Category: Run

I actually made a long run this weekend, without having to beg, borrow and cheat to claim credit. Which isn’t to say that I had a successful week – I only got in one run, but I spent some quality time in the gym on the stationary bike, did a lot of walking at work, and generally managed only to put on a pound or so…

Yeah, that’s the sad truth. I’m averaging much closer to 175 than to 170. But, Runner’s World this month was all about weight loss, so, I think that the food journal is going to start again on Monday. Although today probably wouldn’t be an awful day to start.

Anyway, the run was exquisite. I finished up a bunch of errands (taught Sunday School, church, had a teacher’s meeting, did some troubleshooting and software education in support of next weekend’s pinewood derby, ran errands with the boys, etc) and headed out while Missy was fixing supper (she did her run – 8 miles, a short one while the boys and I were at the hardware store). I strapped on the sneakers, and headed down the hill towards Old Mystic.

I had in my head I was going to do the full-up Mystic River Loop, so I headed down the Stonington side of the river. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t feeling so terribly great as I headed under the IH-95 bridge, which is about the last point to bail and not have a farther run as an out-n-back than taking one of the bailout points after crossing the drawbridge. But, I figured I owed it to myself to press on, as it’s a few short weeks until I get to see the Doc’s kiddos, and race the OKC Half. If I don’t start sucking up some of this stuff, and running all regular and like, I’m gonna die trying to do 13.1.

So, I soldiered on, and as I passed the big Cemetary, suddenly, the legs felt great.

In truth, the run was exceptional – one of those where from time to time you get completely absorbed in your thoughts. I’ll be honest, I have absolutely no recollection of the stretch from IH-95 to the Seaport, or from the curve on River Road just after Bindloss until I was well north of IH-95. Not sure if it was just good tunes on the iPod, or if I was working through something from the office. Either way, it was nice to be lost in the reverie.

When I got to Bindloss, there’s usually a little bit of thought that I do trying to figure if I ought to head over the hill and cut the run short, of if I should gut it out, head up to Old Mystic, and add about 1.5 miles. Today, there was no thought – I was taking the road requiring more travel, and that probably made all the difference. Going back and looking at it in Nike+, I did the first 4 miles exceptionally consistently – solid 8:45s, and only slowed to 9:22s for the last three miles.

The last mile felt great. I tried to pick it up a bit, not that the record shows it. That section is all uphill, though, so maybe it wouldn’t show…

Anyway, I made it, without walking at all, and felt pretty darn good for the last 5 miles. My legs, when I make them work, seem to do pretty good.

Interesting tidbit – the average Nike+ run is 3.1 miles long. Which makes me feel really good. as I’ve averaged a little less than 4 miles per run.

Life looks to be returning to normal this week. I should be making the virtual rounds later. In the mean time, check out the Wilco concert over at NPR’s All Songs Considered.

Continue reading So, it turns out I AM still a runner

I took today and tomorrow off, nominally to take care of some church business, and to be home for my youngest kid’s birthday party (Yeah, Chuck E. Cheese!).

And, I got to get in a good almost 6-miler first thing this morning, starting downtown, looping up to Old Mystic, and finishing with coffee at Bartleby’s.

I’d go on, but it was nigh unto perfect. I need to drag out the camera – mainly to remind D why I can rate the mall as a 7 (maybe an 8).

I knocked another one of the “Runs I’d Like to Do In My Lifetime” off last night. (More or less) – I did an 8+ mile loop on the US Capitol Mall in DC.As far as runs go, I’d rate it a 7 out of 10, but it was well worth doing.

I parked over by the Jefferson Memorial, in the lot for East Potomac Park about 8 PM. I figured I wasn’t taking my life into my hands, ’cause a) who gets mugged on the mall?; and b) There was a family with about a half-dozen kids younger than mine headed back to their minivan.

The running was surprisingly good, considering I haven’t been exactly diligent in my training. Oh, and that whole sick thing last week… But there’s something cool about running in a cool place that freshens up the legs. Does location matter? And if it does, is that enough to explain jeff? (and what’s my problem, running in such terrible locations as Mystic, Jamestown, and Newport?)

Showing my bent to liking the Executive Branch over the Legislative Branch (more of a “Stop jawboning and get stuff done” admiration than a statement on who’s in power), I headed up through the FDR Memorial (almost knocking over a school group as I cut a corner too tightly), and curved past the Lincoln Memorial. Ran along the North side of the Reflecting Pool until I about knocked over a flock of geese.

Past the WWII Memorial, and headed left towards the White House. Since when have they hugely expanded the security/parking zone around the People’s House? Didn’t one used to be able to go right up to the fence on the South Lawn? And cut between the Ike EOB and the Treasury Building? Anyway, the security guard waved me down, and sent me over towards the Ike Executive Office Building, which I passed to the left. The renovations on Pennsylvania Avenue are really nice, though.

Lack-of-Access angst aside, I headed back to the Mall, and headed towards the Capitol building on the crushed-gravel path. What a cool, cool run – both literally, as it was right about freezing, and I was in shorts – and visually. I just seemed to keep running while the dome kept getting bigger and higher above.

I’d intended to turn around at the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol, but the legs felt good, so I climbed up Capitol Hill (singing, … wait for it … “I’m just a Bill, on Capitol Hill”), passed the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress (didn’t stop to see if I could check anything out), and headed downhill to the Arboretum.

The wind was against me heading west on the Mall again, so rather than stay on the gravel, I headed over to Jefferson Ave. Which was neat in and of itself, because I’d never been close to the main Smithsonian building before. It really, really looked like a spooky old castle in the moonlight. Kind of neat. I was waiting for Scooby Doo and the gang to come squealing around the corner in the Mystery Machine.

Finished up at the Jefferson Memorial, which is still my favorite spot in DC, and probably always will be. Jefferson was the guy who hatched America as an Idea, and it’s that, more than America as a people, that’s held the world’s attention for the last quarter of a millennium. I walked up the stairs and spent a couple of minutes reading about Truth, Justice, and the American Way, and headed back to the car, pretty psyched that I’d just pulled off an 8 mile + run without dying.

So, one of the things to file under “You might be a runner if”: would be the classic debate:

You might be a runner if you’re feeling a tickle at the back of your throat and think “Hey, I bet if I go for a quick three miles in 20 degree weather, I’ll feel better”

Which is exactly what I did at lunch today. THe run itself was great – a quick 3 out and back onto Naval Station, taking the gentle hilly route past the Exchange instead of staying along the bay. Crushed gravel either way, but it felt good to have the resistance and the cruise instead of the steady flatness (Shouldn’t that be a TMBG song?)

I finished at 8:25/mile for 3.25 miles (always gotta add on a little bit extra to what’s on the schedule).

Dunno if I’m sick, which is one of the eternal annoyances. I went to bed early last night, and slept like a rock until the alarm went off this morning. Didn’t feel great, even though I got plenty of sleep. But, didn’t feel sick enough to stay home.

I think running was the right decision. I’d made it through a couple of meetings this morning without strangling anyone, and had a presentation to work on in the afternoon. So, sneaking out into the cold was critical for the soul, and let me miss a couple of phone calls which quickly could have sunk my afternoon.

Scaling back to the half marathon schedule, and approaching it as a beginner again seems to be a smart call. I finished the prescribed runs for last week, and haven’t felt the “bad” sore, just a good, steady dose of well-used muscles. And the joints have been feeling good in the cold, cold mornings, which wasn’t the case when I was pushing hard.

So, I think that I’ve honed in on where my fitness is at present. Which is a change – usually, I’m trying to push too hard, and it sneaks up on me and bites me in the butt.

The tale of the scale? That’s another discussion to have, hopefully once I’ve turned the tide on the tummy. (I’ve been failing at WWME)

We’ve had an unseasonably warm snap up here this weekend. So, when it was 40 degrees and somewhat sunny (with alternating snow clouds) after church this afternoon, I conned Jake into throwing his bike on the back of the car, and driving into downtown for a 5 miler.

I’ve revised my goal for Oklahoma City – no longer aiming at the marathon, but shooting for crushing the half (under 2 hours being defined as “crushing” in my case). I’m also pitching RLRF until I finish the half. The consistent base mileage I’ve been looking for needs to get into my legs.

We started heading north up the river, gentle breeze in our faces. About a mile north, we pulled over – Jake’d left his gloves in the car, so I gave him mine as I’d heated up a bit. Under the bridge, and at about the second mile, Jake said “My knees are cold”.

Lucky for him, we’d hit the couple of hills up by the old Catholic cemetery. Jake made it up all the hills for the first time (yeah!) with just one tiny push, and the ride back into town was peachy.

There’s something great about running with the boy. Time to talk, time to push. Tough not to connect.

We wrapped up with a little bit of coffee and hot cocoa before we headed back to the house. Good times, good times.

If you’re my lovely wife, I’m working terribly, terribly hard. Life stinks. I cannot wait to see you and the boys again. I cannot believe that I get stuck traveling so much.

Now that that’s out of the way…

So, I’ve got a meeting down in Key West. We got in about 10 last night, checked in at about 11, were on the way to breakfast at 6, and had to be at the meeting by 7 this morning. We had discussions until 4 this afternoon, and then I had to go visit a site until a little after 5. So, yeah, there was a legitimate long day.

But, let’s face it – it’s January and I’m in Key West – how bad could life be?

After we finally made it back to the hotel, I strapped on the sneakers, and started running west. Down the seawall, past the southernmost point in the continental United States, and on to the basin at the Port of Key West. Just as I got to the basin, the sun hit the water. I waited, caught my breath for a couple of minutes, and waited until the sun finished sinking into the Gulf of Mexico.

Who am I kidding? Life is good.

Back to the hotel, past mile 0 of US Highway 1. It’s amazing to me that it’s the same road that passes through downtown Mystic. I suppose, somehow, that I’m bound to head north to the other end in Maine, now. That’s one of those Epic’s that I’d love to do someday – all the way down US 1. Maybe then back up the Appalachian Trail…

The run back? Exquisite. Negative splits, 8:40 miles average for the whole thing.

Life is good.