Happy Holidays

The last week's been crazy. I was working in excess of 12 hours everyday last week, needing to add time to shop for Christmas, and trying to get in the last week of running. Not surprisingly, the blog took the hit.

I went to the Harley Davidson store on Lexington Avenue to pick up a shirt for my dad to use as an exchange gift. So, I go at lunch, from my office, in my fitted shirt, tie, Brooks Brothers suit. I go through the rack of shirts -- my instructions are that it must say "New York." I find a shirt, I find a salesperson. I say, "Can I have this shirt in 3X?" He looks at me like I've lost my mind. I say, "You don't have this in 3X?" He says, "No." I say, "Do you have anything in 3X?" He says, "Maybe," and starts going through the rack: "No. No. No. Uhhhhmm. . . No. No. Maybe this one. I'll check in the back." He then disappears . . . and I look at hats . . . and I look at lighters . . . and then he comes back with a different shirt and says, "I have this one." I said, "I'll take it," without even really looking at it. I'm somewhat surprised, because I thought if any shop had a demographic that would want -- nay, need 3X shirts, it would be Harley Davidson.

My runs this week have been awful, almost without exception. Tuesday I woke up, and sat in my apartment, in full dress, thinking "I can't do this. I just can't do this." I then laid down on the couch, in my gear -- tights, shoes, jacket -- and went back to sleep. This will, I'm sure, make more sense when you know that I'd worked all weekend and then had been at the office until midnight on Monday. Thursday, I tried to run 5 miles, but walked most of the last 1.5 to prevent "runner's trots." But the great runs didn't really come until the weekend.

Friday's run, just under 12 miles, started with me feeling like I'd been delayed at the airport 4 hours, only had Burger King for dinner, and then landed in Cincinnati at 2 a.m. . . Oh, wait, that's what happened on Thursday night! But, in all fairness, the run really improved my mood and I'm sure it would have become fantastic if the second half hadn't involved a 600' climb over about 0.75 miles. To put this in perspective, the first 6 miles took 45 minutes and the second 6 took 56 minutes. Yikes!

Saturday's run was very special. This was supposed to be a 3 hour long run. Not only did I get lost in Kentucky ridge land, (I swear, I ran uphill for 30 solid minutes. I'm never going to complain about Cat Hill again.), but the worst was the cold! The weather wasn't that cold, but I was in my skimpy shorts and . . . about an hour in . . . uhm, let's just say that the end of my man muscle was a little raw from the cold -- and in, every step my shorts felt like sandpaper. I started running with my hands down my pants, but knew that I couldn't go another 2 hours like that. So the long run was called at about 7 miles. I looked in today's paper to see if there was an article about me -- "Perverted Jogger seen Masturbating on the Run in A.J. Jolly Park: We know every year when the liberal New Englanders arrive in Cincinnati, there's trouble, but we never expected this perverse fushion of granola exercise and sexual degeneracy . . ." -- but there was not a peep about my troubles. Today, I finally got in a good run. 11.9 miles in 1:12:20 for a 7:30 pace. Solid, not intestinal or gonadal issues. Finally. Merry Christmas Eve to me.

Hope you all have a good holiday.