Windy...and Windy

It was just a little windy today. Combine that with dead-feeling legs and I only went 4 miles. I hate cutting a run short and coming up with excuses, but I could tell today wasn't going anywhere. And my knees aren't feeling good. Yeah, I know, more excuses. Just not one of my better runs, but one where I think I cut my losses. I'd like to think I'm a smarter runner than I used to be in stopping and avoiding grinding out the last two miles just to add the miles to my weekly total, but sometimes I wonder. Clearly I can finish a half-marathon, but the question is how well will I finish? And how will today's run figure into how it works out?

Mile Intervals

Ran 6 miles with 3x1 mile intervals. It was another beautiful day, with a great temperature and minimal wind. I felt good and it was a great day for a run.

For the first time in 18 years I'm wearing contact lenses again. I got the pair yesterday and wore them for too long today. I felt like a free man without glasses. Guess I just couldn't help wearing them on my run. They're a new type of lens for people with astigmatism, with a hard lens in the middle with what they call a 'skirt' around it made up of a soft lens. I don't remember the last time my eyesight was this good. However, the side effect is that the hard lenses reshape my eyeballs, so when I took the lenses out after the run I couldn't see a thing when I put on my glasses. Even now, over three hours later, my right eye is totally fuzzy and I'm basically working off the left eye, which is strangely clear for not having glasses on right now. Guess I'll be wearing them until bedtime on a regular basis.

Today I branched out with another podcast called How Stuff Works. The one I listened to was regarding lotteries, and even though I knew most of what they talked about and why I don't play the lottery, it was still entertaining. Also, don't remember if I've mentioned this or not, but I'm no fan of rap, hip-hop, or any combo of the two. However, I've been starting my runs with the Beastie Boys' 'Sabotage,' which makes for a great kick-off to my runs. Guess sometimes something different catches you at a moment where you actually end up liking something you would normally pass by. At least that's the explanation I'm going with on this one.

More Rain

When I left the house this morning I thought I'd be able to get a good run in before the rain came. I was wrong. At least today the temperature wasn't horrible. I ran two loops of the neighborhood, and about a mile into the first lap a light sprinkle was coming down. By the time I got to 96th Street and headed west the wind was at my back and didn't seem too bad. As I neared the end of that first lap I thought about heading up the hill and back to the house to finish on the treadmill, but inertia is a powerful force and I kept going. The rain picked up a little bit on the second lap, although it never really got heavy, and even though the east wind was brisk it never seemed like I was struggling. For the last bit of my run I did a mile out and back to complete the 9-miler. In fact, I felt so good that for the last .8 mile I ran faster at an 8-minute/mile pace.

I'm glad I stayed outside for the whole run. I like running in the rain, and even though this was a little cooler than a summer shower, it still felt good. Strangely enough I didn't see any other runners out today. Are they afraid they're going to melt or something?

I'm also trying to figure out this half-marathon thing in May. The race I'd like to do is on a Sunday, and if Alan comes for the race we'll clearly be enjoying our triumph that evening and staying up late. However, the following two days at work are a disaster recovery exercise where authority for the agency devolves to us and I suppose I have to be there. I was looking for something else in late May that we could run, but the only possibility so far is a race in Oklahoma City on Memorial Day weekend, and I'd really rather not travel then if I can avoid it. Guess I'll need to figure this out and get registered for something pretty quick. Ah, the joys of a busy life.

Too Cold in the Rain

The temperature was right on that border of being nice, but with a cool drizzle it was a little too cold for an outdoor run. And I like running in the rain, but today was too much. So I ran 6 miles on the treadmill with a 30-minute tempo run while listening to another podcast. They had a parody of 'Friends in Low Places' concerning parts of your body that tend to be rubbed raw on a run if you neglect something to ease the friction. That's the second time I've listened to one of these parodies on a run where I actually laughed out loud. This time it was the verse about the guy whose nipples were bleeding and then got in the shower. Yes, there was screaming. And it was probably funnier since I've experienced something similar, although not quite as serious as that. Funny stuff.

What a Day

Days like this are rare - mild temperature, no wind, enough cloud cover to keep the sun from shining too bright - wow, this kind of weather is rare in KC. Today's 6-miler include 3x1-mile intervals, and it felt great all the way. Even if today hadn't been a running day I would have made it one.

The allergies are still killing me. Last night was the best night of sleep I've had in three weeks, but I still woke up a few minutes early with a runny nose. It's funny, because when I went to bed last night I felt like it was going to be a bad night. Shows how much I know. I also know that going out for a run when my allergies are like this isn't good for them, but at this point I don't care. Who knows what will set them off? Yesterday at work I was totally fine until I opened my former secretary's office to go through some old notebooks and as soon as I did the sneezing started and lasted until I fell asleep. If I curtailed all activities and didn't do anything until allergy season was over the only thing I'd do would be to lie in bed with the covers pulled over my head. And really that's no fun. At least it's no fun alone. So I suffer through the season and wait for the pollen counts to descend again. And wait. And wait.

Snot Factory

I'm sure I was such a lovely sight on this morning's long run, what with snot rockets and hawking up loogies the whole time. But I decided a long while back that I wasn't going to let allergies ruin my life, and if I have to suffer a little bit for the activities I like to do, then so be it. I didn't see as many other runners out today as I expected, which I suppose is a good thing given all the snot flying every where.

I ran 10 miles, a couple miles shorter than planned. I suppose I'm still in that half-marathon training mode where I can do a little less mileage and still be okay come race day. At least I think that's what it is, because surely it can't be laziness. I suppose I should register for the darn thing, seeing as it's only a month away now.

I listened to two more podcasts from RunRunLive and enjoyed them both. The first was an interview with Hal Higdon. He was the keynote speaker at the Heart of America Marathon last year, a fact he mentions in his interview. He was promoting a novel he'd written about the weekend of a large-city marathon, and it sound intriguing enough for me to want to check it out. The second podcast was an interview with the race director of the Boston Marathon, and that was also interesting to listen to. I've enjoyed the podcasts, enough so that when they were done and I still had a couple of miles to go I think that contributed to my finishing earlier than planned. I find it interesting to hear someone else's take on running, especially someone who puts in so many miles, as the host of the podcast does. I also really enjoyed the parody of George Thorogood's "I Drink Alone," which came out as "I Run Alone" on the podcast. The bit about a lady who smiles at him and gets the finger in return made me laugh out loud - yes, a real lol! This seems like a podcast I'll keep listening to and probably going back in time so I can catch up on the previous two years' worth of material.

Spring in the Midwest

Spring in the Midwest is much like spring in the greater part of the country - lots of allergens and wind. There's a nice layer of yellow pollen on all the vehicles now, and a number of people at work I talked with today are hoping for some rain in the next couple of days to clear the air. I suppose maybe I'm getting too used to the wind since today I didn't really notice it.

I ran 6 miles total, which included 3 mile repeats with 1/4 mile slowdowns. Overall it felt pretty good until I was chicked with about one mile to go. But hey, I was in my cooldown phase, so I don't feel too bad. And it's not like it doesn't happen a lot in the races I've been in.

I tried something new today on my run. Rather than listening to music, I downloaded a couple of podcasts and tried one of them out. This one was called RunRunLive and I enjoyed it. The host was taking an ice bath after running an 18-miler in freezing rain on New Year's Eve. Heh, what a maroon! Sounds like something stupid I would do. The guest (not in the bath room with the host, fortunately) was the co-writer of a book about how exercise affects your body and actually keeps you younger as you age. His claim is that 30% of our aging is determined for us by genetics, but the other 70% is what we can influence by our habits, with the main contributor being the amount of exercise we get. I don't know, I kind of liked being distracted by something different for a change, so I'm thinking I'll try another podcast or two on my long run this Saturday. It's always good to shake things up once in a while.

Pollen and Me

Today was the first time I'd run in ten days. I went to Atlanta last week and took along my running gear. However, a thick layer of pollen blanketed the city and threw me for a loop. I had enough clothing to run at least three days during my stay there, and I never unpacked the stuff. I kept thinking I should, but then determined that might actually kill me as bad as I felt. I even told my brother I would probably regret it, but now that I'm back home I don't, really. One night I went to a game at beautiful Turner Field (hate the team, love the stadium), and when my group got to our section we could see the nice yellow pollen covering all the seats.

Today I was itching to run. After an afternoon meeting at work that really ticked me off I needed to burn off some energy. I was supposed to run a marathon pace session but decided I should probably just make it an easy run since it's been so long since my last run. That was a good choice since it was quite windy with gusts above 30 mph and the temperature was near 80 degrees. I went 6 miles and was more tense than usual due to thinking about the aforementioned work issue. At one point I felt a tightening in my mid-back on the right side and wondered if I should walk a little, but then a song came on my iPod that has a good running rhythm and I realized I was tensed up and that was affecting my posture. I breathed deep and tried to stay looser the rest of the run, with varying degrees of success. The allergies for me here are bad, but not nearly as bad as they were in Georgia. I guess the old familiar has its advantages.

The Hero Takes a Fall

Today's long run was later in the day than normal on the weekend, but mission accomplished. The weather was gorgeous today, and if we hadn't had a birthday party in the morning I would have been out earlier. Even with all that motivation there were a few times where I contemplated cutting the run short, but I stuck with it. I was wearing a shirt from the '07 KC Marathon that has the word 'FINISHER' in big block letters on the back. I kept thinking of that during the last half of my 11-mile run and it helped me get 'er done. Too many thoughts of hey, it's only a half-marathon you're training for, so go ahead and cut it short. You only need to do long runs of 8 or 9 miles, so no big deal. Too bad, I want to keep my training level fairly high for a marathon later in the year, and I'm a finisher.

The gratuitous Bangles reference in the title for this post has to do with, you guessed it, a fall. I can't remember the last time, if ever, that I've fallen while running. It happened before I'd even run a full mile. I passed a lady getting into her SUV in the back part of the neighborhood, and I knew she'd be coming up behind me. She did, and as I turned the corner onto another street I was concentrating on staying close to the curb. Just as she passed me my right foot caught in the one of the shoelace loops of my left foot and I went down. Not too hard, and I hit with my right knee and did a roll and hopped right up, continuing almost without missing a stride. Not sure if she saw me go down, but she certainly didn't even tap the brakes so I have my doubts. I wasn't hurt and clearly kept running to finish out the day.

I just plugged in the Garmin to see if the fall registered on the graph it produces, and sure enough there's a little spike in the pace line at that spot in the run. The wife thinks it's kind of funny, and I have to agree.

Speaking of the Garmin, it's still working great. My thought is that its memory was full. I'm not sure how much memory is in these things, but thinking of all the runs where I've used it in the past year brings to mind how much data must have been stored on it. All the waypoints for every run where the GPS was tracking, my custom workouts, the pace, the elevation, etc., were stored, and I can only imagine how much space that takes up. Thank God for the Internet since otherwise I would have most likely considered it completely dead. Seems appropriate that my Garmin was resurrected during Easter week!

The Garmin Rises

I thought my GPS had gone to Garmin heaven. It wouldn't turn on and even when I put it on the cradle it wouldn't charge or connect to the computer. Fortunately this is the 21st century and we have the Internet. I binged 'Garmin Forerunner 305 dead' and came up with a link that told me how to reboot the thing. I tried the soft reboot first and nothing happened. Then I tried a hard reboot by pressing the power and mode buttons at the same time and it beeped and sprung to life! The device asked me if I wanted to erase all the data on it and I said no, which turned out to be the wrong answer. It shut down again and I couldn't turn it on again.

At that point I thought maybe I'd killed it. I tried the hard reboot again and it didn't work. I set it down for a few minutes and then tried once more, and it worked. This time I answered 'Yes' to delete the data and from then on it's been good. I transferred today's workout as well as Saturday's to it, and it asked me if I wanted to copy the profile from my computer to replace the one on the Garmin. I said yes, because the one on the Garmin was a default. Today's run seemed to go without a hitch, at least as far as my GPS goes.

The run itself was not good, though. I started out running into the wind, which was a good choice, but I'm still not 100%. Too many nights of interrupted sleep and a case of allergies is wearing me down. I did two and a half mile repeats, finishing at 4.5 miles. Work is wearing me out as well, and I can't seem to get ahead. Plus I'll be out of town next week, so there's a lot to do in the next several days. I felt relaxed on the repeats, particularly into the wind, but it just sapped what little strength I had too quickly. This wind reminds me of the Big D marathon last year in Dallas, and it makes me glad I'm not running it this year. Ugh, that was a killer.