Phish at Madison Square Garden, Dec. 30, 2015

Phish is back at MSG for a New Year's run and guess who's going to all four shows!

Dec. 30 is the anniversary of the band's first ever MSG show in 1994. I was there, and still vividly remember being on the floor for that excellent show. I was also at 12/30/98, 12/30/2010, 12/30/2011, 12/30/2012 and 12/30/2013 at the famed venue, not to mention 12/30/99 at Big Cypress.

Needless to say, Dec. 30 is a special date for me when it comes to Phish and tonight's show was up there with the best.

On paper, the first set seems pretty standard, but the opening combo of "Sample in a Jar" and "Free" reminded me of the fall 1995 shows to which I've been listening, though with a tighter, more punchy version of the latter than any of those old shows. "Simple" rocked, "Back on the Train" chugged along with considerable verve, "Waiting All Night" and "Roggae" chilled nicely in their mellow grooves, and "555" brought some funk. The set-closing one-two wallop of "The Dogs" and "46 Days" destroyed any notion that this was some kind of standard first set.

That only set the stage for set two, though. The flub in the opener "Chalk Dust Torture" (Fish stopped the jam but Trey kept going) led to a totally different jam in a new key and with a dark tone out of which sprang "Ghost", which abruptly segued (crashed) into a brand new upbeat number called "Can't Always Listen", which crashed right back into "Ghost" (reminiscent of some of the summer's song sandwiches). The non-stop set continued with a fantastic "Waves" and an even more fantastic "Bathtub Gin", accompanied by some beautiful lighting.

"Mike's Song" was a treat with a good jam that kept the dancing pants on, but the move into "Bouncing Around the Room" caught almost everyone off guard. "Bouncing"? In set two? In place of "I Am Hydrogen"?

Let the haters hate. I still like "Bouncing", and though the end part was a little rough, the transition into "Weekapaug Groove" was excellent. 

The surprises didn't end there. Somehow, Phish pulled off a startling but dead-on segue into what might have been the most majestic "What's the Use" ever, only to create another sandwich by bringing back "Weekapaug", complete with an "Auld Lang Syne" tease to remind us that this is, indeed, the New Year's Run and it is on. This sentiment was punctuated by a hard rocking, super-climactic "Character Zero" encore.

Friends, this is only night one.

Set list:

Set I: Sample in a Jar, Free, Simple > Back on the Train, Waiting All Night, 555, Roggae, The Dogs > 46 Days

Set II: Chalk Dust Torture -> Ghost -> Can't Always Listen -> Ghost -> Waves > Bathtub Gin, Mike's Song > Bouncing Around the Room > Weekapaug Groove -> What's the Use > Weekapaug Groove

Encore: Character Zero 

Vacation running in Florida

Some people like to take a break from running when on vacation.  Not me.

Sure, no one wants to set an alarm every morning when spending time relaxing and away from work, but I look at vacation running as a golden opportunity to see new sights and spice up what would normally be the same old runs through the same old places.

Two weeks ago, I was on vacation in Cape Coral, Fla. With temperatures in the mid-70s each morning and peaking in the mid-80s, it was warm and wonderful (if a little humid).

On Monday, I did a tough 40-minute tempo run on the bike/pedestrian paths of beautiful Sanibel Island and then cooled off in the calm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

Tuesday was a four-mile easy run through some Cape Coral neighborhoods, using Jaycee Park on Beach Parkway as the turnaround point.

Wednesday's three-miler was supposed to be at marathon pace (7:01, hopefully) but ended up being at half-marathon pace (6:18).  Yikes.  I guess I felt too good and relaxed!

Thursday was rest day, and Friday was supposed to be an easy eight-miler, but again, the totally flat land of Cape Coral, the warm Gulf air, and the generally awesome feeling of not having been at work for a week made it a lot closer to a marathon pace run (7:10).

On your next vacation, I hope you, too, decide not to take a vacation from running!

Passaic Valley Rotary River Run 5K

The math was swirling around my head. If I could run the Passaic Valley Rotary 5K as fast as I ran the first three miles of the Ashenfelter 8K, just three days earlier, it would not only be an enormous PR, but it would be a monumental breakthrough - a sub-18-minute 5K.

This being my hometown race, which I have run five times before, I know the race course extremely well and can use the big uphill in the second mile and the huge downhill at the end of the race to plot strategic moves. And since the starting line is less than two miles from home, I could sleep a little later and not worry about travel issues.

But there were variables. First, even with two days of complete rest, would I be recovered enough from the epic five-mile PR? Also, would the weather be as cooperative?

Unfortunately, the answers seemed like "No" and "No" as I stood in the light wind and 39-degree cold at the start line outside of the Little Falls Recreation Center on Paterson Avenue, in the front of the approximately 100 people running this 12th PV Rotary race, with legs that still felt worn from Thursday.

No matter - the goal here was to finish my comeback season stronger than ever. Even if could capture just a little of that Ashenfelter magic, I would best my 18:24 PR from last year. But the thought of a sub-18 was an undeniable force in my brain, so at the go command, I bolted out with all of my might northbound onto McBride Avenue and into the left turn on Lackawanna Avenue in Woodland Park.

I was in third place after the left turn on Riverview Drive as I passed the first mile marker at 5:41, which was dead-on perfect for the ultimate ideal sub-18 goal. The hill in the second mile would inevitably slow me down, so an eight-second cushion on top of the Ashenfelter pace was necessary.

Before the big hill, I began to overtake the second place runner. He put up a weird fight by speeding up to prevent me from passing and leaning into me, almost literally pushing me into the middle of the street. But by the time we got to the hill, I shook him loose and bounded up with all my might.

There was not a lot of might left, though, as my legs started to burn with fatigue. Clearly, the back-to-back races were too much. The left turn onto Union Avenue at the crest of the hill was a relief, but I could already sense there was precious little gas left in the tank. When I reached the second mile marker on after the left turn on Walnut Street, I knew my pace had taken a hit, but was throroughly dismayed by the 6:09 on my watch.

Math swirled again - I needed to hit the third mile in 5:36 in order to make up that time to finish at my record pace from Thursday. I needed a 5:34 in order to hit that elusive sub-18 5K finish. Those times are achievable for me on fresh legs in the first mile on a good day, but this situation was none of those three things.

Since this was the very last mile of an incredible racing season in which I trained harder and ran faster than ever before, there was only one thing left to do: Push it to the limit. All the way. No holds barred. Nothing held back.

No matter if it hurts (it did), or the potential of injury (very real), this mile was the culmination of everything for which I strived this year. And it was flat for the first half and downhill for the end.

I came damn close, somehow pushing out that last 1.1 miles at a 5:44 pace. So even though I saw the clock turn over into the 18-minute range as I barreled toward the finish, there was not a shred, not an inkling, not an iota of disappointment as I crossed the line in (a distant) second place with a new, almost improbable, PR of 18:08 and an average pace of 5:51.

When I first started running at age 30, the thought of a sub-19 5K or a sub-6 pace was unimaginable. This autumn, at age 41, I did it with startling regularity. I have come an incredibly long way and have so very much of which to be proud. If this turns out to be the peak, I will be nothing short of satisfied.

Ashenfelter 8K Classic, Glen Ridge, NJ

The doubt began to creep in at the starting line, where more than 3,000 runners were packed onto Ridgewood Avenue outside of Glen Ridge High School for this odd-distance race (8 kilometers is 4.97 miles, so why not make it a five-miler?). It boggled my mind that they could somehow pull this off for 16 Thanksgivings, as I stood squeezed in toward the front of the start with slower people and children that, despite the half-hearted warning from a race volunteer, were definitely going to be trampled. This was one thing I did not miss about large races.

The start gun fired with no fanfare and we were off...or rather, standing still, then walking, but as soon as I hit that starting mat, it was time to run regardless of the fact that I had to plow through a tangle of people that should have known better than to be in the front.

Thankfully, after that, everything went about as perfectly (and amazingly!) as I could have imagined. Doubt erased.

Zooming north on the straightaway of gentle inclines and descents on Ridgewood Avenue for the first mile and a half, I settled into what felt like a comfortably hard pace - enough effort to keep the speed up, but conserving enough for the next half hour of work. I figured I was right on my goal track of 6:01, so when I hit the first mile marker at 5:42 I was pleasantly surprised.

Easing back ever so slightly around the right turns onto Sunset Avenue and Forest Avenue (to head south again), I was sure that I evened out my splits to get back on goal pace (the motto is still "Run the Race for Which You Trained"), so it was another shocker that I nailed a 5:50.

Because it is such a huge race, there are other runners around at all times. Maybe it was a desire to keep up with the guys around me or at least to keep anyone from passing, but I managed to maintain that pace and still feel like I was not fully exerting myself. At the three-mile marker on the right turn on Osbourne Street, leading us to a left turn to get back on Ridgewood Avenue southbound, the clock read 17:30 as I posted a 5:48 for that mile. Even without the 10-second lag between the gun start and my chip start, I was in serious PR territory. If it was a 5K race, I would have actually - unbelievably - come in under 18 minutes, a feat beyond my wildest dreams.

However, with two miles to go, I had two options. I could eat my cushion, cruise the last two miles at a more comfortable 6:15 pace and still come in under 30, besting my 30:10 from last year's Sunset Classic (even adjusting for that .03 mile difference). Or, I could throw the motto out the window and embrace this amazing moment and push it to the limit.

Well, of course I chose the latter, even though I started to feel some fatigue by the time I passed up the start/finish before the southern loop for the final mile of the figure-eight course. My legs were getting a little heavy and my stomach was beginning the sickly churn that happens when I push too hard for too long. But I mentally swept it all aside knowing that, with a 5:53 for the fourth mile, this race was mine.

A left turn down the hill of Washington and a quick right onto Hawthorne Avenue led to a right on Maolis Avenue and back uphill to return to Ridgewood Avenue for the northward home stretch. That hill could have sapped everything I had in the tank, but somehow I powered up that thing with all my might and managed to catch my breath enough to shift into that extra gear for a sprint to the finish, passing two guys in the process and watching the clock flip into the 29-minute range.

I finished with a 29:06 on the clock and was handed a Top 100 finisher mug (69th place!). I was hurting, no question, but I felt strong and undeniably proud of my accomplishment. My chip time ended up being 28:56 - I was aiming to break 30 minutes and I managed to break 29. Adding those 10 seconds back to adjust for the extra .03 miles, I absolutely destroyed my five-mile PR by more than a minute. Insane.

More incredibly, that comes out to a 5:49 pace - much, much faster than any 5K I have ever run, yet I did it for two miles more. 

When I realized that, my next thought was "If I can recapture this energy in three days, I will be able to PR at my hometown race, the Passaic Valley Rotary Run..."