I'm out

The marathon is not in the books this go-round.  It’s just not going to happen.

Neither will the half.

Neither will the 5k.

 

Everything is off track.

 

And when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING.

 

Plus, my Saturday mornings with my baby are pretty valuable to me right now.  Far more valuable than running another marathon.

 

I’m going to go dark for a little while and figure out what I’m going to do next.

 

I really, really, really like the idea of the “Texas Triple Double” in 2008.

 

The original idea (which I was reminded of after reading a post from our own long lost Jon Walk), was a marathon AND MS150 ride in each of the 3 big cities of the Texas Golden Triangle (Houston, Dallas, San Antonio).

 

I’m not sure if I’m going to tie it to the MS150.  I may pick LONGER rides to tie it to.  Maybe pull down 3 double centuries to ride to go with the marathons.  Total mileage:  600 by wheel, 78.6 by foot, 1800 by car.

 

This morning I was even contemplating t-shirts and/or cycling jerseys.  But that’s all a long way off.

 

I don’t know.

Federalist Paper #10

I’ll have more on the “Church of the Holy Marathon” later.

But first, more politcs.

 

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/federal/fed10.htm

 

“Complaints are everywhere heard from our most considerate and virtuous citizens, equally the friends of public and private faith, and of public and personal liberty, that our governments are too unstable, that the public good is disregarded in the conflicts of rival parties, and that measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority. However anxiously we may wish that these complaints had no foundation, the evidence, of known facts will not permit us to deny that they are in some degree true.”

 

Nation first, party second = good.

Party first, nation second = bad.

 

“We need to get a good crop of (A. republicans / B. democrats / C. representatives) in Congress to set this nation straight!”

Answer:  C

 

Keep our liberties.  Keep our parties.  Force our parties to be responsive and REPRESENTATIVE of our wishes, rather than the parties forcing us to represent their wishes.  We are in a climate where the representative votes for the wishes of the party because he is beholden to the party, not the populace, because the party placed him in office and the populace has no rights or recourse.

Right now the system is working as the system should.  The parties are interested in putting Rs and Ds in seats without regard to policy, representation, or good governance.  We are in a “yellow dog party” political atmosphere, as in “Vote for this yellow dog because he’s a republicrat/demolican”.

 

Bullocks.

 

Ideally, to save the current state of affairs, we’ll see congress turned over to the opposition and we’ll have a split government for the next 2 years.  Unfortunately that may have the residual effect of a unified government in 2008, which would be further counterproductive.

My current political heroes:  John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, and to a much, much, much lesser extent Kinky Friedman.  The first two have given their party the finger and are running without their support.  The last one gave both parties the finger and is running on his own, but has about as much chance of winning his election as I do, and if he does win he has about as much chance of being effective as I do, especially since the Texas Governor’s post is about as weak as it gets and he has as much experience being governor as I do. 

I actually enjoy political speeches where the speaker says “this is what I will do and what I believe” rather than informing me of what he thinks his opponent believes without offering any direction and leadership.

Ah, there’s the word…  leadership.  That’s something sorely missing in politics today.  Today’s message is “I’m not that guy!”  The Dems have run every campaign since 2000 on that platform, and it comes up short every time.  If only, if only, someone would stand up and say “I’m the guy!  Follow me!”  If only…

Alas, we do not live in the nation our fathers founded, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

The Church of the Holy Marathon

The Church of 26.2 Miles is body of believers.  There’s no other way to put it.

Some are runners, others are simply striving.  Some finish to great reward, others finish to less recognition, but nevertheless are great heroes in Glory.  All have or will have completed a marathon.  Some never complete a marathon in person, but have been chosen by others to have a race run for them while they struggle in other pursuits.

The religion is not merely one of faith, or one of works, but rather Glory is attained by a combination of faith AND works.  You do not simply run a marathon without first believing that a marathon can be run.  Nor do you run a marathon by simply believing a marathon can be run.  You must believe you can do, then you must do.  But no race can be run without a combination of both.

 

But the faith must go deeper than merely believing that you can.  You must know that you can, despite the odds against you and despite the countless naysayers along the way and despite the obstacles en route to Glory.  Your belief must transcend a cognitive understanding of what it takes and be moored in the knowledge that as sure as the sun rises in the east, your feet will cross that finish line.  That even though the day has yet to come, you are already there.

 

The work must be consistent, intense, and focused on the single permanent, glorious moment.  Nobody else can put in the miles for you.  Nobody else can wear out the shoes on your behalf.  Nobody else can make the sacrifices.  There are no intermediaries in the Church of the Holy Marathon.  There is you, and there is Glory.  Only you can bring yourself to Glory.  Glory does not shrink to meet your ability, but your ability grows to overcome the challenge at hand.  You can do works and you can grow to become bigger than the challenge.  But to do so you must perform works.

 

And you must believe.

 

Without both your work will be hollow.  Without both your belief will be without foundation.  Without both you will be broken, lost, and … finished.  Defeated.  Undone.

 

But know that defeat is not permanent.  If you believe you can overcome the brokenness and work towards glory.  You can traverse the Valley of Champions.  Yea though you run through the Valley of the Shadow of Defeat, you will have no fear, because shadows cannot harm you.  You will have worked.  You will have believed.  You will have grown.  You can enter the gates where the cheers of the Host of the Finish Line buoy your steps and raise your spirits.  You will hear the echoes of those who have come before you and see shadows of those who will follow you.  You can not only approach Glory, but you can enter therein.

Presidential possibility

What about a “Bush-Clinton ‘08” 3^rd party presidential ticket?

 

Huh?

 

No, not the current President Bush, but the FORMER President Bush and FORMER President Clinton running a P/VP in ’08 under the banner of “The system is broken, and we’re willing to give our wisdom and leadership as former executives to help fix it.  Our Presidency will transcend party lines and lead the nation, not lead the parties.”

 

Of course, there’s debate as to whether or not WJC can be elected to the VP post since he’s ineligible to be elected President, but the Constitution doesn’t discuss the eligibility of a vice president except in amendment 12, and that just speaks of people eligible to be President, not eligible to be elected President.

Clearly, the intent of the 26^th amendment was to prevent a President from sitting in office for more than 2 terms.  That’s a no-brainer.  I don’t think it was conceived that a President would ever want to run twice, step down, then come back as a VP.  Why the hell would anyone want to be a VP?

But we have had Presidents come back as congressmen or Supreme Court Justices, so why not VP?

Besides, wouldn’t it be kick ass to have two former Presidents as the 1-2 punch in the Oval Office?  These guys have been there, done that, and are mutually respected around the world.  Half the population has mad respect for Bush the elder, the other half has mad respect for Clinton, and I’d wager that a good portion of those 2 populations has mad respect for both of them as executors of the office of President of the United States.  Since Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami in Indonesia these two have worked together and fostered mad respect for each other.  They’d make a great team.  It brings to mind the “Ex Presidents” cartoon from Saturday Night Live—one of the few things they still do that is funny.

These guys are ex-Presidents.  They tell their party what to do, their parties don’t tell them what to do.  These guys could get the politics back in shape.  They could straighten out the national dialogue.  They could correct a lot of what is wrong in the way things are organized both in our government and in our society.

All I wanna do...

All I want to do is go home and sleep.

I’m tired.

I’m going to run like crap.

And my car needs a new headlight.

 

Yuck.

Nice day for a run

The weather is just about perfect, and I don’t want to run.

But that’s nothing new.

By the end of the day I’m going to either be itching to run or forcing myself to go to the park.  Very little middle ground for me to walk on there.

Updates later, of course.

 

Meanwhile, threats have popped up on the web against NFL games this weekend.  Something about dirty bombs and blah blah. 

While it’s not pretty, efficient, or even effective, it’s completely not fair to call the Texans’ offense a terrorist plot. 

They’re just bad.

 

And finally, something I’ve been thinking about for a few days now.  Guy on the radio was talking about the 300,000,000 American the other day.  He was discussing whether we’re better off at 300million than 200million and blah blah.  He made the comment that “we’re certainly more informed today what with all the information right at our finger tips” or something to that effect.

I don’t think that’s quite so true.

I think there’s not only more information available, but it’s also readily and immediately available.  But that doesn’t make us more informed.  That just means there’s more information.  Knowing what some stupid pervert ate on a plane trip from Thailand does not equate to better informed.  It equates to knowing more gossip, but gossip is not information.

My gut tells me that despite having a larger volume of information, we are less able as a whole to process that information into knowledge either due to lack of critical thinking ability brought on by the general rot in education or simply because we can only process so much and that function has been overwhelmed by an avalanche of information.

 

That is what I’ll be thinking about while running.

That, and I Kings.

Interesting thing

Ok, so today is the day I’m supposed to go out and intentionally overdue it so that I’ll be done with the pain once and for all based on the “That sprain is worse than a break” logic.

Let me explain briefly:

I had a nagging pain in my legs.  It’s not unexpected—I’ve had it last year and the year before.  The problem is that it’s a precursor to real pain that knocks me out for a solid week.  My worry was that the low level nagging pain would hang around for a long time when the last couple of years I decided to “fight through”, made it worse, was on my back for a few days, and then it was all gone for ever and ever (until the next year).  The nagging pain would suck my training efficiency down, while the sharp pain would be done and gone, so I decided to bring on the sharp done-and-gone pain.

 

However, an interesting thing happened today that I totally wasn’t expecting.

This morning I’m pretty much pain free.

So, I’m laying in bed this morning before the morning stretches wondering when the last time I really felt the pain was.  It was probably Monday morning, but not Monday afternoon.  Friday, Saturday and Sunday is 3 days.  3.5 if you count Monday morning.  Monday afternoon, Tuesday, and Wednesday is 2.5 days.  If the rule of thumb is 1 day off for every 1 day of pain, then tomorrow evening I should be good to go for a run.

 

So, true to form I’m skipping today’s workout in favor of more stretching and tomorrow evening I’ll hit the track again to see how the pegs are holding up.  Then, if everything checks out I’ll hit the RTW on Saturday as my last weekend “short run”, and maybe I’ll even work in a double workout for the first time in my life and run Saturday afternoon.

 

 

Ps:  the little prince slept for 7 hours last night.  The AC gets fixed this weekend and the little prince gets his own room by the end of the month.  Now, if only he will learn to read and understand English so that he can get on the same plan as his parents.

Running update

I tried taking it easy this weekend and seeing if the pain would go away.

No running, no biking, no paintball.  The weather even helped out to help me get the pain to just go away.

 

It didn’t.

 

It’s not severe.  It’s not even “bad” anymore, really.  It’s just an annoying, nagging reminder any time I walk up stairs or squat down.  So, I’m going to go with my original instinct and blow it out of the water.  I’m going to run far and fast and totally overdue it in a couple of days and REALLY bring on the pain.  That’ll shut me down for another week.  After that I should be able to really make the decision between marathon and half marathon.

 

That’s all for running.

I may do some politics or sports or both in my other forum later.

The first appearance of doubt

It’s an annual event, doubt has arrived.  I could probably put together a sermon from Our Mother of the Holy Marathon Church on that.  [I’m still trying to think of a good name for this running cult/religion.]

 

Ok, the legs hurt.  Not one of those “it’s good to feel something just to know you’re even alive” kind of annoying pains, but one of those “this might be the beginning of something bad” pains.  I’m not unfamiliar with this pain.  It has happened every year.  The first year around the 60 mile mark, last year around the 50 mile mark (I think), and this time right about the 20 mile mark.  Yesterday it was pretty bad, today it’s not so bad, but still not good.  Hopefully it’ll all be gone tomorrow and I can get in 4 or 6 miles.  I don’t want to overdo it, but maybe I can massage the situation and manage the pain better than I did in the last couple of years.  This is what happened the last couple of times:

I feel the pain coming and fight through it.

Fighting made it so bad I couldn’t run and could barely walk.

Being unable to run knocked me out for a solid week.

When I got back out the pain was gone forever.

 

I’m considering an alternative plan:

Feel the pain coming, and key it back a bit.

Manage the low level of pain until it goes away.

Ramp it back up when the pain goes away without losing a week of training.

 

The problem with option B is that I don’t know how long the low level of pain will hang around and I’d rather run without any pain at all… if I’m going to run, that is.

 

Compound that with the fact that I feel like I’m waaay behind.

 

I probably feel that way because I’m way behind.

 

Over my shaving cream this morning I contemplated the possibility of switching to the half from the full.  Oddly enough, even though I hate running, I really didn’t want to face that possibility. 

…

 

…

 

I need to stop thinking about it.  My brain is doing stupid things because my legs hurt.  I’m getting in my own head.

Semi-nude 4 miles

I'm heading to th epark today and realize I don't have my watch.

First thing I think is "I can't run without a watch".  The very next thing my mind says is "shut up, stupid, you can run without a watch."

 

So, 4 miles today, semi-nude.  I had my jams, but no watch.

Run time was somewhere close to 40 minutes, but I'm can't be 100% certain.  My "run mix" is somwhere near 48 minutes, but I skipped 2 songs and listened to 1 song 1 1/4 times.

All in all, a very, VERY, good run.  Highlites:

 

Mile 1, solid.  No stops, cruising just fine.

Mile 2, solid.  Stopped for water only.

Mile 3, shakey, but decent.  I walked for the first .1 of this mile, then again in the last .15 of the mile.  All in all, not bad.

Mile 4, absolutely rock solid.  I started steady and built steam towards the end.  At the 1/2 mile to go marker I was passed by a dude who had been chasing me for about 1/4 mile.  As he passed me I caught a glimpse of the fist pump as he congratulated himself.  He got a pretty decent lead before we reached the 3/4 mark.  That's when I started to gain speed for my sprint.  I closed the gap slightly and slowly, and then in the last .15 or so I turned on the sprint that I haven't seen for 9 months.  Before today the only thing I was doing in the last .1 miles was hanging on for dear life.  I passed this guy like he was standing still and finished a solid 10 seconds before him.

 

Not that it was a race, or anything.

 

Regardless, I offered him a smug grin of my own as he came to the finish pole.

 

Plus, I'm not completely wiped out tonight.  I think I'll be quite ready for a good solid 5k next week and I may even try and sneak in some extra miles this weekend.

4 miles and faith

Tonight I’m running another 4 miles through rain, snow, or dark of night (or fair, mild, not the least bit humid weather, thanks?).

 

What on earth does that have to do with faith?  I tripped over it myself.

Faith is the belief that based on what we know we can be comfortably of the nature of that which we don’t know.

Faith is always logical.  Faith is always reasonable.  Faith never, ever seems logical or reasonable to those who do not have it.

 

Huh?

 

Faith is the knowledge that because we know 2 + 2 = 4, then x = 3 if 2 + x = 5.  Every time, all the time, if 2 + x = 5 x will equal 3.

Faith is the knowledge that somehow 150 miles over 3 months translates into 26.2 miles even though you’ve never run that distance before.

From the outside looking in, there is no way that running 3, 4, 10, 15, or 20 miles gets someone ready to run 26.2.  That’s 6 miles further than you’ve ever run before?  How do you know you can finish?

 

Faith.

 

4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4 + … = 26.2

 

I managed to finish last year.  How do I know I’ll finish this year?  I don’t.  Not yet.  Even with last year’s completion the sting of pulling out in ’05 is still fresh in my mind.  Truthfully I won’t know for sure until I cross the line—anything can happen on the pavement.  A freak blister, a crack in the road and a twisted joint, a rogue vehicle… anything.  I have no control over “anything”.  But I have faith that if I string together enough training runs, increase the distance incrementally, and lower times and weight, somehow that will all mix together to equal 26.2.

And for all intents and purposes, right now, at the Church of the Holy Marathon, the finish line is heaven.

That was a race well run, good and faithful servant.  Have some Gatorade, a banana, and a cookie.

See? Toldja.

The “nuclear detonation” was a dud.  It seems the North Koreans can’t build anything worth a crap.

From CNN:  http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/10/10/korea.nuclear.test/index.html

 

Just like running 16 miles does NOT equate to running a marathon, a failed test does NOT equate to possession of a nuclear weapon. 

Hell, I can have a failed nuclear test.  In fact, I think I’ll have one right now.

…

Done.  This nucrear device fabricated from mirrions of gorf barrs did not exprode into a mushroom croud. 

I have Korean nukes, too.  I think I’ll take over a country, now.

 

One thing we do know, though, is where the test site is.  Or, more accurately, we know where it is going to used to be.

An official response to North Korea

Honorable Dictator Kim:

 

I’m not buying that your little nuclear test.  I know you’re faking it and I’m calling your bluff.  You say you’re going to put a nuke on a missile and launch it at the US?  Fine.  You’re missiles can’t hit water falling out of a canoe and your “nukes” don’t exist.  You’re so cute the way you’re lashing out for attention.

 

Tell you what, though.  If you do want to put what you want us to think is a nuke on a missile and launch it towards the US—even if it’s not a real nuke and the missile can’t fly straight—I’ll rain down so much hell and fury you won’t know what hit you.  Mostly because only your shadow will remain, but I think you understand what I mean.  We’ll simply oblige you by lobbing over some real nuclear bombs so you can see how they work.

 

That’s the deal I’m offering.  Either stand down and shut the hell up you stupid, stupid, crazy, stupid man, or the US will nuke like its 1949.  I don’t care if you don’t really have nukes.  I don’t care if you can’t shoot a missile straight.  If something leaves your airspace and you say it’s a nuke, I don’t care if it’s a duck. 

 

You’re going to glow.  Then you’ll be special.

 

How’s that for treating you like an equal?

 

Sincerely,

The collective voice of the world

Running update

Excuse #1 of the season (Saturday, October 7):  Air conditioner went out and I didn't feel like running.

 

Excuse #2 of the season (Monday, October 9):  Didn't feel like running.

North Korea

The crazy North Koreans claim to have tested a nuke.

They’re bluffing.

They don’t have nukes any more than I do.

 

You read it here first.

More from yesterday's run

4 miles in just over 48 minutes is not great.  But it’s better than Monday’s run and I see significant improvement both physically and mentally with regards to the runs plus I’m relearning some stuff about preparation and a few tricks for along the way.

 

And yes, I still hate running.  I don’t think that’ll change.

 

But the endorphin rushes are yummy.

 

One cool thing that happened yesterday is that I beat a guy driving a Mustang to the west corner of the picnic loop.  After I took my shot of water I looked up and watched the 2 tone blue mustang pass me along Memorial, then come to a stop in traffic.  I think to myself “I wonder if I can run faster than traffic”.  The light at the corner was blinking red, so I figured there was a good chance, and sure enough, I beat him.  Mind you, running faster than traffic that is bottlenecked at a blinking traffic light on a busy street is no great feat, but right now I have no feats to lean back on, so I’ll take “no great feat” over “no feat at all” any day.

 

I’m updating my running mix to include a little Rage Against the Machine (battle of LA and Freedom) and Anthrax.  I might throw in some Pantera, too.  In a few days I’m going to mix down just the songs that I want to jam during the 40 minutes or so I’m on the trail.  I’m going to have to go out and grab at least another 4 hours of music if I’m going to jam for the whole marathon.  Though I’m still not sure I’m going to jam for the full marathon.  I may run semi-nude for the big race (only a watch, no water, no music; as opposed to fully-nude without the watch).  It depends on how strong I get and how quickly I get there.

 

My general mix of quality jams from Ray Charles and Jimmy Buffet to Bethoven and Public Enemy just doesn’t seem to have enough high octane joints for me to get a good jam on.  While Wagner busts off some solid symphonic jams there’s just too much down time in a full piece to keep the juices flowing.  Same with Oorf.   Alan Jackson, Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen, Brian Setzer (Stray Cats), Pink Floyd, Santana, and Waylon are great at the office, but on the track they’re just… well, great at the office.

 

So lets do this:  I’ll take suggestions for good, high octane joints to cram into my music box.  Let the suggestions flow.  I’ve already got one.  Thanks, Jenny, your suggestion is currently being reviewed.

Run number 2, sucky, but not as sucky

Ok, run number 2 was another 4 miles.  Not as bad as Monday's run, but that's like saying getting hit by a Volkswagon is not as bad as getting hit by a Ford.

I ran a solid 1.5 miles before slowing down and taking a walk.  The last mile was just about a solid run, too.  I had to slow down for close to .1 mile in the middle.  I'm getting close to my benchmark.

4 miles.

Mile 1 (Public Enemy, Fear of a Black Planet):  9:58.75--solid running.

Mile 2 (PE, FoaBP):  12:18.50 -- first 1/2 ran, walk/run second half.

Mile 3 (PE, FoaBP):  15:44.71 -- Lots of walking on this one.  I was getting tired.

Mile 4 (Kid Rock, Cocky):  10:39.50 -- Helluva rally at the end.  If I hadn't broken down near the midway point I may have broken 10:00 on the final mile.  Plus, right at the begining, I tasted my first endorphine rush of the season.  Yum.  Yum, yum, yum.

 

Tomorrow is Friday and I'll probably take an off day or maybe run a short run.  We shall see.

Just a second to vent

Excuse me, miss.  MISS?!?  MA’AM!!!??!!!

Just what the hell makes you think that I was opening the door for you?  I’m coming in from the garage and as I open the door, out of the damn blue, you come storming through from the other side and damn near knock me down.  “Thank you” you say as you’re brushing past me.  I was admittedly a little shocked into silence.  What was I supposed to say?  “Your welcome, I guess, except I neither saw you there so please forgive my feeble attempt to dodge your inconsiderate self as you veered off your original path and through the door I was attempting to walk through”?  Sure, you’re old, so the strain of opening a door on your own may have been a little much.  Maybe that’s why you were headed for the automatic button equipped handicapped door.  You practically had your hand on the button when you saw this strapping young man about to enter the facility, so I guess you decided you weren’t handicapped afterall and were merely helpless?  That’s fine. 

I guess I can see why you turned from your path and went past 4 perfectly good and properly functioning doors to walk through the one I was presently about to occupy.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t have opened the door for you.  But you could have at least given me the opportunity to step back a little, or maybe even to the side and actually offer you the passageway, rather than dropping your shoulder and pointing that bony thing at me in such a threatening manner, you old hag.  As it was, I wasn’t even offered the opportunity to make a kind gesture.  Thankfully there are plenty of women out there without the grand sense of entitlement you managed to foster within those dusty old bones of yours.  Thankfully there are plenty of women out there who are still willing to be the kind of person someone is actually willing to open a door for, and not some nasty beast who demands that the next open door is one they’re going to go through, offered or not.

 

You old hag.

 

Ok, all better now.  Things like that really chap my ass.  I don’t mind opening a door for a girl.  In fact, I don’t even mind INSISTING that I do.  But if YOU INSIST that I do, that changes everything.  You’re hand ain’t broken.  Your arms work just fine.  It’s the difference between being gracious and being your servant.  I’m not your servant.

During a particularly dreadful date eons ago I realized that this chick (not my current wife), who I was happily opening doors for, was actually waiting for the door to be opened rather than accepting my kind act.  We would come to a door and she’d slow down just a little so that I’d get there first and then, naturally, open it.  It’s a fun little ballet me and my wife do even today. 

Eventually we made it to some door and the coordination was off for some reason and she got there first.  Instead of doing the sane thing and simply entering, she just stopped, turned around, and started chatting.  I thought she was just in a talkative mood, so I chatted, too.  She finally said “So, are you going to open the door?  Or is the date just over?”  Excuse me?  The answer to that question is obvious.

At that point I decided to do a little experiment at the end of the night.  I got in the car and she stood there.  I reached over and unlocked the door and she just stood there. 

So, I drove off. 

And she just stood there.

Don’t feel bad for her.  I’m sure she found some bootlick to give her a ride; I didn’t date her for her mad intellectual skillz.

Tired

My legs are still tired from Monday.  I’m not particularly sore, my legs are just tired.  That’s going to have to stop and stop soon.

 

If I have the energy I’ll run again tonight.  Tomorrow is a “maybe” night, and then I’ll run another benchmark run on Saturday to see how I’m doing on the first rung of my goals.

 

I feel like I may be coming down with something.

 

 

Suck suck suck

Not 3, but 4 miles.
All 4 sucked royally. I figured I'd pick up the miles right off the bat so that I can make up some time.

And I rode 45 miles JUST 2 DAYS AGO without any serious problems. I rode 2 days ago for the first time since April. I rode just fine 2 days ago and couldn't run 2 freakin' miles today without walking!
Suck.

Total time 50:52.51
Mile 1 (Kid Rock, Rebel Without a Cause) 9:59.83
Mile 2 (KR) 12:30.52
Mile 3 (Pat Green, Cannonball) 14:27.11
Mile 4 (Beastie Boys, Anthology) 13:55.05

Nothing about this was good. I have a headache. My legs are tired. I'm still sweating. And I'm SOOOOOOOO thirsty.
Yuck.
I'm also going to have to work on a "running mix" from my jams. That part is going to be fun. I'm not sure if I'm going to bring the jams on the big run, though.

Also, despite the fact that vegans generally annoy the crap out of me, they make pretty good cookies.
The clubhouse at Memorial has "food" (things you can eat, but they're all protein this and carbo-that, so it's not exactly food but it at least rates as "food" much like you can eat cereal or the cardboard box it comes in, but neither constitute food, per se, but should only be classified as "food") and after the run I really really really wanted something sweet to eat.

Like a KitKat, or Reses Peanut Butter Cup, or a vat of IceCream.

The only thing they had that approximated food that I had a hankerin' for were these vegan cookies, so I said to myself "what the hell, cows are vegans, I eat cows, so this can't be all that bad for me." I ate a vegan cookie and it actually tasted like food. Interesting. I guess that makes up for all the cows and chickens I insist on having slaughtered so that I can eat like normal people. Watch out, animal kingdom, I've cleansed my conscience and I'm going to be coming back with a vengance.

It's for real, now

I went out and got an MP3 player.  Sansa SanDisk 1gb m240 MP3 player, to be precise.

Things I like about it:

No rechargeable battery, good price, not too small, not too big.

Things I’m not sure I’ll like:

It’s not an iPod, what utility I’ll get from iTunes, where I’ll find a replacement for iTunes.

Yes, I really wanted an iPod.  I’m a Macophile.  I’ve always loved Macs and Mac products.  I really want to be able to access the vast library of music from iTunes.  But I’m not interested (yet) in dropping 4 bills on a toy and this was simply better than an iPod Shuffle.  When it comes time to get the best of the best of the best, I’ll drop some coin on a video iPod.  Until then, the choice was pretty clear…

 

I’m unusually excited about getting a gizmo.  I’ve been so anti-music player while running mostly because I can’t really use one on my bike and get rather irritated when people zone out with their own music when they should be paying attention to where THE FREAKIN HELL THEY ARE GOING YOU STUPID INCONSID… (sing the blue bell song…  the best ice cream in the country…  ahh, that’s better), but the fact of the matter is that while I’m out running long runs I just get plain old bored.  Maybe this will help me take my mind off just how much I hate running.  Plus it’s something my wife can use when she’s at the gym and something I can listen to while I’m working in the garage.  I’ve seen a couple of gizmos that I can plug in to listen to the music without earphones, so things will be just fine.  It’s not simply for running, it’s for lots of stuff.

 

As an aside the sales lady at Best Buy was telling me the difference between various players.  When I told her that I preferred one that worked on a AAA battery she said “yea, but that’s going to increase the weight of the device and if you buy the replacement plan we’ll replace the unit if the rechargeable battery dies.”    According to the best scale I own, a AAA battery weighs exactly nothing.  Seriously, who picks up a device and says “nope, too heavy, take out that teeny tiny itty bitty battery… yea, that’s better”.  Besides, the weight difference can’t be that much between the rechargeable battery and the other.

 

Of course, for the extra $20, plus $9.99, you get a brand new player in a year and a half.  Maybe I am the sucker for not getting the rechargeable one.

It begins

Everything starts today.

With the close of the baseball season, Fall officially begins.

With the completion of my final bike ride of the season, marathon training begins.

Also, with the depletion of remaining sick time for my lovely wife, the young prince begins his day care.  He’s so damn cute.

 

Saturday’s ride:  45 miles, 16 mph(average), top speed of 22.5mph.  Still had plenty of juice in the tank at the end of the ride.

Not a bad ride for a guy who actually had to take his MS150 numbers off the bike in order to get it ready for the ride.

 

Today, the running begins.  The gear is in the car.  Shoes are in the bag, socks are with the shoes, shorts, shirt, hat, and towel are all tucked nicely in the bag with the shoes.  I’m ready.  Well, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.

 

My first marathon training process began in October back in 2004.  That time I only finished 16 miles of the 26.2 mile run.  I didn’t take the thing seriously.  In 2005 I began training at the end of July and wound up finishing in just over 5:30.  This time I’m going to erase the debacle of the 2005 marathon and start training in October AND finish in less than 5 hours.  (Or I’ll just run the half marathon.)

The Israelites lived like I’m going to train… intents.  Yuk, yuk.

 

My benchmarks:  25k in December.  At least 13 miles in a single run in November.  10 miles by the end of October.  By the end of next week I’m looking to complete a 5k without walking.  As always, I’m planning on dropping some weight by the time race day comes along.  I’m looking to drop below 200lbs again.  Current tonnage is somewhere between 210 and 215, depending on what day of the week I bend the scale.

 

The start of training also means the beginning of such profound statements like:  the marathon is like life…  and I hate running, God this sucks… and Did I mention I hate running…  and there are many reasons to run, one of the is…  blah blah.

I get a little loopy sometimes when I run.

 

3 miles tonight.  I guarantee I won’t like it.