Downtown 10K

Mark Aiken high-fives an adoring fan
Photo by Jan Leja


I am pleased to report that Oscar has returned to the world of competitive racing. After a couple of bad experiences in organized race events -- after which he decided to limit his running to non-organized events -- he ran in Sunday's Downtown 10K and recorded a personal record of 47 minutes.

Here's the deal. I have been training pretty seriously for my upcoming marathon. I have trained for all prior marathons simply by going out and running with Oscar. It was a regimen that he loved, but that didn't do much for my chances at improving my marathon times. The fact that I have improved my times with almost every race is just dumb luck. However, when I missed the Boston Marathon qualifying time at last spring's VCM by 2 minutes, I decided I had to get serious. I took out my stopwatch and started doing speedwork and tempo runs this summer with Alison. The problem with timed runs is that they don't really make room for chasing squirrels, peeing on bushes, and sniffing the smells -- all pursuits that my prior training regimens DID allow for. The result: Oscar was not allowed to run with me as much this summer.

He already hates the fact that we don't take him when we run 13 or more miles on Sundays. So, knowing that Sunday was a 12-mile day, I knew we had to bring him even though we had registered for Susan Criscuolo's fundraising event. I figured if anyone gave us a hard time, I'd just sit out the race and run on my own with Oscar. We registered for the 9am race at 745. We asked Susan if she had a problem with Oscar running, which she did not. We ran 6 miles (we're marathon-training, remember?), and pulled up to the starting line with almost perfect timing.

Ali lined up with her usual people, but Oscar and I went all the way to the back; we didn't want to run the risk of getting tangled in the mass start. The gun sounded (actually some guy yelled "Ready, set, go!"), and Oscar and I waited for everyone -- and I mean everyone -- to get out of the way. Then we started.

Oscar, who usually runs at an 8-to-9-minute mile pace, was not waiting around this day. He charged along the entire way. Despite running prior to the 10K and stopping to sniff 2 dogs, drink from 3 puddles, and pee once, we passed about 80 people and ran the whole think in almost 7.5-minute miles. Now if Oscar had shown that he could keep up that sort of pace earlier, he could have come along for some of the tempo runs! I think his desire to stop and be distracted was superseded by his desire to lead. Oscar is not fond of being behind people when he runs.

Sunday's Downtown 10K replaced the popular Smokejack's 10K race that used to take runners up and down the streets of Burlington, but that disappeared when the restaurant closed its business a couple years ago. Sunday's event, organized by Susan Criscuolo and sponsored by Green Mountain Rehab and other local businesses, was a huge success as over 100 runners participated. The event raised over $3000 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

And I should also mention that, should I qualify for Boston, I intend to return to the more slackerly and dog-friendly training regimen of non-timed slow and easy runs.

Winter Prep '09-10

The wood collection has begun.

Team PBR enters Fantasy Football 2009

That's right, folks! In addition to my world domination of table tennis and cribbage, add Fantasy Football to the mix. I have joined Marty Courcelle's league -- an organization full of heavy hitters like Marty himself and the much-feared Lori Hennessey, just to name two. I have no idea how Fantasy Football works, what players are what, how games are scored, or -- except for a few members of the New England Patriots -- who even still plays in the National Football League.

Which, in my opinion, makes me one of the favorites to win the League. I know these Fantasy players. Watching 10 games at once every Sunday on the Directv Football Package. Keeping copious notes on all the players. Watching SportsCenter late at night to stay ahead of the curve. Subscribing to Chris Berman's Tweets to receive up-to-the-minute updates.

By contrast, I have no idea what I'm doing. And I like my chances. Go Team PBR!

Tomato Update

At last report, the Aiken tomato patch had been ravaged by tomato blight. Sadly, this situation is still the case; we have had to throw away over 100 tomatoes and many plants. Still, we have salvaged enough tomatoes to make 2009 our best year yet for the juicy red vegetable/fruits.

We are disappointed, of course, to have to let go of our earlier visions of the canned tomatoes and sauces that we had planned to open up later this winter. Still, I have always felt -- and continue to feel -- that there is not much that can beat a garden-fresh tomato. The little orange "Sun Gold" cherry-sized tomatoes have been our cash crop this year -- just two plants yielded hundreds of these things, and they have livened up our salads (and I've eaten lots of them like grapes!). The medium-sized prudens variety -- which proved to be especially susceptible to the blight -- are a good all-purpose tomato. The black krims are a weird-looking tomato, but super juicy, and my favorite are the gigantic brandywines, which are simply made to be sliced up and put on a sandwich with turkey, Vermont cheddar, and cucumber slices. Yummm!

I'm glad I got to enjoy tomatoes from the garden this summer, but I'll look forward to next year. Hopefully then we'll get the tomato-landslide we were hoping for this year.

State Inspection

I have reason to believe that my mechanic would have failed my vehicle had I brought it to him for my 2010 Vermont Vehicle Inspection. Obviously, I didn't wait around for the big "F" on the test; I went somewhere else. Where, I will add, I passed with flying colors.

Here's what happened. I mentioned a minor -- very minor -- issue I have been having with the car. Rather than deal with it by making a big repair now, I would rather wait until after the winter season. So I asked him to jury-rig it. Not only would they not jury-rig it, he said my car would fail the inspection unless I resolved the issue now. In other words, paid the big dollars now.

Half joking, I said, "I guess I shouldn't have told you about the problem before the inspection."

Not joking, he said, "Our diagnostician would have found it."

I bring three cars to this guy for all my repairs and for regular maintenance and oil changes. I didn't realize we were adversaries now!

"I'll call you back," I said.

When I picked my phone up again, my fingers somehow didn't dial the number of my mechanic. They instead dialed the number of the place where I bought my Honda used. Of course, I didn't mention the issue, and of course they didn't discover it. It was a minor issue! At an inspection, you make sure the thing is registered and insured, you check the lights, the horn, the brakes... you don't scour the vehicle and then fail it unless the owner fixes every tiny issue! In addition to my nice blue inspection sticker, the new guy also gave me the thanks-for-buying-your-car-from-us discount on an oil change.

And you won't believe what else. The owner of the dealership noticed my broken radio antenna. To be honest, I don't know if it came that way when I bought it or if it was snapped off afterwards. It didn't matter. The owner himself came out with a drill and drilled out the broken antenna. He re-threaded it and found an old antenna lying around the shop. "I hate not being able to get stations," he said. And the best part of the story? He did this free of charge.

Previously, I could only get two channels on my road. On my way to work each morning, I listened to the radio halfway, then had to switch to a CD or my iPod the rest of the way. Now, I get all the local stations no matter where I am. Thanks, new guys. My quality of life has just improved.

An Investment

I'm here to tell you about the best investment I ever made: my Triple A membership. Specifically, the emergency roadside towing service. I am currently driving a 2002 Honda -- an extremely nice car, by my standards. But, let me tell you, when you have a history of driving the kind of quality cars I have driven in my life -- starting with Old Betsy, the 1978 Jeep Wagoneer on through to the Stealth (1986 Chevy Cavalier, hatchback, black, undetectable by modern radar methods, that is, if by "modern" you mean circa 1890), to the run of Subarus I drove, right up through my old plow truck -- you need free towing!

One time, my roommate got stuck in my driveway in Bolton (note: everyone I know got stuck in that driveway at one time or another...except for me). I borrowed my dad's pickup, but that didn't help. We couldn't just yank him, because on the downhill side was a giant boulder that would scratch the stuck vehicle. I called Triple A. A tow truck came within the hour, wrapped a cable around a big maple tree uphill from the vehicle (protecting the fragile tree with a section of garden hose) and pulled him up the hill where he could then drive out. Later that day, on my way to return the pickup, I locked the key in the truck. For the second time in one day, Triple A bailed me out. They broke into the truck in 94 seconds.

The latest towing was last Saturday when the fuel pump went on our plow truck. We were in town picking up a load of pallets. Fortunately, the spot where the truck died was 100 feet from the Fedex building, and next to their dumpster was another pile of pallets. Instead of feeling sorry for ourselves while we waited for the wrecker, we talked to a guy in the warehouse and got permission. Then we loaded up a few more good ones. Stay tuned to AikenAction for an update on what we're doing with pallets.

Anyway, my advice to you: get Triple A. I have been towed and rescued so many times, I'm thinking about opening my own towing service -- I've watched these guys operate theirs so many times, I already know how the things work. Problem with this idea is, what happens if one of my tow trucks breaks down?

Haha...not a problem. I'll just call Triple A.

Aliens Attack Aiken Tomato Patch!

They came down in space ships and shot their little laser guns at all our tomato plants, leaving a path of destruction in their wake. Well, I'm not exactly sure if they were aliens, but they sure were destructive. In 24 hours, hundreds of leaves on our tomato plants, tens of unripe tomatoes, and at least one whole plant (probably 5 feet tall) were blighted.

It's known as "tomato blight," and apparently the unusually wet weather has caused it. It is some sort of fungus that gets in the soil and infects your plants. And once it does, it's wildly contagious, and it moves fast. The idea is to clip the infected areas and get rid of them as soon as possible. And then, because the spores already live in the soil, we're not supposed to plant tomatoes in exactly that spot next year either. Our plants had done so well up till then, it killed us to cut them up and throw parts away. What was heading towards being an epic year for tomatoes will still be our best ever, but it was sad. We have already harvested close to 100 sun gold small tomatoes, and a few black krims. The plant that was lost was a prudens variety (I believe our only prudens). We still have lots of green tomatoes on the vines, and hopefully they mature before the blight gets them too.

I'll be honest; I don't fully understand how the blight works. The UFO explanation works as well as any for me. So aliens, be warned. Come into our garden, and I'll be shooting to kill. Go spread your germy disease someplace else!