Go, you chicken fat, go away!

Today's run was horrible.  Why can't I learn to go before I go?  I seriously thought about stopping at Wal Mart, and I totally should have.  I was cruising along trying to find that perfect rhythm where I could relax all my muscles except for a certain few.  Then when I reached mile 5 I had the brilliant idea to speed up so I could get home faster.  That loosened a certain muscle group I had been concentrating on, which then lead me to having to come to a complete stop and regain my composure.  Too much egg nog.

Time - 45:32 (avg. pace 8:15)

Splits - 8:18, 8:06, 8:19, 8:22, 8:16, 4:11 for 0.53 (7:57 avg.)

No runs today.

I was not about to run 36 miles today.  Can anyone think of why that thought would even go through my mind?  But I did run 3.6 miles with a fast one thrown in the middle.  I saw RUN2DAY backing out of his driveway only he wasn't driving his RUN2DAY car.  He was driving his LONGRUN car.  I waved at him when he passed me and he honked really loud twice.  I'm pretty sure he woke everyone in the neighborhood up.

Time - 27:53 (avg. pace 7:45)

Splits - 7:45, 6:58, 8:14, 4:58 for 0.60 (8:17 pace)

Have you ever seen that movie The Rookie?  It's the one with Dennis Quaid who is coaching a high school baseball team and realizes he can still throw the ball real hard, so he joins the majors.  Well, in one scene, if memory serves, he stops along side the road where there is a police radar that shows what speed you're driving.  Then he throws some baseballs in the direction of the radar and they get clocked at and around 100 mph.  Not knowing how those things work, I wondered whether or not they could actually pick up the speed of a tiny ball if they're designed to measure the speed of a much larger vehicle in comparison.  I even wondered if they could capture the speed of a person running.  So I decided to test the theory out about the runner this morning because there was one set up half a mile away from my house.  I got out in the bike lane and nothing.  Then I moved over into the street, and it registered me at 7 mph.  I'm probably the only one who thinks that's cool.

There's a couple I often see walking their dogs when I'm running.  I haven't named them yet because the only thing I can come up with is Poor-Lady-With-Big-Dog and Fat-Slob-With-Tiny-Dog.  But that just seems too long.  I think I've trained them well because Poor-Lady-With-Big-Dog said good morning at the same time I did.

Last week I only ran 14 miles.  I convinced myself that it was okay because I need to rest some after the marathon.  The problem is, it was my birthday week, and I've been eating a lot of junk food.  So when I jumped on the scale this morning I was at 205.  But after I ran I was at 199.  Not too bad, I guess.

Time - 47:38 (8:30 avg.)

Splits - 8:26, 8:24, 8:22, 8:31, 8:48, 5:07 for 0.61 (8:24 avg.)

Everybody knows I'm a good guy, right?  I mean, just before my little "incident" occurred this morning I had picked up somebody's garbage can that had blown over in last night's storm.  Such a guy.  But then I come up to the intersection, and I'm in it before the car that comes along, but do they stop?  No.  They roll right through and almost hit me.  Being the concerned citizen/punk that I am, I need to make sure he/she knows that I'm there, so I take both hands and slap the side of the vehicle.  I guess that didn't make the driver too  happy.  Here's what went down.  The dude slows down, rolls down his passenger window and says, "I apologize for not seeing you, but you didn't have to hit my car."  Stop.  Let's analyze that.  Are you really sorry?  If your apology is so heart-felt, do you need to add the "but" in there?  That kind of rubbed me the wrong way, so I said, "Well watch where you're going."  Then he pulls up again and says, "I told you I'm sorry, but you didn't have to hit my car."  "You're lucky I didn't scratch it."  Oh boy, them's fighting words.  That's when he stops, gets out and says something to me that I couldn't quite make out, but I did hear the grand daddy of all cuss words in there.  I was still running, but I turned around and yelled, "Get back in your car!  I didn't hit it that hard!"  So he gets back in and pulls up alongside of me and says, "Again I apologize.  Have a good day."  I say, "You too, buddy."  Not sure if he heard me.  "I'm trying to apologize here", he says.  "I said 'you too'.  What did you think I said??"  So then he does the right thing and pulls up and says, "Hey.  I want to make this right.  Come over here and shake my hand."  And I knew he was right so I had to do it.  Don't you think we should hug it out though, biscuit?  I shook his hand, and he said, "I don't want to get my day started out like this, and I don't want your day to start out like this either.  I'm a runner myself."  "Well, I appreciate that.  I just didn't think you saw me, and I wanted you to know that I was here, I'm queer, and I'm going to kick your rear."  Except I didn't say the last two parts there nor are they true.  The amazing part was how calm I was during the whole "altercation".  Generally if something like this happens to me, my heart starts to pound  through my chest, but I was like Mr. Cool.  Clearly I've watched too much UFC, and I've lost all touch with reality.  Please don't think less of me.

Time - 46:26 (avg. pace 8:18)

Splits - 8:10, 8:10, 8:19, 8:23, 8:28, 4:57 for 0.60 (8:14 avg.)

BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS

Today I decided to post some of my pictures that I've found of fellow bloggers before I knew they were bloggers.  Featured are JamesW and Kerry.

This was the 2008 London's Run Half Marathon in Queen Creek.  I wasn't even a blogger yet.  But James has been a blogger since 2006.  I now live in Queen Creek, but back then I lived in Mesa.

In this picture is new blogger Kerry Herbine.  I haven't ever met him, and this was as close to him in the race as I was.  This was the 2009 KRMC Route 66 Race for Hospice 10k in Kingman, and he beat me by almost four minutes.

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Today's run was uneventful.  I went slow because my legs felt kind of tight.

Time - 26:24 (avg. pace 8:48)

Splits - 8:52, 8:45, 8:47

Temp - 43 (BRRRR!!!!)  Just kidding!

Oh what a run!  (Said in the voice of the late Michael Hegstrand, aka Hawk.)

This is one of my favorite runs.  I wish I could do it more often.  My friend Glen, who has run on my Ragnar team the last two year and will be again in Feb., and I went out to Usery Pass.  This used to be part of the Ragnar course until they changed it last year.  I love the challenge of the uphill and the reward of the downhill.

Mile 1 - 8:34 - There is a 179 foot elevation gain.  We were pushing it pretty hard.

Mile 2 - 9:13 - 248 foot elevation gain (4.7%.)  This is the steepest mile, and we were still pushing it.

Mile 3 - 9:23 - 185 foot elevation gain - We slowed down a little.

Mile 4 - 8:44 - We reached the top at 3.67, another 85 feet, but the steep part was behind us so we were able to speed back up some.  Almost a 700 foot climb.  I don't think I've ever run up it that fast before.  The last 0.33 miles was 31 foot drop.

Mile 5 - 8:37 - The turn around was at 4.56, a drop of 56 feet, so we had one last climb ahead of us once we turned around.  Glen took off and got to the turn around about 30 seconds before me, then waited for me.  I had to stop near the shooting range to take a small rock out of my shoe that had been there the whole time.  The shooting range always makes me nervous.

Mile 6 - 8:45 - Glen and I were running together until we got to the steeper downhill portion, which I was really looking forward to.

Mile 7 - 7:40 - A lot of people like to ride their bikes up and down this hill.  It was kind of nice to show off that we were doing it on foot.  This mile felt great, but I thought I was running a little faster.

Mile 8 - 7:39 - Glen was starting to pull away from me.  I clocked him about 45 seconds ahead of me.

Mile 9 - 7:48 - I'm not sure if I've ever run a sub 8 on a 9th mile before.  Gotta love downhills.

Last 0.12 - 0:58 (7:40 pace) - Glen had finished about a minute before me but kept going down the road a little way then turned around and came back.  After catching our breath we drank a little Amino Vital.  I got a free sample from the internet.  It's supposed to be a good recovery drink.  It tasted all right, but it left me thirsty for water.

Oh, and I met RUN2DAY today.  He's a real nice guy, but then I already knew that.  His name is Bruce.  Henceforth he shall be known as Bruce RUN2DAY.  He invited me to join the East Valley Runners.  I'll have to check it out.

Here's a google image of yesterday's run.  The PHOENIX on the side of the mountain is supposed to visible to the airplanes coming into Sky Harbor.

Today was what we affectionately refer to as a recovery run.  Okay, who's smart?  Tell me what a recovery run is.  If you truly want to recover, shouldn't you just...not run?  I'm sure there's some science to it.  All I know is you're supposed to go run slower than normal.  So that's what I did.  I couldn't get the "speed wagon" to read my speed this morning.  Maybe tomorrow I'll wear a sign on my butt that says "WIDE LOAD."

Time - 51:10 (avg. pace 9:10)

Splits - 9:22, 9:11, 9:08, 9:04, 9:09, 5:16 for 0.59 (8:59 pace)

Temp - 41 (I actually wore sweat pants and a long sleeve shirt today.)

I got an email from Blockbuster that they would allow me to switch three of my movies at the store instead of through the mail until the end of the year.  Well, that was in November.  Back when I was a rich man, I used to exchange them at the store all the time.  The nice thing was, as soon as I turned them in, they would send the next one in my on-line queue in the mail.  So, I thought that was what would happen this time.  But I guess they're not sending them until I return the ones to the store.  Is that stupid or what?  Anyway, I went to two different stores to get movies.  So this morning I decided to throw one in a WalMart bag and run to the closest one.  It was 5.6 miles away.  Once the sun came out, I was able to take some short cuts.

Time - 1:35:38 (avg. pace 8:54)

Splits - 8:39, 9:07, 8:50, 8:46, 8:53, 8:54, 8:58, 9:01, 8:52, 9:07, 6:32 for 0.74 (8:49 pace)

By the way, I was in allie's neck of the woods the other day.  Luckily I was able to snap this picture of her as she came zooming by.

Only me, only you, and my IT band...

I took it easy again today.  My knee is pretty sore from Saturday and yesterday.  And although all my troubles seem so far away, now it seems that they are here to stay.  I hate the Beetles almost as much as I hate Tiger Woods.  Tiger Woods, athlete of the decade???  What?  He hits a ball with a piece of iron.  He's no athlete.  Maybe some of his other extra curricular activities could be considered sport, but not golf.  I  hate him as much as I hate Oprah.  Not quite as much as I hate the Spurs, but close.  I'm so full of rage.  It's not healthy.

Time - 26:57 (8:59 avg. pace)

Splits - 8:58, 9:00, 8:58

Temp - 43

Splits - 8:18, 8:24, 8:32, 8:40, 8:45, 5:07 (8:45 pace)

Bonnie had a cool post today.  She has a friend that is starting a program to bring renewable energy sources to developing countries.  It's called the Green Athlete Project.  If you ask me, I think Bonnie is taking it too literally.  

 If you've been wondering why Merri's running isn't what it should be, wonder no more.

allie swears she saw me in her neighborhood the other day, but it couldn't have been me.  I was in JD's neighborhood.  I have the picture to prove it.  I don't know if he noticed me taking it though.

I slept in today.  That was nice and necessary since I'll more than likely pull an all nighter.  Santa Claus is coming to town.  I finally went for a run at 10:30am.  It's noon now, and I still haven't had anything to eat.  That might have something to do with how crummy I felt on my run.  My shins were so tight and just wouldn't loosen up.  Also my diet in general hasn't been good.  The weather's not too bad.  Hard to believe I'm wearing shorts on Christmas Eve.  Anyway, I stretched out pretty good because I haven't been running since Saturday.  My knee felt okay, so off I went.  I got to the end of the street and turned the corner, and I saw Bruce RUN2DAY pulling out of his driveway.  I stopped and told him that it was me that came knocking last Friday evening.  I saw his wife peek out the blinds, but she wouldn't answer the door.  I thought maybe they had warrants out for their arrest.  So we started talking, and 30 minutes later I was running again.  Now my legs had tightened back up.  After a mile I stopped and stretched.  I also decided to slow it way down.  Then I stretched real good when I got home.

Splits - 8:27, 8:40, 8:59, 9:18, 9:29, 7:41 for 0.82 (9:22 pace)

Little known fact about Carolyn.  Did you know that back in the day she used to date Elton John?  It's true.  I found proof on the internet.  Pictures are worth 1000 words.  Don't worry Carolyn.  It was his next girlfriend that turned him gay.

Emily wants to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!

I feel sorry for everyone who is resigned to run on a treadmill.  I hear they can make you sweat really bad.  And if you're already a bad sweater, well it can just be miserable.  Toby's been telling me recently how much she sweats on the treadmill.  I had to see it for myself. 

She's right.  It's pretty bad.

It was so nice to go out at 6am and run in a tank top.  I'm sorry for all you guys up in Cache and Salt Lake Valleys who have it so rough right now. 

I've been taking it easy lately because I feel like I still need to recover some from my marathon.  The problem is it's Christmas.  I've been eating way too much.  I'm too embarrassed to post my weight.  Let's just say, I'm above 200 :(

Time  27:01 (avg. pace 9:00)

Splits - 8:53, 9:05, 9:03

Oh, BTW (that means by the way.)  If anyone remembers Camille, she just had her 2nd baby on Christmas Day.  Send her a congrats.

I've been really impressed lately with the cross training Eightkidmom has been having to do because of her injured back.  She recently started water running.

I don't think she's doing it right.

Time - 26:50 (avg. pace 8:57)

Splits - 8:53, 8:57, 9:00

Bec has been trying her hand at snowboarding lately.  Not having a whole lot of luck.