Bends Toward Justice

Garnett finally did n't get a double-double. Maybe he's running out of gas? Ha! I don't think so! Gotta stay calm, gotta not turn into a psycho sportsfan blogging asshole. Deep breaths. Keep cool. They had 21 steals and 15 assists last night! Oops! I got that backwards, didn't I? Damn! I'm not keeping cool. But hell, I think there could have been whole months they didn't do that the past ten years. After the first time they beat the Nets someone on that team said there was no way they were going undefeated -- like it was a possibility! Like anyone's come even close ever before! Go here to look at a bunch of pictures of Kevin Garnett in action.

The headline of the game story on NBA.com says "Garnett leads," and his line shows some real leadership: 22 points, 20 rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals. Pierce was the scoring leader. One thing I noticed was that each time the Wizards started to close the gap as other Celtics were taking their turns shooting (and missing), one of the new big three very deliberately took things in hand and made sure we got a hoop or some foul shots. Ray Allen did it two or three times. One young fan, though, was rooting for a shorter-term Big Three -- titles for three local pro teams. He held up a sign: "RED SOX PATRIOTS CELTICS The BIG 3.'' We can hope right now can't we?

They have a whole different batch of decorated guitar sculptures now, and Johnny Cash's tour bus is parked out there, too. We went to Cleveland for Erin's wedding. The reception was at the Cleveland City Club, which was cool. We stayed at a Marriott Suites only a couple blocks away, also cool. Bracketed by one of the oldest shopping malls in the country, recently refurbished and very cool. We went for a run on Sunday that went down into the Flats by the Cuyahoga river, past the new stadium where the Browns play, by the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, down to the lakeside, back up 9th St., past Jacobs Field and around Quicken Loans Arena, back to the hotel, a very cool run of about 4 1/2 miles. As it happens, on Friday night we had been stopped at the corner of 9th and Prospect, listening to the Indians/Yankees game on the radio when the winning run was knocked in. What a noise! Later we went down to a local bar to watch the Red Sox and enjoy the crowd. Later, we watch...

First of all, what a great idea! May all your trails lead to ales. Meg and I ran the Portland Trails fundraiser 10K this morning, sponsored by Shipyard Brewing, hence the name. What a great day, and what a great race. The race started at 9:00, and by 10:15 I was drinking the first of two "free" Shipyard Export Ales. by 10:40 we were on our way home,talking about getting our second cup of coffee of the day. Here's the site for the race results: http://www.coolrunning.com/results/07/me/Sep16_Portla_set1.shtml They have my results and Meg's reversed, honest! Really! Seriously! Anyway, we never ran a 10k before, so we're really proud of ourselves, and thinking about running another one around Halloween.

My face is still weather-burned after spending four-and-a-half hours out on the flight line with my head tilted back. I got the raccoon eyes too. The American Air Power planes were as cool as I thought they'd be. That Avenger, and also the Corsair have massive engines and make the air throb when they come down the line. The announcer mentioned the "30 seconds over Tokyo" raid while the B-25 was flying around, and I haven't fully gotten it out of my mind: they flew those things off an aircraft carrier basically knowing they would never be able to land them anywhere (crash-land at best). Ballsy! The modern jets were great too. The FA-18 put on a great show. One memorable part was the pass at nearly the speed of sound. The jet came in silently, and was gone as thunder rolled across the field. I felt compelled to leave to meet Meg before the F-86/F-16 formation, but our meeting spot was just below where they formed up, so I got to see them fly together anyway. One ...

As of last night there was no news on the Reggie Miller story. However, the Celtics have signed Eddie House and Scott Pollard. I'm not sure why they need House, who is described as a "three-point specialist" (I'd like to see them sign someone described as a "defensive specialist," but maybe that's just me). Scott Pollard was a teammate of Pierce's at Kansas, so maybe they'll mesh well. He's also a solid pro of the big white stiff variety, probably has a good work ethic and has been on winning teams. Bill Simmons thinks they are poising for their big push in '08, not this year, but may pick up a final puzzle piece in season if things break the right way.

I'm getting excited about the Wings of Hope show, and thought that, even though it is nominally off-topic, I wanted to blog about it. First, here's the web address: http://www.peaseairshow.com/ And here's the schedule: 9:00-11:00 Civilian Air Craft Rides (limited) 11:00 Opening Ceremonies (Saturday Only) 11:35 Flag Drop "Silver Wings" US Army Jump Team 11:45 American Air Power B-25, P-40, P47, TBM Avenger Noon Jet Car and Rob Holland Act 12:15 L-39 Demonstration - Dan McCue 12:30 Red Star Formation Team 12:45 B-2 Flyover (August 18th Only!) 1:00 Carol Pilon Wing Walker (Rob Holland / Pilot) 1:30 Jim Parker Salto H101 Sailplane 1:45 F4U Corsair (Dan McCue / Pilot) 2:00 U.S. Navy F/A-18 Hornet Demo Team East 2:15 Legacy Formation / F-18/F4U 2:30 P-40 Warhawk Demonstration 2:45 NH Army Guard Helicopter Ground Assault Demo 3:00 Rob Holland Airshows / Ultimate 20-300s N8UB 3:15 Lockheed T-33 "Shooting Star" 3:30 F-86 Demonstration (Ed Shipley / Pilot) 3:45 U...

I'm going to post the entire AP article here. One way or another it will be out of date by the weekend. Celtics luring Miller out of retirement By JIMMY GOLEN, AP Sports Writer 1 hour, 26 minutes ago BOSTON - The Boston Celtics have spoken with future Hall of Famer Reggie Miller about coming out of retirement to help the once-proud franchise in its push for an unprecedented 17th NBA title. "I'm always flattered when my name is mentioned as someone who can still help an NBA team win a championship," Miller said Wednesday in a statement relayed to The Associated Press by the TNT network. "I've had limited discussions with Celtics management about their roster and a potential role for me. At this time, I'm enjoying my role as an analyst with TNT." ESPN.com was the first to report the talks. Celtics officials did not respond to requests for comment. Miller's agent, Arn Tellem, declined comment. Miller, who will turn 42 this month, played 18 seasons,...

On Sunday we hiked Mt. Starr King, 3907 ft. The trail continues on to Mt. Waumbek, 4006 ft., and only a mile across the saddle, but we did not go across. We shared the peak of Starr King with a couple guys who I surmised by their conversation to be peak-baggers: they were plotting future "death-march" hikes intended to get several 4,000 footers in a day. Between their conversation and the location off Rt. 2 my mind drifted back to what I still consider one of the most unpleasant and dangerous hiking experiences I've ever had, our rain-soaked assault on the Adams/Madison monolith. On Starr King those two guys and one other older solo hiker were the only people we encountered. We marched right along without conversing, stopped only three or four times on the way up, and twice on the way down, and got back to Gorham early in the afternoon. Here's someone else's picture of their tent on the peak at Mt. Starr King. This is where we encountered first, the lone hike...

Last night I saw some references to this trade, but it is only being officially announced this hour. KG comes to Boston. Jefferson, Gomes, Green, Telfair, and Ratliff to Minnesota. Every paper, web site, and blog has had time to do a full analysis before the trade even became official. I scanned 'em on NBA.com, and got sucked over to my man Bill Simmons on ESPN.com. He used a gambling analogy about Ainge's move here, and I played off it on my title. The point is Garnett, Pierce, and Ray Allen are all competitive late-career vets who know they've got a shot at a ring that they may not have ever expected to get just a month ago. Pierce is 30, Garnett 31, Allen 32. None of them has had the kind of support the other two will provide next season. Each of them has carried a team into the playoffs before. All of them are within spitting distance of career decline. Check out some stat lines: Ray Allen PPG: 21.5, APG: 3.9, RPG: 4.6, FG%: 44, FT%: 88, STL: 1.3 Paul Pierce PP...

Meg and I just got back from staying three nights in Gorham NH. On the way back today we detoured through Jackson to hike the Black mountain ski trail off Carter Notch Rd. From the peak we could see Tuckerman's Ravine, Wildcat, and Carter Notch and Dome. Above I tried to paste a hybrid image from Google maps to show the place, but it didn't work that way. I think if you click on the question mark you can see it, though.

http://northernoutdoors.com/kennebec_river_maine_white_water_rafting.html Looks like I'll be missing it...

Just got my copy of ESPN the Mag and read Bill Simmons's column about what's so great about NBA summer league in Vegas. He's about got me talked into taking a week to go out there next summer. You can probably read the column online at ESPN.com.

It looks like Glen Davis holds the promise of being the guy I hope he'll be, Gerald Green is still learning how to play basketball (but concentrating on the right thing: defense), Brandon Wallace could be a little like Tayshaun Prince, and Leon Powe is a better player than I've given him credit for. I think the Celtics are going to be much better on D next year than they have been for a long time. Here's a big quote from Sean Grande's wrap up of the summer blog (go to Celtics.com to get the whole thing): ...A very strong week for Rajon Rondo, particularly on defense and on-court leadership. As it stands on July 14, an awful lot could be asked of Rajon this winter. Finding that next level isn't an option, it's going to be a requirement...The out-of-nowhere emergence of Brandon Wallce, so impressive away from the ball, and long and active, that he lived the Summer League dream, signing his a two-year NBA contract next to a box of Lay's Potato Chips downstairs...

I just made it into Connecticut. Thought you might want to know.

Meg and I planned to go for our usual Sunday run this morning, but when we first woke up it was raining. Then a couple things conspired to delay us getting going, but we dressed in our running gear, planning to get to it. It continued to rain off and on. Eventually we checked the weather forecast and found out it could be raining any time from now until -- Armageddon, I guess. So Meg's wavering between running right now (after 11:00, and I still haven't had anything to eat), and running tomorrow AM. She asked me what I wanted to do. I hemmed and hawed. She asked again and I said, "I want to eat breakfast!" So she got more specific; when did I want to run? Anyway, we ran right then. While I was running I was thinking that, for me, putting "want" and "run" in the same sentence without a negative is just never going to make a true statement. I STILL never want to run. I do like how I feel knowing I went, though.

Talked with Brad a couple days ago. He's not psyched; thinks they should have gone ahead with a total youth movement. Talked with Pete yesterday. He sees it more positively as an attempt to make a move in the next two years. But thinks they are still a couple pieces away. I'm hoping Theo Ratliff can be one of those pieces. If he can be the defensive and rebounding presence he was three seasons ago (5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks in 27 min. per game), they can afford to be aggressive and active on D because they'll have Ratliff, Jefferson, and Perkins eating all the space in the paint. With Green and Gomes and Davis, and I hope, Tony Allen, you're going to see some highlight reel jams, follows and put-backs. I notice they're trying several huge free agents on their summer league team over the next week, along with some guards. Maybe one or two of those guys will turn out to be the missing piece(s), or maybe it's just a case of another year of confidence and ma...

First, here's an email exchange I had with a friend. I leave his gracious comment on in the spirit of hopeful self-congratulation: Jeff, Good, thoughtful analysis, as always. I just talked to Scott. He had a similiar take to yours. Pat ----- Original Message ----- From: Jeff To: Pat Sent: Friday, June 29, 2007 9:46 AM Subject: Re: Celts moves > --- Pat wrote: >> The real question, what do you think of the C's >> moves last night? >> P > > I've gotta stay ever-hopeful. I was bouncing from the > computer out to my car to listen to ESPN radio on AM > last night until I got the confirmation of the Ray > Allen deal. When I saw you had written "moves" I had > to go see what the rest of it was. I think Glen Davis > has great NBA potential. Pierce was reportedly > lobbying for immediate veteran help, and they got that > with Allen. Then Davis, I'm almost surprised he fell > far enough for them to get him. > ...

Suddenly in the middle of the day on Monday. Well, there had been moments of twingeyness the past couple weeks, but then it was real fine on Sunday. Then POW! So I blew off basketball on Tuesday. Had planned to join Pete's Wednesday speed sessions, but had to pass on it this A.M. However, I did all the right things, I guess, culminating in floating around in the municipal pool this afternoon, after which it felt good. So I went to volleyball tonight, and it felt fine, and it still feels fine. So I'll go to basketball tomorrow, and try to keep doing the good things and cut back on the bad things (like slumping in this chair typing on this computer), and maybe I'll be OK for a good long while to come.

This blog isn't just about me and my cheese sandwiches. Dan Dowling ran the above-named race on Saturday. Click on the post title for full race results. He only runs one race a year, he claims. I think he did a great job. 38 183 DAN DOWLING 48 M 10/23 M4049 HANOVER MA 24:21 7:51 38th overall, tenth of 23 among males 40 to 49, and the time of 24:21 is right there with my best time this season. Congratulations, Dan!

Dragged my sorry self down to the Boulevard around 9:00 this AM, and around it to the 3 1/4 mile post, then back around, starting and ending with just under 1/2 mi. of walking, so I think I ran (and I use the term loosely) 10K. Due to all kinds of factors it was a relatively miserable experience, though the beauty of the weather, music from Meg's iPod, and the distraction of other Boulevardiers helped quite a bit. Right now (3:45) my sorry self is dragging again. I think I need a little more caffeine.

1. On my AT cyberhike, I'm now in New York state. 2. Taking my workout level from so-so to spectacular may not have been a great idea. The storm did blow through, so volleyball time was the sunniest part of the day. It was one of the longest days of the year, and very competitive volleyball, so we played five games. At basketball yesterday morning my legs were dead, and I eventually felt some strain in my achilles, so I left a little early (I had just been joking that I had things to do and couldn't stay for more than five or six more games). 3. Another bike ride today at lunch. I put the old Shogun Stumpjumper in the shop, so I was riding the Peugot, a real speedy machine. 4. I'm negotiating with Pete about joining his speed workouts. 5. I have to run long all by myself on Sunday, because my long run is a short jog for Pete and Scott. 6. Just another number, with nothing else to say.

1. Meg rousted me this morning to revive our summer bike ride tradition. It was beautiful out when we rode. The back cove and Casco Bay were glassy. It's wonderful to sit outside on Commercial St. when hardly anyone is around yet (we get there around 6:30, just before the early commuter ferry docks). Now it is sprinkling and we may get a thundershower this PM, but I got a seven-or-so-mile bike ride in, and an hour plus of yardwork, too. 2. If the storm blows through fast enough, we may still get to play volleyball tonight, which would take my activity level from so-so to spectacular. 3. The reason the age classes were so small at Close-to-the-Coast is that all the serious runners there were in the 10K. New strategy for finishing high in my age group: run 5K's on weekends when there is a "big" 10K, 5-miler, or other (It wasn't just the 10K taking away competition; the Doc's Tavern race was the evening before, and the Maine Mile was the same weekend too). ...

Mike called yesterday just to tell me, "You blew it." Turns out they were giving away pies to the top few finishers in each age group. You had to be there to win, and lots of people weren't, so eventually they called my name. I coulda hadda pie! Actually, the results are posted at http://www.coolrunning.com/results/07/me/Jun16_Freepo_set3.shtml I finished third in my class (of six, so la-di-frickin-da). Meg was sixth in her class (of fourteen, and with a pace twice as fast as the fourteenth place finisher). Now that I look a little closer at the times, I think if I'd known I was in a head-to-head duel with these old farts, I might have been able to take every one of them and had the first-place-pie for our class! Anyway, the first four of us were relatively close together.

Meg and I ran the Close-to-the-Coast 5K on Saturday. We had planned to train up and try the 10K, but we aren't there yet. Both of us posted slower times than we did back on Mothers' Day, and blamed it partly on running on trails parts of which were covered deeply with chipped wood, and other parts of which called for close attention to avoid tripping on a root. I did 25:16 and Meg 27:11, if I remember correctly (the results still aren't posted online). We got shirts, printed by Mike Loughlin; he seemed disgusted with the design of them. His son Henry turned in a great run, finishing seventh overall.

I seem to be fading back to five days a week: going hard on Saturday and Sunday like a weekend warrior, skipping Monday then sandwiching Wednesday's volleyball with Tu/Thu runs before blowing off Friday. After school gets out on Monday, I know I'll change up a little, playing basketball Tu/Thu AM and maybe bike riding with Meg on MWF if she wants to do it again. Maybe I can keep the afternoon runs going too. That could really kick everything up a notch!

http://www.firelookout.org/towers/nh/green.htm Last year on Memorial Day weekend Bob, Chris, Lorene, Mary Beth and I climbed Green Mountain in Effingham NH and visited with the firewatcher in the tower. When we told others back at camp about the hike, many wanted to return there this year. Well, this year on Memorial Day weekend we were too far away, but we did plan to do the hike this weekend. When push came to shove only Meg and I went on the hike. And a nice start to the season it was, though we did not find the trail to the ice cave (reason to return).

For anyone keeping score at home, after the nine straight days of significant aerobic exercise, I went without on Monday, then three days in a row only by counting mowing the lawn and walking to and from a bar as a workout on Thursday. Today I got back on track with a walk to USM, long basketball session and walk back. Tomorrow should be a return to the concept of the longer long run, maybe from here around back cove and back to here.

Cyber-hike wise, that is. I just crossed out of Pennsylvania into NJ on the Anthem Rewards site. Pennsylvania is a long, long haul on the AT. My goal is to make it to Katahdin electronically by the time I go up there for real next September.

Yes I was proud of making it to nine days in a row of significant exercise. Then the weather threw me a whammy on Monday; I just couldn't convince myself to go out in the rain. Then Tuesday some serious thunderstorms boiled up right at workout time and I thought it was going to happen again. Meg and I decided to wait until later to run. The storms blew through, we had supper, the sky cleared, and we ran. The rest day helped me feel good and run fast and easy.

So here I am on Sunday having worked out every day for more than a week. Is there anything less inviting than waking up on Sunday after staying up too late and drinking too much too late too fast on Saturday, with the plan of going for a run. South Boston, the sugar bowl, Castle island, and Day Boulevard were never viewed with a more jaundiced eye.

Yesterday, Meg and I went for our neighborhood 3+ mile run. The last day that I didn't do some kind of exercise was last Friday. Basketball and walking on Saturday, running Sunday, bike ride Monday, running Tuesday, volleyball Wednesday, and running again last night. If I haul my butt out for something today, it'll be a week straight, and with the weekend coming I could stretch it to nine days easily. I noticed about the runs that even though I never felt that great about doing them, they were easy to do. I fell back from my intention to stretch my long run day and add intensity, but I think it was OK to have a plateau week, especially since in a sense my "mileage" did go up. All this sounds like even more reason for me to get out of the house and stretch my legs right now.

It was a great trip! Great to see Tommy and Dorothee, Chris and Lorene, Bob and Betsy, Donna and Bogey, Dr. Evil and Magma, Mary Beth and Jonathan, and all the kids. I was a slug and never even made it down to the point or the dock past the Harb cottage. Meg did drag me around on one short run. Mainly I abused my body with unhealthful food and too much alcoholic beverage -- got me thinking about Baxter next fall! I think we have a hike planned for over in NH in about three weeks.

A sad, sad day for Celtics fans. Read Bill Simmons on ESPN.com for the high and low of it. I created this image of "Unlucky" for my Dark Trail project. It really speaks for my mental and emotional state right now (in relation to the Celtics)

Meg visited some website that uses GPS technology to give you mileage of routes you put in. Apparently the distance from here to the Boulevard is more than 3/4 of a mile, when I thought it was closer to 2/3. This morning we ran, starting from the end of Rackleff St., down and around, then back up Woodfords. I slowed to a walk, but Meg continued to run all the way to Forest Av. I figure that's @ 4 1/2 miles, well probably a little short of it. Of course, while I'm talking about that as a long run (and it is for us) Pete is out today running a 25K race, while Phil is going for 50K. I hope it went well for them, considering it was misty, cool morning. The boulevard was packed with walkers there for a heart charity fund raiser. The negative part was weaving around them. The positive part is that there was a drumming group out under a shelter for distraction and entertainment at one point, and Crackers and Salty Pete (Portland Pirates mascots) hanging out at the walk finish ...

But only a little. Meg and I pushed our standard neighborhood run by a few blocks here, a couple blocks there. I think (hope) it takes the distance up past 3.5 Mi. We ran it on Tuesday. Yesterday I did diddly. Today we ran it again. I felt real good on the run; I was in kind of a mood when I started, but physically it was fun, and I held at that pace all the way around, so it was a nice time. I've probably doubled my running miles this week (counting from last Saturday), but no basketball and no wallyball or volleyball, which probably means less abuse on my legs, especially from the knees down.

Great Day! Great Times for Meg, Pete, and me, as well as many other people I talked with. Here 's the link for the race results. I finished in 24:25, Meg in 26:53. Go to Pete's blog Transitions and Motivations to see my whining comment. Meg wants to run longer races and I agreed to do it. She's found a 10K on June 16th here .

I was talking with a fellow Celts fan last night at a party who was more optimistic about all the young players than most of the people I've talked with lately. He was really keen on Delonte West's growth, and used it to support his argument that Doc Rivers has developed the youngsters. Today, reading Steve Kerr's analysis about why the Rockets lost their series gave me more hope for the Celtics, too. Kerr wrote, as we're seeing with teams like Phoenix, Chicago and Golden State, it's critical to have multiple players who can attack defenses and score the ball. The NBA has changed quite a bit in the past five years or so, and big, stodgy teams aren't effective anymore. The Spurs have been great with Tim Duncan in the post, but only because they added Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili to the mix several years back. With today's rules – the zone defense and hand checking, in particular – it's critical to have slashing perimeter players. Zones make it easy to ...

When I go for a run I still feel like I'm struggling (part of every run), but I noticed that afterward I don't have any soreness, extra fatigue, etc. So I knew I had to step up a little more. Well, there's only three choices: run more often, run more distance, or run more intensely. I don't think I can consistently get myself past five workout days a week until I get out of work for the summer, so I decided to run more distance AND to run with more intensity. Yesterday I jogged to the Boulevard then alternated race-effort quarters with jogging quarters all the way around, then walked back. No fatigue today, so I guess I can push even harder next week. My idea is to raise my mileage on Sundays, and run some kind of pace workout on either Wednesday or Thursday. Saturday's basketball and walking, Tuesday's wallyball -- soon to be volleyball. Add something on the Wed/Thurs that's not intense, I think I'm doing OK.

With chances for more conditioning?! Today at basketball I could really tell that I'm in better shape (aerobically -- not aerodynamically, haha!) than I've been in years: I ran more, helped more on defense, blocked and/or changed more shots, worked harder for better shot opportunities, etc. And I was still fresh when other people were leaving. Some of us stayed on for a final game of four-on-four. So, I got in better shape so I played harder and longer, so I'll keep getting in even better shape. Woo Hoo! I need to go for about a five-mile run tomorrow morning.

Meg and I ran again on Saturday, the same course as before, but reversed. I'm sure it is more than 3.5 miles. Aerobically I felt good most of the way, but I had noticed that my calves have really tightened up, so I did an unusual thing: I stretched a little before I ran. After about three miles one of my calves was really tightening up. I ended up walking the last 1/4 mi+. I'm not blaming it on the stretching. Conventional wisdom for runners says you should increase mileage by only 10%/week. I put mine up by around 30%, and increased the intensity during the same week. The calf feels good today. I may be able to get through this just by dropping the mileage back naturally (because I'm not on vacation any more). I'm considering that I may have to initiate some of the things that mature runners do, like regular stretching and strength training. I hate to consider it, but I don't want to spend the summer with a nagging tightness, or go down with an injury.

Yesterday Meg and I went for an estimated 3.5 mile run. I walked a couple miles on the beach later. Today I rode a bike down to the pier area and back, with some side jaunts and some walking around down there. I estimate the bike ride at around eight or nine miles. Later we went back down there to visit the lighthouse museum and climb to the top of the lighthouse. So, running and walking yesterday, biking and walking today; I can't seem to get psyched to run two days in a row, but we're definitely staying very active.

Meg and I ran just over three miles this morning. Then we went to the beach. After a while we decided to walk to the village for a coffee; that's about two miles. two thirds of the way there, we had a little conference and I went back for the car. So I figure I walked a good three miles. Early this afternoon we went for a little bike ride. I logged it all on Anthemrewards and made it into Pennsylvania. It'll be a while now before I cross another state line.

In contrast to Virginia, West Virginia has only two miles of the AT. I'm already in Maryland. Woohoo! I didn't expect Anthem to give me bonus points for this state line, but they did. The exercising is really becoming a habit; earlier this week I felt like I had to get out and walk just because I felt like I had to, if you know what I mean. I'm hoping to be able to legitimately log two hours each day (the max Anthem allows credit for) while we're in Georgia -- well, Tuesday through Saturday. Maybe I can make it to Pennsylvania by May. Mileages and High Points Along the A.T. By State State Mileage Highest Point Height (Feet) Maine 281 Katahdin 5267 New Hampshire 161 Mount Washington 6288 Vermont 146 Near Killington Peak 3870 Massachusetts 90 Mount Greylock 3491 Connecticut 52 Bear Mountain 2320 New York 88 Prospect Rock @ 1433 New Jersey 74 High Point 1803 Pennsylvania 232 Methodist Hill (?) @ 2100 Maryland 41 unnamed @ 2000 West Virginia *...

Woodjunkie pestered me a while ago about not having posted much. What I've been doing is making iMovies using Tom Martin's digital pictures and videos, with soundtracks I made in Garageband. I have three. I thought I could post them on Youtube, but I can't. I haven't figured out a way to get them out of this computer!

I knew I was getting close; seems like I've been in Virginia forever. This morning's 90 minutes of walking put me across this bridge into West Virginia on my cyberhike of the AT at AnthemRewards. Fifty bonus points, baby!

I'm a warrior of love With helmet in glove And baby you'll know when we go toe to toe I'm trained in hand to hand I'll bang until you can't stand I'm a warrior Warrior of Love --for Woodjunky Woodjunky would Woodjunky would He likes to see that junk slidin' round in your trunk He's got a power tool but he's a trunkjunk fool Woodjunky would woodjunky would He'll smooth it good He keeps the project clean Puts on a tung oil sheen Woodjunky would woodjunky would Oops, should've posted this at Jasmine Six-string. What I meant to say is, I went for a long walk today (snore)

Last week I had probably the best workout week in years. I played wallyball Tuesday, walked 45 min. on Wednesday, went for that run (see my last post) on Thursday, walked 45 min. again on Friday, did my regular walk/basketball/walk on Saturday, then ran for about 40-45 min. on Sunday. This week the weather is playing havoc. How about a foot of snow on April 5! I had a great night at Wallyball Tuesday, though. The first games were played at a very high level; it was intense, and I felt like the people on the court were pretty much all into it, where sometimes you have some people who make you feel like you have to take a little off. This time it was both teams playing really intensely, some great plays being made, and my team winning, which is still part of my definition of a good night (I'm still seeking spiritual enlightenment in that area). Today Meg and I went over to the S.P. Rec and ran for about half an hour on the track, which prevented a serious backslide from last week...

I went for a run today, probably about four miles. I walked to Woodford's corner, ran down to and around the Boulevard, then walked home. It was just chug, chug, chug the whole way: no spring, no zip. Heavy headwinds the first and last half-miles. But I feel good because I went out there and put in the time and put the miles under my feet. Last Saturday I thought someone was gonna have an aneurism or heart attack or stroke when five of us went to the school yard and played two-on-two. All morning these guys are talking about their cholesterol and their blood pressure, then they run for five minutes and their heads turn red and they can't catch their breath. It was scary. Maybe I should learn CPR. I'm in second place in one final four pool. If Ohio State beats Georgetown, and Florida wins it all, I think I'll have the victory. It'd be nice to fold up those bragging rights and tuck them into my pocket.

It's all just in fun, since wagering is illegal, but with the fresh start of the sweet sixteen only hours away, here are my picks: I'm still calling UCLA, Fla, and UNC for the final four, but switching my allegience from Ohio State to Texas A&M (though I think Ohio State might get serious about trying to win games earlier after that last scare. Then again they might be too cocky to see it as a scare -- I hope so). Actually I wish I could believe that UNC could get knocked off by Georgetown, but I don't. So what's left? UNLV beats Oregon before losing to Fla. and So Ill sadly must fall to Kansas. Fla prevails over UNC in a bruising final. Good thing I'd never do anything illegal, like bet on any of the above. If I did, by now I'd be thinking that as long as I'm going to lose money anyway, I might as well bet so I can root against the teams I'd like to see lose (UNC OSU, UNLV) and for the teams I'd like to see win (Fla, Georgetown, Texas A...

It's just a good thing wagering is illegal, or I'd be losing money on my not-quite-good-enough choices of teams in the two pools I'm playing "just for fun." I have five teams still alive in the pick-eight pool: Fla, UCLA, Tex A&M, S. Ill., and Tenn. But someone else has seven teams left, and a bunch of people have six, so they all have to be really wrong about the sweet sixteen while I have to be really right for me to catch up. In the other pool I've fallen about ten points behind the leader. Here's a killer about the whole thing: even with no money involved I'm emotionally invested in my choices, so when a UNLV or a USC plays really well, I can't bring myself to root for them because I chose the other team to win. Then when a team like UNC plays...well, I'd love to have seen Mich. St. knock them off, but my only interest was to know they'd won (by that late I couldn't even concentrate to follow the game).

Huge Winter Storm. Some decent games last night; I hung in right to the end. My afternoon was happy, and in the evening things continued to go pretty well. I got out of Thursday with only one loss, but as yesterday went along things slid a little. Winthrop was my big pick to upset, and they did, but Georgia Tech let me down, then Villanova let me down, Arizona let me down, and to finish off the night Arkansas let me down. From now on I don't pick any teams whose names start or end with "a." I played that bracket with a very small number of people, so I may still be in the running on it; five losses in thirty-two games doesn't seem too bad. I play another pool that involves picking eight teams, two in each region, no two with the same seed number. I have all eight teams alive in that one, but I'll probably lose one or more today (BC and/or Mich St) and could easily get spanked hard before the end of the weekend. It was hard to drag myself out of bed to go pla...

I was full of despair about VCU when I wrote the earlier post; I ended up having to leave to get Sadie before I wrote about how they seemed to be hanging on by their fingernails, how foul trouble was going to take them out of the game, how my anti-Duke bias had made Duke seem more vulnerable than they really are. VCU pulled it out! What a great game! Eric Maynor! Oh my goodness! The first upset of the tournament and I picked it. Oh! I'm so excited. And Michigan State won, too (I don't think a 9 over an 8 is really an upset). My Xavier over BYU isn't looking so hot right now, but there's a long way to go. I've only actually taken one loss so far.

Quick update on my tournament standings: We've just returned to Ohio State v. C Con State, a game everyone in the gym and everyone watching on TV knew was going to be a blowout after the first six possessions. It is nice to see and get to know Ohio State's players, but they aren't being tested, so we aren't really getting to know them. VCU-Duke is at halftime.

For the next few days any blogging I do will probably be March Madness related, but here's a last Mary's Walk note. Click on the header to see many photos, but here's one of some of my favorite Mary's Walkers (the three in the background).

I printed out a bracket, read a web page that offered odds on each team winning each game each round, looked at the power rankings (I don't even know what those are!). Read an analysis by somebody on Yahoo, looked back at ESPN Mag's giant killers article, and made most of my picks. I want to believe that a year's experience and maturity will only help, and I loved the way Florida played last year, so I'm favoring them as my #1 of #1s. North Carolina looked really good while they were crushing Duke last week, before the nose-smashing. As corollary, Duke looked really bad. An aside: Bill Simmons says a basketball fan has to choose between UNC and Duke, but I'd just as soon see them both lose -- the only historically good program I continue to root for is UCLA; I like their chances this year. VCU got high marks as a giant-killer from ESPN and I'm picking them (maybe wishfully) to knock off Duke in the first round then stay hot to beat Pitt. My even more sketc...

Pete paced me again. Much faster than last week. Meg ran also. As did Unca Phil. Sadie and the rest of the family walked Mary's Walk. Results: 58 16/41 M1518 20:29 6:36 Jason Decker 18 M 226 Shapleigh ME (A former student) 116 22/70 M4049 22:17 7:11 Philip Vezina 47 M 290 South Portland ME (Unca Phil) 126 26/41 M1518 22:34 7:16 Madison Moody 16 M 547 Porter ME (Another former student) 228 20/55 M5059 24:58 8:03 Jeff Lyons 50 M 502 Portland ME 229 21/55 M5059 24:58 8:03 Pete Lyons 51 M 613 Portland ME 434 30/58 F4049 28:48 9:17 Meg Lyons 45 F 503 Portland ME Click on the post title for a link to complete results. My time was more than two minutes faster than last week's, so I'm feeling pretty good about running right now. Later in the day I flopped on the couch to watch Ohio State, and fell asleep. I've watched par...

The Irish Road Rover got my Irish up. Yesterday it just seemed too cold to get out and run, but this evening Meg and I went to the SP Rec and ran on the track there. I felt good, and while I was doing it I daydreamed about improving my 5K time and/or upping my mileage enough to run a 10K or more this year. Or maybe I'll just manage to lose a few more pounds and get up and down the floor with more alacrity at basketball.

Sad News for all adventurous drinkers: Beer's "Indiana Jones" researched worldwide By Douglas Martin The New York Times Article Last Updated: 03/01/2007 10:24:54 PM MST Alan D. Eames followed beer to 44 countries. (The Denver Post)Dummerston, Vt. - Alan D. Eames, who cultivated his reputation as "the Indiana Jones of beer" by crawling into Egyptian tombs to read hieroglyphics about beer and voyaging along the Amazon in search of a mysterious lost black brew, died Feb. 10 at his home. He was 59. His wife, Sheila, said he died after suffering respiratory failure while he slept. Eames called himself a beer anthropologist, a role that allowed him to expound on subjects like what he put forward as the world's oldest beer ad, dating to roughly 4000 B.C. In it, a Mesopotamian stone tablet depicted a headless woman with enormous breasts holding goblets of beer in each hand. The tag line, at least in his interpretation, was: "Drink Elba, the beer with the heart ...

These pictures were all at the results site on cool runnings . Here's Pete and me finishing in stride, as I said before. This is my friend Bob from Wallyball. I think this is like the only race he runs all year. Early in the race Pete pointed these women out a little in front of us, and claimed he'd never lost a race to a greenhead before. He can't repress his competitive fire. We did eventually pass them and finish ahead of them. TJ Hesler teaches with me, and is pretty serious about his running. In the second picture he's holding his age group award.

I had a great time at the Irish Road Rover today; I didn't post a good time, but I had a great time. Pete ran with me; I think staying near me helped keep his racing instincts in check so he didn't go into the anaerobic zone except while whe were climbing the big hill. We saw TJ, Bob, Unca Phil, and a bunch of runners Pete knows. Pints of Guinness, Harp, and Smithwick's are $2.50 at Brian Boru' on Sundays, so we had three after the race. Here are our official results from Cool Runnings : place # name time avg. mi. 302 451 Jeff Lyons 27:44 8:57 303 469 Pete Lyons 27:45 8:57 It stinks that it's published this way, because Pete was waiting for me the whole time, like I said above, and I think both of us were trying to finish in stride, and did. I'm guessing this is Unca Phil: 133 521 PHIL ZEZIAZ 23:19 7:32 Now I'm psyched for the Kerryman next week, for the Seadogs' race on Mothers' Day, and for more running.

Did my walk/hoop/walk today. I actually hustled maybe a little more than usual in the games today. Then walking home I helped some people get their car out of their icy driveway. Afterward they offered me a ride. I said, "No, thanks. I'm walking for the exercise." Which made me feel very altruistic (and healthy, like pushing the car was part of my workout.)

and the snow is piling up outside :( The Brian Boru/Habitat for Humanity race is day after tomorrow. I think the last time I ran 5K in one straight shot was December, maybe early January. Argg! I went for a run on Wednesday, but I don't think it was more than 2.5 miles. I'll just jog along, and concentrate on the drinking afterwards; you gotta love road races sponsored by pubs. Next weekend it's the Kerryman Pub 5K in Saco.

Today I did my usual walk/basketball/walk, which I log on Anthem Rewards as two hours of walking (as I told Chris [Chris at basketball -- not Chris Reagan], no one can make me run more than I want to at basketball). So on my cyberhike of the Appalachian Trail I'm at Rockfish Gap in Virginia (pictured above). I've now covered 850 miles of the trail, and am already back up to 270 reward points. Here's another picture that's appropriate as far as the cyberhike is concerned: The guy on the left in the picture is Dave Twomey, a basketball friend and a neighbor.

I'm still really down about DJ. I remember going to see Pepperdine play then-undefeated UNLV with Uncle Lorry. First of all, we got there and the game was sold out, but he scored us a couple nosebleed seat tickets from some student/scalper. UNLV was loaded with unbelievable athletes, while Pepperdine had some big South American center and Dennis Johnson. At the end UNLV had the lead and the ball and were in a four-corners. One of their players busted from the backcourt to the hoop and dunked. This was the year BEFORE dunking became legal again in college hoops. Technical foul. Pepperdine gets a shot and the ball and wins the game. Bill Simmons' article (linked at the link above) is the best thing he's written in a couple months.

Dennis Johnson, September 18, 1954 - February 22, 2007.

Nominally this blog is about logging workouts and motivating each other to get in shape for the big K. In keeping with the workout log theme I should mention that I walked to and from the gym for basketball yesterday (planning to do that again tomorrow) and played wallyball last night -- doubling up during vacation week. In practice, a scan of entries will reveal, the blog is about anything to do with working out, anything to do with Katahdin, Baxter or the K Krew, the Celtics, the NBA and soon March Madness, also probably anything about beer drinking (especially if it is funny).

This will solve one of Stephen's complaints, too! I've been tutoring this guy's grandson after school, and he's teaching me how to harness up Bullwinkle here. I'm starting to get to work on how to drive him; this vacation week came at a great time. They keep pretty busy with skidding out logs in the winter, but he (and his cart -- not pictured) are going to be available next September. Does one of you guys have a tow hitch on your vehicle so we can trailer his rig up there? We are going in early September, aren't we? He's scheduled to pull at the Fryburg Fair the first week in October.

Peter Stringer on Celtics.com: LAS VEGAS - It was all about hops and props for G-Money Saturday night. He used props in his dunks, gave props to Dee and Red, and he's about to get mad props after being crowned the 2007 Slam Dunk champ, putting on a memorable show in Las Vegas in front of 15,694 fans. For weeks, Green's been telling anyone who asked that he had some tricks up his sleeve, and wanted to do something nobody's ever seen before. And despite a painful toothache that bothered him all weekend, Green rose to the occasion - literally - to out-dunk defending champ Nate Robinson, Tyrus Thomas and Dwight Howard. Along the way, he brought out a few props (a table, a retro Dee Brown jersey and a cardboard cutout of Robinson) and showed a little respect to the old school by evoking the memories of Brown's 1991 peek-a-boo slam, and by donning a #2 headband to honor Celtics patriarch Red Auerbach. "He was the heart, face and soul of the Boston Celtics, I went with th...

I don't know why, but I'm drawn to the idea of the zipline. Dick O'Meara told me about taking his family on a zipline ecotour in Costa Rica, and it reminded me of Alpine Adventures' setup over in NH.

Check out these other great Penobscot River Pics from the same source as the Cribworks pic below. He's got a bunch of other great Maine pics there too. Here's to digital Dan!

Looks like Fun! Here's what North Country has to say about this trip : Breathtaking scenery as you paddle under Katahdin in Baxter State Park. Guaranteed whitewater through dam-controlled releases every day. Classes range from three to five; overall a class 4 river: the most technical whitewater in Maine and the eastern United States. This is the cribworks, a class five bit.

I was so motivated by Pete's comment about my Sunday workout that I did the workout again last night. That's all sort of true. Actually Meg and I went to play wallyball, but when we got there a racketball player had apparently had a heart attack on one of the courts our group uses. There were lights flashing all over the parking lot; I think they used that shock defibrillator on him in there; when they wheeled him out an EMT was squeezing an airbag into his unreacting mouth and compressing his chest as they went by. It all looked very grim. That court was not available that night. Every Tuesday Meg has to decide between basketball and wallyball, and she had been begged to fill in last night. When the situation became 12 players with one court, she switched to basketball, and after a moment's thought I went with her. I walked 1/2 mile to warm up, ran 1 mile, walked 1/2 mile, ran 1 mile, walked again (another mile) until I'd been doing it for 50 minutes. Today I'm...

Still waiting for the reward. I watched the refreshing box score for the last 2 1/2 minutes of last night's game against the T'wolves. When I started Pierce had played 29 minutes and scored 29 points. While I was watching he got an assist on a Jefferson dunk. But the Celts went from up five to tied, with the ball, with 26.something to go. They got a 24 second violation!!! Ricky Davis, former Celtic Ricky Davis, scored the game winner with .2 left. Much-maligned former Celtic Mark Blount scored 20. How does Pierce do it? He's been out forever with the "stress reaction", just got out from two days in the hospital, and he goes for 29 points and more minutes than Shaq's playing after two weeks back. What would Pierce accomplish with a Shaq or Duncan drawing mega attention in the low post? I hope Al Jefferson is rounding into a guy who'll give us the answer next season, though I noticed Doc Rivers was subbing Kendrick Perkins for him on D at the end ...

Meg had a basketball game this evening, so I went to SP Rec with her and walked and ran while she played. I ran about twenty minutes in the middle of about thirty minutes of walking. Actually felt good while I was running, like I could have kept going for longer. Really I stopped out of boredom as much as anything else. I'm really looking forward to February vacation, because I'll kick my workouts up a notch for that week. Then when I run those two races in early March I'll get pushed again. That, and a little spring weather, will get me motivated to do a little more each week until April vacation when I can go up another notch.

I came home from basketball this morning and logged my walking for this week on the Anthem Rewards: Awesome Adeventure page. I'm still in Virginia, and got curious about where in Virginia. Apparently, I recently crossed the James River. Here's a link to a National Park Service map (in pdf) of the Appalachian Trail. This week I'm somewhere between the Priest and Reed's Gap. Katahdin is a long, long way away .

Portland has something called the First Friday Art Walk: all the art studios downtown in the "Arts District" have open houses. I walked into town (I'm trying to get past thinking of the walk as a workout, but it burned calories), met Meg and friends at the Intown Grill for Geary's Pales and appetizers, then hit an open house for another Geary's and a snack. Healthy body, cultured artistic sensibility, fogged mind, and home before nine, as the sleet turns to icy snow.

Here's how Candy stays in shape during the off-season. Yes it's the Vacationland Vixens, Maine Roller Derby. Click the pic to go to their web site. Team members include Punchy O'Guts, The Mom Bomb, and Lois Blow. Now, about weight lifting and the age-old question: heavy weights/low reps. Or light weights/high reps? This picture shows the proper initial form being demonstrated in the Guinness Brewery. The following picture shows the proper initial form being demonstrated by Candy Trash in Fantasyland. Conclusion: if you're Candy, or a candyass, go light. All others go for the gusto. If you're only half a candyass, you could try this:

In the news today: Eating less and exercising more are equally good at helping take off the pounds, U.S. researchers said on Friday in a study that challenges many of the popular tenets of the multibillion dollar diet and fitness industry. Tests on overweight people show that a calorie is just a calorie, whether lost by dieting or by running, they said. They found there is no way to selectively lose belly fat, for instance, or trim thighs. And their carefully controlled study added to evidence that adding muscle mass does not somehow boost metabolism and help dieters take off even more weight. Within the story there are implications that keeping your weight low may extend your life. Here's a link to my brother Pete's blog , where he's recording his daily work to return from out-of-shape (read "better shape than Jeff") to in shape (read "better shape than a man his age has a right to be"). Again this reinforces my point that in my world I'm a fatas...

Last night I played wallyball, the regular Tuesday outing. I may just be on a good streak, but I think I'm playing better because I go every week since Meg keeps choosing basketball instead. We won three games, and every one was a come-from-behind 15 to 13 win. Those were tough battles. Fun!

My grill tools arrived from Anthem today. I don't think my grill is good enough to go with them; I'm going to have to get a new grill, maybe bigger, maybe stainless steel, better yet enamelled steel. I think that'll help me get in better shape. They're in a little silver suitcase. I really want to take them somewhere. I'd feel like James Bond with the attache case, or the guy who carries the nuclear launch codes for the President, or -- hey what about the suitcase in Pulp Fiction ? Yesterday and Sunday all I did was go for a walk. Here's the sign for where I am on my virtual Appalachian Trail hike. Somewhere in Virginia. I might be getting close to halfway to Maine. I wonder if I can get to the virtual Katahdin by the time we go back to hike Katahdin next September?