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

The sun exists!

I haven't seen the sun in several months so this weird, bright object in the sky confused me this morning. Despite that confusion (or maybe because of it) I was able to motivate myself to head out to the greenway before noon, in 32 degree temps for a run. The worst part was not the cold, although I did run with a light jacket for the first time today. The worst part was running against the wind for the first 1.5 miles. The run back to the car was with the wind at my back and that strange, bright object in the sky shining down on me.

This is my 2nd run since taking a nearly 3 week break so I'm still getting sore while getting used to it again. So far it's the good kind of sore. Tomorrow start's L (and maybe N's) training which will probably be the C25K program. I'm thinking about taking the knee brace off for that since it will be a lot shorter than what my knee is already used to.

Total: 3 miles, 28:50

I'm a runner... again

After 2 weeks and 6 days of rest (laziness) I finally started running again. Actually it was my plan all along to take a significant amount of time off after my race on Thanksgiving. There were things (the entire right side of my body) that needed to heal and stopping for a few days or even 1 week had not really helped so I needed longer. I was going to start back a little sooner, but the possibility of breaking my neck on a patch of ice kept me from doing that.

So tonight after work I FINALLY got back out there. I started in Centennial Park and ran part of the loop before cutting over to West End, passing a guy being pulled from his car, frisked and arrested in the middle of the road, down 21st, up the "bitch hill", past the children's hospital, back up West End and finished in front of Cumberland Transit. I kept it slow (or tried to) and stopped myself well short of the 5-7 miles I would have loved to have run. Tonight was an easy 5k in 28:50 (fairly consistent with 9:14, 9:19, 9:25) which was about as slow as I could make myself go. So far all my previous injuries are not bothering me which is a good sign. Even if they do pop back up on future runs (please please no) at least I had 1 good run pain free! And for some reason I seem to always end right in front of Cumberland Transit everytime I run 3.1 miles even though it's always a different route.. maybe that's a sign.

Speaking of 5k, there are 2 people (we'll call them L and N) who better be ready for the training that starts Monday and the 5k they will run FAR sooner than they think they will (yes, you can do it before 2012). N definitely has no excuses since she has run a half marathon before, something I haven't done yet. L has no excuses because I refuse to let her have any :)

Getting anxious

After my 5 mile race on Thanksgiving I decided to take some time off to let me ailing muscle or whatever it is in my right leg heal (hopefully). It probably wasn't very smart to throw a snowboarding trip in their, but Snowshoe had some epic conditions and we were itching for the first trip of the year :)

It's been 2.5 weeks now and I'm really anxious to get back out there, but yesterday we had freezing rain and I'm not about to have my comeback run end up with me busting my ass on an ice patch! Hopefully sometime this week I'll be able to get back into it and maybe without pain?

Boulevard Bolt Results

The official results are in and it looks like I'm still good at math. My predicted time was exactly right: 42:54 which is a new PR by 3 seconds! Not much, but still more than I thought I was going to be capable of that day. Out of 1370 runners with chips I was 60th in the 30-34 age group, 404th in my gender and 549th overall. My friend beat me by 44 seconds which I was expecting, but after I got to the finish and realized I had done better than I thought I would, I kinda hoped I had beat him. Oh well, I'll get you next time!

Boulevard Bolt 2008 - Nashville, TN

This morning was my first race with more than a couple hundred people in it (7900 roughly) so I thought I'd give a race report.

5:15 - 1st alarm went off and I groaned.

5:30 - 2nd alarm went off and surprisingly I got up (a typical work morning takes about 5 alarms and 2 hours). This could be because I was done icing (my leg, not a cake) and in bed by 9:15 last night.

5:40 - With contacts put in and eye buggers removed I start to get ready. I fired up the toaster and got my pre-race bagel with peanut butter. I proceed with my soon-to-be-patented method of intermittently getting dressed, stretching and eating the pb bagel. If you're thinking that's a sight that you don't want to see.. you are correct!

6:00 - Flip on the morning news, not for any purpose really, just because I've always wondered what they talk about at 6:00 am. Turn on the laptop and check the current temp (37) and race time temp (41). Double check that I have my new Nike gloves and hat. Update MySpace and Twitter with my current status because I'm sure everyone I know got up early to verify that my statuses matched what they already knew I was going to be doing.

6:20 - Jeffery shows up right on time. We pin on our numbers and get ready to head out.

6:30 - Walk out into what is most certainly NOT 37 degree weather! We head towards the race and in my zombie mode (it's because I was talking instead of paying attention) I head towards downtown like I'm going to work.

7:05 - After a slight detour we arrive at the race and park probably a half mile or so away. We walk over to the registration tents where I pick up my timing chip. Potty break (in the one that wobbled so I had to keep a foot planted in a certain corner to keep it from tipping) before the huge crowd gets in line. Jo Dee Mesina was on stage as part of the pre-race festivities, but not singing. I think the mayor was up there too, with a race number on.

7:26 - We are in line (and by line I mean huge crowd of people) near the start figuring out where to go. 2 women ask me what time it is since they see my Garmin and I explain that we were just discussing how I didn't know how to find the time on it. I eventually figured it out.

7:45 - Still no sign of John or Amber or anyone else that we know there. They have corrals for different pace groups so we get in the Under 45 Minutes thinking that would probably be about right. A rabbi from 1 of the sponsoring churches offers the longest prayer I've ever heard.

7:55 - The start of the wheelchair division which only included 1 person. I guess it's awesome to know that no matter what you get 1st place in your division, but that's still gotta suck to start all by yourself.

8:00 - Someone forgot the number 3 and announced "1....2....." and so we begin... to walk. A couple of minutes later we get to a huge banner stretched over the road that says "START" which for some reason I thought signified the start line so I started my Garmin. 10 seconds later we crossed the real start line which was the chip mat.

And we're off!

0 mi - Immediately I regret the corral we got in because there is no way anyone was on a 9:00mpm pace. I weaved around people and ran on the grass median to try to get up to the group I should be with, all the while my Garmin beeping at me telling me to speed up.

0.9 mi - I see the "1 Mile" sign ahead and really thought I had already gone farther than that. True I should have known, but I was only paying attention to pace on my Garmin.

1.66 mi - We see the 1st group of runners coming up the other side of the street which would put them around the 3.5 mark.. Discouraging.

2 mi - Water station and wisely this time I decide to come to a complete stop for 3 seconds so I can drink the water instead of wearing it. Success!

2.4 mi - The turn-around; which means more uphills than the first leg and the sun in my face instead of on my back.

3 mi - After running downtown so much my body is used to brief stops for traffic, lights, unobservant pedestrians, etc. So at 3 miles with only a 3 second stop for water so far I decided to do what I've been used to doing in my normal runs. Well I didn't "stop", but I did walk for 5 seconds once I got to a flat section. I've found that sometimes it does me better in the long run to take a few seconds to walk and re-energize.

3.5 mi - At this point I am absolutely roasting. My warm hat becomes a sweat towel and my long sleeves get pushed up. Thank goodness I didn't wear tights or a jacket or anything else that would have made it worse. Although I would like to thank LOTS of women who did rock the tights this morning. You have no idea how much you motivated me! You can call me a pig or sexist or whatever you want.. I'm a guy and they were motivating.

4.25 mi - I look up and realize the woman running 5 feet in front of me is the same woman who I battled with in my last 5 mile race, the Halloween Hunt. I immediately told myself there is no way she was beating me this time and HTFU from my 9:00 pace to around 8:00. I will now have to change my argument that I've posted on RA a few times about how you should always be running your best and someone else shouldn't affect how you run. I guess the correct explanation is you should always be running your best, but sometimes another person can bring out something that you didn't realize you had in you. If it hadn't been for her I would not have sped up which you will see would have made a huge difference, pending official results.

4.9 mi - I round the corner of cheering people (none of which know me) and UP A HILL to the finish line. There's something strangely exciting about that final moment, with everyone cheering and encouraging you that I think is part of why I enjoy running. My pace jumps to around 6:00 mpm for the finale.

5.0 mi - I did it! I stop the Garmin as I cross the finish line and once I'm walking I look down at it. It says 43:04. No way. Take away the 10 seconds before I crossed the chip mat and that gives me a time of 42:54 which would beat my only other 5 mile race by 3 seconds. I will wait to get really excited until the official results come in, but regardless it's better than I was expecting to do. I guess the brief walking break didn't hurt me after all!

Now it's Turkey Time! Happy Thanksgiving! :D

4 Mile Monday

This post is a day late. Last night after work I went to Belle Meade to pick up my race packet for Thanksgiving and then headed over to Centennial Park for my last run before the race. I originally had planned on 5, but the way my yet-to-be-named leg muscle-tendon-bone-thingy was feeling I stopped at 4. I have no idea what it is, but for the past couple of weeks it's been hurting pretty bad after my runs. I think after the race I might actually break down and go see a doctor. Ice and rest (at least my version of rest) has not seemed to help other than making it feel 99% better until the next run :(

So no running today or tomorrow then early bedtime since this will be my first early race.

P.S. To the redneck in the jacked up FJ Cruiser who thought it was hilarious to rev his engine as he passed me: I can understand how you're upset that you had to buy a jacked up truck to compensate for... ya know.. but seriously anyone who is old enough to drive and gets their laughs startling runners REALLY needs to get a life.

8:05 mile

I'm so burned out on the greenway here, but I still head out there when I'm planning on a short run. So today I was planning on running 3 miles and after the first mile I couldn't believe my watch when I looked down.. 8:05. I don't think I've ever run a mile that fast before.

The rest of the run was a different story, probably in part because I ran the first mile too fast. My knee brace kept coming undone; at least 5 times in 3 miles. My left earbud fell out every minute or 2. Any little tiny thing that could annoy me happened, but I survived and have at least 1 mile I can be happy about. I plan on running 5 miles on Tuesday and then taking a day off before the Boulevard Bolt on Thursday.

Belle Meade Cops Are Assholes

To anyone who has ever been to Belle Meade it would not be a shock to find out that anyone in that city is an asshole. So tonight me and John went to run the course for our race coming up on Thanksgiving morning. It's a 5 mile route along Belle Meade Blvd, a major road with a narrow bike/running path on both sides. I kept an easy pace and the hills aren't bad so I'm looking forward to the race in less than a week.

Somewhere around the 3rd mile we pass a cop who was stopped at a turn-around harassing another runner. She proceeds to tell us that it's a city law (that we're supposed to somehow know?!) to wear reflective clothing at night that is visible from 300 feet away when headlights are shining on you. Fine. I'm wearing A SOLID WHITE LONG SLEEVE SHIRT which she tells me is not good enough. Anyone who shined their headlights on me and could not see the bright white shirt does NOT need to be driving!

Then she said she'd give us a reflective vest for the rest of our run tonight, but next time she'd write us an $80 ticket. For some reason she freaked out when she went to her trunk to get the vest and I started to follow her. I'm not sure what she keeps in her trunk, but she sure as hell didn't want me to see it. She only had 1 vest so John wore it and when he got 100 feet in front of me I couldn't see it.. but you could see my white shirt from there.

She assured us that they do this for our safety.. yeah, if those pompous asses were concerned about runner's safety they would use part of that huge landscaped median to put in sidewalks. But then that wouldn't look appealing with the million dollar homes on that road now would it? Don't worry stuck up, lazy ass cop.. I won't be running in Belle Meade again after the race on Thanksgiving.

Treadmill

Since July I've been stuck in the Central Time Zone where it gets dark shortly after lunch, and unfortunately there is no good place to go running after dark near my apartment. So for the first time in a while I headed to the treadmill. After running in sub-40 temps yesterday and fairly cool temps for the past month, running inside seemed very hot tonight.

Anyways, it was going fine until the 2 mile point when the treadmill just stopped.. and I mean STOPPED. I had zoned out so it sorta scared the crap out of me. I started it up again and within 10 seconds it did it again. Well I didn't want to quit after just 2 miles so I ran another mile around my apartment complex.

Just 1 week left until my next race! 5 miles on a road course which is by far my favorite type of place to run.. especially since the road doesn't usually come to an abrupt stop like a treadmill :)

Garmin-less Run

It certainly wasn't on purpose, but tonight was my first run without my Garmin since I bought it. It was also the first run on a non-marked trail without some kind of watch to keep at least a rough idea of my distance and speed.

I started at Centennial Park and tried to purposely not take too many turns, although a group of 3 women running somewhere around mile #3 may have altered my course slightly :) At any rate after mapping my route on RunningAhead.com it came out to approximately 5.45 miles at a 9:11 pace which I was pretty happy with. It was a little farther than I was planning on going, but that just made it even better!

Tonight was also my first time running in sub-40 degree temps (not counting my first 5k 7 years ago) and I realized one thing; gloves are awesome! I would rather forget my Garmin again than forget gloves! Ok enough writing, time to ice!

Easy 3ish

I've been planning on a longer run (hopefully around 8ish) this weekend so I planned an easy 3 miler for today. The funny thing about running is that it's introduced me to muscles, bones, bodily functions/reactions, etc. that I never knew existed. Tonight my knee and my previously punctured shin felt great the whole time, but a previously undiscovered muscle (or something) between my ankle and calf on the inside of my right leg started hurting. I'm not even entirely sure how to stretch that particular area, but I guess I better figure it out!

On another note I ran past that metal pole that Nashville Public Works was so kind to leave sticking up in the middle of a sidewalk. I ran into that 1 week ago today and last Friday, after getting a lunchtime tetanus shot, I emailed the city through the Nashville.gov website. I knew it wasn't the right department, but there's no "get that f-ing pole out of the ground" contact listed. To my surprise someone actually replied to me 17 minutes later (how's that for a State employee?!) and copied in the correct person who then asked me for the specific location. I sent that and she said she'd have someone from the sign shop investigate. Well tonight, exactly 1 week later, they had reattached the sign that was supposed to be attached to the pole in the first place.. ya know, the one that would have prevented me from running into a shin high metal pole? Yeah, that one.

I still question the level of retardation it takes to:

• Decide to put a sign in the middle of a sidewalk
• Remove the sign while leaving a 12 inch metal pole sticking out of the ground
• Decide that there's even a need for a sign saying "No Parking" when it's a 2 lane road with nowhere for even the biggest idiot to mistake for roadside parking

Regardless, I was impressed that it was taken care of at all let alone in a week or less.

New 5k PR

Ok so it's not official because it wasn't a race, but I set a new PR for 5k tonight. The best part was I didn't even realize it until just before the 3 mile mark. My previous PR was 26:51 in the Soles4Souls 5k, but tonight I ran 3.13 miles in 25:55.

Cool Runnings

Tonight was my 2nd run in sub-50 degree temps and my 1st since the metal pole incident. My leg is still tender to touch, but walking/running on it doesn't hurt at all and it didn't give me any problems during the run. We went 5 miles with some decent hills at a pretty slow pace. I will soon be purchasing gloves and a new running hat :)

Nashville Public Works employees are lazy

Tonight was my first real night run where the majority of the run was in the dark. It was the first time in a while that I've run 2 days in a row, but after 2 miles I settled in and felt good. Unlike last week my legs felt fine and unlike yesterday my lunch didn't try to come up. Everything was fine until somewhere around 3.5 miles when I almost fell down after running into something that didn't make my leg feel very good.

What was it? A metal post sticking up about 1 foot out of the SIDEWALK that looked like it used to be the bottom of a stop sign. A little odd since it wasn't at a corner, but in the middle of a damn sidewalk with no roads around it. Thanks Vanderbilt, you suck ass! It's more of a slight puncture wound than a cut, but it was 20-30 minutes before I could finish my 5.1 mile run (yes I'm an idiot) and get home to ice it so it's bruising and swelling nicely now. Just when I thought I was getting my groove back (and thinking of changing my name to Stella) I find a new and creative way to injure myself. The moral of the story is if you run at night LOOK AT THE GROUND.. oh and also look out for cars :)

Any advice on whether or not to run with a small puncture wound anyone? I was already planning on resting tomorrow, but wanted to have a decent 5-7 mile run this weekend.

Here it is before the bruising/swelling started...

Oh Canada

I took today off work because I figured after the election one of these 3 things would happen:

1) I would be celebrating late into the night
2) I would be waiting late into the night for results to become official
3) I would be planning my move to Canada, eh.

So since I was off work today (and since stupid Central time makes it get dark WAY too early), I went for a run earlier than normal. Other than the time of day and a handful of Reese's Pieces that I ate beforehand, I did nothing different than my other runs. Yet just before the 1.5 mile mark I felt like I was about to hurl and had to walk for a little bit. Then I tried running again and another mile later had the same feeling. I somehow survived 3 miles total, but my stomach was definitely not happy about it. I guess it could be the alfredo sauce that I had as part of dinner last night, but hopefully my next run goes much smoother.

Very Short 2.5

Every now and then you have to have a bad run right? Well today was most definitely that day for me. It didn't help that I wasn't at 100% after the Halloween party last night, but my shins started hurting out of the blue and I struggled to make it a very short 2.5 miles :( Looks like I'll be taking a couple of days off.

A night of "Firsts"

Tonight I started at Centennial Park, but ran a different route than normal going all the way down to music row by Tin Roof and actually getting lost for probably a mile or 2 before figuring out where I was. I also ran more hills (total Ascent of 1964 feet.. over 500 more than any other run) than I've ever run including the ridiculous hill by Vandy not once, but twice! Tonight's 7.1 mile run gave me these firsts:

- Longest run to date
- Longest run with a pace faster than 9:00 mpm (1:03:45 total which is an 8:59 pace)
- Passed the 100 mile mark on my shoes
- Passed 50 miles for the 2nd month in a row (ok technically that's a "second" not a "first")

I finished with a loop around a dark Centennial Park wishing I could keep going, but it was dark and my knee was starting to bug me.

I'm a hybrid!

38 miles per gallon

Created by The Car Connection

Today's 6 step plan

I've been waiting to run in somewhat cold weather (yes, I'm crazy) and today I finally got my chance. It was about 48 degrees when I got home from work and headed over to the greenway. This was my simple 6 step (mile) plan:

Mile 1) OMG IT'S F'ING COLD!!!
Mile 2) Maybe I should have worn a hat cause I sure don't have any hair trapping heat in
Mile 3) Finally got into my rhythm and felt like I could go forever
Mile 4) I've passed those 2 girls about 3 or 4 times now.. hope they don't think I'm stalking them
Mile 5) I was planning on 5 miles today, but now I'm just curious how many times I can pass those girls before they will run away from me
Mile 6) And that is my longest run at the greenway and the only one over 4 miles that included "the hill"

Oh, and on my way over the hill I almost caught up with a biker who had passed me about a minute before. Now THAT felt awesome to almost catch a bike while running up a hill :)

Halloween Hunt 5 Mile Race

This morning I ran my longest race to date, 5 miles. I've run 5 miles several times, but this was the first time doing it with a piece of paper pinned to my shirt. It's a flat course, but most of it is around a lake at Long Hunter State Park and it loops twice so I was worried it would be kinda boring. It wasn't as bad as I expected because the leaves changing color made it a very scenic run and a little portion of it is on a bridge that crosses the lake. But between the fear of boredom and my knee, my primary goal was to finish in under 50 minutes with a secondary goal of finishing in under 45 minutes. I figured that was a long shot since my fastest time for 5 miles was 46:58 just a few days ago.

So me, my sister and my friend John all started off and we severely misjudged where to start because we had to run around a ton of people (a lot in costumes). John and my sister started off pretty fast and once we got around all the slower people I let them go so I wouldn't burn myself out. I ended up passing my sister sometime during the 2nd mile, but never passed John. They had people calling out times at the mile markers, but the one for mile 4 was at the wrong place and for a minute I thought I had somehow run a 7:28 mile. Garmin said otherwise.

As I rounded the corner where I could see the finish line I looked down at my watch and almost passed out. I crossed with the clock reading 42:58 and my Garmin (which I started when I crossed the start line) reading 42:50. How on earth did I run that fast and why am I not physically paying for it now!? Regardless I am ecstatic with that time even though I missed 5th place (and a snazzy coffee mug) by less than a minute. I knew I would set a PR since this is my first 5 mile race, but I'm glad it's one that I am happy about and proud of.

Splits (from Garmin time)
1 - 8:26
2 - 8:38
3 - 8:45
4 - 8:55
5 - 8:05 (Holy Crap!)
Overall Pace - 8:34

So in the end John finished ahead of me by about 15 seconds (I let him have this one after I embarrassed him at the 5k last month), I finished next and my sister came in just a hair over 45 minutes so we all had a good day. I didn't have anyone take pictures with my camera so I'll have pictures whenever other people get them to me. And now I will go drink my celebratory beer :)

Last run before the race

Tonight was the last run before my race on Saturday. Another friend joined us tonight so we had 3 people for our 5 mile run to Belmont and back. I didn't realize it until I downloaded the Garmin stats, but there were no positive splits and miles 2, 3 and 4 were all at a 9:24 pace which was also my overall pace. Not too bad considering the number of hills on that route. I even mentioned to one of the guys that the hills that used to seem huge to me a month ago now seem like nothing. I guess the word of the day is consistency!

My knee had the usual twinge for the first .5 mi then it was fine and this time the pain didn't come back around the 4 mile mark like normal which is good. I'm still planning on taking the next 2 days off just to be safe so my next post will be my first 5 mile race report :)

Unofficial 5k

As planned I went for a 3 mile run after work today. My buddy started off at around an 8 minute pace, but I do that half the time anyways until I've settled into a slower pace. Well he didn't slow down much and kept it between 8 and 8:30 until we hit the llllllooooonnnnnngggg steady hill up Hillsboro Pike (even then we kept it under 9:00). But since we were only running 3 miles I figured what the hell, let's see what kind of 5k time I can get. So I kept running until I hit 3.1 miles and ended up with a time of 26:59.. 9 seconds away from beating my 5k PR!

Now anyone who has a Garmin knows that it usually takes a few seconds for it to auto-pause the time if you stop to wait for a light. So technically I think I really did beat my previous time if you take into account the 2 or 3 times we had to stop for a light/traffic, but regardless I'm happy with that time given the number of hills we ran up. My knee has been feeling better the past several days (since I took the insoles out) and it feels better post-run, but it actually hurt just a tad more than normal during the first .5 mile.

I'm planning on a 5 mile run on Wednesday, then my 5 mile race on Saturday followed by a celebratory beer :)

Cool Running

Finally the weather has gotten back to feeling like fall. It was in the lower 60's for my run today. I'm still running without the insoles and my knee has felt much better over the past few days. While running it's still hurting just a little as I get close to 4 miles. Today's run was 4.5 miles with an average pace of 9:19. I'll probably run about 3 tomorrow, 5 on Wednesday and then take 2 days off before my race on Saturday!

Crazy Map - Part Deux

I met a friend of mine downtown today and we ran around West End. I told him about my plan to create crazy maps with my Garmin (and he just got one too) so we took some random turns and 2 loops through Centennial Park at the end which gave me this:

I also tried something different today in my never ending quest to figure out what's hurting my #$&*(^#( knee. Since day 1 of using my Superfeet insoles I've noticed the arch on my right foot hits me just a little more noticeably than my left. So today I took those out and tried running with the regular insoles that came in the shoes. I ran 4.5 miles total during which my knee felt better at the beginning than usual, then started talking to me around 3.75 and then told me to quit at 4.5. Today may not be a good reference since I don't usually string a 5 miler and a 4.5 miler together with only 1 day inbetween. So I think I'm going to give it another run or 2 to see if it's making any difference.

Definitely no running for the next 2 days and then I'll probably try another 4-5 miles one day this weekend. Also today I registered for the Boulevard Bolt.. the one I said I registered for a week ago and finally got around to doing today!

7 miles without moving

Sticking to my renewed pledge to do more cross training I went back to the bike today. I did the same hill program for 7 miles, but with a little lower resistance since my legs were still recovering from yesterday's run. I think I've decided to start riding the bike 1 day a week and doing the elliptical another day which will give me 2 days of cross training and keep me from running more than I should (hopefully).

It would be a little easier to motivate myself to get in the gym if all the cute women I see at my apartment complex would go there to run/walk instead of going somewhere else. I almost always end up stuck in there with the same creepy old dude. Oh well, maybe when it gets colder they will all wuss out and head indoors to get their exercise :)

Tomorrow will be back downtown to run somewhere around West End/Vandy/Belmont with a friend.

My Garmin Drawerings

Today was my 2nd day officially working downtown instead of in Cool Springs so I had a lot more options for running (and it's always nice to skip the traffic). I decided to head over to Centennial Park, but since I'm getting more and more bored with greenways/tracks I opted for the streets instead of just running around the park. Back at home I loaded up the Garmin to pull down the stats and realized I almost literally ran all the way around Vanderbilt University, plus partially around Centennial at the end! I think next time I'll try to purposely make a crazy drawing by running weird routes! See Shannan.. you can't do THAT on a treadmill :)

Oh and I ran 5 miles which makes me feel much better about my race in less than 2 weeks. Not only that, but 2 of the splits were negative with a 3rd being 2 seconds away from being negative (all under 10:00) and I can't remember the last time that happened! My knee whispered to me for about the first .5 miles and then it shut up until about the 4.5 mile mark. Post-run it feels about the same as it normally does after a shorter run.

After taking another 2 days off I headed back out to the greenway to "run backwards" again, this time going for a total of 4 miles (with 2 walking breaks). Even though it's the same greenway I've grown bored of, it's a little refreshing to see it in a different way and the hills come sooner which changes the difficulty of the run.

In other news I officially registered me and my sister for the Halloween Hunt 5 Miler less than 2 weeks from now. Ok, now I just need to build up the endurance to run 5 miles again :)

Running Backwards

Ok not literally running backwards. I decided to start today's run at a different trailhead on the same greenway. As it turns out I think it's actually a little closer of a drive from my apartment, but starting where I did means the hills start just past the 1 mile mark. Unfortunately I'm an idiot and got all the way over there before I realized my knee brace was still at home.

So after going back home to get the knee brace I was ready to start my run. The hills may have come sooner, but there were 2 things about the hills that were awesome today. First, as I ran up the first hill I passed somebody which made me feel good (and she was cute which helped too). Second, as I ran down that same hill on my way back I realized I was done with hills for the day. Normally I'm running the other direction and going down it just makes me think about how I have to run right back up it after turning around.

In other news it looks like one of my sisters and my friend that ran the 5k with me are both going to run a 5 mile race with me @ Long Hunter State Park in just over 2 weeks! I'm excited and trying to be optimistic about my knee holding up. Assuming all is fine there I've also signed up for a 5 mile race on Thanksgiving day in Belle Meade to benefit a plethora of local charities.

Cross-training? What a concept!

More than 1 person has suggested that if I had cross trained like I should have then I might have avoided my knee problem or at least it wouldn't be as bad. So after several conversations with myself and my knee I made it back to the bike at my apartment fitness center today.

I thought I'd try it on the Hill setting for the first time and that kicked my butt. I rode up and down virtual hills for 7 miles which took me 26:30. Most importantly it didn't hurt my knee.. and I far outlasted the guy running on the treadmill next to me :)

Must.Make.Myself.Stop

Today I decided to take the trail right towards the big winding hill and see how my knee (and the rest of me) fared since I haven't gone that way in a couple of weeks. I'm happy to report that all of me did just fine going up and down the hill twice. The stupid side of me decided to run 3 straight before taking a break today, but it seems to be ok so far. So I ran 3.0 and 0.25 separately with walking in between. It's getting harder and harder to make myself stop and not go for a 4-6 mile run.. hopefully soon.

My knee still has that little twinge every once in a while if I step the wrong way (as if to say "don't forget I can eff you up at any moment"), but so far it has behaved while running. I'm guessing the shorter, slower runs plus my knee brace have probably contributed to that as well.

Tomorrow I will take off and yell at my TV as the Presidential Debate rages on a few miles from me. Then Wednesday the rain moves in.. so I might have a wet run to report later this week.

Easy 3

After taking 2 days off I went for a run at the greenway on Saturday. Yes I'm late in posting because afterwards I went downtown to watch Vandy beat Auburn! After recent runs in 65-70 degree temps it was back to a nice humid 80 degrees which sucked. Overall though I covered 4 miles, but was smart about it splitting up the running into intervals of 2 miles, 0.75 miles and 0.25 miles with walking in between so I wouldn't overwork my knee. Special thanks to the woman in the yellow top that motivated me near the end :) So far so good with the knee. I took today off and will probably go for a 2 mile run Monday or Tuesday depending on my work schedule.

In other news, congratulations to Zoomy (my unofficial knee therapist) for finishing her first marathon earlier today!

Short, but sweet

After 7 days of rest I decided to test out my crappy knee at the greenway. I made sure I wore my knee brace (duh!) this time and kept it to 2.5 miles at a roughly 10:00 pace. It felt very weird to run less than 3-4 miles and I didn't even really sweat or feel tired at all. But that's ok because my knee did not make me want to scream at any point during the run and that was my primary purpose today, to run and not injure my knee.

I knee-d Zoomy's advice...

The last time I ran was last Wednesday. My knee hurt so bad after that run that I could feel it just while walking for the next 2 days even with my knee brace. That definitely scared me and made me take more time off to rest than I have in the past. Yesterday was my 4th full day of no running which of course is giving me growing withdrawal symptoms.

So my question to Zoomy (or anyone else with more experience than me) is how long should I wait this time before getting back out there? Obviously whenever I run again I will be keeping it short and slow. I already know I can't run tomorrow so if I take today off (or possibly hit the bike today) then Wednesday would be the next day I could run which will have given me an entire week off. Just looking for advice since what I've been doing has obviously not been working :(

New longest run.. and my knee.. again

Ran downtown again starting at 31st and West End and followed part of the route from the Country Music Marathon. We hit 6 miles as we were coming back past Belmont and were actually planning on taking it to 8 or 10, but just before 7 my knee decided it wanted to scream.. VERY loudly.. so I ended up stopping at 7 and walking the last mile or so back to the car.

So I'm happy to have run 7 miles, even happier that I felt like I could have kept going for a while (other than my knee), but pissed off once again that my knee can't keep up with the rest of my body! Of course maybe if I'd run with my knee brace instead of leaving it in the car that would help :)

Cool Springs: Not so much "cool" as "hilly"

Today was my first day running in Cool Springs after work. It probably didn't help that I just took 2 days off for my knee and I'm always a little sluggish after not running for 2 days. It probably also didn't help that most of the route I ran today was a hill of some kind. Overall it was an ok run, but I don't think I'll make a habit of running out there because of all the car fumes. It was the first time running in my new knee brace and I didn't feel any pain at all which was great.

Total: 3.32 miles at a 9:15 pace.

My Knee Brace Search

I'm on day 2 of rest after last week's record breaking (for me) 20.1 miles so I figured I'd post about something that has taken nearly as much time as running has; my search for a knee brace that fits and works.

At first I tried the Jumper's Knee Strap and almost immediately noticed that it made things worse rather than better. It didn't matter how tight or loose it was, where it was placed, etc. it just was not what I needed at all.



So I returned that and tried a sleeve type of brace that had metal along the sides to provide support. I had no idea how big around my knee was so I got the small size. I went back to work and put it on and it felt a little tight, but provided support. A few minutes later my leg was tingling from where it was cutting off circulation so I returned it and got the large size. It felt much better, but again after about 30 minutes my leg felt weird and circulation was still being affected. This time the top of it fit just fine, but I've always had huge calves and that's where the problem was. So basically that meant any kind of elastic brace was out of the question :(


I had been going to Wal-Mart for these and I was running out of options for what they sold. I was down to 2 that were any kind of step up from what I had already tried. Both wrapped around my knee so I was able to give them a try before buying them. The more expensive one bunched at the back of my knee so while it would have been fine for just walking around the office, it was definitely not an option for running. The other one provided the adjustability I needed and seemed to be ok to run in as well so that's what I've been wearing for the past 2 days. I haven't run in it yet, but so far it's providing the support I need and doesn't cut off my circulation like the others so hopefully my 3rd time is the charm.

20 Mile Week!

I was not feeling fantastic today after going out last night, getting 5 hours sleep, helping a friend move and eating a delicious unhealthy lunch at Hooters. But I sucked it up and headed to the greenway with my new Forerunner 205. Somehow I managed 4.1 miles which put my total for the week at 20.1 miles, the longest week I've had so far! I had to go the extra .1 so I could have OVER 20 miles :)

My knee is starting to hurt a little and my legs are just flat out tired so I think I will be taking the next couple of days off. Maybe I'll go for a run downtown on Tuesday.

Ouch My Nipples!

I had originally planned on running around Cool Springs where I work for a change of scenery, but then I found out my Garmin Forerunner 205 shipped early and will be here tomorrow! I decided to wait until next week so I can run with the 205 and know for sure how far I'm running in addition to mapping my course since I've never run out there before.

After my 6 mile run yesterday I took it easy today with a 3 miler, but I did step up the pace a little to just a little faster than my 5k pace last Saturday. One thing I figured out is that I've definitely got the dreaded nipple chafing problem! They were tender after yesterday's run and today they were hurt even worse so I'll have to do some research on my options to alleviate that.

Tomorrow off and Saturday I'll hopefully find time to squeeze in a run with my new 205. I've already hit my highest miles for a single week so far with 16.

2 new "firsts"

Yesterday I ended my post with "Maybe 4 tomorrow" which turned out to be wrong. I met a friend of mine after work to go run around Vanderbilt University (you can guess the various reasons). We ran past The Athlete's House where I bought my shoes and they're nice enough to keep a cooler of water outside for runners. We kept going and before too long he said if we just ran to the light that was the 3 mile mark where we could turn around so I figured I might as well go for my first 6 miler! So other than a 30 second bathroom break, 2 quick water breaks at The Athlete's House and a few intersections where we had to wait on the traffic, I had my first 6 mile run and it felt great. Today's run also put my total mileage for September over the miles I ran in August.. and the month is barely half over :)

Even better is that there were hills-a-plenty and they didn't seem to bother me at all. Somebody on RA once advised looking down as you go up a hill and keep telling yourself you're just about to *start* going up the hill.. next thing you know you're already at the top. Today was the first time I've had any decent sized hills to test that theory out on and it works great so thanks to whoever that was!

The other "first" is that I ran for over an hour for the first time. I guess tomorrow I will be back to a shorter 3 mile run.

Easy 3

I took yesterday off because I usually take Monday off and to give my knee a rest. Today I just wanted to go have a short, slow run and was afraid I wasn't going to be able to after leaving work late. But I rushed home to change and head to the greenway for a quick 3 miles just as it got dark. Funny how the mileage that kicked my ass a month ago is now a routine, easy day :)

Maybe 4 tomorrow?

Life After 5k

So in the excitement of getting my 5k results, I completely forgot to post about my run yesterday. I ran a nice 4 miler (that's a phrase I never thought I'd use!) that was 100x easier than the 5k on Saturday even though today's run took me over some hills. Part of that could have been because it was 20 degrees cooler. It was the first time running in my new insoles and in my knee brace. So far my knee is holding pretty well. Today will be a rest day and possibly Tuesday too.

Soles4Souls 5k

I was trying to wait for the official results to be posted, but they still aren't up. Yesterday's 5k, my first in nearly 7 years, ended up being a lot more difficult than I was hoping because I was just having one of those "off" days. It seemed harder than my 5.5 mile run 2 days earlier and I had to convince myself about 100 times not to quit.

In the end I did not quit, or walk and I finished somewhere around the 27:00 mark. It was about 27:06 when I crossed the finish line and whenever the chip time gets posted that should take 5-10 seconds off it because of where we started. I was hoping for a little better time, but since I wasn't having a great day I'm pretty pleased... and I beat my friend who has run 3 marathons :)


UPDATE: Of course a few minutes after my post the official results went up. I ended up with an official time of 26:51 which put me 5th in my age group, 23rd in my gender and 33rd overall. I was also the oldest in my age group :)

First 5 mile run!!!

I FINALLY got my first 5 mile run without stopping.. actually 5.5 miles!! I had tried it twice before and hit a wall around 3.5 that I couldn't get past. The funny thing is I wasn't even trying this time. I was actually going out for an easy run after taking 3 days off to let me knee heal (and I will catch hell from Zoomy about this I'm sure) and after 3 miles I felt so good I didn't want to stop so I ran another 2.5 miles. I finally made myself stop after 5.5, but I felt like I could have kept running for several more. At least I did keep it sorta slow for me. I told myself to keep it around 10:00 mpm and I hit the 5 mile mark at 50:09.

If my knee was as super as my feet..

Today is day 2 of taking another break to make my knee happy. It's also day 2 of breaking in my new Superfeet insoles. Hopefully both will be ready in time for my 5k on Saturday. I think I might run 1 or 2 miles on Thursday so I don't completely forget how, but that'll probably be it before the 5k.

In Theaters Today: Return of the Knee

I went out for another easy run today and not very far into it I start feeling the beginning of that same pain in my knee :( I ended up running 3.25 miles over all, but decided to try it with lots of rest between the running. I ran the first 1.5 miles straight, but the rest was done in small segments. That seemed to help at least with the immediate pain, but I'm not sure if it does any good or bad long term.

My grocery trip tonight included a knee strap which I figured I'd at least try and see if that helped at all. Tomorrow is an off day and I'll re-evaluate on Tuesday.

Slow Run, Take it easy

I took 2 days off to rest my knee and today was my first attempt running again. I forced myself to run slower than I've ever run and only ran 2 miles. So far my knee is feeling good so I will try another easy run either tomorrow or Monday. Oh and I got new shoes today which feel much better than my previous ones:

Soles 4 Souls 5K - Registered

Well hopefully I'll be ready by next Saturday because I just dropped off my registration for the Soles 4 Souls 5k. Oh yeah.. and hopefully my knee works then too!

Speaking of that, my knee is definitely feeling better after rest and ice. I would love to go run today, but I don't want to rush anything so it'll be at least tomorrow before I get back out there.

Eating/Smoking

Oh, yeah I guess I said this blog was also about me eating healthier and quitting smoking so I should probably post my progress on that too :)

Eating healthier was the first change I made so it's become pretty routine now that it's been almost 2 months. I buy only 100% whole wheat breads, eat more turkey, chicken and pork and less ham, hardly eat any red meat, eat less instead of gorging myself every meal, avoid fried foods except for my once a week splurge at Chick-Fil-A, drink maybe 1 coke a week (instead of 3-4 a day), drink juice, diet green tea and lots of water, take my lunch with me to work instead of getting fast food, get healthier meals when I go places where I used to eat unhealthy (the guiltless grilled chicken sandwich at Chili's is AWESOME), and probably other things I'm forgetting. The biggest area I need to improve on is fruits and vegetables. I love me some broccoli and asparagus, but I don't eat enough and the closest thing to fruit I really get is from my Flat Earth chips.

The smoking is the most recent change and is going easier than I had thought it would. I decided to quit at 1:51 PM on 8/27/2008. Since that time I've had no more than 2 a day except for when I've had alcohol. I figured I would cut it out of everyday life first since that's easier and accounts for the majority of my time. The last 3 days I've had 1 each day, at night and each night it gets more and more repulsive and I put it out before it's gone. This morning I was told my car smelled 100 times better than it used to, and hopefully I smell better too :)

I don't knee-d this!!

After my run this past Saturday I noticed my knee was hurting a little, but attributed it to the hills I had just run that I wasn't used to. The pain went away until 2 days ago when it hurt a little after my 5k practice run, but again it went away. It didn't hurt at all during my run last night, but after I was done it sure did. I iced it when I got home and then put a heating pad on it before bed, but it's still hurting this morning. I guess I won't be running for at least a couple of days so I don't do any more damage :(

5k Practice #2

Today was practice #2 of going exactly 3.1 miles to get an accurate time. Unlike yesterday I did not start off too slow and as a result I ended up taking 1:21 off yesterday's time! My 2nd practice 5k comes in at 25:44. I think I'm going to do an easy run tomorrow not paying attention to time at all, rest on Friday, then try a longer run on Saturday so 5k practice #3 won't be until next week.

Welcome

I've been using RunningAHEAD to track my runs which I will continue to do, and blogging about it on my MySpace blog. I think most of my friends on there are tired of hearing about it and I wanted to move it to something that I could access a little easier so I decided to start this blog. I will probably move all my blog entries over eventually so if this post is stuck in the middle and seems out of place, that's why.

When I moved back to Nashville on July 12th I decided to make a change that had been needed for a while, start eating healthy and getting serious about it. A little over a month ago (July 28th) I decided it would be a good idea to start running, mainly for my overall health, but also for selfish reasons like being tired of looking at flab on my belly :) What I was not expecting was to become addicted. As someone on the RA forums suggested recently the difference between a runner and a jogger is that a jogger has to convince themselves to go run, the runner looks forward to it and hates it when they can't run. If that's true then I'm definitely a runner. Having an injury or a scheduled rest day sucks and makes me look forward to the next day even more.

One other reason I wanted to run is because I knew if I got hooked it would give me more motivation to quit smoking and make it easier to do so. Last Wednesday at 1:51pm (yes I'm weird like that) I decided the smoking was going to have to go because I want to be healthier and run farther. So my trifecta is 1) eating healthier, 2) running, 3) not smoking and I plan on continuing all of those for a long, long time.

Right now my running goal is to get below 23 minutes in a 5k by the end of the year which I know I can do. I'm also thinking about training for a half marathon (probably the Country Music Marathon) as my first goal of 2009.

5k Practice #1

Today was practice 1 of going exactly 3.1 miles to get an accurate time. My first mistake was starting off too slow. My second mistake was trying to make up for that in the 2nd and 3rd miles. The last mile kicked my ass and my calf is cramping, but I made it. My first practice 5k comes in at 27:05. Not as good as I was hoping for, but I still have over a week to get that time down.

Sick of being sick

Day 2 of running while sick and my 2nd attempt at 5 miles. Today my throat was ok, but I got really dehydrated and after 3 miles started getting chills even though it was really hot outside. I figured that was my sign to stop so I ended up walking most of the way back. Ended up running about 3.25 miles total which isn't horrible, but not what I was hoping for. I guess I'll lay off until I'm completely better and then go for the 5 again.

First downtown run

I've been sick, but felt well enough this morning that I wanted to still attempt my first 5 mile run with Andy. Well we ended up going a little over 3.5 miles before my throat was so dry I could barely breathe. I'm still happy though because we ran downtown where there are a lot more hills than my normal route, it's my longest distance so far without stopping and I pushed through my sore throat and sinus crap.

Now it's time to reward myself with some pool time :)

Cross-training.. without cigarettes?!

I've run over 10 miles this week (over 7 in the past 2 days) so I definitely didn't need to run today. Instead I decided to hit the gym at the apartment and do a little cross training.

Bike - 20 minutes
Treadmill (walking) - 10 minutes
Elliptical - 15 minutes

A nice easy day to rest up while not feeling completely unaccomplished. Probably helped that I have not smoked all day.. no not even 1.

The Hills

Today when I made it to the 1.5 mile split I went left for the first time, hoping to avoid the ridiculous hills that I found to the right on Sunday. What did I find? More hills! At first it didn't seem as bad because they weren't as steep, but there were more of them. Between the hills and the 5 miles I'd already ran this week, my stomach decided to stop just before the 2 mile mark... so I pushed it to 2.25 miles before I stopped for a .25 mile walk to catch my breath.

Apparently that was enough to catch my 2nd wind (the one that normally comes after 1 mile, but didn't today) and I ran another 1.75 miles before I made myself stop so I could cool down and not over do it. In all I went 4.6 miles, running 4.1 of those in a total time of 41:54. Even with the walking that's a pace of 9:07/mile!

I think I'm going to rest or cross-train the next 2 days then try for a longer run on Saturday.