Happy Thursday

I guess posting a rain blog yesterday worked, because today was sunny and beautiful. In case you didn't know, a rain blog is just like a traditional rain dance, but we're in 2008, no one dances anymore. And there might not be any Native Americans either for all I know. Anywho, it was real nice out today... a tad blustery, but otherwise a real pleasant day. Maybe it had something to do with it being Valentines Day, but I doubt that. In honor of Valentines Day, I was gonna attempt a 14 mile run, but then I realized I hate Valentines Day, so I went out for a 14K instead. It was nice to get out for a longer run today after two days of crap weather and only a few miles each day.

As stated above, I do not celebrate Valentine's Day. I only capitalize it because it's proper English to do so. Now I'm not going to give you the old I hate Valentine's Day because it's a holiday made up by Hallmark to capitalize on idiots excuse, nor will I admit that I hate Valentine's Day because I am a single male and just jealous that everyone else is blowing half a paycheck on taking their darlings out tonight. By the way, nothing says "I love you" then some saturated fat and slutty lingerie. I don't celebrate VD (properly abbreviated if I may add) because of what it does to people. It just causes more and more stress for people who really don't need it. I will always remember two years ago, on February 13th, I was playing hockey and I hurt my foot real bad. The pain was so severe that I could not sleep. At about 1am, I decided to get some IcyHot for my foot. I went to the 24 hour Walgreens in my hood, and I kid you not, I saw 35 grown men frantically tearing the shelves apart looking for the last pieces of chocolate and the remaining overpriced stuffed gorilla that says "I go ape for you." Every single person looked miserable. I overheard one dude say to another "I fear the wrath of my wife." These men were not going home to their precious dolls to say "I love you babycakes. Happy Valentines Day, lets cuddle and watch Cameron Diaz movies." No my friends, these poor bastards were going home to say "Woman, I just waited on a line for 50 minutes to get you these flowers that are almost dead, and this stupid cow that says 'you really moooove me'. Don't you dare forget about Steak and BJ Day." *

So there you have it. Valentines Day just causes misery for most people, and I hate misery, therefore I hate Valentine's Day.

* For Steak and BJ Day, I will take my steak in the form of a chicken burger or vegetable lasagna.



Miles Run Today: 8.7 Year to Date: 106.2

stupid rain

I had an appointment to donate blood platelets at 11 this morning, so I woke up at 8 to get a quick 4 miler in before I had to leave. When I woke up, it was torrential downpours everywhere. The stupid rain melted the stupid snow, which was nice, but I didn't feel like getting cold and soaked first thing in the morning. So being the gambler that I am, I decided to forgo the morning run and hope that it would stop raining sometime during the afternoon or evening. So I went and donated some platelets, and I actually got two free tickets to the Bronx Zoo for donating, which is very cool. By like 2, the rain was just as strong as it was in the morning. I feel like The Sun hasn't been out in like 3 weeks. So I kept stalling my run, I watched Beerfest, did a few things, then around 530 I was just like "ok, just go out and run. It's only water." So I went out, and to my surprise, it was only drizzling, and it was like 50 degrees. It felt good to run in my shorts again. I only went out for like 3 miles because I kept getting landsharked, and the roads were slippery as hell.

Watching the Roger Clemens Congressional hearings today, I realized that this country is still as divided as ever. Every single Republican at the hearings were attacking Brian Mcnamee, and all the Democrats were going against Clemens, albeit not in the same capacity the Republicans were calling out Mcnamee. Watching the hearings, it is clear that Roger Clemens, the Southern boy who has ties to the Bush family, is guilty of using some kind of illegal stuff, but the Republicans wanted nothing to do with him and everything to do with accusing Mcnamee of wrong doing. It's crap like this, and about 250 other things, that annoy me about the two party system we have in this country. Thats why I'm proud to be a registered Green Party member. Whoever winds up with the Green nomination (right now its Cynthia Mckinney, but we all know Ralph Nader will be the eventual candidate), will have my vote. I know they won't be the next President, but at least I know that my vote will go to a candidate that stands for the most important issues (see below), and not to someone else who is going to further split this country.

10 Key Values of the Green Party

Grassroots Democracy
Social Justice and Equal Opportunity
Ecological Wisdom
Non-Violence
Decentralization
Community Based Economics and Economic Justice
Feminism and Gender Equity
Respect for Diversity
Personal and Global Responsibility
Future Focus and Sustainability


Miles run today: 3 Year to Date: 98.5

Happy Lincolns Birthday

Hey so I just got in from a quick 3.5 mile run. Interesting story. I was watching Houseguest, which I believe is Sinbad's finest work, and I planned on running after it was over at around 3:30. But just as Sinbad was telling Phil Hartman the truth, I noticed it was snowing like mad outside. Running in the snow stinks, so I hopped up, got my stuff on, barely stretched, and started to run. Now I was planning on running 4.7 miles in honor of Abraham Lincolns birthday being today (4 score and 7 years ago), but like a jerk, I forgot to bring my running glasses out with me. The snow was more like rain at first, and it was just getting into my eyes and just annoying me. I ran my first 2 miles really quick, in like 17 minutes. Then the snow started to stick, causing me to shorten my stride and really focus on planting my feet. It took me almost 17 more minutes to run 1.5 miles. Bottom line is, running in the snow is annoying.

One good thing about starting this streak now is that yesterday was, according to the major news outlets, the coldest ever. So I ran yesterday wearing track pants, a t shirt and a long sleeve shirt, thin glove liners, and a hat. And I really was not that cold. Let it be known, I absolutely hate and despise running in pants. I actually just hate wearing pants in general, but thats a different story for a different day. The coldest run I've ever done came in January of 2007, a 5 mile race at Sunken Meadow State Park. I wore shorts and a technical shirt, gloves and a hat. I felt fine. But these past couple of weeks while running in shorts, I've been getting some nasty wind burn on my legs after running, so I've
come up with a general rule that I'm going to follow: Under 25 degrees and windy.. I wear pants... Under 25 and calm.. game time decision. But anything under 20 degrees, I'm gonna wear pants. As long as I'm wearing my glove liners and winter hat, I'm good for anything over 25.

I just realized I wrote "interesting story" up top there. This was not interesting. If you are reading this, I promise this blog will be more entertaining as time goes on. Running in the snow isn't as bad as it seems, but running in the slush and the crap that road sanders leave, that sucks, and thats what I have to look forward to tomorrow.


" Abe Lincoln, God Bless him"
- Bishop Allen


Miles run today: 3.5 Year to date: 95.5

A Streak Begins (Hopefully)

In 2007, I ran over 1200 miles. This included a full marathon (Disney in January), two half marathons, and a bunch of 5k's, 10k's, 15k's, etc.... 1200 miles, at my average (and extremely mediocre) 9 minute mile, is the equivalent of running for 7.5 days, if my math is correct, and there is a good chance it's not. Now running that much seems kind of cool,and I'm totally proud of myself, but after reading about the phenomenon of "streak running," I realized that I'm kind of a sissy when it comes to running.

Late last year, I read a story on espn.com (read the story here) about a guy in South Florida, Robert Kraft, who is going to reach his 100,000th mile ran this year. He has run at least one mile, every single day, for the past 33 years. And the crazy thing is, he doesn't even own the longest streak in the country. There are some others that have been running at least one mile every day for 37 , even 40 years.

After reading Kraft's story and researching tons of others, I decided I wanted to start my own running streak. At the time, I was in a bit of a running funk, so I decided to start the streak on January 1st, 2008. January 1st, I ran 6 miles. January 2nd, I took a bad spill on a waveboard, and hurt my back real bad. I could barely walk. My streak was already over. After like two weeks of rehabbing the back, I figured I would try to start the streak back up again. I was going real good up until February 9th, when after a hard night of birthday celebrating, I decided I was in no shape to run, thus ending my streak again.

Today, February 11th, 2008, 4 days after my 25th birthday, I said to myself - "Sean, you just turned 25. You have not done much. Get out there and do something." So I went for a 9 mile run. And on my run, I decided that today would be the day that my streak really, really begins. No more stupid excuses. No more riding waveboards and getting hurt. Just run. At least a mile every day.

So why start another blog? Well, during my run today, I was trying to think of ways to keep myself motivated to run every day. And in my warped mind, I thought to myself "Hey man start a new blog, and people will fall in love with it, and they are gonna want to read it every day, and you can only write stuff after a run." Well, there are a bunch of running blogs out there that I read all the time, and the running community is pretty tight, so maybe there will be a few other runners out there that would be interested in this blog and will keep me going. Also, while running, I tend to think more than I usually do, and I do enjoy writing, so this would be a good place to keep me going. I've had a couple of blogs in the past, like this one, but I never really kept them updated on a regular basis. So if I'm going to be logging my runs, I might as well be blogging my thoughts.

So yeah, thats that. I'm gonna do my best to get this streak really going. I've come to the conclusion that I probably won't be a famous skateboarder or rock and roll star, so maybe this will be a way to leave my mark on society. I'm not saying I'm going to be the next Robert Kraft, but hell, I also didn't think I would ever run a full marathon, or 1200 miles in a single year.

On a side note, February 12th is Abraham Lincolns Birthday. If you know me, you know that I'm a bit of an Abraham Lincoln enthusiast, so I will leave you with a few of my favorite Abe quotes that pertain to my newest endeavor.

" I say try, if we never try, we shall never succeed"

"By no means say 'if I can', say 'I will"

"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important that any one thing"

"Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today"

"Live a good life, and in the end, it's not the amount of years left in the life, but life left in the years"


Miles run today: 9 Year to Date: 92

Stay Strong, Owen. (with footnotes!)

Owen Wilson, everyone's favorite blood haired, messed up nose goofball, tried to kill himself earlier this week. I, for one, was incredibly shocked and somewhat saddened to hear such news. I've been a fan of Owen Wilson ever since I found out he co-wrote The Royal Tennenbaums, and his characters in Zoolander, Meet the Parents / Fockers, and Wedding Crashers are among my favorites of all time. Hell, I'm pretty sure the character of Dupree in Me, You, and Dupree was loosely based on my life. So to hear that a guy who has more money than he could imagine, is pretty decent looking, and can basically get any girl he ever wanted tried to off himself, it really made me think.

See, apparently Wilson tried to kill himself because of his recent breakup with mega slut Kate Hudson, and her new exciting relationship with Brad Pitt. Oh wait, what's that? She's not going out with Brad Pitt? Who is it then? Tom Brady? Denzel Washington? Tom Hanks? No? Wait, What?? Did you just say DAX SHEPPARD? The obnoxious jackass(1) from Punk'd? What The Hell???

See, some people might think of this as a sign that just because you have lots of money, fame, power, all that good stuff, you won't be truly happy until you are spending your life with your someone that you are in love with. Well Sean says BULLSHIT. This is just another example of a decent man giving into the powers of some floozie who apparently has no idea what she wants, considering she dumped a mega star like Owen Wilson for, ugh, Dax Sheppard. Poor Owen Wilson sees Kate "The Holylwood Whore" Hudson vacationing in Maui or something with this scrawny poser named Dax, thinks to himself "Wow do I really suck that much where Kate Hudson would rather date Dax Sheppard rather than me?" and he goes and slits his wrists.

Shame on Kate Hudson for flaunting her new found romance all over the mass media and youtube. But also, Shame on Owen Wilson for giving into the powers of an evil minded woman. This is exactly what she wanted you to do, Owen. I'm assuming she doesn't actually like Dax Sheppard (2), she was just using the biggest NOBODY in Hollywood to make you feel real shitty about yourself. She got what she wanted. She might even break up with Dax in a week and find somebody even lower (3) than him in Hollywood to parade around town, in hopes that Dax might attempt suicide himself (wishful thinking).

This post was hastily put together. Stay Strong, Owen Wilson.

(1) Obnoxious jackass not named Ashton Kutcher
(2) Nobody actually likes Dax Sheppard. Dax Sheppards parent's hate Dax Sheppard.
(3) Carrot Top?

An Open Letter.

Dear Residents of Levittown / Hicksville / Bethpage / Westbury / Wantagh / Long Island in general:

On behalf of all runners / joggers / speed walkers / old people walkers, I request that you do the following, to make the lives of those of us who are trying to improve our lives through fitness just a little bit more enjoyable...

1. Keep your fu*king dogs inside your house after sunset. Often times while running, I am sort of in my own world, not really paying attention to my surroundings.. just running. So you can imagine what it may be like while running down a street, just minding your own business, when a 240 pound mutt comes charging at you from inside of a fenced yard. It's enough of a scare to make you skip around and look like a Nancy boy.

2. Keep the lids on your fu*king garbage. I have found that the absolute worst night to go for a run on Long Island is Thursday Nights. Why? Because apparently every single township has some kind of garbage or recycling pick up on Friday morning. So every single person on this Island has their garbage out, and being the mass consumers that we are, there is never enough room in 2 garbage pails for all our shit, so of course there is an overflow garbage just sitting on curbs and pails overloaded. Mix this with the extreme heat humidity of a Long Island August, and the whole town is literally covered with a nasty stench. If I wanted to go for a 12 mile run with the constant smell of old gross garbage in my nostrils, I would just run from Staten Island to New Jersey.

3. Chill with the fu*king light sensors. Just tonight, I was running down Spindle Road, and I was approaching the last 800 meters of a 15 mile run. You know, sprinting time. I was in the street, away from anyone's personal property, and I was just switching my iPod to my power song (Let's go Crazy by Refused). As I was about to being my sprint to the finish, some idiot house's light sensor goes off, and the next thing I know theres a 40,000 watt light shining on me. I'm man enough to admit that I acted as if I saw the great Ghost of Lester Bangs, and I ran the fastest 800 meters of my life, which is cool, but my heart rate also rose to all time high.

4. Put your fu*king sprinklers on when your supposed to. Everyone knows that your supposed to water your lawn either early in the morning, or at night. It's better for the environment, conserves water, and supposedly its actually better for lawn. Coincidentally, it's also the time when most runners are out running their routes. And while some female runners are scared of getting wet, clydesdale's like myself who sweat a gallon a minute like the occasional sprinkler to run through and perhaps get a quick refill on water.


I expect these changes to be made quickly, Lawn Guyland.

Thank You

Sean

To Live or Die on Long Island

As I grow older in age, I find myself thinking more and more about what my future holds. What the hell am I actually gonna do for the rest of my life? Sure, I'm going to school to be an elementary teacher, but I have so many interests these days that even that is uncertain. One day I think I should be going for psychology, the next I'm looking to go for Business, some days I wanna be a gym teacher, and most recently, I've really been considering getting a degree in Leisure Studies. I should have probably thought about these things when I was a teenager, not now while I am approaching my mid twenties, but whatever. No time to dwell on the past you know. One major concern that has crossed my mind is where am I actually going to wind up? I have lived on Long Island for all of my 24 years, and I'm pretty sure I like it, but at the same time I also know for a fact that I hate it. I can kind of see myself living here forever, but I don't think I want to live here forever. So in an attempt to make my decision down the road a little easier, I am going to compile a Pro and Con list about Long Island, and then when I am finally able to start the next chapter in the Book of Sean, I can look back on this list and know what to do.


Why Long Island Sucks.

• Traffic: In the past 6-7 years, I have noticed a really disturbing trend. Rush hour on Long Island is no longer the traditional 7am-9am and 5pm -6pm. No, I'm afraid rush hour has extended it's ugly head into the hours between 5:30am -10am, and 2:30pm -6:30pm. Now, to me this has a really upsetting meaning. People seem to be so caught up in their work lives that they are leaving their homes earlier and staying in their offices later. This leaves people no time for any type of leisure, and everyone knows that I am certainly a man of leisure. In his book titled Sex Drugs and Cocoa Puffs, Chuck Klosterman makes a point concerning traffic. He says that there will never be a point in our lifetimes, or perhaps ever, where there won't be any road construction going on. He wishes there would come a day when he can drive from New York to California where he won't see any type of traffic due to road construction. While that is some really wishful thinking, I would love to see the day when I can travel from Levittown to Northport without seeing any type of traffic.

• Cost of living: For reasons that no one can ever really explain to me, Long Island, and New York in general, is a ridiculously expensive place to live. To me, it makes no sense that we have to pay $3.50 per gallon of gas, while 30 miles away in New Jersey they are paying $2.75. But that is just a beginning. Nassau County is the sixth richest country in the United States. Because the average household income is over $75,000, everyone is expected to pay taxes out the ass and insane prices for everything else. An insurance agent once told me that just because I live in Nassau, I can expect to pay an insane amount more than anyone else in the country for car insurance. It's nearly impossible to live like that. I don't want to short change myself, but who knows if I'll ever be making over 75 grand. The average teacher in NY makes about $55,000 per year. Thats $20,000 less than the average income in Nassau County. Now compare that to a place like, oh I don't know, Pennsylvania for example. The average teacher there makes 52k a year. The average income? 50k. You figure out the rest.

• Billy Joel: For some reason, just being from Long Island automatically makes you a Billy Joel fan. Well here's a shocker. I hate Billy Joel. I think his music is depressing, his piano skills are terrible overrated, and he can't drive. And it's so annoying when every stupid bar around here plays his lame songs, everybody goes wild and acts as if they haven't heard "Piano Man" 1200 times.
  

• Misc: Too many malls, it's cold in the winter, not enough open space, girls wear too much makeup, the Long Island Railroad, the scene is dead, no mountains, no support for the Islanders, and a terrible public library system.

Why Long Island is OK.

• It is an island: I have to admit, living on an island is kinda cool. Being 20 minutes from water no matter where you are is nice. Long Island has some great surf spots and some cool kayaking spots as well. I would never be seen at Jones Beach on a summer day, but running there in the winter is awesome. And the boardwalk at night is one of the most under appreciated things on the island. And I really like to say "I live on Long Island." Because I do live on an island. You can't say "I live on Cleveland." Cleveland isn't an island.
  

Aside from my family and friends living here, there's not much more that I could see keeping me here. And while yes, family and friends will surely account for a little more than the weather in my final decisions, If I had decide today, I doubt I would choose to live on Long Island for the rest of my days. Besides being nearly financially impossible to raise a family and maintain a nice life, soon enough Long Island is just going to be a real mess of a place. The population is booming, more and more luxury condos and gated communities are going up, and not nearly enough affordable housing is being built. To be honest, unless you plan on becoming a doctor/lawyer/plastic surgeon/reality star, I can't see anyone being able to survive here much longer.

But I don't know exactly where I want to end up either. I always envisioned myself living in California, and I fell in love with San Diego the two times that I've been there. It seems like it's just the place I need to be. I could wear shorts all year round and not look crazy, listen to indie rock radio stations, ride my bike everywhere, and just enjoy life while still making New York type money. I've never been to Denver, but for some reason I think I would like it there too.

But, for the time being, I suppose I should just concentrate on finishing school up, moving back out of my parent's house, and keep on enjoying life, and when the time comes for me to begin my next journey, I'll know what to do.