blistering speed. . .flash is fast, flash is cool
Ha ha. I wish the reasons for my blisters were my speed. Instead they're on the bottoms, tops, sides, and between the toes of both my feet, about nine total, because I wore the wrong socks in an 18.6 mile race on Sunday. I mostly felt great through 15 miles or so, but my feet had started to give me a little trouble starting back at mile 2. For the first 14 miles I ran with my teammate Ryan and I felt so good. We were working together, talking a bit, and hitting the aid stations for Gatorade, water, and red bull. Mile after mile we were right about 5:50 and then just before mile 15 I went from thinking of a top 10 finish to thinking about how I had no way of getting to finish line besides my own two feet. My own two feet that were screaming. My gait quickly changed when the pain became overwhelming. It shortened, tightened, and I started landing on my heels to avoid the pain of my toes. Soon I was dreading the site of people cheering and, strangely, I was no longer breathing hard. I couldn't even run fast enough to be out of breath.
When I finally crossed the line, some 4 minutes behind Ryan, I was actually a little relieved to see the blisters. I was a little afraid that I had hallucinated the pain. 2 hours running does funny things to your mind. Once I tore off those horrible socks I became bit of a human freak show. Ryan took pictures of the worst of the blisters, a blood blister 3/4" x 3" on my right foot, and everyone wanted to take a look. I felt like the elephant man. Okay, not really.
E raced, too, and did well for herself. She's raced two weeks in a row now and I can see the fitness and competitiveness starting to surface. We're both planning to race again Thanksgiving morning and then I might shut it down for a couple weeks. We'll see. I also might run the Aggie alum tradition Sage's 10-miler. Either way, I'm taking two weeks off before the end of the year.
I think it was a pretty successful season. I only ran 9 seconds faster than last year in the 5k but I think that was slightly due to circumstances. I did run almost 90 seconds faster (converted estimate based on slightly different course length) at the 6-mile XC finals than I did last year. Strangely, I ended up 14th overall in the final series points. Part of that was the reward for showing up often and to a couple of races with pretty low attendance. Almost everyone who finished ahead of me in the points total is much faster than me. It's kinda funny to see my name with theirs.
I'm kinda tore down right now. The blisters kept me from running again today and the wind has just ravaged my sinuses. I'm cranky and should probably just go to sleep.
I've been thinking about a friend who sent out a distressing e-mail to some of his friends (including me) about how he is considering selling his record collection. It's tough for me to imagine. I think he and I have always approached the whole record buying/crate digging a little differently. I only want to have records that I really really like a lot. He's no different. But I think because he's never really DJ'ed his records are still in really good shape. Most of mine are pretty trashed. I have a few that are worth near $100 mint, but mine have finger marks and dust on them because they served their crowd-rocking function. And that's totally fine with me. Years ago Strom and I had a talk about how we weren't going to keep buying records because we wanted to collect records. We were buying them to play them for ourselves, each other, and whoever would put up with us. Years later, like 12 years later, I'm still digging a bit, and Strom will be once he returns to the continent. Just last weekend I copped an Isaac Hayes soundtrack, and an early Generation X lp. I can't wait for Strom to return so that I can play the 'Tough Guys’ record for him. That's the joy of it. Some time when you're over, you have to check out the insert for the BBE-released "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash". It's got some excellent photos of well-used records, not to mention a great biography of Flash.
So, Marty, instead of getting rid of your excellent, hard-earned collection, I think you should go the other direction. Buy some 1200s. They should be cheap now that the fad is over. Play your records a ton. Wear some of them out. Get pissed when you drop the needle too hard on a poorly pressed Def Jam original LP (say, for instance, "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back") and irreparably gouge the wax. Just play them and appreciate them. Let the artists talk to you. Play house parties and in closets and at stupid parties where nobody shows. Try to blend two songs until they trainwreck and everyone on the dancefloor is looking at you. Accidentally pick up the needle on record everyone is dancing to and play it off like you meant to. Say Ho!
All right, I might be imagining it, but I think I smell cigarette smoke in our living room. I think it's seeping in through the swiss cheese that is the weather-stripping on our front door. Damn.
When I finally crossed the line, some 4 minutes behind Ryan, I was actually a little relieved to see the blisters. I was a little afraid that I had hallucinated the pain. 2 hours running does funny things to your mind. Once I tore off those horrible socks I became bit of a human freak show. Ryan took pictures of the worst of the blisters, a blood blister 3/4" x 3" on my right foot, and everyone wanted to take a look. I felt like the elephant man. Okay, not really.
E raced, too, and did well for herself. She's raced two weeks in a row now and I can see the fitness and competitiveness starting to surface. We're both planning to race again Thanksgiving morning and then I might shut it down for a couple weeks. We'll see. I also might run the Aggie alum tradition Sage's 10-miler. Either way, I'm taking two weeks off before the end of the year.
I think it was a pretty successful season. I only ran 9 seconds faster than last year in the 5k but I think that was slightly due to circumstances. I did run almost 90 seconds faster (converted estimate based on slightly different course length) at the 6-mile XC finals than I did last year. Strangely, I ended up 14th overall in the final series points. Part of that was the reward for showing up often and to a couple of races with pretty low attendance. Almost everyone who finished ahead of me in the points total is much faster than me. It's kinda funny to see my name with theirs.
I'm kinda tore down right now. The blisters kept me from running again today and the wind has just ravaged my sinuses. I'm cranky and should probably just go to sleep.
I've been thinking about a friend who sent out a distressing e-mail to some of his friends (including me) about how he is considering selling his record collection. It's tough for me to imagine. I think he and I have always approached the whole record buying/crate digging a little differently. I only want to have records that I really really like a lot. He's no different. But I think because he's never really DJ'ed his records are still in really good shape. Most of mine are pretty trashed. I have a few that are worth near $100 mint, but mine have finger marks and dust on them because they served their crowd-rocking function. And that's totally fine with me. Years ago Strom and I had a talk about how we weren't going to keep buying records because we wanted to collect records. We were buying them to play them for ourselves, each other, and whoever would put up with us. Years later, like 12 years later, I'm still digging a bit, and Strom will be once he returns to the continent. Just last weekend I copped an Isaac Hayes soundtrack, and an early Generation X lp. I can't wait for Strom to return so that I can play the 'Tough Guys’ record for him. That's the joy of it. Some time when you're over, you have to check out the insert for the BBE-released "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash". It's got some excellent photos of well-used records, not to mention a great biography of Flash.
So, Marty, instead of getting rid of your excellent, hard-earned collection, I think you should go the other direction. Buy some 1200s. They should be cheap now that the fad is over. Play your records a ton. Wear some of them out. Get pissed when you drop the needle too hard on a poorly pressed Def Jam original LP (say, for instance, "It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back") and irreparably gouge the wax. Just play them and appreciate them. Let the artists talk to you. Play house parties and in closets and at stupid parties where nobody shows. Try to blend two songs until they trainwreck and everyone on the dancefloor is looking at you. Accidentally pick up the needle on record everyone is dancing to and play it off like you meant to. Say Ho!
All right, I might be imagining it, but I think I smell cigarette smoke in our living room. I think it's seeping in through the swiss cheese that is the weather-stripping on our front door. Damn.
posted by jacob lee at 9:30:00 PM
0 comments
