Nice weather

Beautiful outside..... 60 and sunny. Awesome. Yesterday, AK, Hog and I did our downtown loop. We saw Tufts Alum Jason Burke out running, which was pretty cool. Today, Rosen, Bromka and I ran along the Charles for 7 miles. My legs felt pretty good, and I wore my new Hyper-Speeds to test them out. They feel good, and I think they'll make a great marathon shoe.

Today, Skip Bromka and I took a walk downtown to enjoy the weather. We stopped at 7-11 and I got a Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper Slurpee. It was delicious. And, speaking of delicious.....

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2362369

Mmmmmmmm....

We've been Slacking

I know I know... "Where's the To Do List???" I realize that some of you probably look forward to this to brighten your day, enlighten your mind, and generally raise your self esteem. Ok, none of you do that.... Anyway, I haven't posted the To Do List yet becuase we've been slacking like crazy on it this week.... My roomates (and I?) are getting lackadasical about the whole thing, but that won't stop Macrunsboston from posting a To Do List, even if that To Do List is late, and incomplete.

I hope everyone appreciates the fact that Anne McGuire made this week's To Do List, and has already done an excellent job of completing her goals. She went on a date with an attorney, got a goodnight kiss (!) and has scheduled another date (!!). Go Anne. Here's the List...

In running news, Hog and I ran 9 miles to Tufts and back. I felt ok... and I'm getting psyched for the 5 miler on Saturday.

Finally, I'd like to mention about the apartment I'll be living in next year. Sarah Ahmed forwarded me this link at work, and I called the landlord and forwarded first and last month's rent, and a security deposit for 5 people. (Just kidding.... but how awesome would it actually be to live here?)

http://boston.craigslist.org/nfb/140480755.html

MMMMmmmmmmmmm.

Good Morning

Great run this morning. The past few days have had great weather. It's been bright sun, chilly, and calm. Nate, Bromka, AK and I decided to shake things up a little, and go on a new run. Bromka suggested that we run to Foley, where I work. This turned out to be a great decision, as it was a great 8.5 mile run. We went down Comm. Ave. , through the Common, past Park Street, through The Corner, to South Station, through 4 Points to Foley, back through Faneuil Hall, Gov't Center, back to Park Street, and Comm. Ave to Mass. Ave. The run was 59 minutes and my legs felt great.

And for my second album review, I give you Patrick Park's "Loneliness Knows My Name". The cd was recommended to me by Andrea Piekarski. I would categorize the music as a blend between rock, folk, bluegrass, and country. It's got enough twang to make you feel like you're out on the range, but not so much that your jeans are tucked into cowboy boots. His songs are really catchy, but they don't get annoying. He has a pretty eclectic array of insturments on display, highlighted by a great harpsichord that shimmers over the second track on the album, "Honest Skrew". There's also a terrific slide guitar on "Sons of Guns" and my personal favorite, "Bullets by the Door". Other highlights include "Your Smile is a Drug"and "Something Pretty". As further evidence that this is a great album, I cite the fact that every time I've had this album playing when people have been over, they've asked "Hey, who is this, I really like it". I'm not making this up. If you like music, you'll like this cd, I promise. But, as LeVar Burton would say on Reading Rainbow, "But don't take my word for it, (read) listen to it yourself!".

*** I just found out that Patrick Park is featured on one of the O.C. Mix Tape albums. For the record, I would like to state that I was listening to, and recommended this album before I acquired this knowledge. Thank you.

Fresh Pond

Nate, Bromka and I ran Fresh Pond this morning. It's a 9 mile run. It was cold but sunny, and we went a little bit fast, which was nice. We also saw Chris Kantos, a sophomore at Tufts who was enjoying a morning run of his own. I felt pretty good today. The plan is to just run mileage this week (i.e. no workouts) so I can run well at Boston's Run to Remember. I think I have a shot to run pretty close to 26:00 for 5 miles, especially considering that the weather is supposed to be really nice on Sunday. The course is also awesome... I'm psyched to be able to race all through downtown Boston.... plus I might actually come home with some prize money, which would be sweet. After this weekend I'll try to get two more long runs in (around 20 each), and then start the taper down to April 17th....

And for a link if you're interested, here's a video of Jay-Z performing "99 Problems" and "Big Pimpin'" with Phish on 6/18/04 in Brooklyn, NY. Phish is my favorite band, and I've listened to them pretty intensely since about 1996... seen them live 17 times, traded live tapes and cds etc. etc. The band has been more of a hobby than just a group that I listen to. If anyone wants to know more about them or wants recommendations about their music, please let me know... I won't bore you with a bunch of details now, becuase I know most people are reading this and saying "Honestly Mac, how 'bout you shut up about your stupid hippie jam band already.". Okay.

I think it's neat that they can collaborate with an artist like Jay-Z (also a favorite of mine). Check out the link to the video here.

Blue Monday

Nate and I ran the 8 mile Brookline loop this morning. My legs felt fine, but I was sleepy for the first half of the run or so. It was definitely one of those mornings when I really didn't want to get out of bed. I just ordered a pair of shoes to run (race?) the marathon in. I had a lot of trouble finding the DS Racer VIs, so I went with the Asics Hyper Speeds instead. I hope they;re supportive enough... I think they will be. (I didn't get the newest DS Racer, becuase they're basically heinous looking....).

So, here's the completed To-Do List from last week. Nate and I had killer weeks.... if we make a new one tonight I'll post it.
And, finally, I thought I'd write a little about Google Video. Especially people lip-sync-ing to songs on their webcams. There are a bunch out there, but these two groups definitely take the cake. The Back Dorm Boys are pretty awesome. They do "I Want it That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. I really like two things about the video. First, both guys are wearing Yao Ming jerseys, and there's some totally random dude sitting still in the background the whole time....

The second group, which might even be better, is Pomme & Kelly. They're two 15 year old girls from Holland, and their website www.pommekelly.com gets 11,000 hit a day. Insane. There's something truly captivating about their videos... my roomates and I are basically incapable of pulling ourselves away from the computer screen once someone starts playing one. Favorites of mine include "Respect" (Bromka's Foavorite), "Caught Up", "Becuase I Got High" (Skip's favorite*)and "Ka-Ching". Please watch all of these vidoes. I promise you won't be disappointed.

These things have gotten so popular, that it's actually spawned a website www.googleidol.com which I think is pretty amazing.

*Please notice at 40 seconds into the video when the guy says "Goto the next one, go to the next one, and Kelly jumps up in the air in sync with the bird noise ("Bah-caawwww"). I almost fell out of my chair laughing the first time I saw this....

Busy Weekend

Pretty busy weekend.... although little of it had to do with running. Let's see... on Friday, AK and I did a short run along the Charles... 5.5 miles. My legs were really really tired/sore from the hill workout on Thursday, it definitely took a whole lot out of my legs. On Saturday morning, Bromka and did another run around Boston... 6 miles, which gave me 61 for the week. My legs were pretty dead yesterday too... but that might have had more to do with the fact that I was out dancing at Phoenix Landing until 2 am. If there's one thing I learned from this weekend, it's that going out late isn't very conducive to running well and or recovering. This morning, Nate, Bromka and I did 10 along the Charles... it was pretty nice out. I wore shorts for the first time in a while....

So, last night was our Foley Hoag "Junior Prom". To make a long story short, my co-workers and I weren't invited to a winter party that the firm was having at the MFA. Feeling past over, we decided to have our own shin-dig. (We later found out that we had accidentely been "left off the invitation list". Oh well...). Anyway, our "Team" at Foley (myself, Andrea Piekarski, Anne McGuire, Annie Kryzanek, John McHarrier and Sarah Ahmed) went out to dinner at Aquitaine, which was a delicious French restaurant on Tremont Street. It reminded me of my time in Talloires... After, we went to John's house, and had the "Prom". A bunch of all of our friends came, which was pretty sweet. The night was a good one... Enjoy some of the pictures below...


Andrea and I before kicking butt on the Beirut table....

Myself, Hog, Skip, and Bromka accomplishing our house -goal for the week (AK went skiing.... booo.) Also, I realize that doing these might be a little bit like this, but I don't take them seriously......

And... the Foley crew in full effect... Anne, me, Annie, Sarah, John and Andrea....