What a way to Start a New Season!!

I have only been fishing a few times during lunch breaks at my favorite early season spots with only a couple hits to show for my efforts. Thomas told me earlier this week that he wanted to eat some bluefish so I told him that we would go fishing on Thursday night. So we go to our favorite early season bluefish hot spot and it was windy and cold. I did see one fish caught, but TJ was not going to try and stick it out. But, he really wanted fish to eat. I told him we could go try our favorite harbor because it would be calmer and warmer there.

When we arrived at the harbor there was a nice sized school of menhaden popping around on the surface so I brought a rod down and started throwing a 7" bone Hogy. Every few minutes the menhaden would stop dancing around on the surface and then get blasted by some bigger fish. I missed a bass (no tooth marks on the Hogy) and then a little later had a bluefish come and bite the bait just shy of the hook. So, I take the hook off and am getting ready to put on a new Hogy and I figure what the heck!! I cast out my Owner 7/0 hook, unweighted right into the middle of the school of bunker. I snag one and within a few seconds it gets hit, but I lose the fish really quick. I threw out the hook again and snag a bunker, but this time I decide to reel in and rehook. Well, on the way in I see the bunker about ten feet in front of the dock I am standing on and this big 0le bass comes up and inhales it. I was not expecting to see a fish this size yet this season so I am fishing with my 8' Tsunami Trophy, Okuma Epixor with 15 lb. Tuff-line braid. I just kept repeating over and over, "do not go under the docks." Well, she didn't, and after a long fight I got her into the dock. TJ took this great picture and then I went to put her back in the water. TJ says, "Dad, you always keep the first striper of the year and you said we were going to catch a fish to eat." I went on to explain to him that usually my first fish of the year is around 30" and this was much bigger. We talked for a little longer and after a lot of hemming and hawing I decided to harvest the fish (during this entire conversation with TJ I am venting the fish and she is not really coming to, I think the fight was rather long on my light tackle and she was spent).

Got her home, measured and weighed her. 39" and 22 lbs. When fileting her her stomach contained a partially digested whole bunker and two binker heads that had clearly been left over from bluefish.

Playing Trumpet with the Famous

Over school vacation I had two salsa gigs. The first one was in Hartford at the Expo Center where "the Rolling Stones of Salsa", Gran Combo was the headlining band. Salsa Night Band was the first of three bands and it was quite a trip for $150 and four songs. Bad sound men do not make for a positive performance, but at least Gran Combo had their own sound guy and they sounded excellent. Nothing incredibly fancy, but very solid and clean. Javier was in his glory when he went up and sang coro on one number. This was the largest crowd I have ever played for which was somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 to 9 thousand people.

The second gig had me playing in an All Star lineup of salsa musicians. Legendary salsa musicians Bobby Cruz and Richie Ray were in Providence and needed a band for a gig so my trumpet buddy Carlos called me up. The band had the best salsa musicians I have played with from top to bottom. Three trumpets, three trombones, three percussionists (with exceptional music reading ability), a bass player and three coro singers. We had to practice and perform 10 songs within two days. Had a lot of fun on the gig and met some cool guys.

Fun time on the ice

Last night I laced up the skates to play hockey for the first time in 18 years or so. What a fun time. This was a fundraiser for the girls hockey scholarship for Falmouth High School. Together we raised $715. Awesome job everybody. It was exciting to get a couple goals and it was a blast playing with people of all ability levels. A few people were playing for the first time which was fun to see. Some real athletic people trying their best to get to the puck, pass or shoot, all the while trying to maintain their balance was funny to watch.

Personally, a lot of things came back to me like riding a bike, but my skating was a bit uncomfortable. On the first play I took a huge digger when pivoting from backwards to forwards which is something I could have done in my sleep years ago, but my skills did not match my memory so..... My highlight was a breakaway and I snapped a nice shot into the top corner from the top of the circle. Lucky!! Pretty cool looking though.

Can't believe a Barnstable graduate actually wore maroon and white for Falmouth!!!

Interesting Observation

I now think I have an idea as to why so many athletes get so overweight after they retire. It is incredible. I have not run since the road race, but remember for the three or four weeks prior to the race that I was absolutely ravenous. When I weighed myself the week before the race I figured that I would have put on 5 pounds knowing what and how much I had eaten. Nope, lost 5 pounds!! Well, at the advice of my Dr. to get my knee ready to resume training for my next half marathon, I did not run for two weeks after the race. But, I still was just as hungry and ate a lot like before the race. I have not weighed myself, but I suspect not good things. Having said all of this I will also say that I do not really concern myself with weight that much anymore. I want to be healthy. However, I did put a cap on my weight at 250 pounds so that I do not let my weight get out of hand.

Just started running again this week as the Dr. gave me the go ahead to start running again on Monday. I have gone twice, both with the kids. Once with Thomas and once with Gwen. Thomas went nice and easy and walked quite a bit so it was a good slow start for me to get back into it. Gwen, on the other hand, decided she wanted to practice for the girl run that Christine and her are doing. Well, Gwen definitely set the pace. I would say that it was better than a 9 minute mile pace. Awesome!!

I did it!!

Ran the half marathon. Very exciting. I was very happy to finish it without walking. I started the race off a bit too fast which ended up hurting my pace down the stretch, but you live and learn. Before my next race I will be investing in a GPS watch that will help me calculate my pace. Finished the race in 2h 15m. A little slower than a 10 minute mile pace. This has been my experience so far during my practice runs. My pace for 5 to 7 miles has been more in the 9:40 range, but I must really slow down those last few miles. No worries. A work in progress. Knee pain was minimal and was more stiff than painful. I am looking forward to resting my knee for a few weeks, getting new shoes and start training for my next half marathon on May 30. I am only hoping that my knee pain does not reoccur. That would really suck. Hopefully the rest and new shoes will do the trick and get rid of the pain and/or stiffness altogether. Still thinking of doing a sprint triathlon too. We'll see.

I am a runner!!

My doctor says that I am a runner. Truth is, I think I am too. Never thought it would be the case, but I feel great when I run. Unfortunately, over the past four weeks I have had some knee pain creeping in, but it was never bad enough to not be able to run through.

Long story short, I ran 12 miles on Sunday. In some way I was very excited, but my excitement had a hard time surfacing through all of the knee pain I was having. I went to the Dr. today and we came to the conclusion that I have tendonitis and it was caused by my new sneakers. Never actually put the two together other than thinking it was a coincidence. Now I know. Going to have to run in my old sneakers and he gave me some anti-inflamatory medication which has already taken away 90% of the pain. I will not be running again until race day, but I actually think that I am going to be fine. Most likely I will have some pain, but hopefully not too bad. Hyannis Marathon here I come. (Even if I am only doing half of it!)

Getting Things Done

The bathroom came together quite nice. The mirror we chose was a little big, but we will get one soon to hang in there and the project is done. The sink and toilet are in perfect working order with no leaking at all. I really like the color and I can not tell you how much I enjoy looking up at the wall around the tub and seeing a clean, uncracked and unmoldy seam between the tub and wall. The ceiling fan is doing a great job of keeping the overall climate of the bathroom dry. Next up, a new color for the downstairs hallway leading up the stairs and into the upstairs hall. Before I do that I am going to tackle the stairs as well as the banisters and rises. Hopefully I can get that project done within the week.

I am up to 8 miles for my long run and my during the week runs are now 5 miles, 3 miles and 5 miles. 21 miles a week? You have go to be kidding me. My goal the weekend before the half marathon is to run the entire length of the bike path which is 10.6 miles. Another thing I have noticed lately is that my normal easy pace has increased. After doing the 8 miles last weekend I added up my time and I did it in just over 78 minutes. Last time I checked my time for a 3 mile run I was just a bit over a 9 minute mile pace. I am really happy with that considering speed is rarely my goal. My goal is distance and not stopping. So far, so good.