Joe LeMay, AKA LeMoo
Send me mail

Welcome to the Joe LeMay Home Page. Use the navigation menus up top to navigate this site. New visitors might want to read the bio Page.

4/7/2008 - Ran some more races.  See my racing page.

 11/7/2007 - Ran the Kent Pumpkin Run.  See my racing page.

I was also present at the Olympic Trials marathon, and I watched Ryan Shay die.  It was awful.  I was there, just north of 72nd street.  The runners had gone by, and I crossed the street to see him flat on his back with a woman and a couple other people hovering over him.  We thought he had just fallen and maybe hit his head, or that maybe he had as asthma problem.  He started to have trouble breathing, then he was foaming at the mouth.  The woman said "come on, another breath. another..."  Three minutes into it his pulse faded, he stopped breathing, and she began CPR.  She seemed to know what she was doing - probably a doctor.  A police officer was standing right there, and he called an ambulance.  From this point on, each minute that passed waiting for the ambulance felt like 2 hours.  Another 4 minutes went by.  I was thinking that the best thing I can do is just stay out of the way, but still no ambulance.  I ran down to the central park boathouse and asked if there were heart paddles. I was told there weren't.  Maybe they had them, but the guy I asked just didn't know.  I looked outside to see the ambulance there, but it was still about 200 feet from Ryan and not moving.  I ran outside.  Finally it went up the street to Ryan.  About 12 minutes had passed between when he hit the ground and when they arrived on scene.  They put the paddles on, and gave him one shock, and continued CPR.  They have to keep hitting his chest until they get to the ER, so it was clear he was dead.  If they had stopped hitting his chest, then that would have meant they got a beat, but they kept pumping.

10/8/2007 - it's about time I updated.  It's been a long 5 months without Skunky.  We still miss him.  We're now left with just our cat, Tabs, which is short for Tabitha.  Tabs is an attack cat.  Get too close, and she'll swat at you. If you let her come to you, though, she'll sit on your lap and be nice as long as you don't pet her the wrong way.  Let's see if I can remember all the races I ran.

5/4/2007 - Skunky died overnight.  Two weeks ago, I ran a local 5K.  See my racing page.

4/7/2007 - I ran the Danbury Half Marathon on Sunday, April 1.  It was fun.  To run this course, you have to really hold back and run within yourself the first 8 miles.  Then, you can uncork it. 

3/11/2007 - I updated the races page and, thanks to a "cease and desist" letter, had to take down a far side cartoon from my quotes page.  I've taken up rollerblading with my "little" (I'm in one of those mentoring programs and my kid is called my "little").   I'm terrible at it, but I'll learn, assuming I don't fall down and break my leg first.  I'm out there with all the protective gear.  I'm the only one at the rink who wears it all, helmet, wrist guards, knee pads.  I've been thinking that I now partake in far too many sports where wearing a helmet is recommended.  Come down to Fun Station USA in Danbury, as I am there most Saturday afternoons hobbling around the skating rink.

1/1/2007 - I raced at XC Nationals a month ago, and just raced today.  I turned 40 back on December 5.  Those of you who think I'll be cleaning up in master's competition are mostly wrong.  My times have been getting much slower in the past couple of years.  Fortunately, I was starting out at a fairly high level, I mean, I can't get any faster, so I'm only going to get slower.  Hopefully, I've plateaued in my decline, and I'll be able to keep it about this level for the next 2-3 years.  The key, of course, will be staying uninjured, and I think, for me, that means no speedwork outside of racing.  I know it's wrong, and that I should be able to do speedwork and increase my mileage, but I'm just not moving in that direction.  Speedwork for me now means entering a local 10K or maybe picking it up to 5:50 pace during a run.  No "real" speedwork like 10 x 400 at 72 second pace.  So see the race reports, I have new entries for 2006 and 2007.

12/3/2006 - I raced twice towards the end of October.  Read about it here.  I will be turning 40 on December 5, 2006, and will run in the Master's race out at Cross Country Nationals.  Don't look for me to win.  Oddly, they call this race the "Club Team Championships."  I wonder if that means that they don't recognize the individual race winner?  I may or may not be in a club.  I'm running for the Greater Lowell Road Runners.  Some people bailed, so we may not have enough runners to field a team.

10/4/2006 - I raced on Sunday.  Can you believe?  It was totally fun too.  I ran the Ridgefield Half Marathon.  I will discuss it adnauseum on my Races Page.

9/26/2006 - So I still haven't raced in a long while, but I'm leaning towards doing the Ridgefield 1/2 Marathon this Sunday.  Hopefully I can get though in 1:15 - 1:19 without killing myself.  I highly recommend watching this video.  Make sure you crank the volume up.

8/13/2006 - Haven't raced in a long time. Well, I actually did the Ridgewood Run with my father, but I just sort of jogged it with him.  I got my calf in good enough shape to be able to run at the Princeton University Girls XC camp.  I've been working at this camp every year since 1988, making it the longest commitment I have going.  So I reinjured my calf last week when doing a fairly quick 10 mile run.  I was going up a hill to finish the first of 2 five mile loops.  I would have finished 5 miles in 32:00, well, I did finish in 32:00, but something "went" down by my Achilles in the same left calf.   I hope to be back running this week, though, since I don't think it's as bad as the original injury from May. 

Separately, I had a dream last night that I won the IC4A Cross Country Championships.  That's not such a big deal any more (winning the race in reality, not that I dream about it), I don't think (correct me if I'm wrong).  When I was competing, back in 1988, the IC4A meet consisted of NCAA Regions One and Two in one big honkin' race.  So you'd have 300+ men on the starting line, and it was a massive 10K sprint to qualify for the NCAA meet.  So winning this race meant you were the best collegiate runner on the east coast, and you were probably going to finish top 5 in the NCAA meet.  Now, they've split the race up, and the two regions run separately, and the IC4A meet isn't something the teams that run at the NCAA meet (the best teams) run.  So I was this hard-working senior who won the IC4A meet and there was this heavily talented freshman from another school who was second, and he got all the ink.  It was always a thing with me that I never felt I got enough credit.  No big deal.  In the actual 1988 IC4A meet, I finished 11th, and qualified for NCAAs, where I finished 21st.  That was fun.

5/21/2006 - Drama.  I was running a 10 mile race today when my left calf blew out.  Read about it in races.

5/14/2006 - Raced twice since last update.  Also, I'd like to talk about some products I've been using which, really, I'm not exaggerating, have changed my life.  Click in my races link to see the races and I've developed the new products page.

4/2/2006 - oh, god, I've been so delinquent in updating this web page.  well anyway, I raced today at 1/2 marathon and ran 1:16:57.  I'm acutally happy with the time.  This past winter, I injured my knee snowboarding.  It's so much more cooler to injure your knee snowboarding than it is to injure your knee running.  When you injure yourself snowboarding, the doctor can usually tell what's wrong, and give you a plan for recovery.  When you hurt yourself running, the answer is to either quit running or just run less.  So check out the races section to read all about my races.

10/31/2005 - Ran the Kent Pumpkin race today.  They haven't posted results yet, but I'll fill you in on it in the interim.  See the races section.

10/30/2005 - not sure how must longer I'll be hosting this site on Comcast's web server.  Bookmark www.joelemay.com rather than the URL you see above to be able to find me.

10/30/2005 - I really need to update more often.  It's the time of the year for my two big PUMPKIN races.  "Pumpkin" is in all caps because these are really important races to me now that I don't compete on a national level.  First, pumpkin pie is my favorite dessert.  Second, the weather in New England is very nice this time of year, so it's a great time to run.  For all the complaining I hear from my wife about the weather in the northeast, it's hard to beat how nice it is during September and October and maybe the first two weeks of November around here.  Third, I can actually still run fast enough to win these races.  So I've raced twice since last updating.  I'll add descriptions to the races page.

8/20/2005 - Haven't raced lately, but I still updated the races page.

7/15/2005 - I usually let movies come and go, and maybe I'll catch them on DVD, but this year I've been going to all the blockbusters and haven't yet been disappointed.  So far I've see Star Wars, Batman Begins, and War of the Worlds.  Recommend them all.  Batman Begins is the best.  It's all comic book, stuff but it Batman, it's almost as if it could actually happen.  The Batman in this one is a little psycho - which helps.  Didn't even want to see War of the Words, but a friend wanted to go and it was Saturday night and I had nothing else to do, so I went.  Lots o good action in that one, although I didn't understand where everyone was walking to.  Only once and for about 10 seconds did I look at Tom Cruise and think "he's a loon" so it wasn't too distracting to see Tom Cruise up there.

6/25/2005 - My sister is traveling across the country and blogging the trip.  Here's her blog.  You might notice a family resemblance.  She's out in Colorado now, so I thought I'd remind everyone to take a look at my races page, year 2005 for a photo of me in Utah.  What fun.

5/29/2005 - Finally an update.  Ran some races.  Hey, we had some excitement here in Danbury, but not the good kind.  I literally pulled this woman from a burning car.  Here's an account.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 Ellen and I were awakened by a noise. It almost sounded like someone was in the house for a second. I was ready to roll over and go back to sleep when Ellen went to our bedroom window because she thought something was out there. after about a minute, she decides she sees smoke coming from the road. I thought maybe it's from our neighbor's chimney since he has a fireplace and likes to use it year-round, but it wasn't coming from there. You can't see the part of the street we were trying to see from our bedroom window. So I go down to look, and this car is flipped on its side with the driver side up in the air and the passenger side down against the pavement. The driver's side front tire had caught fire, and I hear someone yelling for help. I yell back to Ellen to call 911.  My first thought is "we should wait for the firemen, they have the training and equipment to deal with this."  I realize, of course, that that's not really an option here, since the car is burning up.  I walk up to the car and there's a woman lying against the passenger side window trying to use her cell to get help. She hadn't been able to get a signal. Verizon, evidently, isn't as ubiquitous as they advertise. The crash hadn't made enough noise to wake anyone, and it was 5:30 AM, so there wasn't much (or any) traffic. She must have been lying there three or four minutes by the time I showed up. It must have seemed like an hour to her. She was the woman who delivered our paper.

In the back of my mind I'm thinking what if it blows up like on TV? Then I think "I watch too much TV." I remember seeing a car catch fire on I-684, and how just the engine and tires burned, while the rest of the car only got hot. So she was probably 160-190 lbs, so I couldn't just lift her out. She had some ability on her own, so strength was not needed so much, but it's a good thing I'm tall. I reached down through the driver's side window and got her hand like you do when you're arm wrestling. I helped her up.  She literally wasn't sure which way was up until I arrived. In the process I was looking for the door lock. It was a 1993 Toyota Corolla, and I have a Toyota too, so I was looking down by the door handle, but this one was on the top where the window comes out. After unlocking the door, I can't remember if she came out through the door or just through the already-open window, but we got her out. The only thing I said the whole time was "where's the lock?" and something like "you have to get out of this car no matter what." After crawling through the window (or door) I told her she might have to fall a little to the ground, and made my best try at catching her. She got to the ground gently and began crawling away across the street where I helped her up. We limped away from the scene. The fire truck arrived about 7-8 minutes later when the front half car was engulfed in flames.  The flames had stopped at the firewall.

3/5/2005 - so I booked a flight to Salt Lake City for end of March.  Going skiing.  Never been out west to go skiing before.  Should be interesting.  In general, I don't like to travel.  For example, I was so tempted to just head up to Killington for a couple days.  No airports, I can leave whenever I want.  The skiing is still pretty good.  I think my wife has caused me to be more venturesome in recent times.  She's more prone to just pick up and leave at the drop of a hat than I am.  Also, I don't know if this counts as mid-life crises, but more and more it seems like "someday" is today.  Not getting any younger or richer.  I have been delinquent in writing up my race reports.  I have been racing a little.  Not running the USA championship 8K this time.  I ran it last year in 25:00 and finished something like 3rd from last, and I was actually pretty happy with my time.  I think I'd probably run mid 26 this year, so not a good idea.  In just the last six months, I seem to have slowed down a bit.  I retired summer 2002, and then, I was slower because I stopped training so much.  Now, it seems I'm slower regardless of how I train so I guess muscles start to atrophy at 38.  If you ever see me run 2:15 again, just turn me in to the drug testing people, because that's the only way I could do it at this point.

11/27/2004 - Ran a couple of races.  I seem to be slowing down.  Tomorrow, I plan on running the Pete McCardle 15K Cross Country Race in Van Cortlandt park.  I haven't race at VCP since 1990, I think.  Then, I was a graduate student at Penn State, and I was running in the National Championships 10K for men.  I remember I finished 19th in around 30:30.  I was doing well for a while, but really lost it the second time through the back hills.  What I remember most about that day; though, was the $250 fine I got for urinating in the woods.  I was warming up and I decided I had to go.  I didn't want to use the porta-johns seeing as some perfectly usable woods were readily available for me.  I don't really care for the porta-potties since they're usually not maintained very well.  So a mounted police officer saw me and gave me a fine.  This was back when I really could not have spared the $250.  I never paid the ticket, and I don't know what became of it.  I handed it over to the race director, Tracy Sudlun (who's dad used to be governor of Rhode Island, so I guess he had some connections), and he was going to have it "fixed," but I think he couldn't get it done for some reason.  Being a graduate student, I moved a few months later and never left a forwarding address.  I suppose the statute of limitations ran out in 1997. 

11/14/2004 - updated my navigation and my races.  Next race is http://www.fischang-cicchetti.com/ but I make no promises.  I could get injured between now and then. 

9/1/2004 - Finally an update.  I have many thoughts in my head.  I want to be a teacher, so I can have my summers free and do things, but I don't think I can handle the pay cut.  Any teachers our there have anything to say about this?  I know at least one person who thinks that's a lousy reason to go into teaching.  I'm not sure I agree.  If you like your job, you'll do it well, and if having summers off is a good perk for you, then you'll like your job, no?  The choices we make...  See my race results.

3/31/2004 - I ran the national 8K championships the other day.  Also ran a St. Patrick's day race.

2/28/2004 - It's been so long.  I really should update more often.  So I won the famous Polar Bear Run up around Lake Waramug today.  See my race results.

12/24/2003 - Haven't updated in a while, but I've raced twice.  Ran the Southport race on Thanksgiving day, then did another 10 miler this past weekend.

11/21/2003 - Planning on running this http://www.fischang-cicchetti.com/ race in two days.  So I went to Hartford today to watch my assailant, Louis C. Rudolph, get sentenced.  He plead guilty a few weeks back.  He got 9 months plus 2 years probation, set to begin serving in January. I was happy with the Court's decision.  I had never been in a court room before.  I went when I was a kid to take a to take a tour, but court wasn't in session. Then, I got to sit in the judge's chair and pretend I was in a position of authority.  I don't know if I'll ever be in any kind of position of power in this life time.  I doubt it.  So they arraigned a double murderer triple rapist when I was there.  He was a 19 year old kid last named Lazale Ashby.  I don't think I've ever been in the same room with such a notorious killer before.  I googled the name, but didn't come up with anything.  Do a search on him here http://www.ctnow.com/about/hc-archives.htmlstory

I also had a severe allergic reaction to something I ate earlier this week  My face blew up and one eye shut on me.  This has never happened to me this bad before.  I think it may have been pomegranate, but who knows?  I'll check with a dermatologist later to get some tests done.

11/10/2003 - I Ran yet another Pumpkin Run.  If it's about "pumpkin," then I'm there.  Every year I pump myself up for this one by slowly chanting "pumpkin run, pumpkin run..." at the dinner table the night before, until I erupt in a frenzied crescendo, yelling at the top of my lungs.  Anyway here are the results, and you can read all about it in my races section.

10/19/2003 - Ran, and won, the Trumbull Pumpkin Run today.  I was quite surprised.  See my races section.  Will be running another Pumpkin Run next week in Kent, CT.  I won it last year.  Kent is a nice town.  I recommend a visit.

9/1/2003 - Ran the New Haven Road Race today.   See the races section.  I've been going to the track once a week lately just to stay in shape and not do only slow stuff.  Typical workout is pretty easy for me:  4 x 1200m in 3:40.  It's good that I'm not killing myself on the track. During the last year of my career, I developed this condition whereby if I trained hard - any more than 12 miles a day - or if I did a hard track workout, I'd get the sensation of having to go number one in the middle of the night, but then nothing would come out.  It went away as soon as I got up in the morning and started walking around.  Being horizontal had something to do with it.  That problem is gone now because I don't train so hard.

8/7/2003 - I have been delinquent in updating this site.  For starters, I ran a mile and a 5000m on July 12.  See the races section.  On July 19, my wife, Ellen McCurtin, won the Vermont 100 race in 16:51.  It was a one hour improvement over her previous PR - simply remarkable.  I will forward your congratulations on to her if you care to send them to me.  Lastly, I just spend this past week at Princeton University's Cross Country Camp as a coach.  It was fun, but I'm really tired now.

7/9/2003 - Ran a five mile race on July 4.  See all about it in my races section.  I will be crewing for my wife, Ellen McCurtin, at the Vermont 100 in a week.  Say 'hello' if you're there.

6/1/2003 - ran the north county news 5K today.

5/2/2003 - Hey check out my company's new web site that I've been working on.  I have an artist doing the content, and I'm doing the technical stuff to make it work in Adobe GoLive.

After Napa Valley marathon, my left knee was bothering me.  Actually it was just immediately below the knee that was a problem - it felt like there was a big bruise there and it hurt to flex my knee forward.  So, naturally, I went for my last ski trip of the year up at Jiminy Peak.  It was fun, except that, with skiing, you're putting all that pressure just below the knees every time you flex forward in your boots.  So I've pretty much been out of commission for a while.  Just ran 7 miles this morning, which was the most I've run in these two months.  Not surprisingly, riding a bike doesn't take any of the stress off of the knee, so I wasn't doing any of that either.

Everyone seems to be running so fast these days.  Just look at these results.  It's remarkable.  There seems to be a lot more momentum behind American Distance Running now.  For example, Nike has, from my vantage point, become relatively generous with programs like their Oregon Project.  Imagine:  getting housing, coaching, a salary, and your own high-altitude oxygen deprivation chamber all on Nike's dime.  I remember in 1994, when I was with Nike as a mid-28 type runner, asking for a certain jacket and being told "OK, but I have to make you pay for it."  The best I could do was get shoes, sweats, uniform, and a trip to nationals every year.  If I was lucky, I got a nice bag or an extra pair of socks.  After that, I was on my own.  I'm sure there's no shortage of young distance runners out there struggling as I did, but there's also a lot more help available if you want it.  Interesting that Bob Kennedy ran 28:01 and that's not good enough for The Olympic Games any more.  You need a 27:52 now.

Got a new-used car.  It's a 99 Camry LE with 32000 miles on it and only one Owner (Jenn Latham's late grandfather)

Here it is.  Isn't it nice?  Only paid $10,000 for it.  I'm looking forward to driving it once I get it registered (it's not easy in CT).  It should be more comfortable that my Saturn.  I'll miss my Saturn.  I think it's been good to me, and it's still in reasonably good condition, but it's got 208,000 miles in it, and I think it's time for it to go before I start spending too much $$ on it to keep it going.

3/22/2003 - Finished sixth in the Napa Valley Marathon.  Check out my race results.

2/7/2003 - Lately I've been doing Saturday Night skiing at Catamount.  So there.  Had a dream last night that I had run 28:02 on the track.  It felt great, except that Pete Sherry beat me in it.  Then I woke up and realized I can't do that any more.  Then I realized, even if I could, it takes 27:52 now to make an Olympic Team.

1/22/2003 - So here's something I'm almost as proud of as my running career.  Today I replaced the clutch on my Saturn.  I'm not feeling all that great about this, since I probably should have sunk the $$ into a new car, but I did it anyway so I'm going to drive it a while longer.  Anyway, I drove 200,000 miles on one clutch.  It just might be a record.  Can anyone beat that?  Even the guys at AAMCO were impressed.

1/18/2003 - I still haven't raced in a while, not that I plan to.  I know I do plan to be at the Napa Valley Marathon at the beginning of March.  The good people at Marathon and Beyond are flying me out there.  Should be fun.  I might run, but not compete.  I've been skiing a lot - a lot meaning about every other weekend.  I've been to Catamount twice, which is about 1:15 due north of me on the NY/MA border.  Then last week I went to Okemo on a bus trip.  That was mega-fun, and a good buy too at $54 from Danbury Ski Mart.  I hadn't skied since 1985 until when I took it up again at the beginning of 2001.  I'm heading to Mount Snow next weekend, so say hello if you're there and if anyone happens to have a slopeside condo, let me know, and I'll be up there freeloading.  Most runners tend not to ski, I think.  

My assailant, a man named Louis C. Rudolph of Hartford, skipped bail.  This means they've issued a re-arrest warrant on him, and if he's ever caught, it will mean the possibility of another year in jail for bail jumping.  Whacking someone in the head, better known as "assault in the third degree" is a misdemeanor in Connecticut, so the cops aren't about to go looking for him.  As long as he keeps his nose clean, and doesn't get picked up for anything in the next few years, he'll go free.  There's a good chance he left the state.  FWIW, this also means I can't sue him (can't sue him if you can't find him).

11/24/2002 - The day after I signed up for the Southport race, I was out doing a little hill work, and at the end of the run as I'm finishing up, I feel something "go" in my calf.  Long story short, I haven't run in a week, and probably won't be competing in the Southport Thanksgiving race.  Good thing I'm retired.  I do hope to get back to running, in one form or another, soon.

11/12/2002 - I'm in training again for the next two weeks.  I'm trying to win the Southport Thanksgiving 5 miler so I can get my wife those two tickets to London.  It won't be the cakewalk it used to be for me.  I'll have to break 25 minutes, which isn't so easy, and that might not be enough.  You never know who's going to show up for these things.

10/27/2002 - I won the Pumpkin run in Kent, CT today.  It was fun.  Kent a is mega mega nice place.  It's totally swanked out up there in Litchfield county, CT.  I hear Henry Kissinger lives up there.  I still run, 6 miles a day during the week and about 10 miles a day on weekends for a total of 50 miles per week.  I haven't been updating my training section.  I will update my racing section this time.  

9/29/2002 - So two weeks ago I won the Mount Agamenticus Challenge, but the real story is what happened on the way home.  My version of it is I was driving back from Maine to CT when we stopped about 20 miles east of Hartford to refuel and change drivers.  After that, I was a passenger and my wife was driving.  Next thing I remember is waking up in Hartford Hospital about 4 hours later with a concussion getting a CAT scan.  End of story.  To fill in the blanks, I have to rely on the testimony of others.  We started a 5 car accident on the westbound section of I-84 coming through the "Hartford Tunnel."  It was raining.  I'm guessing my wife must have hydroplaned.  We lost control of our 99 Jeep Cherokee Sport, and were struck at least three times in different places in the rear of our vehicle.  When we finally came to a stop on the right shoulder, I got out of the car and was physically fine.  Then, in a fit of road rage, one of the passengers in one the other cars involved assaulted me without a word of discussion.  He delivered two punches, and finished me off with a kick to my neck or head.  I went down, and hit my head on the pavement of I-84, and lost consciousness for about three seconds, then came to with nothing but a glassy stare on my face.  I'm doing OK now.  I saw a neurologist the other day, and he says I should be OK, but that I'm lucky.  One brain wave test to go and I'm clear.  My assailant was charged with "Assault 3," which in Connecticut can get you a year in prison, and "breach of peach," which can get you six months.  I also won a local 5-miler today.  I only train like 50 miles a week now, but I ran 25:46.

9/12/2002 - so you could say I actually ran in a race yesterday.  I was in Baltimore for a Lotus Conference out for my morning run when I run into this 9/11 memorial 5K taking place.  So I join in for about a mile before heading back to my hotel.  It was fun.  There are lots of skunks where I live.  You may know my pig is named Skunky for the white stripe going down his face.  Whenever I look out at my lawn at night, I can often spot a skunk scurrying away.  They're cute.  Once when I was coming out of the building at work, I was confronted by a skunk.  He turned and faced me.  I froze.  He thought about squirting at me.  Objection, your honor, the witness is not qualified to testify as to the skunk's state of mind.  Well, to restate, it is my opinion that the skunk seemed like he might have been thinking about squirting me.  The skunk ran away.  Lucky for me, he wasn't cornered and he had a way out, or I imagine he might have done the deed, and I wouldn't have been the same for weeks. So the skunks around here seem to have a "V" stripe going down their backs, with the point of the "V" at their heads, and a white stripe on each side.  This is not the Pepe Le Pew I have come to know over the years, with a single white stripe going straight down the back.  I'm wondering what's going on here with the Connecticut skunks.  Is this normal?  Wildlife thrives in my 1.89 acre plot.  Every morning, I set out a birdfeeder with sunflower seeds.  I get tufted titmice, black-capped chickadees (the most socially agreeable of the bunch - the take their seed and fly away with it - giving the next bird in line a turn), downy woodpeckers, lots of purple finches, American goldfinches (the males are vivid canary yellow), cardinals, one male rose-breasted grosbeak was around for a couple days, one hummingbird hung out at one of our flowery bushes.  A blue jay pair comes around sometimes.  I'm fairly sure I saw a rare pair of pileated woodpeckers when out on a run.  There's a groundhog living somewhere nearby.  He's not good for the lawn.  I find holes everywhere.  My wife likes to call them chub clubs because they're kind of short and fat.  We used to get raccoons showing up for an evening feeding of sunflower seeds, but they started getting into fights and knocking down things, so we took the feeder in.  We liked watching them eat before it became a problem.  Then there's the rare appearance by wild turkey and deer.  Once I saw an owl on one of my runs.  Twice I saw a coyote - only at a distance since they're hard to get near.  Once a red-tailed hawk landed in the back yard to pick up a mouse or some small thing he had for a snack (we have mice too).  I'm pretty sure there are moles in the back yard because we found a dead one once.  I also built a bat house for the bats that I see when I look up at night, but haven't put it up yet. You need a really long pole.  From what I've read, they're the best form of insect control you can get.  They're great survivors.

9/7/2002 - was checking myself out in the mirror today.  I still got it.  Can't run, but still have my classically handsome features just like my pet pot-bellied pig.

8/25/02 - so this is pretty much the end.  I haven't been posting stuff to this web site because now it seems I've really retired.  My job in Branford, CT has a 1:10 commute each way and my hamstring, which I hurt over 3 months ago, is very slow to heal.  Been running just enough to not become a big fat load (3-6 miles on weekdays and 10 miles on weekends).  I'm up to 168 lbs now, which is the most I've ever weighed.  So I won't be racing much, if at all, in the coming months.  I will be the speaker at the Staten Island Athletic Club's annual awards, which I think is in November one week after the NYC Marathon, so stop by that if you're interested.  It's not often that I get to talk without people interrupting me.  People always say I'm quiet, but then everyone I try to talk to is just "blah blah blah yak yak yak" all the time - couldn't shut them up if you tried.  I say I should get credit for keeping my trap shut and listening, but no, all I get is "oh he never says anything."

7/21/02 - So my wife, Ellen McCurtin, ran 17:51 in winning the Vermont 100 mile race.  I was there assisting her what with handing her water bottles and spraying her with bug spray and all.  I could write a long, boring story about how she felt and did she get any blisters, etc... but I won't.  One reason is no stupid stuff happened out on the trail, and the other is you can just pick up any running mag for that kind of thing.  In brief, the weather was great, she started out on a pretty-fast 16-hour pace (you do the math) and slowly faded to that aforementioned 17:51.  Her previous best on this course, or in any 100, was 19:08, so this was a big jump.  Afterwards, we actually got to bed at a reasonable hour (usually it's well after midnight).  One thing I said to her after the race was that this was such a good performance for her that she may never run this fast again.  She sort of took exception to that, but appreciated what I was saying.  No one over runs a PR and comes away thinking that this is as good as it gets.  They always think they're going to do even better next time, and that it's all wine and roses now.

Speaking of your last PR and, moreover, getting back to my favorite topic, me; there is mention of me from the glory days on The Analytical Distance runner. It's a good web site because lists top times and throws out the downhill performances, which moves me up from 10th to 6th on the all-time Americans lists for 10K and 20K.

7/12/02 - been running a little, but then the other day I sort of re-ripped my left ham.  oh well, no big deal.  My new job officially starts Monday.  It's a 1:10 commute each way.  I don't know what's going to happen to my running.  I'm thinking of running against my local state senator David Capiello, just on the virtue of having a better haircut.  I haven't decided yet.

6/24/02 - I'm running again.  Sort-of.  Ran 4 this morning and 5 this evening, real slow.  It's been fun not running or hardly running for a while, but I was starting to put on some love-handles a la Todd Williams when he doesn't run.  I'm not accustomed to having to be so restrictive in my diet.  So I'm finally gainfully employed.  I've been consulting at an event registration company called b-there.  That's ending in a couple of weeks, and I'll be starting full-time with E. M. Rose Builders where my title will be IT Director (in charge of a department of one).  Don't blame me for the web site.  That's one of the things I'll have to spruce up after I start.  E. M. Rose is a small general contracting company specializing in high-end residential construction.  We work primarily in the Connecticut Gold Coast Towns like Greenwich, New Canaan, and Darien.  If you're looking to remodel or build, and have an extra mil lying around, give us a call.  I imagine it's fairly recession-proof.  Our customers aren't the type to rely on their paychecks for income.  The commute is 1:10 each way, so I don't know what this will do to my running.  We'll see how it goes.  I'll probably just run less and be content with it.  In other news, my wife bought a new SUV.  Those of you who have read this web page in the past may know my disdain for the vehicles.  I think, with a few exceptions, everyone should drive a fuel-efficient vehicle (30 mpg or greater).  I could never get elected to any office because I think the gas tax should be much higher than it is.  It's the only way people will ever curb their behavior.  Here in Connecticut, elections have been won by politicians promising to lower the gas tax (formerly the highest in the country).  So we went to Saturn and she liked this 99 Jeep Cherokee Sport sitting in the used section.  "The heart wants what it wants," she said of her purchase.  Woody Allen said it first.  In her defense, she doesn't drive a lot, so she'll still use up less natural resources in the course of a year than I will.  I think it will be a good car for her.  She needs the 4WD and she likes sitting up high.  We bought a warranty (I don't normally believe in warranties), because of Jeep's reputation for quality.

6/9/02 - low back and left hamstring still a mess.  As the days go by where I'm not running or hardly running, I find I'm turning into more of a "normal" person.  When I look at the lifestyles most of my Princeton and other non-runner friends have, I wonder how someone can live like that.  Now I'm seeing the other side of the wall.  Staying up until all hours, then crashing hard once a week.  The other night I was up until 3 AM.  I wasn't tired.  I worked until midnight, then turned in because I felt it was time.  But I ended up reading until 3.  Ever read Vanity Fair (the magazine)?  It's a remarkable collection of research they have in there.  And all along I thought it was some kind of chick-magazine along the lines of Glamour or whatever.  Probably because they usually have some movie star on the cover to sell it (Reese Witherspoon story this month - I'm not interested), but there's usually a ton of other good stories in there.  For example, there was a story on the extra-marital affair Jack Welch just had where they must have interviewed a lot of people close to the case (Mr. Welch himself excluded).  There's more to this story than just gossip.  It's a good case study in how some organizations and people work under both normal and oddball circumstances.  When Jack finds out his mistress is being fired, he flies up to Boston, makes phone calls, enlists lawyers, and threatens a lot of people.  Probably not the best move for him, but, as the article reads, "that's what powerful men do."  When I don't run, I have been known to forget to shower.  My wife reminds me that I "do tend to acquire that man smell" if I'm not careful.  So everyday I do some pushups, some situps, or go for a 3-mile jog (which I really shouldn't do), and get a shower.  Still, sometimes I shower in the morning on Monday, and don't get around to it again until Tuesday night.  I'll have to get used to being "normal" for a while until my hamstring works itself out.  It's not really getting any better.  This could be the beginning of a new and different me.  Finally seeing the chiro tomorrow.

Visit my archives.

This page has been up since February 6, 1996 and has been downloaded times since 12/23/99.

Send me mail