work. Today I’ll pay all the bills associated with all of these events. That feels good too! 

Workouts Yesterday 

Run 57 min 6.2 miles 

Flower Fields (picture above) The area used to be covered in green houses growing flowers. Today there is a golf course and homes but most importantly trails. I warmed up to the first trail head. Then I worked the hills hard. There are 4 hills. They vary in length and pitch. The longest being one kilometer and steep at the end. On the way home I ran the last kilometer with some tempo. 

Yoga: 15 minutes at lunch time. 

Run 20 min 2.1 miles 

Shakeout 

Morning in America

 No matter how bleak it seems and right now it seems awfully bleak there will always be a beautiful morning to wake up to. During the election cycle the common ask is “are you better off than 4 years ago” For the most part I don’t think they really want the answer or at least the honest answer. 

4 years ago the pandemic had shut my business down. There were no races and therefore no need for my services. Since then my business doubles every year. So the answer to that question is absolutely I am better off today than 4 years ago. The government has nothing to do with that. My hard work and dedication to the work is why I’m better off. 

Four years ago my only transportation was an E-bike. I made that choice because the car was a lemon and cost me greatly. I gave up the car and for four years my wife and I shared her electric car. During the day while she was at work I used the E-bike for groceries, coffee meetings and going to run spots. This past April after saving money every month I walked in a paid cash for my truck. I’m better off today than 4 years ago. 

Workout Yesterday 

Run - 20 min-2 miles. I have a 2 mile look that can be extended to 3, 4 and 5 miles should I care to do that. It starts straight up hill. I used the charge up that hill. Today I take my time and let my heart adjust to the grade of the hill. With age comes patience. 

Ride - 26 min on the trainer. After the afternoon dog walk when it was dark outside I jumped on the trainer. My trainer is a Cervelo P6. I did a workout two sets of 4 minutes. 20 seconds on 40 seconds off. For the on I held over 350 watts. I used Wahoo videos for this workout. I like them because there are 6 different videos of this kind of effort. This was level 1. Level 6 is over an hour of multiple sets of this. 

It’s a good life…..

November 6, 2024

I am opening this blog again. I will attempt to do this daily. I write in a journal daily but I would like our son or our grandkids to be able to read my musings. Yesterday was the US Election. Like my wife always says, “we get the government we deserve” 

The US and maybe the world has always had a boogeyman or boogeymen. This year in no rank order: 

• Immigrants - This country was built by immigrants. There was a time that the Irish and Italian immigrants were the boogeymen. Today it’s brown people from Central America. Watch the economy tumble when we deport the immigrants. 
• LGBTQ - We have come so far in accepting this community. We have friends in this community. The fear mongering will only drive the young community back into hiding. What a loss to our culture if this happens. 
• Women and their rights - I am standing here knowing I am the man I am because of the women in my life. There are too many to list and too many to thank right here. At the top of the list though is my wife. She is an inspiration to an entire flock of people. If you listed all the things Jesus would do, you could use Mary Jewell in place of Jesus and the list would match. When we accept the women can lead, and women can govern we’ll become a stronger country. That stars with all the young men out there right now. Give up your ego and treat women with respect and reverence. You will become a better man for it. 

Yesterday after a crazy weekend of work in NYC. I ran 6 miles in 57 minutes. I started off feeling great but then lost energy midway through. I pushed on and kept to my program. To adde mileage I’m doing it organically. Finish a run x.5 miles or less I stop. If I finish a run x.51 or more I keep running until I hit the next mile. Yesterday day my run ended at 5.54. I added on to make it an even 6. 

Later in the day I did 15 minutes of Yoga. 

It’s a good life…..