By gcattarin on 9/21/2009 10:58 PM

The human body is amazing.  It takes a while to happen, but when your metabolic level decides it’s ready to shift, it shifts.  Just like that.  Click.  For me, something clicked in the last two weeks.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 9/12/2009 10:14 PM

Somewhere a butterfly flaps its wings, next thing you know, Hoover Dam comes crashing down, or something like that.  Or so goes the famed butterfly effect theory.  That butterfly flapped, and once again prevented me from winning a race today.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 9/7/2009 11:10 PM

The comfort zone is a wonderful place, if it’s the place you want to be.  If not, nix the zone.  Getting out of it, and getting to another place, works wonders on the head, even if the body protests in the short term.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 9/1/2009 1:00 AM

It’s mere weeks till marathon season, and I’m just not there yet.  August has been a somewhat cruel month.  The body isn’t happy.  I probably shouldn’t.  But somehow I just can’t resist the fun.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 8/13/2009 10:52 PM

Ours is a gentlemen’s sport.  Sure, we sweat like pigs (metaphor of course, my daughter the pig fan points out that pigs don’t sweat).  Sure, we get caked in mud on the trails.  And even blood sometimes, too.  But outside of the realm of big name competitors’ vocal rivalries, we’re kind, helpful, and gentile to others even as they’re thrashing us soundly.  You won’t see that in a hockey game.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 8/7/2009 11:00 PM

Yes, I know that races are held every day, twice on Saturday, and it’s no big deal.  But when it’s your own race, when it’s your first full-scale event, it is a big deal.  And it was.  The First Annual Running With the Wolves 10K went off with a howl, and came off like, well, clockwork Wednesday night, and there was great rejoicing.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 8/3/2009 11:20 PM

It’s a good thing I don’t have many readers.  When I go two weeks without a posting, I get no complaints.  My excuse?  I’ve been absorbed with race planning, which seems simple, except that it’s not.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 7/16/2009 2:43 PM

The Boilermaker is big.  Twelve thousand runners is a lot of people even when you’re used to 27,000-plus at the start of Boston – and that’s just the 15K main event, not to mention a few thousand more in the 5K.  I find it hard to comprehend where they all came from and where they all go.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 7/14/2009 11:59 PM

If you’d asked me before I started my Second Lap about some of the iconic far-away races I’ve since run – take the Charlottesville 10-Miler and the Stowe 8-Miler for example – I would have stared at you with a blank face.  But the Utica Boilermaker?  That’s one that’s always been on the wish list since those high school First Lap days.

Read More »

By gcattarin on 7/10/2009 11:32 PM

Oh my peeps are in distress.  Yes, all six of them, if I have even that many readers.  I’ve been delinquent in my postings, and I must make amends.  Bless me Father, it’s been over three weeks since my last post.  Here are my adventures.  (What, you wanted sins?  Not here, this is a family friendly blog!)

Read More »