More For the Honor Roll, Today's 14 Miler, and Don't Call it a Mall!

The Honor Roll is back in business!

Please welcome the following people to the Fred's Team honor roll:

Kathleen and Lynn Emrich

Michael and Erin Amico
Amy and Eric Pot

Robert Swanson (aka "Robert from Chicago")

Shaun Colledge

The grand total so far:

$3,756

Words fail me. Thank you all so much.

Want to join the honor roll by donating to my Fred's Team effort? Please click here.

This week's contest is open ONLY to those who have donated, and it will be in the form of a raffle. I will put all your names in a hat and pick one. The winner will receive a $10 Amazon gift certificate -- a real prize! So if you'd like to be included, and you were thinking about sponsoring me, now's the time! Raffle will be held on Friday night, July 27.

Can I show you all something? Check this out:

Pretty, huh? No, it's not where we ran. It's the view out my living room window. Ten seconds of history: Extell Corporation bought out as many buildings as they could on W. 57th and 58th Street in Manhattan, to construct what has been referred to as "Time Warner Jr." with shops on the bottom, hotel in the middle and residences on top (TW Sr. being the Time Warner Center on Columbus Circle -- don't call it a mall! Remember when it was the Coliseum? Sigh...) They came to our building with an offer, but the offer was so low that we refused. So all the buildings around us are being systematically destroyed. Monday through Friday, from 7am to 6pm, the noise and dust is unbearable. But at least the weekends are quiet...oh, excuse me, at least the weekends WERE quiet. I return home today from my 14-mile run (more on that in a moment) to discover that the site was up and running. On Saturday. Many calls to 311 and the Dep't of Buildings later, we just found out that they did indeed get a permit for Saturday work. So much for napping after a 14 mile run. Why run at all, if you can't nap? I'll tell you, I've actually gotten to the point where I can nap through the demolition as long as the TV is on. But I was looking forward to a little bit of quiet today, I need to get some steno practice in. Guess not.

Did you say "14 miles?" Why, yes I did. We did a 14 miler along the Hudson River, a welcome change of pace from the Park. We started at 72nd St. ran up to 82nd and back, down to the Holocaust Museum in Battery Park City, back up to 82nd, turn around and back to 72nd. The weather was beautiful and there was a lovely cool breeze off the river. Right now I'm going to say that 10 miles is my wall. Getting down to the museum was no problem, but I lost steam about halfway back, around mile 11. I had to take a couple of walk breaks to work out the hip -- oh yes, big news -- NO PAIN IN THE BACK!! It moved back into my hip, where it belongs. Well, it doesn't belong there, but I'm used to it there. Apparently it IS one or the other. See, I knew running was a pain in the ass, and I have the proof.

Random running celebrity sighting while running today -- Gina Gershon! And if you don't know who she is, go to your local video store right now and rent "Showgirls." It's worth it. I see celebs all the time -- this is NYC and I'm in theater, but it's always strange to see one running. The only famous face I've seen on the run is NYC Gov. Elliot Spitzer. I used to see him all the time in the Park (before he became Governor,) I called him my inadvertant running buddy. Now he's mostly in Albany.

In other training news, Wednesday I did a triple-whammy massage/chiro/acupuncture to get the kink out of my back. Seems to have worked. They also have pilates and core training there (Longevity Health, your one-stop wellness shop!!) and my chiro recommended I do a core training session next week instead of the massage, so that's what I'm going to do.

Thursday, evil evil steps. Jeff had us do sets of 6 instead of sets of 3. I substituted other evil options every time he had us jump or hop. The hopping I think pops my hips out of place, which is what keeps landing me in the chiro's office. And the jumping -- I can't land lightly on the balls of my feet when we jump, and it shakes up my spine too much, and I've my share of back surgery and would prefer not to revisit it

A young boy would really be enjoying the view out my window right now, it's like Bob The Builder - LIVE:

Look how the pile has shrunk!

Friday was a treadmill run at the gym. And in a strange and slightly sad bit of Kismet, guess what was playing on the TV when I got there? That's right, "Rock of Love." Sigh. Well, at least I got to see how it ended. Can you believe they kept Tiffany? Oh mah Gawd!

And that brings up up-to-date on the training portion of our show.

As for the rest of my life, school continues apace -- I'm still at 130, I ALMOST passed the q&a a couple of days ago but missed by 5. Grrr! And, ahem, just got my notary test back -- and PASSED! Hooray! Ahh, the test was easy, that's why you see notary signs everywhere. Still, it's over and done with.

Sounds like the construction folks have knocked off for the day, so I'm going to get some practice time in. Tomorrow's Shea Stadium 5k was cancelled (DRAT!!!!) but I'm going to spend the night at my parents' house anyway, so I've gotta get this in before I jet.

Have a good week, y'all, and we'll talk soon!

MG