Challenge accepted

This is a post concerning the return of our founder and savior's challenge at the greasy pemby pizzeria, and it is to be read in the voice of Randy Macho Man Savage (click the link for an exact example)

You think you can beat me with your big pizza talk about your big pizza slices after your big run? Well you've got another thing coming, AP munching man savage here takes any eating challenge and crushed it between his jaws and this one is like no other, oh no. I'm ready for your so called mouth, throat esophagus and stomach havoc wreaking cheese on cheese grease on grease pizza, because frankly, I eat that for breakfast. I've already got the experience of a large greasy pizza, a double mcgangbang and a double irving bigstop hungry man meal under my belt, or should i say 3 inches above it so I dare yuse to show up at the greasy pemb pizza joint. I'll be there and ready to munch.

-AP. The munching man savage.

There's nothing like the stick

Well like the title says, there really is nothing like the stick, now if you were to ask what stick i would be talking about, i would turn my head to you, smile, do a little dance, get down tonight and say there is more than one meaning to the stick.

Stick 1: There's nothing like the stick. The hot sun beating down on you after you pounded down the kilometers on a hot summer day, that layer of sweat that was glistening in the setting sun is no longer a lubricant for your swinging arms, but a stick, a sweet salty comforting stick, (althoe not the best of smelling comforts but a comfort none the less) a stick that reminds you of every stick you've had before. This stick is what makes you not want to shower for 3 days because of how proud you get of it so never underestimate the power of the stick

Stick 2: Good friends who stick together there's nothing like. To keep you warm on those cold winter nights and cold on those hot summer nights... I wish i had a friend like that, i think the other word for that is slave, well whatever it is that's a good stick.

Stick 3: To stick out!  Sticking out is just something runners do, well at least from those who originate from the valley as far as i know, sticking out helps keep running fun so there really isn't like that kind of stick either!

Stick 4: To many sticks, the word stick is starting to lose it's meaning...

Stick 5: The stick, that just so happens to be pointing north. There really is nothing like the stick pointing north, or some may call it, the north pointing stick, this stick is a memory bank for stick 1's and a way to keep in touch with stick 2's and to assist us with stick 3. Without the stick I wouldn't be writing about the stick, that's how important the stick is!

Well i wasn't really sure where i was going with this, i just havn't showered in like 2 days so i'm sticky with dried up sweat and it seems that all i can think about, i'm probably at a 1 B.J at the moment and climbing at an alarming rate

smell ya later

-AP

Easy as Pie

   With the absence of our humble co-founder I have called upon another member of Benny and the Jets for some material and he didn't disappoint. Although, he will always be the baby in our eyes, at least now hopefully with the help of 100 mile weeks he won't feel like one anymore. So without further ado, I give you the man that can only last 4min, the dude who can eat food, the baby, the SWPCM.

          Ah yes, 1st year university is starting to wrap up, and my days of racing as an adorable little rookie are over. It’s a very bittersweet feeling, considering I’ll no longer be known as the baby of the squad, and at the same time it’s a wake up call to get my act together and start running well like I did back in the glory days in high school. How might I do this? Well its simple, three steps that must be accomplished during the summer. 1, get the mileage up, 2, don’t get injured, and 3, get my name heard to the public. The third step might sound quite questionable, however I must assure it’s just as important as the other two steps, it just has absolutely nothing to do with running. How might I get my name heard to the public you might ask, well its simple, become slice champion at a local pizzeria. All I have to do is eat the most slices in 40 minutes by the end of 2013. I may not be the fastest, but I can eat the most (with the exception of Durr). I’m going to walk in wearing short shorts and no shirt after a nice long run, and then I’ll ask for 7 slices, hopefully the no shirt, no shoes, no service policy is non-existent there.

Best regards,
SWPCM

If it's what it takes

So this afternoon i looked down at the calendar and realized, hey! There's only like 2 day's until spring! I was so pumped the only thoughts that were running through my mind is shirtless runs, shirtless durr and shritless burr, but then, in the midst of my day dreaming I looked outside and saw the -18 degree weather and the seemingly never ending snowfall.... I was pissed, and frankly I still am! When the calendar says spring time i damn well want my spring time, that picture perfect spring time that you see in those children books or teletubbies where the sun is shining the snow is almost gone the flowers blooming the trees budding all that good stuff but no all I get is snow! Anyway enough of my rant about the non existent spring because it's well, non existent. So phase 2 of the track season has finished, finally get to start doing some break downs, all seems to be going good, except for one thing, the good ol' shins are starting to feel the mileage great, so the only things I can do is hope for it to not get worse and well ice, i guess that's the only bonus of it being winter right now is free ice and if it's what it takes, i'll do it!

So basically what I did was take snow from the outdoors, put it in a bucket and built a snow fort around my leg, that didn't really seem to work because the snow fort kept failing so i just filled the snow bucket with water for one of the coldest lower leg ice baths i've ever experienced, i'll probably just ice all night like this, i'm doing it right now because i have to bucket stationed right next to my laptop and everytime i have enough balls to put my leg in for a minute i do it. Lately I realized that for some reason, I have the inabillity to not run a workout or do a run, no matter how much i'm in pain, for some reason I just can't take a break or elliptical or something, because for some reason in my mine i think i'm going to get like 20 seconds slower even tho i know it's not the case and i also realize that no matter what anyone tells me i will never learn, i'll probably have to end up getting injured to learn my lesson oh well i'll cross that bridge when i come to it.

Anyway stay classy Santiago

-AP

Missing You Big Fella

Dearest DC.

The sparkle of the waves in the sun on the ocean doesn't even comepete with the one in your eyes.

The moment your big brown eyes met with my deep blue skies, I knew there was more to you that there has been creatures in the sea.

Creatures that swallowed my interest the moment I met you, making my knees weak and my stomach churn.

The butterflies that churned my stomach turned into vomit and I puked on your shoe.
im sorry durr I'll clean that.

The vomit soaks through your shoes like your words into my mind.

forever and always
rj and ap <3

Every Weird Look You Get, I Will Have A Beer Friday.

Alright so yesterday I made a mistake. It was a small mistake, but like all small mistakes, they slowly become big mistakes, if you don't take care of them before that happens. I was in a rush to get to practice as always, so I grabbed a pair of comfy shorts, grabbed a blue shirt cause I wanted to wear blue, then as I left my room, I picked up my Cheerios Singlet. All is well, I'm getting dressed. Shorts, shirt, singlet, shoes, hat... I look down and boom....

I became.... Swedish?

On the bright side on it thou, I'm back at the whole running thing, gearing up for some 1500's and 3000's this spring, throw in a 5km road race, and boom there is an outdoor season. Some long drives, some shorts ones, some stops along the way, some good times thats for sure. Trying to get kinda fit in a short period of time is odd... Im trying to bounce back from a dreadful indoor season so, I'm unsure how to think of that phase... Do I build off of indoors? Do I start fresh? But, it's actually both of those. I am starting fresh, as in I did take a break, and I am slowly getting back into it. But then again, once you do something, you build off of it. Example: You drink six beers in 2 hours. you are buzzed. Yeah, runners are light weights. Every hour after that you have 1 beer... actually I don't know where this is going... St Patty's Day is fast approaching and all thats on my mind is green beer and green men and green ladies and little green men and pots of gold. I'm Irish not swedish... haha.

Getting back on track, a better example is building a house. once the frame is built, you dont need to build the frame again. Okay... this is not going well, I'm just going to stop.

Made a Harlem Shake video like a month after they were popular. Che-che-che-check it oooout!

well... this was kinda embarrassing.
as Durr would say, keep it real.
rj 

p.s. SWPCM I got 19 weird looks...

The Tale Of The Pacer And The Racer

There I was, standing on the line, I knew what I had to do. It was easy, I wasn't nervous. To my left a guy who I didn't know, and to my left I would find the guy who this rope was tied to. My job was to drag him as far as I could as he was looking for a 25 second pb. Here we go...

"On your mark..."

There I stood, an invisible rope tied to this man who was a friend but for this race he was more than just a friend, he was my oasis while I his thirsty elephant on a mission. I look to my left, my heart beating, adrenaline pumping, legs surging with a seemingly endless pool of energy, I'm ready for this. Before I knew it, this group of men, runners, everyone with their own mission, me included, is called to the line with the gun pointed in the air. The only thing I can remember from what seemed like the longest second of the day was the image of my opponents shaking with anticipation but for this race not opponents but travelers on my journey. Then suddenly, BOOM, the gun goes, an explosion of runners off the start line, fighting for a good position from the start, but not me, casually, I allow my trusted ally to go ahead of me leading for the first lap keeping an even pace, a pace that felt easy, but I knew that it wouldn't stay easy for long, before I knew it, a few seconds later I crossed the 400 meter line on perfect pace

He looks back at me and says "Give me a thumbs up...."

He tossed me a thumbs up back, I took this as a sign as he felt good, so onward we rolled. I kept pace, kept it smooth, kept it honest. To me this pace was a walk in the park, I knew thou it would get hard for my friend. I kept pulling at the rope, stay on pace lil man. We can do this.

"2:30, you guys are on the money!" Our coach yelled.

The second lap goes by without even batting an eye, but here, in the midst of the third lap, the fatigue starts rolling in, a littler earlier then it usually should have because of previous races I did in the day but I knew that i had to just push threw it. Following my trustworthy leader we approach another runner not quite cruising at our lightning fast speed, on his heels the chief looks back at me

"let's pass him?"

I could tell this runner was lavering, his shoulders were tight, we had him beat, just had to get by the lad. I made the move on the corner which was a bad idea as my partner couldn't get around him. A gap formed. The runner whom I just passed had more to give, I slowed a bit so I could re-tie the rope, he blew by us and slowed. I waited till we hit the next straight stretch and we took him. We didn't look back after that. Forward I looked as we were approaching another runner... could we get him?

"A tad off pace guys, 7 seconds back, work the second half" Schroeds announced.

It was top of the fourth 7 seconds behind, when alarms started going off in my head, I could feel the rope getting thinner and thinner, my body yelling at me to quit, lie down on the side of the track and just cry, but, I've been threw this before, I knew what to do, 7 seconds behind, that was nothing I told myself, so I pushed deeper, the back of my partner turning into a mere yellow blur, but if I looked pass that yellow blur I could see another fast skinny blur slowly getting nearer as we pushed through that lap passing the line with...

 The encouragements of Schroeds "Go catch him guys only 5 seconds off"

I pulled beside my guy, told him to look up, told him we are gunna catch that guy up ahead. Two laps to go. We could do it! Alright man, lets pick it up, I take back the lead and begin the move. Unlucky us are nearest competitor hears us and starts picking it up. It's almost over man, hang in there lets do this. I spoke words of wisdom. I was calm, hoping that my calmness would inspire him I kept picking it up.

"So close man, lets go, lets go!"

The only thing I heard was a distant muffle from inside of my body, at this point nothing mattered I was just a searing mess of pain just holding on for the race to end but as I look over at my partner I slightly pick up the pace, I remember him saying "get on my hip" and so i surged and caught right up next to him however it wasn't enough my legs were giving out and my chest felt like exploding, the last 800 is truly the hardest part of the race.

"Just hanging in there"


DING DING! One to go! I look back, I get the go ahead to go after the last lap, 8:23... 8:24... 8:25... I take off. This is it! On the back stretch I catch up to a runner, I see another in the distance, I keep pushing as he disappears around the corner. Down the home stretch 5m away... 4m... 3m...

"I got myself a race"

As I cross the line for the last lap, I hear the seemingly distant sound of the bell, unfortunately it provides no motivation, I want to go faster, I want to have a kick but there is nothing left, both legs and spirit exaughsted the rope to my partner long since severed, he takes off, there wasn't much he could do for me at the point anyway, as the lap drags on I manage to keep a pretty steady pace

"I think I can, I think I can"

As the finish approaches, I pull away. Crossing the line, I look up at the clock, 9:23...

"Holy s***, I just closed in a 60, wheres Adam?'

I cross the line in a stumble ripping off the pinny faster then I would if Phill Collins were on repeat I look over at my partner, he closed in a 60, holy crap, I look over at the clock, a new pb. Even thou the mission of a 20 second pb failed I settled for the one second I got because I had a great time, I just hope that one day, I can pace my pacer, but we'll see about that one.

Much love

rj and ap