Category: Run

Canoe U

The older I get, the more I am drawn to folks with the innate ability to create things of beauty. There’s a case to be made, I think, that part of the ennui and dissatisfaction plaguing society these days comes from the disconnect of large parts of the population from the act of creation, and even moreso from the act of creation of beauty.

We picked up the new Lyle Lovett Album, “It’s not Big, it’s Large” this week, and MAN – the band sounds good. Highly recommended.

Spent last night down in Annapolis on business. I managed two runs down there – one immediately after checking into the hotel, about 7 in the evening. Ran through Old Town Annapolis onto the Naval Academy, and chased a couple of midshipmen who steadily pulled away from me the whole time. Great run, though – the last of the golden light of evening, through the twilight, and finishing up at the hotel as darkness settled in. Just the thing to get my stomached prepped for a lighter supper.

Woke up this morning, strapped on the sneakers, and did it again. Not quite the same route – this time I stayed on the civilian side of the fence, up past St. John’s College and over the USNA bridge, then back past the old statehouse, finishing up at the town dock for coffee and a bagel. ALMOST a perfect day, ‘cept when I ordered a blueberry bagel, toasted, with cream cheese, I got a wonderful bagel – really, really tough, chewy skin with a smooth chewy center – and (the horror!) a plastic bubble of cream cheese. Guess we’ll stay in New England, where they put the cheese on for you.

But I’m beat. Almost didn’t get a car yesterday afternoon; had to stay much further from my clients than usual (But Annapolis was a treat), and almost missed my flight back. But the trip was productive, the running was great, and I made it home in time for Jake’s soccer practice and Melissa’s book club.

Team Building

Man, so there are some days when the running is just GOOD.

Today was completely one of them.

Stressful day at work today, believe it or not. An event I’ve been planning for a long, long while went off without much of a hitch in front of an out-of-town crowd. They were completely in my court, but y’know how there’s always a chance that something’ll go wrong, whatever?

Not today.

It started near disaster – I forgot the keys to the room we were using, where we’ve been set up for quite literally weeks. But, it was padlocked, and we were working with a small boat – almost guaranteed they’re going to have either a bolt cutter or a pry bar. Which, to tell the truth, kind of made my day – there’s not much more fun than getting to do a little bit of sanctioned destruction first thing in the morning, before the coffee’s really had a chance to work.

So, we briefed, and negotiated, and made minor changes to the plan, ’cause, what, really, is a plan except for a document guaranteeing that something else will happen?

And the day was good. We got the data we wanted, we swapped stories, and the team really started to gel.

After the event was done, I asked one of the engineers from out of town with whom I’ve been working if he wanted to go for a quick run. He’d done at least a half marathon (picture on his desk with a 2:00 finish), so I knew he was a runner. “Sure”, so we headed on down to First Beach and hit the road.

Newport after Labor Day – suddenly it’s just a small town on the water. Rock on. There were still some retiree tourists strolling on the Cliff Walk, but traffic was nothing compared to what it is in the summer. I haven’t run from First Beach since before Memorial Day (How the heck did that happen?), and, man, do I need to do it more.

I think that New England’s finally seeped into my bones. Today dawned grey and misting, and it frankly warmed my heart, as I was getting tired of the blue skies and sunshine we’ve been having. The grey over the bay and the steel color of the water was picture perfect, the complement to the green-gold of the leaves beginning to turn. As we started to run, the ocean was moving in in small rollers, breaking just off the beach, the breeze was near calm.

We headed down the north end of the Cliff Walk, veering off of it after the Breakers and the first section of broken boulder sea wall. Just as we got to Salve Regina, we were passed by what must have been most of their women’s Cross Country team. Man, can I pick a team-building exercise or what?

We cut across the island, too far, if truth be told, until I saw the sign for Fort Adams. “Crap. Right turn, Clyde”, and we began straggling back towards town. Up Thames Street through the tourist district, and up and over the Memorial Drive hill. As we crested the hill, Brian said “Hey, look strong – the XC team is on their way up the other side.”

Rock on.

We did a quick little sprint on the hard sand, and wrapped up. Man, did the run feel good. 4.8 miles (think that’s pretty severely on the short side, measurement-wise), 9 minute pace. Not too speedy, but I completely finished with gas in the tank. I think Brian was taking it easy on me – he’s one of those darned tall and lanky guys who way about a buck-fifty soaking wet, and take one stride for every two of mine.

Life is good.

Newest Janks / New Haven Teaser

First, huge congrats to my (not-so) little brother and his lovely wife on the birth of twins, Abigail and George. Mom and babies are doing fine.

And B) I logged my first DNF at New Haven. Chalk it up to Augustathon and a series of 3 milers getting the legs used to the shorter distance. Dropped out after about 10K with a huge blister on my left foot and nothing left in the tank. But, the 20 mile/week base is a good thing. It was great to see Danny again for the first time in a year – go say congrats on a 1:32 or so on the 20K. Dianna, Jon , Beth, and Chris were there as well, and it was great to have a little apizza with them the night before, though next year the Italian Bomb is off the menu. Post-race was a blast, as everyone tended to “linger longer”, to steal a phrase from the Rev. Dr. Mark.

Life’s good. Great actually. After running with Danny, I’m stealing my wife’s copy of “Run Less, Run Faster” to train for OKC. Even though I DNF’d, I think I’m where I need to be to start building. Diet starts tomorrow.

Wasp Nest Saga

So, the wasps are finally gone.

Here's the nest!I was amazed when I tipped over the basketball hoop and saw the nest. Huge, but, once I was sure I wasn’t going to get swarmed, what struck me was the different color pulp that the critters had used, and how it was a neutral brown color, not having been weathered by the sun.

Big as a basketballThrew the old Gallery Furniture basketball in the frame for size.

Excavators

As big as the shovelWhat knocked me out, though, was that even after two separate poisoning attempts, there were still wasps and larvae wriggling around. Look at that thing – big as a shovel!

More closeupExtreme CloseupI’m also grudgingly in admiration of the pests. They’re amazing architects, and the structure is phenomenal. Just enough material to make it stable, no waste. All recyclable by the user.

Four miles yesterday, even though I spent the whole day building on the boys’ playscape. The roof that should have gone up two or three years ago is finally up. The four miles was good running, but miserably physically. It is wet, wet, wet.

21 days is a habit, right?

Augustathon continues, with the 21st day (22nd, actually – I ran on 31 July). Ali said that this ought to be a habit by now. Not sure that I’m buying that, but, in the idea’s defense, I haven’t exactly been in a routine. Catch as catch can isn’t conducive to forming habits.

I almost blew it last night, ‘cept Melissa, my lovely and talented wife, “encouraged” me to hit the road. So I did, and legged it out for 4 miles! Yeah, baby. Felt fine this morning.

Busy, busy, busy at work today. This evening it’s 56 and raining, so I did 5K on the dreadmill. AND, even though it doesn’t count, I came within one second of my Nike+ personal record – 26:06. Not fast, by any means, but something to shoot for.

I’ve been thinking about goals for the next year. Dave, over at Eager Feet (Another engineer/runner) used his 34th birthday to set goals. My 35th (AHHH!) is just around the corner; New Haven, my recurring race, is just around the corner; and I’m about to gear up for another Marathon campaign. So, here goes:

  1. Two hours at New Haven. Not ambitious – it’s on par with what I did last year, 15 minutes slower than my 2005 PR, and a minute/mile slower than I’ve been averaging. It’s also slower than I ran the Blessing of the Fleet (9:30 miles). But, I don’t think I’m going to get a longer run than 5 miles before the race, and I think the second half of New Haven is going to kill me. In a good way
  2. 20 miles per week base Assuming that I survive Augustathon, I like the idea of maintaining a 20 mile/week base. It’s three five milers during the week, and a 5 miler on the weekend. Or three four milers and an 8 miler on the weekend. Add two days of cross-training, and a day of rest, and it should be good. Again, the assumption here is that I can finish Augustathon healthy, unlike the last time I sustained 20 miles/week
  3. Stick to a training plan. Yeah, this is going to be a tough goal. My achilles heel, so to speak, in the past
  4. Diet. Yep, I think that it’s time to accept that running alone isn’t going to get me where I want to be. So, 1 September, I go back to counting calories. My goal is 160 by 1 December. After that, I’ll have 5 months to train for Oklahoma City
  5. 4 hours at Oklahoma City This is a long, long stretch. I plugged my recent 5K times into a race time calculator, and 26 minutes predicts a 4:30 marathon. Hmmm – checks with chart (4:34 at Mystic Places in 2005, and 5 hours at NYC two weeks later). Both of those races were at 165 lbs, give or take. Maybe if I can take off another 15 lbs and hit 155?

WOW – kick butt. Mystic Cycle is running commercials on local cable. Good spots, too.

So, I think that’s about it. Check out Chris Lydon’s interview with William Gibson. I’ve just started reading Spook Country, and it’s good. Re-read The Difference Engine while I was waiting to get Spook Country from the Groton Public Library, and really enjoyed it. The new one’s taking a little bit to get going, but that’s one of the things I’ve found from Neuromancer on.

Brilliant, Blood, and back on the road

Saturday – Actually ran during daylight hours. I did the same loop I did Saturday night, ‘cept in the other direction. Man, was that tough. If I run counterclockwise like I did Friday night, there’s two terribly steep hills and a long downhill. Clockwise like I ran on Saturday, there’s a long not so false flat that just goes on and on and on…

But the weekend was brilliant. Chilly in the evenings, sunny during the day. Today was blood drive at the local firehouse, and as i haven’t donated in a while, I felt compelled. So, before church, it was off to get stuck. I was the only donor there for an entire hour. Anyway, it’s done.

This evening, Jake and i headed down to the sound and fished for a while. Good times, no bites, but it was exceedingly pleasant to sit and watch the sun set into the sound. After getting home, I felt adequately recovered enough to hit the road. Don’t worry – I did just over 2 miles at about 10 minutes/mile, with a big walk in the middle.

Skin of my teeth

Let me confess: I pretty much intended to punt tonight. I snuggled down in the high thread count sheets early last night, with the AC below where it responsibly should have been, and didn’t plan on waking up to run prior to my meeting, even though the meeting was at a very gentlemanly hour.

And I’d pretty much accepted that I’d get in, get home, and go to bed.

But then, I got delayed leaving BWI (For those keeping score, the airlines batted a whopping 0.333 for on-time departures for me this week). The ride in to BDL was a riot – we were skirting a line of thunderstorms to our south that should have been in the midwest – a full 120 degrees of the sky was big anvils being lit by lightning, and we got a bit of a rollercoaster.

So, when I rolled into Mystic about 11 PM, went and kissed everyone while they slept, I said “Why not?”, and strapped on the sneakers.

Good decision. I did one of the loops that were critical in proving to myself I was actually a runner back when I picked this up again in 2004. Nothing epic – just a 4-ish mile loop around the neighborhood. The first three were great. I stopped the Nike+, and walked for about a half-mile (to avoid running up Cow Hill, which is wicked steep), and then ran the last mile to the house.

And, man, if the last mile didn’t feel better than the first three. I powered up the last little bit of the hill, and the classic strains of Bonnie Tyler broke in with our modern Iliad:

Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods?
Where’s the street-wise Hercules
To fight the rising odds?
Isn’t there a white knight upon a fiery steed?
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need

(Hey, Bonnie – I’m right here. Though taken.)

And, yeah, I imagined myself as Kevin Bacon, strained to see if I could make a mullet pop out of the back of my skull, and I powered back to the house.

Strong.

Fast.

And fresh from the fight that is modern air travel.

Now – off to bed. The boys are due to wake me up by flinging themselves onto our bed in 7 hours.

(PS – what I want is for some male icon of modern alt-pop to cover “I Need a Hero” much like Lyle Lovette and the Blues Brothers covered Tammy Wynette’s classic “Stand By Your Man”. Not sure why, but I think it could be cool.)

I serve the Fairy Queen

Over hill, over dale,
Thorough bush, thorough brier,
Over park, over pale,
Thorough flood, thorough fire,
I do wander everywhere,
Swifter than the moon’s sphere;

Man, I think I need to hit the trails when I get back east.

I almost, almost punted this morning. The flight last night got in about 90 minutes late, so I left the airport well after midnight, got to the hotel after 1, and collapsed into bed about 1:45, taking into account the need to despin.

Then, the fire alarm goes off at 3. Yep, I kid you not – after not sleeping well the night before, I had taken about 15 seconds to drop straight into deep sleep once my head hit the pillow.

So, we’re standing outside waiting for the fire truck to arrive. Bunches of disoriented folks in various states of PJs or crumpled clothes pulled off of the floor. After a half hour or so, the night manager goes and calls them again, and, no lie, the fire truck got into a wreck on the way over. So, they’re having to sortie one from a neighboring fire district, which arrives after we’ve all been standing around for a half-hour or so.

So, I hit the rack at 3:45, needing to wake up about 0700 to actually start working. No way was I going to get up at 6 to get in a run.

Today at work – absolutely great. F’n phenomenal – good results and loads of new opportunities. Got back to the hotel, and instead of collapsing, went to do today’s three in the office park. Was doing pretty well until I rolled my ankle at about mile two.

Probably the greatest lesson I’ve learned in Augustathon is when to say “Enough”. I walked the last mile, and will be able to run again tomorrow morning.

Had a chat with someone. You may have seen part of it earlier. Anyway, he asked what my race plans were for the rest of the year. Here goes:

  • Probably do the last Terramuggus next week, even though it WILL suck, as I haven’t been swimming or riding. There’s a better than even chance this will get dropped, as next week will be killer at the office
  • New Haven. My goal there is to run in the same vicinity of April Anne as long as I can until she drops me, and then try to hold on to beat Jon. ‘Cause if I don’t, there won’t be any more ChaBaso bread when I finish
  • I’ll probably do another half on a not-to-interfere with real life basis
  • November/December will be the start of Marathon training for the OKC Marathon, and a chance to run with my baby brother
  • A guy at church has hatched an idea in my head of a 20 mile race they do on the Vineyard in February. This has the intriguing qualities of: a) being somewhere I’ve been looking for an excuse to go; b) being potentially positioned well as a marathon tune-up race in about enough time to get my stamina safely up to 20 miles, and enough in advance of OKC to let me get some serious training in after this long run; and c) an excuse to say ‘the Vineyard’ and sound like I belong up here
  • And my long-term goal is the Oklahoma City Marathon on 29 April, 2008. I’m committed, too, as I’ve just redeemed my first set of frequent flier miles ever for the ticket to the race. That, and my little bro, the barrister, has a couple of pounds to lose (but don’t we all).

So that’s it in a nutshell. Five more days and this is a habit. Then I start working on getting up consistiently at 0500, on purpose.

Reasons to love running for 8/15/2007

Man, I woke up this morning after a terrible night’s sleep. Slipped on the sneaks, headed outside, and suddenly all was good with the world. The runner’s high didn’t wear off until about 5, when I was on my way to the airport.

Chalk up downtown Columbus, Ohio, as an underrated running destination.

One more day and I’m over the hump for Augustathon.