The Running And The Running It Around

Very solid weekend with high temps, high energy and even a few Gansetts. On Sunday after helping out at Rhode Runner for a few hours I needed to hit up the Wild Colonial for a scoop because if I didn't I would have went home and got on my bike. It was 58 degrees in the afternoon! I text my Physio and told him that it was taking everything I had not to exercise and he suggested I go for some swill, so I did.

What was also interesting was yesterday marked the one year mark of my crushing knee injury. I have only ran over 45 minutes on one occasion in the last 12 months. That was with Pat Tarpy and Kurt Benninger. I ran 45 minutes on the nose with Kim Smith and Pat on a rainy Saturday last October also. Both runs were silly. My total volume over the last 12 months was probably 200 miles. The strange thing is that I honestly believe (and I don't believe much, but will believe in anything) I could jump straight back into training. I feel fit and I've only put on 10 pounds of beer weight. It would fall off within a month.

Speaking of exercise, I am getting the green light to get back on the bike next Monday. It will be really easy but just sweating is going to feel fantastic. I am also starting to swim on Thursday. Given my awful stroke and general upper body weakness I can't really swim enough to get a proper workout. Does doggy paddle even count as a swim stroke coz I can do a fair few laps of that. I'll be joining my fellow gimpy knee comrade, Ken White, with some hard efforts and hopefully more than 20 minutes of swimming.

There is a lot happening on the music front right now. I bought tix to see The Album Leaf at the Paradise. This is a guy I've been listening to Jimmy LaValle for many years but have never seen him or his band live. Its an exciting time because I am seeing so many new acts in the next two months. So with these epic shows ahead, Atoms For Peace, Jonsi, The Album Leaf, and a marked improvement in my overall health, I have a lot to look forward to.

Congrats to Mark Kennelly who won his first Irish Senior XC title yesterday after finishing 2nd on no less than 4 occasions.

Some slowed down Spencer to usher in the good times,

Love Kel