4-H Fair Race 2012

Well as sort of a last minute thing I signed up for the Elkhart County 4-H fair race tomorrow afternoon. It's a 5k and it's been a little while since I've done a 5k. I haven't trained specifically for speed so it should be interesting to see what sort of time I can put up. We finish on the dirt track, first making a lap around it. Last time it was all I could do to beat the guy in the Twinkie suit, and to be honest on the final lap I was passed by a guy pushing a jogging stroller. I wish I had the time to come up with a costume, but unfortunately I do not. Quite a few of my family members are also running in it so that should be fun. Until then.....

National Running Day

In case you haven't heard, It's National Running Day!

Damn You Procrastination, Damn You

So I woke up later than I wanted to this morning and as I was headed out for my routine long run on Sunday morning I had the bright idea to try a "two-a-day." I bargained with myself than I would do 7 miles this morning, relax for the day and then go back out for approximately another 10 miles this evening. Late afternoon morphed into a long nap and now it's early evening and I haven't even walked the dog. Unfortunately it won't happen today, in fact I won't make any guarantees that the dog will get walked. But hey, at least I got a blog post written.

Movie Night

Uh, I have so much to write about yet so little time. I did a solo 17.7 mile run Sunday morning since Garrick was recovering from his first marathon. I paced my miles pretty tightly and I would say it was a very successful run. I found an acceptable place to work in some hill repeats into my repertoire. A nice long gradual quarter mile hill, it could stand a to be a little steeper, but I'll work with what I can get. What I really wanted to touch on in this post however was the movie I watched Saturday night. Running the Sahara was very inspiring, three guys run across the Sahara desert, I believe they finally reached the Egyptian coast in about 110 days. The cinematography is cool, they touch on the local cultures as much as possible, though there is one scene in which a butchered camel's head is featured. A bit much for me, but nothing wrong with not sanitizing the film either. So many topics I want to write about when it comes to running, but I'm trying to juggle this blog with a novel I'm working on, plus trying to get in miles too! Some times it's hard to choose which to spend my free time on, but I'm not complaining.

Morning Fuel

I don't care what anyone says, strawberry rhubarb pie is the best breakfast before a long run.

It Follows You Wherever You Go.

My past two runs, the weather has been sunny and warm, in fact Sunday it was downright hot. I noticed something that I don't really spend a lot of time thinking about, my shadow. Saturday afternoon I enlisted my wife and a pair of clippers to administer a summer buzzcut. The newly rounded head of my shadow caught my attention rather quickly. During some of the tougher sections without shade, I found myself focusing on "him"(my shadow) and I was surprised at how fluid and rhythmic "his" movements seemed to be. I don't exactly think of myself as an uncoordinated runner with poor form, but I'm no ballet dancer either. Again on Tuesday I looked for my silent running partner. It was later in the afternoon so "he" lagged behind, but there "he" was again. "His" movements appeared so effortless that "he" almost fooled me into thinking "he" could attain elite status. I never will be elite, I won't kid myself about that. I'm not even that concerned about my times really, for whatever reason I'm more fascinated with distances. What about my shadow? Of course it isn't a living thing, it can't have thoughts, but I could almost swear "his" running style is slightly different than mine. Maybe I shouldn't assume that the two of us have the same running goals in mind.

18 Miles and Counting

Well, put another notch fuel belt, (I crack myself up) I hit the 18 mile mark today and man was it hot. We started at 9am and I'm pretty sure it was in the 80's by 10. I had a chance to use my fuel belt for the second time and had better luck with one bottle of gatorade and one of water. The only problem was that there was not much of a chance to refill along our route. We started our route at Northridge High School in Middlebury, took a jaunt on some backroads and picked up the Pumpkinvine Trail in Middlebury out to Shipshewana. The nice folks at DQ let us fill up our bottles with water even though G and I had no money on us to buy something. I use the Map My Run app for I phone to keep track of my long runs, but today the GPS was way off and 18 miles proved to be too much for the battery. It died as I was trying to save my run while getting into the car when I was done to plug it in. G is headed to Traverse City next weekend for the marathon, then he is onto the Sunburst in South Bend the following. My broke ass will be putting in long solo runs so that I'm better prepped, maybe we will start aiming for an even 20 on Sundays.