Yum. Saturday.

Today's title's in honor of Bernard Mickey Wrangle, "The Woodpecker" from Tom Robbin's Still Life with Woodpecker, which I just finished reading last week. The Woodpecker says there are only two mantras, "Yum" and "Yuck." Sometimes, most often when a spaceship flies overhead or he's dropped lit dynamite, he's been known to expand the list to three mantras by including "Yikes!" Fantastic book which will tell you the meaning of the moon and how to make love stay. Here's recommending anything by TR.

So, tomorrow is Father's Day, which I'll celebrate with a Central Park 5 miler in 90 Degree heat that caps off my spring racing season. Whew! Hoping for sub-31, if the heat doesn't derail that attempt. A week off to recharge, and then on to marathon training.



I was out with the Club last night for drinks at the 79th Street Boat Basin, a fantastic venue under(??) the Westside Highway on the Hudson River. (Picture Above) At the Boat Basin it's always a Memorial Day Cookout. OK, received wisdom: runners are healthy folk, right? Fuggidabutit! Twice I've been out with these guys for happy hours and twice they've closed the place down. And, that sub-31 tomorrow shouldn't be a problem because at the Happy Hour I learned that I'm "fast". At least, that's what one club member announced to everybody when I met them. "This is Jon. He's fast." I don't really think so, which I said. So, now I'm fast and modest! Don't think that's right either; modesty is not my problem. I was in bed until 10 this morning, which meant that I totally missed the pre-hot/humidity for my day-before-race jog. The extra sleep was good though. (As was the jog, about 3.5m, although already hot)

My Wisconsin friend is buying a wood-burning hot tub. I honestly don't get it. My grandmother had a "wood-burning hot tub," which is to say a metal tub that would get hot if you put burning wood under it! It was an ovoid about 3.5 feet long and made of a very thin blue-ish tinted metal, tin I think. She used it to wash the dog. That's when it became a "hot-tub." Also, it was handy during the fall to shuck corn (Yep, a NYC based blog just used the phrase "to shuck corn!"). However, my friend's purchase sounds more like the normal hot tub, just with no electricity. Seems to me like a lot of work to get your relaxation on. Especially, after a XC ski trip. I'd think you'd want to get out of the cold wet and into the hot relaxation instead of having to stoke a fire! Maybe I'm just pampered. . .

I learned from some of the other Flyers that I'd gotten a shout-out in the club newsletter for volunteering at the NYRRC's Mother's Day Half Marathon in Central Park a few weeks ago. Since the newsletter is a password protected .pdf (honestly, password protected? We aren't NASA.) I've lifted the text for your enjoyment.

As I reached mile four John Ward was chanting out times and calling my name, even before I had the visualand/or mental clarity to focus on my Flyer fans. The encouragement John and company offered me was enough to push me up and over that nasty back hill. Much to my delight, as I passed Engineer’s Gate I again heard my name with a slew of cheers fromPatrick Duffy and brand-new Flyer Jonathon Daugherty. Next on my map were Scott Cohen and Richard Brounstein—with Scott cheering so loudly I almost fell over! All these guys became goals on the second lap. Thanks to all of these and the other Flyer men who volunteered that Sunday morning. Your time and your efforts were greatly appreciated!

Thanks Nicole!

Hopefully, I'll get a good photo out of the race tomorrow that I can link to for the site. (Ahem. If any of my photographer friends stumble across this, consider it a request.) If not, then I promise I'll come up with a different solution.