La Familia Brophy

My company moved to new offices this week. We were in a refurbished 19th century factory in Lechmere, now we’re in a sparkling office tower in Kendall Square. I have to say - I like the sparkling office tower. Everything is so new and spiffy, it’s fun. The views are pretty remarkable. This picture was taken in a meeting room, but from my desk I can look straight ahead and see MIT’s great dome, the Back Bay over the river to my left, and the new ultramodern biotech buildings of East Cambridge to my right. I admire the views when I need a micro-break from my work. I can’t wait to see the fireworks from here.

I’m sure you’re thinking - will the ‘frickin’ running updates never end?’ If you sponsor my race for $100 and leave a note saying “No more running updates!” I’ll stop. How’s that for a deal?

Friday: Jog 5 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Jog 5 minutes, Walk 3 minutes, Jog 5 minutes.

I’ve started using playlists on the iPod instead of my recorded timing. So it was five minute song, three minute song, five minute song, etc. I just change what I am doing when the song ends. I’ll be doing this from here on out.

Monday: Jog 8 minutes, Walk 5 minutes, Jog 8 minutes

I had a great run this morning. I say it was a great run because I felt good during and after the run. What are the conditions that cause that good feeling to arise? Or should I just be happy when it happens without getting attached? One result of a good run freaks me out: There were free breakfast pastries to welcome us to our new office, and when I saw them I was like “Nah, I think I’ll have some of that pineapple instead.” What’s happening to me?

Wednesday: Jog 20 minutes with no walking (!)

I did it! I used a Charles River running map to verify it was about 2 miles. That’s only 3.2k, so my race will be longer. If I run the race at the same pace as today, I will finish in 31 minutes. The world record for 5k is a little under 15 minutes, so it’s unlikely that I will break the world record.

OK, before the weekly running update, I have big news: I have registered for the Samaritan’s of Boston 5k Roadrace held on the banks of the Charles river in Brighton on September 30. It’s a also a charity race, so I encourage you to sponsor my run - it’s the ideal way to really increase the pressure on me to actually run. I’ve been reading up on Samaritan’s and it’s a really great non-religious (I was surprised to learn that based on their name) volunteer organization, focussed on suicide prevention.

But how the heck am I going to run 5k? To someone who until recently had never run for longer than 1 minute at a stretch, this is pretty scary. But some how my running practice is building up on me, and with a little persistence I’m confident I can do it.

This week’s routine: Jog 3 minutes, Walk 90 seconds, Jog 5 minutes, Walk 2-1/2 minutes, Jog 3 minutes, Walk 90 seconds, Jog 5 minutes.

8/12 + 8/14: I jogged around my in-law’s subdivision in a former corn field near Neenah, Wisconsin. the 5 minute jogs were doable but hard enough for me to wonder how the 20 minute jog coming up in 8 days is going to work.

8/16: I noticed the distance I travel during the run is increasing. Which makes sense as the running to walking ration increases. Living in fear of next Wednesday’s 2 mile jog with no walking breaks.

We just got back from our trip to Wisconsin. This was Nathan’s favorite photo that we took. We were lucky enough to go to the Tractor Show in Chilton. There were hundreds of tractors there but I think we all found this one to be the most spectacular. The photos on the ladder show the condition of the machine before restoration. It was in much, much worse shape than then tractor in the background.

We also had a lovely time sitting on the pation by the new pond with Rara Debi and Dooda Mike, eating out, going to the farmers’ market, and to the National Train Museum. Click the photo to see more.

Nathan had his first bad dream the other night. It was at least the first he was able to tell us about. It went something like this: There was an old lady with an umbrella and they were walking in the rain together. She told him not to think about scary things. Just then a pumpkin fell over and turned into a spooky pumpkin (jack o’ lantern). It definitely sounds media induced but creative and spooky.

This week’s routine: Two repetitions of the following: Jog 90 seconds, Walk 90 seconds, Jog 3 minutes, Walk 3 minutes

8/4: I don’t think I could have run for three minutes at a stretch two weeks ago. I know, pretty sad, but 3 minutes is a long time! Not really a problem today, I really appreciate this baby steps approach. The cool weather is nice, too.

8/7: I dreamt that the alarm hadn’t worked and I was missing my morning run for 30 minutes before waking. Expressing my pleasure through anxiety is a lesson from Buddhism 101. I’m wiped out by today’s run. I should drink more water and less Shiraz on nights before I run.

8/9: Lisa walked my usual route with nathan and figured out that I jay walk across Memorial Drive on my jogs. She should be a detective. there are these giant gaps int he traffic though, I can’t stand wating for traffic lights when I should be me running.

Next week’s schedule sounds much more challenging than this weeks, I hope I’m up for it.

(excerpt from Ben’s Running page)

Saturday was going to be so beautiful that we decided to find a fun day trip. Lisa spent a long time researching the various fairs and special events going on in the area. We finally agreed on the Maritime Festival in Salem, especially since it was great excuse to take the High Speed Catamaran.

It was great - Nathan loved going on the Catamaran,though his obsession with the Catamaran’s “Cafe Car” (his generic term for snack bars - even our grocery store has a Cafe Car in his mind) got a little trying on the return trip. Even after gorging on ice cream the boy can still collapse into tears screaming “I need SNAAAAAACKS! SNAAAAAAACKS!” (he was pretty wiped out from the long day of fun in the sun).

The catamaran really is fast - it is so windy out front it can be hard to stand up. We all got really wild hairdos.

Nathan’s favorite part was the remote control boating which we visited more than once. I thought they were pretty cool too, one of the perks to having a little kid is that you get to do stuff like get a turn with the remote control tug boats.

A fairly strange (yet rational) guess from Amazon about my interests. Based on this it would seem I occupy a really obscure niche market.

I participated in the vintage button swap and received my package this weekend. It had a beautiful selection of buttons, an adorable t-shirt for Nathan and some Cadbury chocolate buttons. Thanks so much Caroline! This was so much fun. It was my first online swap of this sort and I can’t wait to do another one.

For those of you not following along on Ben’s Running Page here’s an update on my progress.

This week’s routine: Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 90 seconds of jogging and two minutes of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

7/28: Jogging for slightly longer stretches wasn’t difficult this morning, but I’m wiped out 3 hours later. This running business has me thinking about things like maybe I should get more sleep, not be such a caffeine junkie and eat healthier lunches. Weird.

7/31: I hate waiting for the walk light crossing JFK. I sort of jog back and forth on 30 feet of side walk while I wait. So annoying though. Also annoying: The big fat guy who leaned out the window of an SUV to yell “HEY! YOU’RE GAY!!” I heard him giving the same good news to another runner about 100 feet ahead of me.

8/2: Hottest day of the year. Definitely not as many runners out this morning as usual. It wasn’t that hot at 6:30 yet though, so I can’t say I noticed a difference - was dripping with sweat as usual. I wound up jogging in my bathing suit b/c of a lack of shorts. Worked fine. The only real challenge was getting “Mambo Italiano” stuck in my head somehow. It’s still there. It’s -a so delisha, everybody can capice.