***BIG CHANGES IN THE WORKS***

***BIG CHANGES IN THE WORKS***

Be sure to stay tuned to this blog over the next couple of weeks. There are some fundamental changes in the works for this blog.

December 18, 2010

Yay for “tax cuts” or “tax status quo”

Big news this week. Hell must have frozen over because there was finally something that both congressional Democrats and Republicans could agree to, a bill extending the tax cuts put into place by former President Bush. The very same ones he vowed to repeal on the campaign trail (don’t have a link for that one yet). The bill also included maintaining the tax rates for those evil evil top 1% of earners. I know… how dare they work hard to be successful and not share with the rest of us lazy people who don’t want to work hard, right?

I’m not going to advocate the need for increasing taxes in these difficult economic times. I think that would probably make things a lot worse. People would have a lot less money to spend and the economy would probably start to slow down again. However this bill simply does not make ANY sense. First off, the bill that was just signed is not a tax cut. No one’s taxes are going down, they are just staying at the rates established by President Bush. It should be more appropriately named the “Tax Status Quo Bill”. The main reason why I have difficulty with this bill is because of the 13 month extension of unemployment benefits. Again, being in a position where you are on unemployment must be very difficult and (like tax increases) I am not advocating an elimination of extensions of benefits. It too would probably make things worse. But these two things coupled together simply makes no sense to me!

It costs money for the government to pay people who are temporarily out of work. The government gets its money from taxation. So we are going to continue to pay more of our money to people who are out of work but not increase the revenue stream that we are using to pay them? WTF? In what universe does this add up? This is like me quitting my job on Monday morning then going out to buy a 50 inch plasma screen television that afternoon. I would be bankrupt by Friday with that kind of logic.

The only way I can see this working is if the unchanged tax rates spur further economic growth thus prompting more tax revenue to be taken in by the government via Art Laffer’s supply side economic theory (nerd alert, nerd alert… I apologize). Don’t look now, but if this works, you “tax and spend democrats” have just endorsed supply side economics and turned your backs on your “soak the rich” ways. You may have some explainin’ to do!

I however remain skeptical as President Bush’s tax rates have not really spurred much growth over the past couple of years and they have left my paycheck and wallet feeling kind of light.

December 11, 2010

2010 Racing Recap!

You are probably wondering why I have not posted in a long while. Since my last post, we have seen the November elections come and go and have watched a few ludicrous arguments over tax cuts unemployment benefits and Lame duck Congressional sessions. One would think that this loud mouthed blogger would have something to say about all of that. Honestly, I have been too busy and lazy to do so. In due time… it will come.

Anyway, I last week I ran a 5k Road race, the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis. This race capped off my 2010 racing year (much to the chagrin of Chris – my fellow running partner who is training for the Boston Marathon).

2010 was a big racing year for me, so let’s recap:

Before putting foot to pavement, I laid out a schedule that began in April and concluded in December. The schedule alternated longer races and shorter 5k races about every 3-4 weeks. This approach allowed me to be constantly motivated to train for something new, but not get burned out in the process.

I started in May with the Brighton Fun and Fit 5k with a time of 24:29. For Brad and I, this was the first race we had done in quite some time. It was a crucial first step in returning to racing. This was a relatively new race so the field of runners was small. As a result, I took home a prize for the top finisher in my age group. I had never received a prize for running before. My time was nothing impressive, but it was a great way to get motivated to keep running throughout the year! Later in May, I ran in the Lilac Festival 10k crossing with a time of 51:18 (ran race with Chris… much further ahead of me). I love this race and have enjoyed running it before. My time was not good compared to previous years (where I ran closer to 48 minutes. However, I did get my race number autographed by Dick Beardsley! (Another first). Also notable to mention… Chris and I cheered on Brad and Emily as they ran in the 5k race prior to the 10k. Good job Emily!

June started off with another one of my favorite races… the J.P. Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge 3.5 mile. This marked the 4th time that I have ran this race. I ALWAYS push my self in this race. The crowd is huge and it’s familiar terrain as I ran the RIT campus loop at least a couple times every week while in grad school. I crossed with a net time of 25:53. There are some gaps in my training records for previous time I have ran this race, but my time this year was substantially off from my 2008 time (about a minute). I’ll come back ant hit that race hard in 2011. In order to really push my self, I ran another race just 2 days later. The Nazareth College Sprint for Scholarships 5k. I ran with Brad and used it more as a recovery run, but pushed my legs in the second half of the race. Time: 24:06, faster than the first 5k of the year by about 20 seconds! As if that was not enough, I ran in the Festival on the Green 5k with a time of 23:40, another PR for the year. Finally, my times are dropping!

Now comes July with my first significant mountain to face. The Utica Boilermaker 15k. My first time running in a field of 14,000 runners and first time running 15k distance. A brave step into new territory leading to a net time of 1:22:31. A rather slow pace due to the difficulty of dealing with a crowd of runners that size. Now I know what to expect… I will be back in 2011 to top that time!

In the weeks following the Boilermaker I developed an injury that forced me to switch to biking for a couple of weeks. That was not going to stop me though. I kept active, eased back into running and healed things up. I had to keep running because August had a very important race, the Peter James Cannon Memorial 5k. This was to benefit the scholarship fund set up following Peter’s tragic death in a car accident during February. On one of the hottest evenings of the summer, I ran a 23:04, a PR for the year… by 37 seconds. Impressive.

September, now comes the big one. I have had my eyes and focus on this race all year: The Rochester Half Marathon. 13.1 miles looping from Downtown Rochester, through Brighton, the canal trail, U of R, Corn Hill and finishing at Frontier Field. My Mount Rainier. Uncharted racing territory. Ran 12 miles with the encouragement of Chris (thanks again Chris). Crossed the line in 1:48:42 for my first ever half marathon!

Surprisingly, I recovered pretty quickly. I did not race in October, but focused on increasing the distances of my individual training runs. However in November, a new challenge faced me. The Mendon Trail Runs 20k (12.4 miles). When making my race schedule, I decided to include this race as a part of my training. A 10k loop through the relentless hilly, root covered dirt trails of Mendon Ponds park. Finish the loop… and run it again. After two days of cold rain and the first snowfall of the year starting 15 minutes before the race start, Chris and I tackled this beast. It took us 2:00:28 to complete. The longest sustained effort I have ever had for a race. My first experience with a trail race was painful. I was glad it was over, but I was glad I did it.

Finally, to finish out off. December had one final 5k race, the Jingle Bell 5k Run for Arthritis. The plan: run it as a time trial, push what ever else you have out of your legs. I did just that with a time of 22:02! That’s the fastest 5k I have on record for me! About 2.5 minutes faster than where I was in April. What a great way to finish the year.

  • 9 Races
  • 60 total miles raced
  • 8 hours, 26 minutes and 13 seconds
  • 8:26 overall race pace

Now I break from running until February 2011, through I may do some other exercises that won’t pound on my legs so much. Next year is the big one… the Rochester Marathon. September 18, 2011. Time to climb Everest.