Warning: May Contain Puns

Today it was about fifty degrees outside when I walked to work in the morning, which is about thirty degrees higher than it has been recently.  Because I was at work early for a trip to Michigan and back, I left around three in the afternoon to go work out.  I was in the gym in our building with one of the sergeants from the Army, and in walk a bunch of Air Force cadets.


They had come to this sergeant, who is forty years old and could kick my ass, for some workout advice to change things up at their cadet physical training.  They asked if I wanted to run through the workout with them and I said sure.  I call these surprise workouts, like the one time a guy ran up on me of the streets of Bowling Green.  He asked about my Vibrams and we struck up a conversation and ran together.  I about died that day.  I like surprise workouts; they keep me on my toes.

Get it?

The unfortunate side effect was that when I finally did get outside to do my run, a cold front had blown through.  Then my running shorts and T-shirt, which just an hour before would've been plenty, was markedly insufficient.


Sorry for no personal pictures or map.  My phone died trying to get service in Michigan today, so I didn't get to take it on my run =(

DST Cramping My Style

It gets dark at like two in the afternoon these days, so I have limited time between work and twilight.  That also makes it colder when I go out to run.  See Figure 1 below.

Figure 1:  Cold-Looking Swamp Trees

I meant to be back before it started getting dark, but alas I failed.  See Figure 2 below.

Figure 2:  Wasting More Time Taking Picture

Luckily for me, I was just about to turn west as I was south of Route 105.



View 2011-12-12 16:42 in a larger map



Why is that lucky you ask?  Well, by going west for about a mile, I gained some daylight.


http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=24+hours+*+60+minutes%2Fhour+*+60+seconds%2Fmin+%2F+24901.47+miles+*+1+mile

3.5 seconds.  Neat, huh?


What?  What?


Edit:  Thanks to Dan Stedman for pointing out I had an error.  I fix, I fix.


http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1+mile+%2F+%5B%5B+cos%2841%29+*+%28diameter+of+the+earth+in+miles%29+*+pi+%5D++%2F+%5B24+hours+*+60+mins+%2F+hour+*+60+secs%2Fmin%5D%5D

I was getting some radians and some miles crossed.  I actually got 4.6 seconds back because one mile at 41 degrees latitude is worth more radians than one mile at 0 degrees latitude.  Also, a strong thanks to Euclid.  Dude rules.


Additional thanks to Wolfram Alpha for being ridiculous.

Happy Gastric Recovery Day!

Ah yes, the day when a slice of pie is a socially acceptable breakfast, and a volumetrically
 attractive option to a typical meal.  "A whole bowl of cereal?  Are you nuts?  That can't possibly fit in here.  Now a slice of pie on the other hand..."  Same calories at a fourth of the space; thank you, density.


My breakfast was actually two leftover crescent rolls and a coffee, not because I don't consider the traditional a good idea, but because I'm gearing up for a run.


I ran yesterday, too.  When I announced to some friends Wednesday night that I would be running in the morn I was assailed with disdain and shunning.  "You're going to go running on Thanksgiving?  I'm pretty sure that's un-American."  My Americentric response back was, "Yeah, but if I go running in the morning I'll be hungrier and then I can eat more."  That seemed to assuage their McCarthyism.  However, while that statement is true, my reasons for running were much more sinister: I just like to run.


We know from previous posts that I don't always want to go run, and some days I make myself go run, but most days I genuinely enjoy it, and I rarely regret running after I get back.  Doing the better part of eleven miles enhanced my holiday not because I felt better after doing it, nor because I felt less guilty about having two Thanksgivings (Goncus at noon and Wolfe at five), but because I had fun roaming about the countryside.


I would like to mention something before I am again accused of being mentally challenged.  Eleven miles in the grand scheme of things is not all that far (ref. http://schizorunnia.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-land-distance-record.html).  But something I forgot to mention in that post is it's all about the pace.


Running three miles all-out is much harder than running eleven miles at the slow plod I was geared at yesterday.  At least physically, anyway.  Mentally it may take some adjustment, but at a certain point you can run forever if you just slow down.  Because I was more worried about enjoying myself yesterday than getting in a good workout, I didn't stress over my speed.  I went at a completely comfortable pace; the only moderately painful part was the hills in the last mile that are an unavoidable consequence of running from the in-law's house.  See the diabolical cul-de-sac:



View 2011-11-24 08:18 in a larger map

And now that my small breakfast is digested and this post is done, it's time for some more.  If I find anything exciting, I'll let you know =)

Still running!

Hello, sports fans!  I'm still alive and still running, thanks mostly to a milder than normal autumn here in northwestern Ohio.  I've never been psycho enough to gear up all through the winter to run outside, but we'll see if I do that this year.  It doesn't snow that much around here usually (and sadly), so it might be possible.


I'm not running quite as much throughout the week, instead splitting off some of my time to go lifting, but I'm still getting out for some long runs every 1-2 weeks.  This weekend I did a ten-miler.  Around thirty minutes in I did something I haven't done for a long time; the infamous Vibram Toe Snag.


After dislodging my toenail from the hole I opened up I assessed my situation and, since it didn't hurt too bad and it wasn't bleeding, decided to do the last hour.  Of course, at around the sixty-minute mark I looked down and saw this situation, which I photographed when I got home:

Again?  I just washed these!

Doh.  Close ups for your viewing pleasure:

Oh well.  At any rate, I gave them a wash, sewed up the hole a bit and then slathered it with that stuff that dead guy used to sell:

Requiescat in pace, Billy Mays.

Rain Run

Looks like a good day for a run!

Just need to get properly attired...

Wife says, "You're an idiot." Out I went for about five miles.

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When I got back, I looked like this: Wife says, "You're an idiot."

The neoprene FiveFingers held up pretty well.  I don't think I've ever taken them out on a day this soggy...I've been out briefly on packed snow and in some wet, but me feet got soaked today.  No blisters, as is the worry when your running shoes get wet, and my feet stayed warm.  They were only cold when I splashed through a puddle, but, just like a wetsuit, they kept my feet warm.

Washington D.C. Running/Walking Tour

Good morning, sports fans.  For those of you that don't know, Sara and I are spending some time with her sister and husband in the U.S. capital.  Friday brother-in-law went to work and wife and sister-in-law went to shopping, so I went to running.  There's a fantastic view from their apartment, you see, and I couldn't resist the urge to run to it.

Left horizon: Washington Monument Center: Reagan Int'l Control Tower Right of control tower: Capitol Building

Google Maps told me there was a walking route to the White House that was about 6.2 miles long.  Sounds good.  I only wanted to do eight miles tops, but what's another four to run amok downtown D.C.?  But, as it turns out, you should really listen to the warning that says, quote, "Walking directions are in beta.  Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."

Off I went.  First stop was a wrong turn which put me in view of the control tower.

But that was only a few thousand yards of error.  Undeterred, I went on...but I just couldn't seem to make the directions I remembered from Google Maps' walking direction match up with reality.  On top of that, the bridge it said I could cross was clearly marked off-limits to pedestrians.  I looked at my phone and saw another bridge up the Potomac a ways.  I decided I had already come this far, I mean, look how close the Washington Monument was, so I might as well find the other bridge and see if I could cross it.

It's just across the river...

Right before I took that photo I got a shock.  I came out from an underpass and I was presented with this view:

El Pentágono

It is quite a large building.  Oh, and I was forbidden from taking pictures for another mile or so while in the 'reservation':

Military thinks they're special.

From there, I meandered through L.B.J.'s memorial grove.  Memorial groves, by the way, are a much better idea than memorial piles of stone, I think.  On the other side of the grove I found a promising looking road, and then I found the next bridge:

Now we're talking.

This picture is worth one half of one cent.

The Reflecting Pool isn't as pretty as I remember from 'Forrest Gump'

I was across the bridge and still feeling good.  I knew where the White House was, so I figured I might as well.  Apparently I wasn't the only one with the day off and a desire to see the executive branch's building, however.

Maybe they really like UAVs...?

No, not so much.

 These people were protesting the war.  They picked a rather odd way to do it, though...their chant was, "When drones fly, children die.  Stop the war now!"  It's as if they believe drones are part of the problem.  Do you think less children would die if there was a human in the cockpit?  I'd actually argue that human pilots in the heat of battle increase collateral damage and civilian casualties through adrenaline-based bad decisions...see Black Hawk Shootdown Incident.  These people probably think drones dehumanize and distance the pilots from reality, desensitizing their better human nature through the video gamification of war, making them into remorseless kill-machines.  I've heard the same argument against remote-controlled gun turrets on armored vehicles.  Never mind the fact that military training itself is designed to desensitize you, strip away all those pesky emotions like empathy and fear and replace it with dutiful adherence to orders...and mostly, for good reason.  If you stop to think in a firefight you might die.  A little distance from the battle gives one the luxury of pause.

But I digress.  The main reason these people pissed me off is that I couldn't get a decent un-protested picture of the White House.  I had to go around to the front for that.

Just tourists over here. With that out of the way, it was time to head back. I took a quick jog over to the Washington Monument.

Nothing says 'America' like an obelisk

...and back over the bridge by the Lincoln Memorial.

By this time, I was plenty done.  I had a drink on the mall from a water fountain, but I was still thirsty, hungry, and my feet were starting to blister (my new FiveFingers aren't entirely worked in yet).  I took a look at my phone to see the shortest route home, which appeared to be going around Arlington National Cemetery.  So I ran down the road that led to said graveyard, and I found that there was no way past it.  I consulted my phone again.  It appeared there might be a way through.  One problem:

What kind of cemetery doesn't allow jogging?

It hurt my blisters more to walk, so I took my Vibrams off.  I walked all the way to the other side and found that there was only one way in and one way out...groan.   

A way out?

I was this close to jumping that low stone wall over there, but luckily I spotted some restricted area gates and some other telltale signs of a military installation.  I almost brought my military I.D. with me, always a good idea around D.C., but like an idiot I didn't.  I found an opening in the wall which was being guarded by someone in shiny Class-As and a pistol harness.  I asked if that was government property on the other side and he said yes.  He probably would've let me through if I'd had my I.D., because according to my phone it was just a regular old Army Fort.  Grr.  I had to walk back out.


I called wife to see if she could pick me up, but they had just got started shopping so I told her not to worry about it.  After leaving Arlington I put my Vibrams back on and retraced my steps back to the apartment.  This was moderately painful, but I didn't realize the extent of the problem until I got back.

That doesn't look so bad...

Yes, it looks fairly mild, but that was post-shower.  It looks worse now, but instead of showing you a current picture, I'll just show you what happened to my shoes:

Carnage!

Bloody hell!

This made it okay that my wife packed two left sandals for me.  I don't think the blister would've let me wear these.   I know I have two left feet, you don't need to rub it in

Also, I love her for packing my shoes like I asked when I texted her from working saying I forgot to and would she please.  I just think it's funny.


Why do I have two pairs of sandals that are exactly the same, you ask?  Long story.  It involves how these sandals have the carbon footprint of a Hummer, though.

Anyway, all told it was 19.6 miles of running and walking.  That's about as much as I wanted to do all weekend.  Oops.


View 2011-10-07 10:12 in a larger map



These things happen.  At least I got to see some things, and now I have an intimate understanding of the immediate national mall area.  Bonus.

Post-Marathon Running

I have been out a few times, I just haven't taken the time to write about them.  Since the marathon I've been doing other things that I've been neglecting...case in point, some of you may have already seen my fancy-pants workbench, which I made yesterday instead of going for a run:

Not so fancy?  Well, watch this!

BOOM1!!1!1!!!111!

But I did want to catch up on what I've done, so here we go.  Monday I went out for a quick three, and that's when I saw this guy again:

Is that a Lamborghini Gallardo...

...or are you just happy to see me?

Friday I did about 3.5, during which I got cut off by a train.  I would've been able to run across the tracks before getting hit, but it's just a bad idea so I didn't.  That turned out to be a good decision because there was a cop waiting on the other side when the train finally passed:






Today I went out for 9.4:



View 2011-10-02 13:38 in a larger map



Guess I'm feeling recovered.  It was slow and my right leg is still bothering me, but it was nice to get out that far.  There's a bit of a chill about Bowling Green lately, so I wore this:

What Would Ronnie Coleman Do?

Worked out great.  Who needs Under Armor?


...although, if you want to buy me some, I won't stop you.

Alaskan Moosens

I tried to run on Tuesday to loosen up my legs... that didn't work.  Six minutes was PLENTY.  It set me back on the recovery so I've decided to take another couple days off until my legs were feeling solid again.  My calves are probably about 85% as of today, so maybe in the next few days.


But that's no reason not to talk about running, so for the first time ever in Schizorunnia's long and illustrious history, here's a guest appearance!  It's by my good friend Amy.  She is a running and mountain scaling machine.


She lives in Alaska and came uncomfortably close to a moose recently. The red arrows were her original plan, the green arrow was her approach, and the orange was her retreat. I would narrate the rest, but the picture is much more powerful.


GAH!  GAH!  :(


I almost died.  Not in the same way Alaskans almost die when they encounter moose in the mating season.


Stay safe, Ames!

Marathon Results

The marathon was this past Saturday--four days ago.  I've mostly recovered, save my right calf.  A few weeks ago I began to suspect that I've herniated another disc in my back which was causing the strange pains in my right leg.  Now, my leg was feeling pretty good at the start of the marathon, so I don't know if I was favoring it oddly or anything.  I don't think I was, much like the day I wound up with a swollen ankle but I didn't remember doing anything to it.  

I tried to run some limberness back into my lower body today and that failed miserably.  We'll see how it feels in a few days.

But anyway: the race.  The week prior I had been sick, but when I woke up around 5:30 to catch the bus to the start line I was feeling much better.  I had looked up how to strategize for marathons and had written a few splits upside down on my bib so I could read them easily as I ran.  My plan was, against all advice, to slow down after the second half of the race.  That's just how I've always run races.  You can see that I did slow down...but a little more than I wanted:

At my 10k split (6.2 miles) I was feeling pretty good.  Around mile 9, I wasn't sure my plan was a good idea any more.  I was still chugging along at a good pace, but I was feeling like I wouldn't be able to keep it up.

My half-marathon split was 1:26:17, which smashed my half-marathon time of a year ago (1:34:something).  That's about what I was shooting for, but I knew I was toast at this point.  I would have been better off cruising in to the halfway mark at 1:29:30 and trying to hang on.  This may have cost me 3-4 minutes overall.


Just after mile 15, the first place female cruised past me, as well as several people who I'd passed earlier in the race.  Some of those were 50-60 year old dudes.  Now that's humbling.  I did meet the goal of being the first marathon finisher in FiveFingers, however, I do believe the first place female was wearing Merrell Gloves or something similarly minimalist.


So how does running 26.2 miles feel?  Ask my face (thanks to Sara for the video):






It wasn't too bad, to be honest, but I was ready to be done.


I wanted to go under three hours, but I just wasn't capable of it this year.  Even if this wasn't my first marathon, even if I wasn't sick, I predict my best time would've only been around 3:06.  So now I have a choice to make.  Do I want to do this again, and if I do, do I want to do what it would take to give myself a shot at three hours?


My first order of business is figuring out if I "should" do it again.  I suspect I'll just ignore whatever medical advice I get on my recent right leg maladies, but we'll see if there's anything worrisome that comes out of all this.


Second order of business is figuring out if I want to do it again.  I've been there and got the t-shirt (literally), so at least that much of it's out of my system.  I guess I'm ambivalent at this point; I have nothing to prove as far as running the distance goes.  If my goal is to just finish a race, I might as well up the mileage and go ultra.  If I want to go under three hours, that's a different story.


Either of those goals requires more time, however.  To run under three hours I wouldn't necessarily have to spend a whole lot more time running, but I'd have to have a more focused training plan and I'd have to stick to it.  This would make my training less flexible and would thus be more restrictive of my time.


I actually feel like I trained for my marathon much like ultra marathoners train--I went by feel a lot, and if I did back-to-back long runs that was okay as long as my body was holding up.  However, if I wanted to do an ultra, I would have to change my training style a little and add some time on my feet.


And here's the thing: life gets in the way.  If I were single and worked a job with less hours, increasing my time running wouldn't be a problem, but as it is, my flexible training program is the only thing I see working for the foreseeable future.  If my style of training gets me some appreciable gains in the coming year, I might give three hours another shot.


Like I train, though, I'm just going to see how things go.

Bleacher Runs

A couple of the cadets told me the stadium was always open and that they used it for bleacher runs quite often.  I asked if they were allowed and they basically said no one ever stopped them...good enough for me!



View 2011-09-03 10:40 in a larger map

My own private workout stadium

I ran to the stadium and, sure enough, it was wide open to the public.  Two times around was plenty, especially with the heat of the day coming on.  I've done bleacher runs before, but it was quite different doing 50, two-foot deep steps on each trip up.  After I finished my second lap I did a 100-yard dash across the field.  Someone came out of the Sebo Athletic Center (pictured below) after I did that and looked at me.  Maybe they didn't like that.

You can yell at me if you can catch me!

Today I went out for about 11 miles.  I can't know for sure because apparently I butt-dialed Sara around mile seven and stopped my phone's GPS.  This apparently also corrupted what data I did have from the run.  Boo.

Mini Heat Wave

The last few days have been absolutely brutal.  It had been cooling down a bit, but summer threw one more (hopefully that was the last one of the season) three-day fit before it cedes to autumn.


Just before I started running there was some window-rattling from a helicopter or a couple of motorcycles.  I was leaning towards motorcycle just from the volume, but I was surprised to see this guy when I left the house:

Chinook

It doesn't look very impressive there, but trust me, these guys are hooooge.  For scale, see here.


I got a look at what could've been an even rarer site.  I was running across an overpass when the closest facsimile to Paul Teutul, Sr. I've ever seen came past me and went on the onramp.  I snapped this picture of him, which he noticed I was doing.

He is the walrus?

That looks even less impressive than the Chinook picture, which is okay because I don't think it's him.  While it's plausible for him to have ridden out to Toledo, A) Senior generally wears a helmet, B) this bike had a Texas state flag waving behind it, and C) no one was riding with him.  Still, the 'stache was impressive.

Sunrise in a Mirror

This was always one of the more tolerable things about being up early for PT (that and breakfast at the commons, mmm).  At Penn State, I often got to see this over Nittany Mountain:

Neat!

That was a few days ago.  Today I went out after work in my huaraches since my Vibrams still have holes.


View 2011-08-31 17:05 in a larger map


They really work pretty well, and I was tossing around the idea of running the marathon in those.  I have been running in them more after I wore holes in my Vibrams, but I'm just not completely comfortable with their reliability yet...I can't have logged more than 100 miles in them, and I just don't think that's enough time.  It would suck to have the straps rip through the rubber or something like that a few miles in.  I have little faith in my cobbling abilities.


Right after I got back, there was a knock on the door which made the whole thing a non-issue.

They have that new VFF smell, ahhh...

My shiny NEW Vibrams came!  I went back to the color scheme I had originally, partially to test the sizing issue that came up with my red 'Remix' KSOs.

Don't ask me to do this with my old ones

I still may do a few days with the huaraches between now and mid-September, but I think I'll do the marathon in these.  I know they work.  Maybe next year...unless I can make the whole completely barefoot thing happen =D

21

I'm done with that and my legs appear to be intact.  I wanted to have two 20+ milers done before the marathon, but with the injury I'm happy that I was able to get one in without re-injuring anything.  In fact, my legs feel better than when I started out; I mean, they're tired, but they don't hurt for no good reason.



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So here was my prep:

Water, Powerade, energy gels...credit card?

I've taken to bringing money or a credit card with me when I'm going out a long ways.  I haven't had to use it yet, but I figure it will come in handy if I get stranded.  The credit card is nice because it doesn't get soggy...


I didn't use the headphones either, but I thought I'd tuck them away just in case I wanted them since I had the room.  


I also brought along those little bags with 'GU' written on them.  These are what will be available to me during the marathon, so I wanted to see how my body responds.  They did seem to help stave off a little bit of fatigue, and I think I have a solid plan on how often I should take them for the marathon now.  The instructions are to eat one every 45 minutes, but I think I'm going to eat one 45-60 into the race, then 45 minutes after that, then every thirty minutes until I'm done.  I liked the way both tasted (although it was a bit weird at first), but I'm going to stick with the caffeinated ones during the marathon.


The following are a bunch of pictures I took along the Slippery Elm Trail, which is part of the Rails-to-Trails program.  I found it a while ago, and I've been saving it ever since for a long day.  I'm no fan of out-and-backs, but it was purposefully done so I wouldn't have to think about anything other than "turn around at Cygnet Rd," "don't get hit by cars at the crossings," and, of course, running.  Psychologically it worked out like loop because it was such a long run over unfamiliar territory; running back seemed mostly like a different run.

Just an open space Trails like this always make me think of Mirkwood from 'The Hobbit' Oi Nothing special...just where I turned around For a second I was was confused why the corn was blooming, especially with ears on it. Then I saw the climbers' roots. Stone geodesic Remember the holes in my FiveFingers?  =D