I listen to a lot of music when I exercise.
While riding my exercise bike the other day, I heard a song that I especially enjoyed and started to think about my favorite songs from many various musical artists. (It is good to distract one’s mind during long workouts.)
After the workout, I began to create this list of my favorite songs from a host of musical groups and artists. It was an interesting exercise as I thought about songs and artists.
Continue reading “A Fun List of Great Songs”
Today I dismantled my old treadmill.
The old TM wasn’t working well any longer and it was time to get a new one.
Continue reading “Goodbye To My Treadmill”
I have a bunch of scattered thoughts to share. These will come in no particular order.
My treadmill is basically broken. I can run on it in a pinch, but it skips a bit and makes a loud bang every few steps making it very hard to maintain any type of pace or focus. I have had this treadmill for at least a decade. I have run thousands and thousands (I’m thinking at least 10,000) miles on it. It owes me nothing. I wanted to run today, but it’s cold and snowing… so I went outside anyway.
Continue reading “Random & Important Thoughts”
Even though I don’t run marathons any longer, this morning I gave back to the people, the race, and the city I love my serving as the co-chaplain at the religious service tent. It was a glorious day for the runners.
Here is the sermon I delivered at all of the services:
Continue reading “My NYC Marathon Sermon 2025”
17.5 miles. Yes, you read that correctly. 17.5 miles. A great 17.5 mile run!!!
The long run was CRUSHED!
The long run was DESTROYED!
The long run was CONQUERED!
The man Is MARATHON READY! OH YEAH!
No, not me. I covered the distance, yes, but I didn’t run that far. It wasn’t me. It was Alex!
Continue reading “CRUSHING The Long Run!”
August 7, 2025
Running has been a bit of a struggle for me this summer. My longest run was seven miles. I most frequently run only three to four miles. A five-mile run (which I did this morning) is a long run for me these days.
My last big race, the Walt Disney World Marathon, (in January of this year) came as the last leg of the Dopey Challenge, a series of four races, each a bit longer than the one previous, over four days. (A 5k, followed by a 10k, followed by a half-marathon, followed by the full marathon – 48.6 miles in total.)
That marathon, the 27th of my “career,” was the last marathon I’ll ever run.
Continue reading “Did It Break Me?”
July 13, 2025
***
Well, this is a strange and unique feeling for me. The NYC marathon is 16 weeks away and today would be the start of my marathon training season.
But I’m not training for marathons any longer.
My most recent marathon last January was my last marathon.
As I completed the Dopey Challenge in Walt Disney World in January, I determined that my marathon days were over. My reasons for retiring from marathoning are legion. I’ll touch on some of them below, but I have written a lot about that on these pages before.
The following are some of my scattered thoughts as I break away from the 16-week training period for the NYC – a ritual I followed for the better part of a quarter-century:
Continue reading “16 Weeks Until The NYC Marathon, But…”
Last January, I completed the Dopey Challenge at Walt Disney World, 48.6 miles of races over four days ending with the WDW Marathon. It was awesome!
After the race, I continued running, but I also couldn’t ignore discomfort that became very real pain in my left Achilles tendon. (I had surgery on my right Achilles in 2020.) I visited my doctor who shut me down from running and began a rehab program to heal the pain (a small tear) in my Achilles. I stopped running in mid-to-late March. I didn’t run at all in April. And, until today, May 24, I hadn’t run in May.
Continue reading “YOU CAN DO MORE!”
As I got clobbered on the hills of Pittsburgh on the second half of the marathon in May 2023, I swore that that was my last marathon. I was miserable. I struggled. There is a certain hell that one goes through in the upper miles of a marathon. In that race, my 24th marathon, I’d had it.
I quit marathoning more than a thousand times over the final miles on the unforgiving hills of Pittsburgh.
Only…
I didn’t quit.
Continue reading “Life After 26.2”
Oh my, it was glorious.
Beautiful and glorious.
Outside. After a cold and bitter winter.
Outside.
I went outside.
To run.
And it was wonderful.
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