Author: Jake
Grade=A
Total Miles=49.96
Average Pace=7:11 per mile
This was a pretty good week for me running-wise. I was frustrated with my pace on the shorter runs, but I was able to really pick it up on Wednesday and Today. I was able to push out a 7:05 pace today for 16 miles. That is probably the fastest pace that I have ever had for more than 10 miles. I don’t want it to seem like I’m bragging, because believe me, I’m well aware that 7:05 is not some sort of amazing pace, especially when you take into account that there are plenty of people who can do a marathon at better than a 6:00 per mile pace. But I’m just saying, for me, I’m feeling pretty good about this week. 
Six weeks until the Hartford Marathon and 10 weeks until NYC. Woot!
Author: Reagan
Guys, my friend and running partner is raising money for charity and getting ready to run the NYC Marathon this year. She is supporting a great cause and has pledged to raise $3,000.
She can do it, I know she can. Can you help her? You see, it will also be helping me, because Leslie and I run once or twice a week together and she is a huge motivator for me when it comes to my training.
Click here to donate
Please? Even 5 or 10 bucks will add up so fast. I’ll love you forever. Spread the word if you don’t mind. Let me know if you donate and I’ll write you a poem 
THANKS SO MUCH for whoever does it, I really really really appreciate you supporting my friend and running partner and her charity.
***also read more about her cause by clicking on the link.
Author: Jake
This has been a pretty strange weekend, for me. Not strange in a bad way, just different. I think that the rain today might have something to do with it. We had a huge day full of activities planned today, but as it stands, I have only made it outside today for three quick tasks. 1. Moving the car (when I shot the photo above); 2. taking our friends’ dog (below) for a walk (we are dogsitting, while they are out of town; and, 3. to do a quick and wet 4m. run. Other than that, I have been helping Reagan shoot another tutorial for her hair blog. Right now the battery is charging, so that we can do one more.
I suppose that I can take comfort in the fact that we had such a productive day yesterday. We had our long run in the morning, for which we incorporated the Summer Streets event. Summer Streets is when the City shuts down Park Ave to auto traffic, so that peds and bikes and ride all the way from 72nd St. to the Brooklyn Bridge. It was a really cool run. Apparently the training is paying off, too, because Reagan and I both felt fine afterward.
We headed up to see Piper after grabbing some lunch. It was a cool visit, because one of our friends came with us, who was meeting Piper for the first time. We talked about Piper and how proud we were of her accomplishments, for about 4 hours straight, hahaha. It was one of those overzealous proud-parent moment, that ended up being a lot longer than a moment. We didn’t get any photos of her, this weekend. Actually, Reagan snapped some really cute ones on Friday that she will probably share. But I didn’t get any.
I hope that everyone else had a great weekend.
Someone is barbecuing in our alley. It smells delicious.
Author: Jake
Grade=A
Total mileage for the week=56.15
I feel like I may have been a bit generous with the grade. Even though I did all of the mileage this week, I haven’t been at my normal pace all week. But, I’m just about to crest the half way mark in my training program, so I feel like I have some time to bring up the speed a bit. Plus the 20+ miles that I did on Saturday was the longest distance I have done this year so far, since I didn’t do a spring marathon this year. Next week is another pretty hard week, then week 12 is a bit of a break. The end.
Author: Jake
This photo is for reference, only. I had to dig it out of the archives to help with the visual. I was probably 18 in that photo, taken by my brother Sam in our parents’ basement. It was one of those nights where we were making fun of SJ cowboys and documenting it.
Flash forward to yesterday. I had about a week and a half of facial hair going, mostly out of sheer laziness. It was time to get rid of it, so I shaved it into a handlebar mustache just like in the photo above, before hopping in the shower after my run. The only purpose was to make Reagan laugh, which she did (nervously). I had intentions of shaving completely before work this morning. I was able to carry out that plan, but not before taking a run down the west side path.
I woke up totally forgetting about the trucker ‘stache and hit the trails. Along the way, I came across a couple of friends who started laughing when they saw me. I was confused for a sec, until they complimented my handlebars. Hahahah.
About 10 minutes later, I caught up to this dude running in moccasins with duct tape on the bottom, who had stopped to be a good Samaritan and remove a dead rat from the path. To myself, I was like “oh man, I have to talk to this guy.” So I struck up a conversation with him, and we ended up running about 6 miles together. I learned that he is almost 50 and lives in my neighborhood, that his name is Barry and he grew up inspired by Prefontaine, but had only started running again recently after adopting the minimalist approach to footwear.
Barry is awesome, I wish that I could have kept going with him. When it came time for me to turn around and head back up town, I thanked him for the chat and said that I hoped to run into him again. Almost immediately afterward, I remembered about my mustache. Hahahahah. He probably just thought that I too, was inspired by Prefontaine.
Author: Jake
Alright this evaluation is a day late, and the one below is a week and one day late. But here goes. Last week, I earned and “I,” for “incomplete.” That is nicer than an F, right? Plus, I really was sick, and I went from zero miles for 10 days, straight to a 14 mile run. So, I couldn’t just give myself an F. Total Miles last week=14.27. So, whatev. I’m already on track for a perfect score, this week.
As for the weekend ending on August 7th. I tried to tough it out, at the beginning of the week, even though I was getting sicker as the week progressed. I managed to fire off just shy of 35 miles before making the decision to lay low. But I do feel like a complete dud for missing my 18 mile run that was scheduled for that Saturday. All factors considered, I’m going to score that week with a C+. Definitely not my best, but certainly not the worst.
Here’s to being able to breathe!
Author: Jake
Don’t you love those weeks where you are so busy that they just fly past and before you even realize it, they are over? I love those weeks (but I hate when that happens on vacation). I have been too busy to even shave (see above). The shot above is perfect evidence of why I should spend my time behind the camera, not in front of it, hahaha. A guy that I was working at an event with, on Wednesday night, grabbed my camera and snapped one of me. I have seriously never felt less attractive, than I have in the couple of weeks. My tan is faded, I need a haircut, my skin is breaking out and I have bags under my eyes. Not a great combo.
Jessica White (below), on the other hand, was looking fabulous, that night. Ms. White was hosting the runway show Wednesday night. Can you believe that everyone is already starting to ramp up for fall fashion week? It is kind of exciting, because I love fashion week. But, it is kind of depressing, since that means that summer is basically done.
I dropped by PS11, again today, for Highsnob and had another great chat with my favorite Brazilian artists. Below is a shot of the finished piece, with Otavio shooting hoops in the foreground.
Thursday night, it was raining, so I didn’t run. No running today either. 14 miles tomorrow, it should be interesting, after so much time off.
I’m definitely looking forward to spending some time with Piper this weekend. Reagan and I have some pretty fun stuff planned, too.
To wrap things up– Ang tipped me off to an error that was happening in IE browsers when she was trying to comment. So, thanks for helping me troubleshoot, Ang. Also, my apologies to the other thousands, actually probably millions (hahahahaha) of people who have been experiencing the same frustrating problem while attempting to comment.
I hope that everyone has a fantastic weekend.
Author: Jake
Tuesday, I dropped back by the piece that Os Gemeos are working on. This time, I was able to chat with Gustavo (above) for a while in Portuguese. I can’t tel you how great it was to chat with a Brazilian that has a proper Paulista accent (not to mention that it was cool to chat with him regardless dialect). He said that they are going to try to wrap this piece up by the end of the week. So, I’ll be back by there, probably tomorrow to shoot the finished product. The image below shows the progress, as of Tuesday afternoon (Moody Blues, anyone?).
I’m still not feeling 100%, but I can’t really take much more of a break from running, and expect to stay sane. If it isn’t raining tonight, I plan to resume with the training sched.. I’m a bit nervous, after taking a full week off. Thankfully my long run, slated for Saturday is only 14 miles. I will have a week to get back into the groove (Madonna, anyone?), before my 20 mile run next weekend.
The part that I’m really looking forward to, about the next two long runs, is that Summer Streets is currently in full effect. So, instead of doing my usual out-and-back down the Hudson River path, I can do Park Avenue, instead. Should be a blast, and a much welcomed change of scenery.
But, the biggest thing on my mind/load off of my mind, is that all of the nerd-stuff that I have been chipping away at for the last week and a half is finally resolved. Everything is now back in a relatively maintenance free stasis (fingers-crossed). I feel like I can finally get back to real life, and it isn’t a day too soon, because I am super behind on EVERYTHING.
Author: Reagan
At the beginning of this week, I decided I needed to, no had to, follow my marathon training program with 100%.
I did it, booyah.
Running has never been harder for me and I have been so worried about this marathon. I still have a while to prepare, but I’m running slower by about a whole minute per mile, and the long runs just aren’t coming to me as easily as they used to. I think this is mostly because of the extra 5-7 pounds I gained last year eating all the sweets that I ever looked at. (I know I’m not fat, but as an athlete, it’s hard to perform well with any extra weight. I consider myself very fortunate to be healthy enough to be so active.)
I’m really proud of this week, it was hard! I had a 14 mile run, a 7m, a 4m, an 8m and a 6m. I ran over 39 miles this week! I really am very pleased with my hard work, and I am starting to notice my love for running regaining a little. Slowly.
If you look close at the picture, you’ll notice I’m supposed to run 16 miles tomorrow (I might use Sunday as an excuse) and also that I’m almost half way done with my training! I have never trained this long for a marathon, but because it is the New York City marathon, and the course is very challenging (and I’m not in my best of shape), I decided I needed the extra time to condition. My first marathon I trained for in 16 weeks, and my second I trained for in 11 weeks.
Enough of my running. bye!
Author: Jake
This week, I earned an F. I only ran 2 of the 7 runs that were scheduled. It would have been a super easy week, with my longest scheduled run only being 9 miles. Oh well. I guess if I was going to be sick, this was the week to do it. I did step it up a bit today, though by doing close to 10 miles, when the training program only had 2 scheduled. It was only supposed to be a 7 miles run. Reagan and I ran most of it together. We decided to do some speed work coming back across the bridge. I said that I would wait for her back on the Manhattan side. So I waited for 10 minutes. I knew that she wasn’t 10 minutes behind me. So I started getting really worried that she had been hit by a bike or something and ran back across. I got all of the way to Jersey and figured out that she must have found some sneaky way to elude me after coming back across. So I started my watch again and headed back. She was home waiting for me with Gatorade. Such a sneaky little devil.
The best part about today, is that I felt about 80% better. I should have no problem doing the 10.5 m scheduled for tomorrow morning, at my normal pace. Hopefully this will be the last F that I earn.
