Thomas Moves

The time has come to move this blog. I had hoped to keep the same blog, but incorporate it into my new site. Unfortunately Blogger is not very flexible and creating custom themes with it is a ridiculous task. Because of that I have chosen to go with Wordpress which I was able to mesh in with my new site very easily. It also imported all previous posts AND comments so it's just a different location and a different look. All future ThomasRuns posts can be found at my new site here:

http://www.thomasaka.com/runs

Trying out the knee

I took the knee brace off around 0.75 miles tonight and continued to run another 3.75 miles without it. A slight whisper at the very end, but overall MUCH better than a few months ago. I iced it when I got home just to be safe and I will continue to wear the brace, but it's nice to know it's at least better than it was when the pain started. My hand hurt more from carrying the brace for the rest of the run than my knee did from not wearing it :) Overall it was a great run and my longest since starting back after my little break.

Total: 4.5 miles

1st run of 2009

Well I FINALLY logged my first run of 2009 last night. I would have logged it sooner, but Comcast allegedly had "a server down" which caused all of Middle Tennessee and Central Kentucky to lose internet service for several hours. It's ok though, they gave me a credit of $1.06!

So anyways, after work in what I consider to be perfect running temps (42ish) and not so perfect weather (super windy) I went for my first run of 2009. A drastically different route at the beginning with a lot more elevation for the first .75 mile which helped me not pay attention to the Garmin as much. It also gave me my first slight knee pain in a long time which I'm hoping was just the elevation.

Now I just need to see if L & N finally owned up to their resolution to start running :)

Total: 3 Miles, 28:02 (9:20)

Freedom

A couple of months ago I bought a Layer 8 shirt that was tighter on me at home than it was at the store. Not very flattering in certain places. Living in Tennessee I pack my running bag with a long sleeve shirt and a short sleeve shirt every day because it can be 70 in the morning and 25 after work or vice versa.. no joke. Today I packed the "way too tight" shirt and prayed it would be cold.. it was not. So off I went and other than probably causing some people to throw up inside their mouth, it's a very good running shirt!

A couple miles in I did pass John who was able to get away from work earlier than me. I've run most of today's route before, but not in a while and some of it was completely new. As I started I thought about how that's one of my favorite things about running. It's a great feeling of freedom to be able to take off with no specific plan in mind and just go wherever your feet feel like taking you. Normally I'm an OCD, structured, nerdy kind of guy, but running gives me an escape from that and I actually enjoy it!

I pulled the last several runs off the Garmin and noticed that most of my runs since the post-Thanksgiving break have had at least 1 if not multiple negative splits! Sweet! Today's run puts me at 208 miles for the year.. with possibly 1 more short run tomorrow.

Total: 4 miles, 36:30 (9:07)

Easy 3.5 + hills

Yesterday after sleeping until noon I was headed out to West End for a run until my Uncle called me with tickets for the Radio City Rockettes at the Opry House. I didn't have enough time to drive all the way across town so I went to the greenway by my house (and barely had enough time for that). Somehow I found the strength (stupidity) to not turn around at the 1.5 mile mark and instead head for the hills (literally). After going over the huge hill I turned around at the 2 mile mark and did it all again. A quarter mile of walking at the beginning and end of the run (which I'm trying to get in the habit of doing a lot more) left me with a 3.5 mile run overall. I almost went without the knee brace yesterday, which would have kept me from going over the hill, but changed my mind at the last minute.

Total: 3.5 miles, Time unknown cause I haven't plugged up the Garmin yet

Bad Boy of the Day

Apparently the Bad Girls of Running on Twitter thought I was the Bad Boy of the Day yesterday for my 26 degree run :) I have another twitter buddy who run 10 miles in 24 degree temps so I'd say he's more deserving, but I'm honored just the same.

200 Miles!

When I stepped out into the cold at Centennial Park my car said it was 26 degrees (my coldest run yet). My legs immediately thanked me for rocking the New Balance tights. Since L and N were too scared for a cold run, and I had a specific goal for tonight's run, I wore the knee brace. It was a good run from the beginning, but at the 3 mile mark something clicked and I got that "I could run forever" feeling which I haven't felt in a while.

It also could have been because I knew that after another 0.5 miles I would pass 200 miles for the year (200.5 to be exact)! I realize that's nothing for most runners, but given how long I've been running and stupid injuries I'm very excited. If you had told me 6 months ago that I would run 200 miles this year I would have called you crazy. Oh, I did the math too.. that comes out to 7.5 full marathons.. just split into lots of little pieces in my case :)

Another good feeling was that I only saw 2 other runners the entire time. I braved temps that only 2 other people would run in :)

Total: 4 miles, 37:22