I ran another 5k race this weekend.  Not only did I set another new PR (21:40, 14 seconds faster than last week), but I actually won an award!  I came in second place in the 30-39 male Age Group.  I am amazed by this.  I never thought I'd win an Age Group award, at least not while I was in my 30s or 40s.  Those are typically the most competitve Age Groups, and I'm just not fast enough to win against that kind of competition.

 

But I guess I just found the right race this time.  The field for the Robert P. Giaimo Memorial Race in Fairfield NJ (the town I work in) seemed to be comprised mostly of teens and their parents.  So while I was beaten by a bunch of teenagers as well as quite a few guys in their 40s and 50s, I was only beaten by one guy in his 30s.  And actually, I think I was only beaten by one guy in his 20s.  So how about that?  I was actually third fastest among all men 20-39.  Too bad all those old fogeys beat me.  Hah.

 

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find the offical results posted online yet.  Hopefully I'll find that soon.  But hey, I've got the trophy to prove it (click on the picture above for a full-size shot). 

 

While I got this trophy here, and I came very close last weekend, I don't expect this to become a habit.  I'm going to appreciate this one, because it may be a long time before I win another...

 

 

First of all, I want to wish a Happy Birthday to our daughter Jillian.  She turned 1 on Thursday.  We had a nice party on Saturday with some close friends and family.  Jillian got some very nice gifts, and we are very appreciative of everybody who helped us celebrate this happy day.

 

I had another happy day today.  I ran a 5k race in my old town of Summit.  I had just run 20 miles on Friday, and I stayed up way too late last night watching the Red Sox win and force Game 7 in the ALCS.  So I certainly didn't expect I'd be at my best today.  But somehow I still managed to run my fastest-ever 5k.  My final time was 21:54, almost half a minute faster than my previous best time.  I am absolutely thrilled that I was able to run that fast.  It makes me wonder how I can do if I prepare for it proprely. 

 

I may try another 5k next weekend, and maybe I will prepare better.  We'll see if that does me any good...

First of all, I have updated Jillian's website recently.  I've been trying to do it about once a month, and I let it slack a little this time.  Hopefully I'll get on the ball next month.

 

Actually, there should be a lot of pictures to post for this month.  Her first birthday is the day after tomorow.  Wow, has a year gone by already?!?  Yup, our special little girl is almost 1.  She seems to have grown up so much just in the last month or so.  It wasn't very long ago that she started to crawl.  Then she was able to pull herself up on a chair or table, and then she started walking with the assistance of someone else.  Then before you know it, she was walking around on her own.  Now she's motoring all around the house and she doesn't want to stop.  It's quite a sight to see.

 

In other news, I'm only about 4.5 weeks away from my next marathon in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Training is moving along well.  In fact, many of my recent runs have been better than I could have hoped.  I think I've bounced back from the broken ankle and returned very close to where I was before I got hurt.  I'm even fostering secret hopes of running for a new PR in this marathon.  (Oops, I guess it's not a secret any more). Still, that's probably too optimistic, and I think I'm likely to fall 5-10 minutes short of a PR.  But that's okay.  I'll be happy as long as I can finish the 26.2 miles with no ill effects.  Knock on wood with this whole paragraph.

 

I think that covers everything for now...

Every year, I fill out my own ballot for the Major League Baseball awards. Not as though anybody really cares... but I do it anyway. I fill out my ballot like a "real" ballot, which means top 10 guys for MVP and top 3 for the other awards. And I finalize my results before the playoffs, like the "real" guys do.

Full disclosure: I'm a Red Sox fan. So feel free to take my vote of Dustin Pedroia with a grain of salt. I had been leaning towards Morneau for a long time (once Quentin got hurt). But looking at the stats a little more closely recently changed my mind. Pedroia is not much behind Morneau in OPS (.869 to .877) or extra base hits (73 to 74), and he has a huge lead in steals (20 to 0). Throw in the fact that he plays a tougher defensive position, and has the "scrappy" factor in his favor, and I give Pedroia the nod.

I gave the NL MVP nod to Pujols, albeit barely. Howard had a fantastic finish to the season. But Pujols had another monster season, and his overall numbers are just plain better. No, the Cardinals didn't make the post season. But they were in the hunt for a heck of a long time, almost singlehandedly thanks to Pujols.

Frankly, I could understand arguments pretty easily if you want to swap my top two guys in some of these categories. (Namely both MVP races and both Cy Young races). Actually, I think there are about 4 guys you can make reasonable cases for in the NL Cy Young race (add Johan Santana into the guys I put in my top 3). I do think the Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year categories are pretty much locked up in both leagues.

Well, take it for what it's worth... which isn't much...

AL MVP
1) Dustin Pedroia, Bos
2) Justin Morneau, Min
3) Carlos Quentin, Chi
4) Kevin Youklis, Bos
5) Josh Hamilton, Tex
6) Joe Mauer, Min
7) Evan Longoria, TB
8) Grady Sizemore, Cle
9) Milton Bradley, Tex
10) Vlad Guerrero, LAA

AL CY
1) Cliff Lee, Cle
2) Roy Halladay, Tor
3) Mariano Rivera, NYY

AL ROY
1) Evan Longoria TB
2) Alexei Ramirez Chi
3) Brad Ziegler, Oak

AL MOY
1) Joe Maddon, TB
2) Ron Gardenhire, Min
3) Mike Scioscia, LAA


NL MVP
1) Albert Pujols, Stl
2) Ryan Howard, Phi
3) Manny Ramirez, LAD
4) Carlos Delgado, NYM
5) Lance Berkman, Hou
6) Hanley Ramirez, Fla
7) Geovany Soto, ChC
8) CC Sabathia, Mil
9) Ryan Ludwick, Stl
10) Chipper Jones, Atl

NL CY
1) Tim Lincecum, SF
2) Brandon Webb, Arz
3) CC Sabathia, Mil

NL ROY
1) Geovany Soto, ChC
2) Joey Votto, Cin
3) Hiroki Kuroda, LAD

NL MOY
1) Lou Pinella
2) Tony LaRussa
3) Jeremi Gonzalez