No Excuses

Saturday: AM: 40 Miles, 2:04
PM: 4 Miles Easy

Sunday: AM: 40 Miles 2:18ish, 4 miles steady run.

The haphazard posting on this blog is a direct result of personal frustration at my injuries. But I think I am over the labrum issue so I can get back into regular routine starting today. This weekend saw a return to training kicking off with a Saturday morning ride with Lee. We rode easy and with favorable conditions easy was still a decent clip. I felt great when riding but coming out of corners or going uphill was bothersome. Overall the training got a passing grade. In the afternoon I joined Frankie for a very easy jog up the blvd. I actually felt better after the ride in the morning. We took it easy and I was altering my gait to avoid the dreaded knee pain. Thankfully it was not bad at all. It set up a nice meal at Not Just Snacks Indian Restaurant where we got fantastic food swallowed down with cans of Narragansett.

This morning I met Jay Romasco for another easy ride up the Blackstone valley. It is always good to talk to Jay, he is a man of much wisdom. We took it really easy and at the end I added on about 8 miles pretty hard. Upon the completion of my ride I threw on my running shoes and went straight out, triathlon style, for a run up the Blvd. The loop is 4.1 miles and I comfortably ran it in 23 minutes. This is WAY too quick but I think coming off the bike I was very warmed up and my turnover was high. I was a little disappointed in myself for running 5:40 pace when I should be running 7 minute pace. Silly. My knee did not hurt too bad, and maybe running right after the bike is what I should do more often!

Got my new Tattoo started today. I have the top part done and have another inch to do on the bicep and a few fill-ins up around the shoulder. I will finish it in 3 weeks. Tats hurt, bottom line. It was grand for the first 2 hours and then it began to get sore. After 4 hours every touch hurt. I ended up getting 4:45 done and that is far and away the most I will get in one sitting. The rest will take about 2-2:30.

In order to curb my Sunset Rubdown listening I've been revisiting some old albums. Over the weekend I listened to some Air France. I talked about these guys last year and it was a joyful revisit of some happy, poptastic, Sweedish beats. Check out the youtube below. And If your in Boston on the night of Friday the 17th, drop by RISE after hours club 2am - 6am and check out my good friend Shawn Donnelly mix deep house. Chloe Harris is in the main room and for techno it doesn't get better. I will be dropping in, although my all night raving has long since passed. I still love the techno and I will make it a point to hit up a couple of hours for this gig.

Everything is back to normal tomorrow. I am on the road all week but I will be keeping up the training and music.

Peace,
Kel

Dance Anthems Of The 80's

Another day off..........

BUT, lots of improvement. I am not writing a blog until I am back in the groove which will hopefully be this weekend. Big shout out to my man James Carney who finished 4th at the USA 10k champs tonight. Missed the team for Berlin by one spot. His day will come,

Love Kel

Officer Of Hearts

Still no running or exercise. I got lots of treatment this AM with Mike Silva and coupled with the Indomethicin my pain has subsided somewhat. Despite the improvements there is still considerable pain but at least I know I am going in the right direction.

More good news. Mr Pete Watson is attending Sunset Rubdown with Francine and I in Toronto. This will only add to the already exciting vibes I have. With all this excitement I nearly forgot that I have Handsome Furs in just over one week. Brilliant. If only my body was as consistent as the quality music coming out of Montreal.

Love Kel

This is raw, and exactly what I imagine it will be like in Boston. Perfect.

The Agony And The Agony.......

Another day on the therapy table down at Foundation Performance. Without the use of MRI Mike and I have concluded that I may have a minor tear of my Labrum. If not a tear then certainly a sprain. I am in quite a bit of pain and I'm eating Indomethicin to help me relax. I did not go into the office today, opting to work from home so I could ice and monitor the progress, or lack thereof.

I am back in with Mike tomorrow morning at 6:30 to get treatment. We will try to reduce the swelling. I should be alright after a week or so, however this really hurts my training. I had planned on 16 Hours of bike riding this week, coupled with 3 hours of Alter-G. Now its going to be zero and I am on the road next week, for 6 days! Maybe this break will be good for me and force me to let my knee settle somewhat.

I got my tix for Handsome Furs today and Francine and I have decided to make the trip to Toronto on July 11th to see Sunset Rubdown again. It is difficult for me to not make an effort to see them again since it was extremely emotional and essential. Right now I need the sounds, the taming of the hands that came back to life.

Check out the youtube below and you'll know what I mean. Music is so important and if you don't feel Spencer's passion then you have no soul!

This blog may loose direction over these forthcoming weeks as the searching for meaning continues. To say I'm lost is a major understatement but I appreciate the emails and words of encouragement. There is a light that never goes out.

Love KEL

He Wrote A Book About Men In The Sky

I must apologize for my week off posting. It was not pre meditated, it just happened. Some things going on in my life coupled with a little soul searching and travel for work. I will be back in routine over the next few days with some hard decisions made regarding my running and potential microfracture surgery. Until then here is some beautiful music.
Love Kel

It Was Out Of Line, But It Was Fun

AM: 28 Minutes Run, 60 Minutes Ride W/ 6 X 1 Minute Pick Ups
PM: 1.2 Miles, Grog And Dog Run

My run this morning was painful all the way. Such a demoralizing feeling although running slow is not nearly as bad as paced running. Francine joined me for the trot up the Blvd. Upon the completion of the run I jumped on the bike for some recovery ride action. I did some pick ups to get the blood flowing and to remove any blood lactate that built up over night after my hard ride yesterday.

In the afternoon we did the simi-annual Grog And Dog and it was awesome. The event, sponsored by Reebok, Narragansett, and The Wild Colonial was epic as usual and had more teams than ever before. In fact, we had to shut down registration and the thinking caps are on for the October version. The format for those not in the know is 4 person teams that each run a leg of 1.2 miles and then drink a 16oz beer and eat a hotdog/veggie dog before passing the baton onto the next person. The race was won by Tuesday Night Turtles and our team was 4th. Frankie's Powered By Tofu team was 1st co-ed team. They had Tommy McArdle in there. Maybe he will kick off his blog again........the vacation is over. Team Reebok had a great showing in second with K Adams and L Cox flying the flag for the vector. They brought in the services of Atwood and Eric L for some hard fighting. Ben ran the first leg for our team with myself running second. I passed off to Brian Lang and Clay ran the anchor. Despite all the fun and extra beers I was pretty down about how my knee felt. It is brutal not being able to run even steady with out pretty severe pain.

The week was not great for training however the ride yesterday was very pleasing. The news of my knee being pretty much wrecked had me pretty much putting on the happy face, hiding the extreme frustration. I'm over it now but I'm sure I'll have my moments. Anyway, time to control what I can which is to keep trying to run and see if I can get in consistent miles without doing any further damage. I need to monitor the pain and just maintain control. If I wake up tomorrow and feel fine, then I have already hit a good benchmark. I would be pleased to run 5 miles a day for the rest of the summer. So thats the buzz from the weekend. I have posted some live Passion Pit below just to make things even worse for my mental state. I am missing these guys in Boston next week and I am seriously annoyed about it, but thems the breaks.

PEACE AND LOVE,
KEL

And Now Silver Moons Belong To You

AM: 102 Miles, 4:58, Narragansett Return with Add-On

Knowing that I would have a week of missed training I had planned on a big ride today. I felt great and managed to maintain good speed all the way. It helps when the loop is pancake flat, although I did have to deal with some head winds at times. There are a lot of lights on the early part of the ride which disrupts the average speed so I am very pleased to have covered 100 miles in 4:51. I bumped into another rider near the end and we rode together back into P-Town. I needed the company. I have never been into doing long training by myself. I love company and it keeps me from over doing it. As is the case with running, when I am by myself I go quicker. The iPod shuts out the heavy breathing!

Terry Shea sent me a link to a blog with some video from the show on Thursday night. I watched them many times over today and I am going to share them with you. Next up on the concert tour is Handsome Furs. This is the side project of Dan Boeckner who is the other singer in Wolf Parade. He shares vocal duties on many of the great Wolf Parade songs. Personally I prefer the vocals of Spencer but that is not in anyway being negative towards Dan. I am super excited to see him perform with his wife under the Handsome Furs guise. So much good stuff out there.

Love Kel

Maybe These Days Are Over, Over Now

My disappearance from the blogosphere over the last few days was due to work commitments. On Wednesday we had some of our dealers from far afield in for product showing. It was a great few days and timely considering my consultation with the Doc.

On Wednesday I saw Brian McKeon for a follow up consultation regarding my constant knee pain and the outcome was almost exactly as I had mentally prepared for. Basically my options are Micro-Fracture surgery or deal with it. I went for the latter. I cannot deal with an evasive surgery such as micro-fracture. The Doc said it would fix my knee but I would not be able to run for 15-18 months. That means little or no activity until 2011 and who knows where I'll be or what I'll be doing. I know that after 18 months of inactivity I will hardly be able, at 33.5 years old, to return to a competitive level of running. Option 2, is to deal with the pain and accept that I will not be able to do much training. I figure I'll take the gamble and if my knee gets really sore again I'll get the surgery and accept that the running game as I've known it for the last 20 years is over. But if I can train somewhat free of pain and run 40-50 miles a week with swimming and biking I may be able to run decent times and even enjoy wearing the green at a Cross Country international.

My cartilage is very eroded on the medial side of my knee. I have a notch defect which is like a pothole in the cartilage. The pothole leaves a small piece of the femur exposed and when I run I feel that piece of femur bounce off the tibia with no cushion. Its sore but the bone is strong and if I don't over do it I may be able to get back to some decent form. My bike riding will keep me fit and now I will incorporate aqua jogging, alter-g, and elliptical. I will throw the kitchen sink at it and see if it works. The big negative is that the Doc does not feel confident that I'll be able to run very hard on the road or track. He thinks the force of running sub 5 minute pace on the knee will be very painful. It may improve but I'll always feel it. Anyone who has had to deal with this, please contact me and let me know your progress, or lack thereof!

Last night Frankie and I joined Terry Shea and Carley Greytok at Sunset Rubdown. We met up with Henry Guzman and his lady friend Suzanne and we all thoroughly enjoyed the show. Personally it was extremely helpful and emotional. I love music as much as running, and the joy I feel when I hear beautiful music is hard to measure. I did not want this show to end. Spencer Krug is a genius and perhaps, aside from Thom Yorke, the best live vocalist I've heard. His voice is so unique and anyone who has heard his work with Wolf Parade or with Sunset Rubdown cannot argue this point. I could write about this show for hours but lets just say, I was completely lost in the sound. I could not sleep after and all day I had a high, similar to the feeling you get after a great race. I am hopelessly in awe of talented musicians.

Lots of think about and many mental battles to deal with. Its nice to have a wealth of great sounds and friends to help with the process,

Love Kel

It Takes A Second

AM: 35 Minutes Run, Blue Hills
PM: 35 Minutes Hard Trainer Ride

Big test on the old knee this morning. I see the Doctor tomorrow so I wanted to get the right information to provide specific feedback to the main man. I ran a nice 35 minute loop at regular training pace. It was about 6:35-45 effort and I felt great. My knee hurt the same way it does on my fifteen minute runs. Funny enough, I may have even felt better by running further? I can't explain it. I am going to talk to the Doctor about it but in all honesty I know I cannot train hard on my knee. Maybe it will get better and I may be able to tolerate the cartilage? Again, I am not sure but one more run tomorrow morning should give me the final piece of info I need.

I got home late today and only had enough time to do 35 minutes on the trainer. I usually don't do less than 45 minutes when using the bike but it was better than nothing and to make myself feel better I chose to hammer. Great session. We then met up with Myles, Ro, Tarpy, and Molly for some good quality Burritos and Gansett. Also got a new Run Providence shipment of cytomax. Lots of fuel for lots of miles on the bike!

Red Sox - Yankees tomorrow night and then its Sunset Rubdown. T Shea gave me some links to quality recordings that I will check out in the AM since I am off to bed. The daytrotter sessions are amazing and I may have actually heard these songs before but it is always great to revisit this site. Below is another track for the evening, a slowed down version of 'The Mending Of The Gown',Love it (despite the poor footage)

Kel

I Hadn't Felt That Sad In Years

PM: Run 16 Minutes, 45 Min Strength Session with Physio

Today was very much a recovery day. I had planned on not doing anything aside from physio but opted to jog 15 odd minutes to keep it truckin until I see the Doctor on Wednesday. I worked hard on my quad/knee with Mike today. Lots of one leg action and some bosu ball squatting. All good stuff and my quads got a right going over considering I could barely make it up some not so steep hills on my ride home. Obviously my ride and run yesterday did some good quality damage too. My knee was sore every step of the run. Some days are better than others, some girls mothers are bigger than other girls mothers.

I found myself listening to the amazing M83 remix of White Lies - Nothing To Give. You can hear it here. Stereogum also have a nice report on the track, have a read of it here. The track is very stripped down and reminds me of Depeche Mode at their best. Please listen to it and find yourself lost in thought. Beautiful.

Only three days remain until Sunset Rubdown at the Middle East. I cannot wait tor this show at all. The funny thing is that on Wednesday I am going to Red Sox - Yankees in a corporate box and yet compared to seeing Sunset Rubdown it doesn't even enter the excitement equation. I only imagine that during the game I'll be thinking only 24 hours to go, only 24 hours to go. Not that I am not going to enjoy myself at the game. I will be with work friends and it will be great fun but lets be honest, its all about the tunes as far as I'm concerned.

New tunes from the album Dragonslayer have been leaked onto the web and I've been listening on youtube. Below is another delightful number. Check it out.

Peace And Love
Kelrock

Not Easily Offended

AM: 81 Miles Bike, 4:07, Basically Across Rhode Island
PM: 20 Minutes Run, Brown Athletic Fields

The weather was fantastic for the ride this AM. Coxy and I set out a little later since we had a few scoops at the show last night. The plan was to do about 60 miles or so but after a rough start I began to feel really strong. In fact, I felt a lot better after 50 miles than I did after 5 miles. Very strange. Coxy set the tempo hard from the start which was always going to come back and haunt us. We did decide to back off because the loop we had planned was tough with lots of climbing. Great weather, not much traffic, and a regular wind all contributed to my easiest long ride. Coxy finished up at about 70 Miles so I had to add on with laps of the Blvd. With no fuel left I did get tired after about 77 miles but by that point I was done. I harbored desires to do 100 but with no fuel it would have killed me.

I ran an afternoon trot around the astro turf at Brown. Surprisingly I felt quite bouncy, expecting to be heavy and flat. My knee was the same. Not great but not bad either. I had no trouble bouncing around the fields for 20 minutes and could have easily done more. Very positive. And with that I need to accept reality has to be kept to the forefront of my decision making. Therefore I cannot add on and need to keep these positive jogs in check.

Great week of training broken down as follows:

13.5 Hours Riding
70 Minutes G-Trainer
85 Minutes Outside Running
Lots Of Core Work

I have not listened to any new music today because I am still getting to grips with Pony Pony Run Run, Phoenix, and The Engineers. So I will leave you with a fantastic tune to end a great week in music and in training.

Love Kel

Heaven

AM: 2:47 Bike Ride w/ hard session
PM: 25 Minutes Run Outside

The entire bike ride did not take place outside. Coxy and I warmed up for 90 or so minutes before we planned on doing our own respective workouts. The Blvd however was jammin. Farmers Market at one end and a big Funeral going on in the middle. I would have been very frustrating to attempt long intervals so we decided to hit the trainers for the workouts. I did 20 minutes sub tempo before 2 x 5 min, 2 x 4 min, 2 x 3 min, 2 x 2 min, 2 x 1 min VO2 Max reps. I took one min recovery between everything so my HR was high for the whole 39 minutes of effort. It was very hard and I was smashed after but very pleased.

In the PM I hit the Blvd again for a jog. I ran slow and maybe didn't cover more than 3.1 or 3.2 miles. My knee was not pain free however it did not get worse as the run progressed and it is not sore now so there is a lot of upside to the situation. I will run outside again tomorrow before doing 45 minutes on the g-trainer on Monday. I have no idea at this point if I am doing damage or if I am helping the joint. Either way, it is the Doctors orders and I don't need much encouragement to try and run.

We went and saw the Psychedelic Furs tonight and it was awesome. I loved every second of it even if it was a crowd of power puff hair do's straight out of the 1980's. Have you seen the movie Music And Lyrics? Terrible flick but Hugh Grant does a great Job playing the role of an 80's pop singer who's career has gone off the rails. Richard Butler has not become a has been but he reminded me of Grant's character when all these 40 year old women were dancing hard to 'Pretty In Pink'. The gig was very refreshing so check out the poor attempts at some video footage below!




Long Ride tomorrow and another run in the afternoon. Fingers crossed the knee feels OK in the AM.
Peace and Love,

Kel

Take My Time Today

AM: 2:05 Ride, Easy Bike Path
PM: PT with Mike Silva. Lots of quad work.

Myself and Coxy hit the road early this morning for some easy miles. I was a little tired from last night so we kept it steady and had no efforts or any silliness that tends to happen on our rides. We'll leave that for the weekend. My first official rehab session was today. After months of cycling it came time to do the formal strength work prescribed by the Doctor and Mike. Lots of single leg work and exercise involving all aspects of the knee. I felt great although my quad is like a brick right now.Stumbled on the band 'Pony Pony Run Run' today while surfing the fluokids blog that is always full of delights. I was attracted by the band because Mondkopf did a remix and I tend to like some of his stuff. Anyway, he remixed a track called 'Hey You' and it is amazing. I had a lost in music moment listening to it while sipping a hot beverage in Blue State Coffee on Thayer Street. There could have been a riot on the street and it would not have taken me out of the groove that lies in this slice of magic. Obviously I needed to research the band and it seems they are a small group out of France and they make beautiful dream pop, electro wave, powerpop, whatever you want to call it. I love the track and I love the other stuff they put out. Incidentally they have a new album out this week and it is not being distributed in the USA so I'll have to buy it digitally. This is a band that could do with some overseas support. Check out 'Hey You' in the youtube below. I will see if I can post a link to the Mondkopf remix, although it is a trancy, slowed down groove that uses the chorus and may not be to most of your liking. I love the techno, always have, always will. Please listen and support.

My training today was only so so but I am not down. In fact I am feeling very good about things. Tomorrow night I am going to see the Psychedelic Furs. I want to catch as many of these great 80's bands I can so I can make up for not listening to them when I was 6 or 7. I was playing music by Michael Jackson and listening to the NOW collections rather than getting involved in bands. The NOW collections did open up many music avenues but in hindsight I should have been getting into the Smiths. I don't care that I was only 7, its not an excuse. One of the first albums I ever bought (my mammy bought it for me, on double cassette) is pictured. I think those tapes are up in my bedroom back on Halpins Terrace.
Tomorrow calls for some hard training. I am not sure what it is I am doing but it involves hard riding and some running before hands in the air dancing.

Check out the vid below,
Love KEL

Think Less But See It Grow

AM: 18 Minutes Jog, Core
PM: 2:08 Ride W/ Fartlek efforts, Bike Path.

Big test this AM for the knee. It was on the astro turf of Brown University that I did my longest run since Feb 28th, and I was pleased. My knee was somewhat sore, 4 out of 10 on the trusted pain scale. Bare in mind that everyone has their own unique scale and mine has a pretty high pain tolerance limit so a 4 may not be too good. Got through it with no negatives so I need to keep looking at the upside.

Myself and Ben hit the bike path for a nice 40+ mile ride. We did a hard effort of the park and we rode steady on the way back in. For the last 2-3 miles we hammered really fast to get the blood pumping. Great ride, and since I felt so crap this morning I would say the day was successful. I had intentions of meeting Jay on the Blvd this AM but when I saw the rain I had to pull the plug. A bad night of sleep and a scratchy throat turned me off riding in the rain. Sorry Jay!

I can't stop listening to Lisztomania by Phoenix and I've been desperately looking for something new to listen to. And it came from a band called "The Sounds" out of Sweden. I came across these guys because I love their tune in the Geico commercial below. I saw the ad during Sky Sports news and immediately looked up the band. Its something I've been meaning to do for a while now. More pop music! So now I am listening to their newest album "Crossing The Rubicon", you can check them out at their myspace page. Its not bad but not great either. I will need to listen when I'm not so tired.


Not much else happening today. Just lots of Swedish new wave and repeated listening to Phoenix. I saw a trailer for "Food, Inc." a new flick/documentary on the food industry. I can't wait to see it. Not that I'll learn anything new but it reinforces my decision to be more aware of my food purchases and places I shop. I also read that Oliver Stone is directing Wall Street 2. Can't say I'm too pleased about that.

Love Kel

Like A Sunset

AM: 35 Minutes Alter-G, 75%
PM: 60 Minutes Trainer Ride, Core

The forecast called for Rain in the afternoon so what did I do? I waited until the afternoon to go for a bike ride. Well, in all fairness I did have Alter-G in the morning and that is my priority. It was a decent run but like before I still feel the pain. I liken it to having a stone in your shoe when your running. All the rest in the world won't get rid of the stone, it must be removed or at least settle in a part of the shoe that doesn't bother the foot. I am hoping that with running the cartilage moves around and settles in an area that gives me relief. Until then, I want to get the thing out of their. I was very tired today for some reason. No pop in the legs so I stopped after an hour of my planned 90 minute trainer ride. Just no power at all and low HR. When I can't get the old ticker pumping it usually means I'm tired. I guess I needed an easy day.I went ahead and got the new Phoenix album today. This album has not been high on my priority list because I found their previous work to be poppy, mainstream, and a little too high school. And the funny thing is that this album is not really any different. Its poppy and has very mainstream moments but the songs I heard really struck a chord with me. I saw these guys perform in Boston many years ago. I liked the song "Everything Everything", and they were warming up for M83 so we got there early to check them out. It was decent but nothing earth shattering, unlike the M83 performance.

I heard the track "Lisztomania" a few weeks ago on some blogs and there was a general positive vibe around these guys in the blogosphere. The track is fantastic and when I saw the brat pack video made by avoidantconsumer I really fell in love with the tune. She set the music to the scene in Breakfast Club when they all dance about the assembly area. Other dance scenes from classic 80's flicks make an appearance too. Its so poppy and upbeat that it frustrates me........I love it! So here I am, just buzzing off this unofficial video which is much better than the original and then another dude or lass makes a video of the brat pack version with a bunch of Brooklyn hipsters doing their own Breakfast Club version of the unofficial video. Both versions are below and are essential viewing. I'd watch the avoidantconsumer version and then the Brooklyn version. Other movies I noticed were Pretty In Pink, Footloose, and Mannequin. Just watching the Brooklyn version makes me want to move down there. I love DUMBO and this footage reminds me of how much I enjoy visiting the area.

The track 'Love Like A Sunset' is also amazing. Its pretty much sans vocals but has a daft punk inspired sound. The whole album reeks of progress for the band and we will see bigger venues, more sold out signs and a few more t-shirts on the June/July tour. (Some shows already sold out). The album has no skip moments for me and I would recommend it big time. Typically not my style.....maybe I am getting soft. My boss liked the Spektor track I posted yesterday and thought it was a little too poppy for me!

Peace and Love
Kel

I've Got Trimm Trabb

AM: 15 minutes run, core
PM: 2:16 Ride w/ workout, VO2 Max Session

Another day to hit the Blvd for a test on the knee. I came through ok but if I am going to be honest I know its there and I know if I keep running it will get worse. However, hopefully I am wrong. It is so amazing to run 15 minutes but at the same time horribly frustrating because I am back to the build up again. Do you know how many times I've had to do this cycle? Too many!

This afternoon I did a brutal bike session that has left me feeling a little ill. I rode out the bike path into a reasonable head wind and I kept winding it up. By the time I got to colt state park I was really pushing. I then did two laps progressively getting quicker. By the second lap I was all out. I hammered as hard as I could, literally pretending I was riding to win a stage of the Tour. Needless to say I was completely wiped during my 5 minutes recovery. I then got going again back into tempo for another 20 minutes, although the wind at my back made the effort a little easier. I got back to P-Town in horrible state but completely joyous.

There is a new MEW song on their myspace. I like it even if it is a little different. It has all the elements that make this band so addicting. I also love the below song by Regina Spektor. Its been doing the rounds on my iTunes all day.

Peace and Love,
Kel

At A Better Pace

AM: 35 Minutes Alter-G, Core
PM: 75 Minutes Trainer Ride W/ Workout

I woke up to the Alter-G and had a pretty good run. I reduced my body weight to 75% because I felt my knee more than I wanted to. I ran pretty easy, about 6 min mile pace which isn't that fast at 75%! Lashed through sore core work after. In the PM I did a trainer ride. I had a workout planned so I stayed indoor. The session was 25 x 30 sec hard/easy followed by 5 x 1 min very hard/easy. Sweat really heavily so need to get the fluids in.

I hit up nice slice tonight for more food. Frankie and I are basically living off Nice Slice pizza which is not necessarily a good thing! They have great vegan options and everything tastes amazing. They also have a fantastic Shep Fairey art piece in the store. Shep went to RISD and is mates with the owner of Nice Slice who also attended RISD. I must confess to not knowing much about the guy until the famous Barack Obama "Hope" poster and again when there was a lot of buzz around the design he did on Lance Armstrong's bike for the Giro. He is doing another for the Tour and Lance gives him tonnes of love online.
The place happens to be very cool and significantly better than the popular Antonio's Pizza across the street, which in its own right is pretty nice. I am not a big art dude but it is pretty cool that a contemporary artist like Shepard Fairey has his college roots here in Providence and has original pieces around the city.

This weekend also served up the Reebok Grand Prix, hence my lack of blog posts. What an amazing meet. Everything was perfect except the weather. There was wind, and even though it was minor it did enough to prevent the 5k going sub 13. I have no doubt that on a still evening the boys would have run mid 12:50's. Kogo is an absolute beast and holding off Lagat in the home straight had the crowd, made up mainly of sprint fans, going nuts. It was great to see. Every event had great energy none more so than the mens 200 where Tyson Gay ran the third fastest 200m ever run. The Reebok meet has continued to improve every year and thoroughly deserves its place among the Diamond League next season.

Peace and Love,

KEL