Unbelievably, it has been 21 years since September 11, 2001. I wrote this article on 9/11/11 to help preserve the experience and I post it every year on this date. Here it is, once again:  Remembrances of 9/11 New from The Emerging Runner ..read more

In other words, I'm limping In my April 14 post, I wrote about the way my blood pressure medicine was negatively affecting my running performance. A change in dosage made such a difference that I'm now running about 2 minutes per mile faster than my pace prior to March.  While that's great, my lower back is not on board with it. Running harder seems to have triggered an old disc issue and on most runs my stride starts slightly unbalanced. This is likely due to nerve aggravation. This irritation has gone on for a few weeks and my aggravated nerves are beginning to aggravat ..read more

Nova Blast-off! The Asics Novablast 2 A well cushioned neutral running shoe that uses resilient Flytefoam Blast midsole foam. Ride is best described as lively, but slightly unstable. Weight for men’s size 11 is approximately 10.5 oz MSRP - $130 Conclusion: Even with more structure and weight than I typically prefer, the Novablast 2 provides an excellent balance of responsiveness and protection. --------------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday I walked into Runners Edge ready to try on some shoes. I had watched and read many running shoe reviews and narr ..read more

Sunny and lonely at Bethpage It's a new year and everyone seems pretty happy about that. There's reason to be optimistic: vaccines will get Covid under control this year and this country will (hopefully) unite under its first real president since January 19, 2017. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that democracy cannot be taken for granted. In the meantime, we can manage through any of life's negatives with a really good run. My running in 2020 had its ups and downs. I ran a total of 962 miles (a personal record) and 33% more distance than in 2019. I averaged over 80 miles a month and ..read more

Hoping for 80 in December Hello runners and the running adjacent! It's December 10th: the first night of Hanukah, the 12th day of the Advent and, most notably, national Dewey Decimal System Day.  This is my first after-election post and while I try to stay non-political on this blog, I will say my faith in democracy has been restored by the 81 million people who voted for a return to trust, competence and decency. Let's move on, unify and hope that the next Attorney General puts the current president and his cadre of corrupt criminals in federal prison for a long time. If you don ..read more

The Shoe-pocratic Oath: "First do no harm" Unless you're Abebe Bikila, the barefoot marathoner who won the Olympic marathon in 1960, shoes are pretty essential gear. Though some runners are indifferent to what shoe they wear and view them as tools, others (like me) look at shoes as something that can greatly enhance or diminish their running experience. I love running shoes but they don't always love me, and I'm dealing with that right now. The Problem In my last post, I mentioned some issues I'm having with my lower back. Recently, I've been feeling occasional pain and numb ..read more

All Hail the OMRON! Hello? Is this on? Anyone there? Anyone?  Okay, I know I haven't posted in a long time. In fact, a baby born on the day of my last post could conceivably be running faster than I do right now. Despite my very long break, I have continued to run and strive to improve. I'll admit there has been a lot more striving than improving, but things are changing. So don't call it a comeback. I've been here for years, rocking it like a Runsketeer. Since my last post, I've run the gamut of motivation and expectation for my performance. I've mostly had the "Speed doesn't m ..read more

Stay off the road and no one gets hurt These days, every conversation has something to do with COVID19, either directly (Do you have it? Do you think you have it?) or indirectly ("We'd be in a completely different situation with competent leadership" or "Let's light a fire on the neighbor's lawn then sneak in through the back door and steal their toilet paper."). The toll of Coronavirus is dominating the news channels and this is very unfair to me because I prefer more uplifting content. (Non-runners: please skip to the next paragraph) Since I stopped commuting almost a year ago, my weekly ..read more

Sunny and lonely at Bethpage It's a new year and everyone seems pretty happy about that. There's reason to be optimistic: vaccines will get Covid under control this year and this country will (hopefully) unite under its first real president since January 19, 2017. If 2020 taught us anything, it's that democracy cannot be taken for granted. In the meantime, we can manage through any of life's negatives with a really good run. My running in 2020 had its ups and downs. I ran a total of 962 miles (a personal record) and 33% more distance than in 2019. I averaged over 80 miles a month and ..read more

Not exactly a blistering pace but I did get a blister.  Most of 2019 has gone by and we will soon start another new decade. The idea that we will begin our own Roaring Twenties (roaring good or roaring bad? Discuss.) is both exciting and scary. From a running perspective it's an important milestone for this blog which began in the aughts (does anyone actually use that term?) and will, in 18 days, limp gracelessly into its third decade. That's right haters, I'm still standing! I started blogging in late 2008, around the time that I started running seriously. Seriously did not mea ..read more