Phish at Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, night two

This show was big on sheer amount of songs, had more breakouts of songs not played in years and still managed to have four 10+ minute jams. If this is the formula of Phish 2012, it is still working like a charm.

Like the previous night, however, the bustouts kept a-coming. The combos of "Alumni Blues"/"Letter to Jimmy Page" and "The Man Who Stepped into Yesterday"/"Avenu Malkanu" were personal rarities (though the former combo had not been played since 2009). Despite the fact that this was my 83rd show, I'd only ever seen them play one of those four songs - "Letter", once, at this very venue, my second show, 7/15/94.

The big bustout for the band and all the audience was the first appearance of the Velvet Underground's "Head Held High" since Phish covered their entire 'Loaded' album on Halloween 1998. Yes, another Halloween breakout!  What's in store at the next show - "Born Under Punches"?

But that was not all - someone had a sign for "Bittersweet Motel" the previous night. Trey Anastasio acknowledged it but they waited until this show to play it for the first time in three years. And sandwiched between Argent's "Hold Your Head Up" as intro and outro for Jon Fishman's vocal and vacuum spotlight came another rarity - the first time for Fish's vocal stylings on the Prince ballad "Purple Rain" since 1999. I had not seen them play it since MSG 1994.

Plus, they still found time to do a lengthy, kick-ass "David Bowie"! Add to that a rocking "Kill Devil Falls", the fun ditty "Alaska" (a personal favorite), a kicking "Gumbo" with fat bass bombs from Mike Gordon, and the requisite barbershop rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" for the Fourth of July, and you have got to consider this possibly the best first set of all time.

Still firing on all cylinders, but finding it tough to beat the first half, they played it more straight in set two, kicking out the funk in Stevie Wonder's "Boogie On Reggae Woman" to open the set and then launching into the "T"-trifecta of "Tweezer", "Twist" and "Taste". They did an "S" show last year. It's time for a "T" show.

The cover songs kept coming with a rousing rendition of Dylan's "Quinn the Eskimo", and two of the more standard Halloween album songs - the Velvets' "Rock & Roll" and the Stones' "Shine a Light". I can't get enough of the latter.

Thankfully, "The Horse" was not bungled, as in A.C., and "Silent in the Morning" was its usual, pretty self, but the 2010 ballad "Show of Life", still one of my favorite 3.0-era songs, was excellent, despite the groans from the crowd.

The gorgeous "Harry Hood" jam, late in the set would have been the highlight if not for the absolutely glorious "Slave to the Traffic Light" that closed the set. The memories of the bad "Slaves" I have seen get further away every time I see Phish play it in the new era.

That is not to say I don't have gripes about the set. I used to love "Taste", but for some reason, the jam never seems to climax the right way for my tastes anymore. The ending doesn't come together like it used to. Am I the only one that feels this way? And the days when every "Julius" was the best "Julius" ever are long gone. This one seemed dead on arrival at first, but did pick up enough steam to be enjoyable.

I love "Sleeping Monkey" as an encore, and paired with an incredibly rocking "Tweezer Rerprise" that had Trey running and jumping in his little area of the stage, it was another night when everyone went home happy.  Another two shows by the shore (five beach shows this summer!) in the books.

Phish at Jones Beach, Wantagh, NY, night one

It is my guess that this show will be forever remembered as the show that busted out "Skin It Back" (first time played in almost 24 years) and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" (first time since Phish covered the entire Beatles White Album on Halloween 1994). But that stuff happened early on and there was an entire memorable show in the hours following.

In many ways, it was a perfect example of Phish 2012, striking the balance between extended jams, varied song selection, and economical playing. In addition to the rarities he first set contained the standard classics also played in Atlantic City - "Possum",  "Mike's Song -> I Am Hydrogen -> Weekapaug Groove", "Golgi Apparatus" and "Axilla I", but solid playing and short, to-the-point jams made it fun for vets and newbies alike.

"Ya Mar" was fun, though I do miss the extended ending from years ago, when drummer Jon Fishman would do some extra fills and bassist Mike Gordon would scat sing through a few bars.

There was one flub, in "Tube", and it was made by Fish, who tried to pull the ripcord on the jam way too early, causing a cacophony of his push to the swing beat while Trey resisted and kept pulling on the funk rhythm.

Rarities aside, the highlight of the set was the trifecta of "Joy", an awesome rendition and tour debut of ZZ Top's "Jesus Just Left Chicago" and the happy "Backwards Down the Number Line". The former was beautiful, despite disinterest by much of the crowd; and the latter definitely redeemed the sloppy mess it created on Atlantic City.

There were nine songs in the second set and four of them stretched longer than 10 minutes. Not exactly the hardcore-phan-favorite four-song sets like the days of yore, but enough to keep us satisfied - what with the funk of "Sand", its sick segue into "Golden Age", and the organ solo that had many folks swearing "No Quarter" would follow. (It didn't.) A perfectly executed "Fluffhead" and a frenzied set-closing climax of "Run Like an Antelope" (complete with call-and-response between band and audience of "Mike-O!" Gordo!") satiated the need for extended songs. 

Second set opener "Chalk Dust Torture", still the song I have seen them play the most (at about a third of my 82 shows), "Wolfman's Brother" and "Bug" were short and succinct, but packed a lot of punch in their brevity, a reminder that the running time is not enough to judge the quality of a Phish performance.

And in the "that came from left field" department of oddly placed songs, "The Wedge", a personal favorite of mine from 1993's 'Rift' album, seemed to blow in from nowhere and...well...wedge itself between the monsters of "Fluff" and "Antelope".

A rocking but standard "Character Zero" sent everyone home feeling good about the show, almost forgetting about the historic bust-outs at the beginning. Almost.

Include Me! 5K, Montville, NJ

Montville, New Jersey. I guess that's "Mont" as in "Mount" as in "Mountain" as in "hills". And the hills were definitely my enemy at this race.

Not that the presence of hills was any surprise. I lived in neighboring Parsippany for 10 years and ran through Montville many times. The surprise was my inability to handle them.

The start of the race, off Horseneck Road near the library, had a short downhill before an incline that was steep enough to throw a wrench into anyone's race, too early on, in the first mile. I bounded up, knowing that my fresh legs could handle it and that I could hang back on the way down. 

But I also knew I was trying to hit a time mark and pacing was everything. I kept my strides long on the downhill, but tried to reduce my effort. But by the time I reached the second hill, I could feel things were awry. 

And then came the turnaround. Oh yes, I had forgotten this was an out-and-back course. This meant I had to run the same hills in reverse. By the time I got to the original hill, I was out of gas and the muscles in my leg started getting that painful fatigued feeling again. I was pushing only on persistence, knowing I had trained so damn hard for this. I had to fight through the exhaustion and pain on principle, if nothing else.

But then, I wondered if it was in my head. Maybe I could trust my training. Maybe I was doing the sub-6 pace I had trained for without knowing it. After all, I trained so hard, I had taught my body to run fast without letting my brain get in the way.

No such luck. Coming down the hill, I could see the clock at the finish line and it was already in the 18s. The best I could do to save it from being a bad race and retain my dignity was to get in under nineteen. So I dug deep and finished with an 18:57. Not worth the intense training though which I put myself, but not bad. 

As for the event itself, it was well organized and well run. Check-in was easy, and they were nice enough to split the age groups into five-year increments, so I ended up winning my age group. Had they done it in 10 year groups, I would not have gotten a medal. 

Still, this race has forced me to evaluate what I want to do with the next few weeks before I start marathon training again. Is it worth it to push myself like this for another short race before the long runs become the focus again? Will I survive? We shall see.