Le Tour de Dyslexia: Hells Yeah

Ok, by now I assume everyone who would be reading this is aware of the not so successful and slightly embarrassing end to the tour. I don't, though, intend on dedicating a whole post to excusing our decisions and attempting to convince the reader that they would have made the same decisions had they been in our predicament.

I am now almost three months removed from the tour as well as the excitement, the pain, the thrill, and the disappointment; all of which I can no longer feel but only remember. Needless to say, I will never again truly exist in the moments of that tour, but I will forever have it as a memory. What specifically, though, will I remember about it? I will remember the anxiety, the excitement, the freedom, and the potential felt as we took our first few pedals out of the neighborhood, out of Delaware, and eventually out of the known. I will remember how great it felt when everything was going right, our bodies were fresh, and the tour played its planned role as an escape from the riggers and tedium of a life stuck in a daily routine. I will also remember the unexpected: the rain, the flat tires, the ruined tires, how long it actually takes to ride a bike with 40 pounds of gear on it 80 miles, and the hills that when only on a map didn't shout the obvious, "We are big, we are many, and we will destroy you!"

Was the tour as I imagined it would be? Absolutely not. It was far more difficult, stressful, and trying than I ever could have imagined, but in turn, it was far more beautiful, awful (solemnly impressive; inspiring awe), and fulfilling than I ever could have imagined.

Would I ever attempt another tour? Hells Yeah! Although this tour was planned to be the end-all be-all of tours, it turned out to simply be a learning experience, and learn I did. Hopefully with my newly gained knowledge I can avoid some of the more simple disasters of this previous tour. For instance I am now aware of every single way to pop a tire tube and can easily avoid most of them in the future. I also learned to expect the unexpected: there will be wrong turns, there will be five flat tires in two hours instead of the very reasonable one flat tire, there will be monster hills, and there will even be monster hills in heavy rain.

Will I ever go on another tour? Who knows? Right now with the start up of my final year of school I will, once again, be immersed in the daily routine. That makes my, most likely, next breath of freedom not until summer. But then what? At that point in my life I will, for the first time, no longer have an expected path to follow. I will be free to do as I please.

As I proofread this post I am struck by a, now all to obvious, parallel between the tour and my future. Recently, I have been experiencing sentiments that could be referred to as a "quarter life crisis", which mostly revolve around the question "What the hell am I going to do with my life after college?" I still do not know what I am going to do, but I do know what to expect. At first it will most likely be filled with a sense of anxiety, excitement, freedom, and potential as I venture out into the unknown. I know there will be good times and there will be bad times. There will be obstacles and there will be beauty. And without a doubt there will be the unexpected. There will be wrong turns and there will be seemingly unbearable setbacks, yet not all of the unforeseen is bad. Around every turn and atop every hill there will be new people, places, and experiences. There will be potential and there will be growth. Will I always succeed? No. Will I take in the journey and have a good time? Hells yeah.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: The Send-Off

Oh man, long time no post. My lack of presence on my blog for the past few weeks has been due to two things: no new developments of the tour, and huge amount of school work. The past three days have been full of planning and preparation. Out of those three days came some good news and some bad news. Ok so for the bad news, because of unforeseen work conflicts, Lexi will only be taking part in the first two days of the tour at which point she will take a small detour to her New Jersey home. The other bad news is that the direction of our tour has changed drastically and no will no longer take along the east coast. That brings me to the good news though. We finally have a route and I am pretty excited about it!

a;



The whole thing should take 12 days and will take us through the Delaware Water Gap, around and through the Catskills, and finally through the Amish Country of Pennsylvania. The daily average needed to complete the tour is not that much, only around 55, so we will be able to spend some quality time at the cooler locations.

We are leaving early Monday (tomorrow) morning and will be back for my boy Alex Gambogi's Grad party. I don't know if I will be able to get my hands on a computer while we are gone for updates but if I do I'll post them. Dan will be taking tons of sick pictures that I put up when we get back as evidence of us actually going on the tour. This will probably be my last post before the trip, so goodbye and remember that I love you.

Hugs and Kisses,

Nick

Le Tour de Dyslexia: To a Mouse Update

It looks like an out-n-back tour is inevitable. Train won't check bikes, Buses stink, and shipping our bikes back is to expensive.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: To a Mouse

"The best-laid schemes o' mice and an' men
Gang aft a-gley"

I was reminded of these famous lines from Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse when our plans for the tour recently went "a-gley" or as sometimes said, "awry". Today we (Lexi and I) began to look into buying the train tickets from Portland to Wilmington. We first learned that we would have to box our bikes in order to check them as luggage, a hassle that we were not too thrilled with. Upon calling Amtrak a second time we would receive even worse news. Apparently, even if we did box our bikes, it would be useless because Amtrak does not even offer checking luggage from Boston to Wilmington, meaning there would be know way to get our bikes back with us on a train. So now what? There are not too many other options, and I do not actually know what we are going to do yet. I think the next best option is to take a bus. I never really thought I would ever take a Greyhound bus for long distance transportation. Usually only runaways take busses to get somewhere. The good thing about taking a bus would be that it is a lot cheaper. Besides that I do not really know of any other options except making the tour a loop, which is not that desireable of an option. Oh well, trains arn't really all that cool anyway.

Lord Byron

Lord Byron was the last of the canonized Romantic poets. He was the first "rockstar" of poetry as well as a lady's man. I am supposed to be writing a paper about him right now but for some reason I would rather blog about him. His words and works were poignant and witty, making him a very quotable person. Here are some of his more humorous quotes:

• Absence - that common cure of love.
• I have a great mind to believe in Christianity for the mere pleasure of fancying I may be damned.
• Man, being reasonable, must get drunk; the best of life is but intoxication.
• (In regards to the crude language that he used in one of his writings & "tooled" means to have sex) It may be bawdy, but is it not good English? It may be profligate, but is it not life, is it not the thing? Could any man have written it who has not lived in the world? and tooled in a post-chaise? in a hackney coach? in a Gondola? against a wall? in a court carriage? in a vis a vis? on a table? and under it?
• I have great hopes that we shall love each other all our lives as much as if we had never married at all.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Test Pack

This past weekend I had some free time (not true free time, but free time that was made when I decided to not start work that I should) and so I decided I would test pack my bike. I got my packing list out, made my bed, which is slightly relevant, and began to get all of my gear laid out. First, I neatly organized everything on my bed so that I could see what I was actually bringing and so that I could take a sweet picture for everyone to see (see really sweet picture below).


That picture has almost everything that I had on the list in it. The only thing that it is missing is a few things that I still need to buy. Anyway, after I laid out all of my gear I began to pack it into my panniers and handlebar bag. Everything ended up fitting real easily and I actually have significant extra room. I tried to weigh all of my bags to see how much they were but the only scale in the house was very wrong, unless I got real fat. I would like my load to be somewhere around 30-35 pounds total. After my failed attempt to weigh everything, I continued to pack everything onto my bike for the first time and see how it would ride fully loaded. I got scared when the bike began to tip very easily as I was walking it to the road but as soon as I got on it and got it into motion, it became a lot easier to control. The only problem was that my feet were hitting my panniers every time they came around, so I had to adjust the panniers to sit further back in the bike. We are now only 20-21 days away from the trip. I just got word that it will most likely have to be pushed back an extra day. We still have to be back by the 13th though so that means we will have to put the same amount of miles into less days. I am not too daunted by that because Dan and I went for a 26 mile ride on Saturday and we felt really good, even though we will be doing three times that amount on the tour. That's about all I have to say right now. The following pictures are of my bike fully loaded, looking sweet.

And

On that same note...

I Know I'm out doing myself with all of these posts butt...

It's me! As a baby. Naked.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Dirty Underwear

One pair of underwear for two weeks? Absolutely. When packing space is precious, there has to be sacrifices, but honestly, I don't think bring one pair of underwear is even a sacrifice. I don't even know if I would even consider bringing zero pairs of underwear on the trip to be a sacrifice. Allow me to explain. First this is a biking trip. That means that most of the time I will be wearing spandex. Underwear under spandex = chaffing and I want no such thing. Secondly, the other bottoms I am bringing are my Prana shorts, my Patagonia bathing suit, and my Prana Pants. The Patagonia bathing suit has a liner so no underwear is needed there. For my Prana shorts, I have gone without underwear in them on numerous occations, especially when it is hot like it will most likely be on the tour, so no underwear is needed there as well. The only time I could see my self needing underwear is on the train ride back home or if I need to wear my Prana pants.

I hope I have vindicated my bring of only one pair of undies on the tour. On to a more interesting idea though, if anyone would like to see me go the whole Tour without any underwear, I am low on money and willing to give up my one and only pair of underwear for a small donation. Actually, I will consider doing a lot of things on the tour for a small donation, so if anyone has any ideas let me know and I will think about them.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Gear List

One of the coolest things in the world is gear, well, at least to me. Here is my preliminary list of what I am planing on taking on the tour. I have provided a link to any of the really cool gear.

Bike and Bags

Bike: 2008 Bianchi Volpe link
Rack: Blackburn Ex-1 Expedition
Panniers: Ortlieb Backroller Classic Black link
Handlebar Bag: Detours Cruiser link

Camping Gear

Tent: MSR Zoid 1 link
Sleeping Pad: Therm-a-rest link
Cooking: Jetboil link & MSR Pocket Rocket link
Sleeping Bag: EMS 25 degree down
2-3 canisters of Iso Pro
Small Frying Pan
Bowl
Mug
Head Lamp
Toiletries (toothbrush, paste, deodorant)
First Aid

Bike Gear

Bike multi-tools
Chain lube
Spare Tire
2-3 spare tire tubes
Pump
Bike Lock
Bungies

Clothes

Sandals
Running Shoes (only is there is room)
Prana shorts
Prana pants?
Sunglasses
Patagonia bathing suit
Socks (3 pairs)
Technical shirts (3)
Rain shell
Warm clothes (Prana sweater, running tights)
T-shirts (2-3)
Cycling shorts (2)
Biking Gloves
Marmet Jacket
Helmet
Beanie
Underwear (1)

Misc.

Playing cards
Cell Phone
Cell Phone Charger
Pens
Maps
Book or 2
Notebook
Directions/ Maps
Sunscreen

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Goals

I like to think that this tour is a gift from me, to myself. All school year my days have been thrown out the metaphorical window. Most of my weekdays have been the exact same thing: wake up, breakfast, work (my job), class, practice, dinner, homework, sleep. I find that when my days are so similar, looking back at them I cannot tell them apart. This is no way to spend one's life (especially if your life might end sooner than expected because you contract Swine Flu [how's that for a topical reference]). But really, life is short and fast, too short and fast to let your days uneventfully pass by in a blur. School does that to people, though. I'm not saying that it suppresses all potential for unique daily experience, but it definitely promotes repetitive and tightly scheduled days, weeks, months, and years (I actually went on to type a lot more in the mental direction that I was headed, but then I realized that I was ranting on a subject that should be left for another day).

My hope is that this tour will promote unique experiences that I can look back on and distinctly remember, actually Living each day rather than floating through it. I do understand, though, that I cannot just ride my bike from point to point, clap my hands together, and say "Boy did I just improve my overall life experience." I have to actively peruse things that my usual passive personality would not. In order to help me do that, I am going to post a list of goals that I would like meet during the tour, in hopes of being held accountable by my many readers when I return. I have not had much time to put a lot of thought into these, but I will edit the list if I get any more good ideas. So here they are.

Tour Goals:

• First and foremost, I am on the tour to spread awareness of the Dyslexia that I think I have, hence the title of the tour.
• Hear at least 5 stories from strangers.
• Swim in a body of water, leaving the conventional cover for my privates on land. (I'm talking about swimming naked here if you arn't quite catching what I'm tossing at ya)
• Eat at least 3 Mountain Man sandwiches (the best breakfast sandwiches known to man and only found at deli in New Paltz, NY. "ONE FRIED EGG, COUNTRY SAUSAGE, HOT PEPPER JACK CHEESE, KETCHUP AND MOUNTAIN MAN SAUCE ON A HARDROLL". It's all about the Mountain Man Sause.)
• Get scared, like really fucking scared. (I have only a few times been honestly scared for my life but on these few occasions I have come to a significantly higher realization that I was in fact alive. If you understand me, you understand me, and if you don't you don't)
• Trust my body. (This will most likely be accomplished with the "getting really fucking scared" goal)
• Stand on the very tippy tip of Cape Cod.
  
• Drink a moderate amount of beer at the local establishments.
• Drink more than a moderate amount of beer on 1-3 occasions.
  
• Have a lobster in Maine while at the same time try to "get into" wine again. (This is just a side note but the two most amazing things in life, in my opinion, are food and the opposite sex. Since I will be dirty and smelly the whole tour I am looking forward to having a lot of good, local food on the trip)

This is all I have for now. I encourage my many readers to create an account so they can comment on my posts, but if you don't want to do that just message me on Facebook, with suggestions for my goals.

Le Tour de Dyslexia: Basic Information

As everyone should know, since I mentioned it like maybe 4 times, I am going on a bike tour at the beginning of the summer. Actually, it is not just I, it is Lexi, Dan, and I, who will be going on the tour. We plan on devoting about two weeks for getting from Newark to Portland, Maine, which will probably end up being around 500 miles. The exact route is still in progress (we only have up to day 3.5 completed). The general plan is to ride up through Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York and then cut East to the coast of Massachusetts where we will ride the shore North into New Hampshire and then Maine. To get back, we are taking a train from Portland to Wilmington. I have not been updating my blog a lot, but this will probably keep it going strong, at least until school is over. I intend on updating it with the official route and landmarks, gear lists, and pictures. Since I don't have any of that stuff ready as of now I'll just cover the basics today.

For those who don't know what bike touring is, as I didn't even know six months ago, it is basically going on a long bike ride with everything you need to survive with you (tent, clothes, food, etc.). Below is an example of what a moderately loaded touring bike looks like.

There are many options when it comes to the amount of stuff you bring with you on a tour. There is what is referred to as "Credit Card Touring", which means you pack very little and buy things as they are needed, such as food and hotel rooms. Then there is "Light and Fast Touring", which is self sustaining in that you bring your shelter and cooking supplies with you but you try to keep the weight of your load down by packing moderately. The other option for touring is to just put as much on your bike as you can.

For our tour, we will probably be somewhere in between "Light and Fast" touring, and pack whatever you can touring. Not to get into the Equipment List that is to come but we will be bringing tents, sleeping bags, cooking supplies, some food, and a moderate amount of clothes.

I Mean, It Makes Sense

Something that I saw on the internet a while ago put an idea into my head, and yesterday I followed up on that idea. I came up with the title of this blog, "The Mumbler" because it was brought to my attention this year, more so than in the past, that a lot of what I say is incoherent. Often I don't even catch my mumblings but sometimes, especially when I am trying to explain something, I can tell, and so can everyone else, that I am having trouble expressing my ideas. I've had a tough time trying reason out why I am so orally inept when my thoughts, in my opinion, are far more intelligent. As a future teacher, if I gave my thoughts an A+ then my words would get a C. The proposal that I am about to make may shed some light on my situation although I admit it may ultimately be faulty. My proposition may seem like a stretch in order to excuse my poor ability to expresses myself, but I think most of my readers will agree with the connections that I make.

I propose that I have a minor case of dyslexia, "It is [...] very possible for a person to have only mild symptoms of dyslexia."(2) After researching on the internet, I found that there are many symptoms of Dyslexia but not all have to be met in order for a person to be successfully diagnosed with it. I think that I carry enough of the symptoms to base a fairly strong argument on it. I also think that many of the people who have spent time with me would be able to verify most of these symptoms, although not all. Here are the symptoms or quotes from websites that I think I exhibit followed by my further explanation of them.

"Difficulty putting thoughts into words; speaks in halting phrases; leaves sentences incomplete; stutters under stress; mispronounces long words, or transposes phrases, words, and syllables when speaking." (1)

I think this is the most obvious physical symptom that I exhibit, as anyone who lives with me can attest to. I can remember a handful of times when this has occurred as I recalled stories or something I had seen earlier in the day or week.


"Excellent long-term memory for experiences, locations, and faces." (1)

I don't know if anyone can verify this but I know I have been complimented on my long term memory a few times in the past. I can often recall situations that occurred at a really young age. I think this symptom is most predominantly seen in my location recognition and memory, though.

"Prone to ear infections; sensitive to foods, additives, and chemical products." (1)

Probably only my Mom can attest to this one, but I had a lot of ear infections as a child.

"Most dyslexic children and adults have significant directionality confusion."(3)

Examples of this symptom include confusion between "up/down, over/under, before/after, etc.", but I am fairly certain that I don't have any problems with those. The one I do have a problem with is Left/Right. Anyone who has driven under my directions most likely can remember at least one situation when I said one direction but really meant the other. It usually takes a few seconds of thought for me to visualize left versus right.

"b-d confusion is a classic warning sign."(3)

This is one of the symptoms that I believe I am the only one aware of, mainly because it usually occurs in the notes that I take for classes. This symptom is associated with the difficulty distinguishing left from right, since the only difference between a b and a d is that one faces the left and the other faces the right. I actually made this mistake today in class as I was taking notes.

"Many dyslexic people are, in fact, very good readers, but struggle tremendously with spelling or writing."(2)
"Their spelling is far worse than their reading"(3)
"Written work shows numerous signs of spelling uncertainty--numerous eraures, crossing out, etc."(3)

I don't think anyone can argue against me on this one. Everyone who knows me knows that I am a horrible speller. This is a problem that I have been dealing with for a very long time, but I had always thought that it was just a problem on its own. My problem spelling was one of the other major outliers in my intelligence that made look into possible reasons. For the amount that I read, write, and am interested in English/Language Arts, my spelling has never improved and has always been my weak spot.

"Some dyslexics suffer from poor handwriting skills. The word dysgraphia is often used to describe a difficulty in this area, and is characterized by the following symptoms:

• Generally illegible writing.
• Letter inconsistencies.
• Irregular letter sizes and shapes.
• Unfinished letters."(4)

I have always been confused by my hand writing. It is extremely messy and often lacks conformity. I wish I had a scanner so I could show everyone a page of my school notes. I have recently commented to someone about my hand writing, and how I used to wish that it was uniform like everyone else. If I take my time, I can control my writing a little bit better but it still often lacks consistency. It is odd though because my cursive is pretty good. I try every semester to take notes in one of my classes where there is not a lot to write down in cursive, and it is always a lot more legible than my print.


(1) http://www.dyslexia.com/library/symptoms.htm
(2) http://www.dyslexia.com/qasymptoms.htm
(3) http://www.dys-add.com/symptoms.html
(4) http://dyslexia.learninginfo.org/symptoms.htm

Procrastination

"Procrastination is like masturbation; In the end you're just screwing your self."

I am currently in the process of procrastinating. I have a 5 page paper due tomorrow but I can't seem to get myself to do it. I sat down an hour ago in front of my computer and all I have accomplished is opening up the "Word" window for me to potentially type in, eating two pop tarts of the blueberry type, and drinking a wonderful mug of white tea. The main contributor to my procrastination is that I get distracted by the internet too easily. So far my web journeys have taken me to: e-mail, letsrun/fourm (here is a good video that I linked to on the site: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kspB8upM8rc), Facebook, Youtube (Lilly Allen "Not Fair", Lilly Allen "The Fear", Lilly Allen "Fuck You"), and then Facebook again. I then opened up a book that I need to consult for my paper and briefly skimmed it (about 5 minutes). At this point I reopened the "Word" document window for my paper but as I did so my mind quickly became overwhelmed with the burden of the paper, which honestly isn't all that tough, and I retreated back to the internet, this time accompanied by me eating miniature Resse's Cups and Rollos. I think the miniature Resse's Cups have the best ratio of peanut butter to chocolate, so I ate a bunch.

It was at this point in my studies that I realized that i was procrastinating, and further, that I was enjoying myself (another parallel between procrastination and and masturbation). "How could I continue my process of procrastination?" I thought. Thats when I decided to write this blog. (I realize that I really need to get started on my paper so I take a small break from this entry in order to get some paper done*).

Oh, Jesus, I just remembered that tonight I went to Trader Joe's and my total cost was a lot more than I thought it was going to be. Frustrated by the lofty toll, I looked at my receipt and realize that I am a dumb ass. The chicken that I thought was $7 was actually $7 a pound and had a total cost of $17. Sometimes I frustrate myself. That chicken was no where near being worth $17, but it was probably the best chicken you could get, and that is why I thought it was such a deal for $7. It was individually packaged by piece, organic, ethically raised, and cleaned very thoroughly. Oh well, I guess I will eat it very slowly. Going to places like Trader Joe's always makes me sad because it reminds me that I will never be rich, unless I marry into money. (If anyone who reads this is rich and has a sister* that they would like to propose to me, send me an e-mail with a/s/l and a picture. All entries sent without a picture will not be considered, unless their last name is Bourke. Let me remind all of you that I am respectful, funny, really good looking, and talented. Who would not want that at their Thanksgiving table?)

Right after that little "I will never be rich" rant, I became motivated enough to get working on my paper, and did so for a good hour. During that time, I completed enough to be confident that I can finish the rest tomorrow. That means that I am no longer procrastinating, only putting off sleep, so forgive me if my entry lacks the vigor and passion that it did during my time of true procrastination.

Looking back on my night and past procrastinations, I have generated a theory that I would like all of my readers to consider. Once started on a paper there is no anxiety due to the work that one is consumed in. The process of writing a paper is fairly straightforward and simple: An intro here, a thesis there, a quote, some support, and the occasional transition sentence. I don't mind writing papers. Sometimes, I even wonder if the procrastinating that I am doing (ex. checking facebook for the fourth time in an hour) is more worthwhile than the work that I could/should be doing, and often times it is not. The problem then must lie in the actual act of beginning the work. As I mentioned earlier, I procrastinate because when I try to begin work, my brain instantly becomes overloaded. Don't ask me with what, because I'm not sure. If I had to guess, I would say that it is with the fear of thinking. I do not understand that though, because I am putting more thought into this blog than I did with my paper. Shoot, I need to go to bed I got a tempo in five and a half hours.

On a side note I would like to wish Steve Vincent, one of my many dedicated readers, a happy birthday. He is turning 20 and so hope he will stop whining like moody teenagers do.


*I actually did not take a break at this point, because I immediately remembered how I got screwed with chicken tonight at Trader Joe's.
*Needless to say this sister needs to be good looking.

March 8, 2009: Running Log

Running up to the C.S.B. my legs were feeling pretty good. I wanted to take it pretty easy today because I was trying to recover this week. The pace, once I started running with the group, was faster than I wanted it to be, though. The first mile was around 6:30. By the time we reached the second mile I was already falling off the back of the group but Hallenbeck kept blasting the pace. He didn't care one bit that I was struggling. If it was Mitch or Burke that fell off the pace he would have slowed down, and he -not to mention the whole team-would have stopped if Steve had a seizure. I get no respect on the team, especially from Hallenbeck. As I was struggling today he was blasting at almost tempo pace with no shirt on and his abs and back rippling. Finally at 7 miles he turned around and I ran back with Steve and Kemmerle.

Or Bust

I'm sure everyone has been on the edge of their seats, waiting for me to update my blog. Sorry to keep all of you (I'm thinking at least 75 dedicated readers) waiting. I guess I should first mention how Fast Track turned out. It was bad. I think I might have still been a little sick because everyone in my house raced poorly and we have all been under the weather for the past week. Although it was severely disappointing that I couldn't manage to secure a spot on the final U.D. top 10 indoor 5k times list, I am still pretty confident that on another night (one in which I wasn't sick, and it wasn't so hot on the track) I could have run 14:45. I am now going to go back to the basics for a few weeks until Outdoor season starts.

What to Make of This Thing Called a Blog

Since my resurrection of this blog last night I have been doing some thinking. What do I want the purpose if this blog to be? I am fairly certain that I do not want it to simply be an online journal where I vent on my day, write of my aspirations, or publicize my sexual conquests (or lack thereof). I also don't want my blog to strictly be about running, although, undoubtedly it will come up every so often. I could probably safely claim that this blog will allow the readers a small window into my head, so that they do not have to rely strictly on the verbalization of my thoughts. That is probably all this blog will be, but that is most likely enough to keep readers entertained.

IC4As or Bust

Coming into this Indoor Season I had very low expectations for my performances. Honestly, if it wasn't for the 280 free points (280 dollars worth of campus food) I probably would had taken the season off. I was made apparent very quickly, though, that I had made the right choice to join the team when I ran a 15:02 5k in the second race of the season. That race unexpectedly lowered my 5k p.r. by 16 seconds, suddenly forcing me to reconsider my goals for the season and the rest of the year. I did not expect to drop a time like this so early in the season. I assumed that qualifying for the IC4A meet in Boston would be just out of my grasp this winter but after my new p.r. the opportunity was now in my hands. It is now 5 days out from my last chance to qualify for the meet at FastTrack Invitational that is being held at the New York Armory. I have run some good races and workouts since that first fateful 5k and things are looking good. The only thing that worries me is that I caught a minor illness a few days ago that kept me from steady training for the past 4 days, but things are feeling better now. I have never run Indoor Track in college but I now wish I had. It is a shame that the program has been cut and we will not have the same opportunities next year as a club sport. It is do or die this Friday. There is no "next year" to qualify for IC4As. This is a feeling that I will being experiencing a lot more when my true last year roles around next year. As for now though, the time is 14:46. I will deal with next year when it comes.