Let’s start with the good news. I finished the Army Ten Miler in 1:15:53, slower than my best 10-miler time of 1:14:14 (7:26 minutes/mile), but 3 1/2 minutes faster than my best ATM finish at 1:19:34 (7:57 minutes/mile). I tried, but I just couldn’t do it. To be honest, I probably should’ve planned it out a little bit instead of just leaving it up to guesswork. I ran the first mile in 6:45, then I kinda just tried to push myself to run below 7:26 min/mile, but obviously it wasn’t enough. My 10k split was at 45:46, which computes to 7:22 minutes/mile, but I still had 3.8 miles after that. By mile 7, I had to run the last three miles around 7:15 min/mile. By mile 8, I had to run 7 min/mile. I gave up at mile 8. Not to mention that the last two miles were the hardest since, there were barely any spectators on the bridge, and most of the run was uphill. Ugghh…I’m a little disappointed in not beating my time, but I’m thinking perhaps the Cherry Blossom Ten Miler was an easier run? Or perhaps, I didn’t give it 100% of myself? If I really pushed myself, I think I could’ve beaten it, but I’m not gonna lie, it hurt like hell…I hurt like hell, and all I wanted to do was to stop running. Who says that running is not a mental game?
Anyways, I beat all of my friends and I did make a PR (personal record) in the ATM (Army Ten Miler). I really hate running, but I like competing…even if it’s against myself. I think my next challenge will be a mini-triathlon. I need to get my swimming up to par before attempting it though. I can swim about 6 to 8 25 yard laps right now without stopping, but that’s still only 200 yards. Most of these mini-tris, you gotta swim about 800m or more, and sometimes in open water where you can’t stand up and take a break. Sigh. I’ll shoot for the spring time.
Now, onto the markets. I’m getting obliterated here. I was well above my all time highs just last week, then whammo….and just like that….I’m about $8k lower now. Ugghh. Every time I make a push to my all time highs, the market gods seem to know, and push me back down. I can’t tell you how many times this has happened to me, and yet I seem to continue making the same “mistakes” year over year. It doesn’t make sense, but at the same time, it makes perfect sense. So, luckily, I bought some longs the day after the market turn, so that’s kinda eased the blow a little bit. With that said, I sold out of my longs on Monday and Tuesday for small profits. Here’s what I’m holding now:
- -750 SBUX at $32.88
- -400 BBY at $36.49
- 3 BBY Jan 2012 $40 puts at $9.00
- 5 SBUX Jan 2012 $45 puts at $9.30
- 350 SLV at $34.51
- 6 SLV Jan 2012 $30 Calls $6.99
- -1,000 UNG at $8.97
So, I sold 2 BBY contracts at $17.10 for about +$1,600 or so. I added 200 shares of SLV today at $31.47 to average down to 350 shares at $34.51. Also, I added 500 shares short of UNG at $8.70 yesterday to average up to -1,000 shares at $8.97. And I sold DGP for +$233, QLD for +$314, XLU for +$128, DVY for +$167, and DTN for +$177. However, SBUX is killing me. I added 250 shares near $38.80 and now we’re closing in on all time highs at $42. Uggh. Definitely down about $8k on this trade so far.
Deep down, I am still a believer in the trade, but it’s getting harder and harder every day seeing it keep rising like this. I will probably have to do some damage control soon, meaning, I’ll need to suck it up and cover some shares at a loss. I feel like I am missing the boat here seeing the market rise every day. I feel the need to get long here, but I feel as though it’s the wrong thing to do. Not here, at least. I think, ultimately, we are still going down, but it may not be for another few months. If I’m right, then we’re going to get a whole lot of nothing for the next few weeks. But then again, how often am I right? Who am I kidding, we’re probably going to continue grinding higher from here…
