Work Overload

Sorry I'm so quiet this week - work overload and lots of deadlines!   I promise you will hear from me soon!

What a weekend...

So, many of you know that I moved from NY  (the big Upstate part, not he little city part), to Maryland last year.  My parents, brother, sister and friends all remained in NY (my house wasn't big enough for all of them, and we didn't feel we could pick and choose.)   Consequently on long weekends, or random other times - we go up and visit.  That was what this weekend was.

The wonderful place I work, and the one where my wife just started, were both amazing and let us out of work early! We thought this was going to give us a really early start, but I forgot one major thing.

[caption id="attachment_2727" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The new officers celebrating the backing up of traffic on Route 50.[/caption]

The commissioning ceremony at the United States Naval Academy. 

Spinning the wheels on the 'ole antique.

The logical follow-up post to yesterday's blog is.... I went for a ride last night!

[caption id="attachment_2717" align="alignright" width="180"] I felt all zoomy - like this.[/caption]

The first thing I noticed... Is my seat is very, very hard.  I think  my butt may be bruised today.  Now fortunately, the part of your but you sit on a bicycle seat with, is different from the part you sit in an office chair with, but still.. I need to figure out a remedy to THAT problem.

The second thing I noticed, is that cars are a lot closer to you..  When I run, I am safely up on a sidewalk ignoring the existence of cars.  Well, ignoring the existence except for the occasional Dodge Viper that goes by...  When bike riding, they are much, much closer.    Yet I did find that after the first mile or 3, I didn't notice them.  Now I do have to add that when I would come upon parked cars, I would look over my shoulder to see what was coming - but I do that running as well. 

Fixing the Antique.

I'm sure you have been wondering all day... What did the Once and Future Runner do yesterday, since he (probably) still can't run, and is incompetent when it comes to basic bike repair?  Did he do another long boring walk?

Well, Wonder no more!  I am here to answer ALL your Once and Future Runner questions.. Yesterday, on the way home from work I decided I would stop and get a new tire tube for my bike.. After all, Max pointed out that a flat tire doesn't mean you need a new bike and I suspect my wife would have agreed with her so it seemed the logical thing to do.  I had gone to one LBS  (that means local bike shop according to Max.  She is my new unpaid consultant on all things bike related) a while back, and wasn't all that impressed.  They were condescending, and difficult to get any real help.  Plus they seemed far more interested in up-selling, rather than helping us out.

Well, yesterday I headed out to a different one to see if that was the norm, or if they were more friendly.

[caption id="attachment_2707" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Local LBS[/caption]

I went into the Bike Doctor, and almost immediately was welcomed by one of their employees. 

Walking takes a long time...

So, last night I pulled out my bicycle.  I knew that running was a bad idea - the feeling of a nail being driven into my heel made it a bit of a no-brainer..  But I wasn't going to let myself slack off simply because of that! (We all know how easily that can become weeks or months of slacking off!)  So I pumped up the tires (they were labeled to go to 90 pounds of pressure), and decided I needed to wear something other than dress pants/dress shirt.  After all I was EXERCISING not commuting!



Trying my best to be visible, I went with a yellow shirt, and bright orange shoes. (I have this thing about not dying.)  

Birthday Run

I have read (on blogs and in other stories online) of runners that celebrate their birthdays  by going out and running their age in miles.  Well, I don't think I am up to running 38 miles.. or even 38 kilometers.   So I headed out my door yesterday with the goal of running 38 meters (plus a bit extra) in celebration of my birthday.

[caption id="attachment_2690" align="aligncenter" width="490"] My wife made me a home-made German Chocolate Cake![/caption]

Last Run of the (choir) Season.

Last night was the end of choir season.  At  the end of the season, the Maryland State Boy choir hosts a festival that draws kids from all over!  Members of the  Newark Boy Choir,  the Ann Arbor Boy choir and many others have come to Baltimore for this year's fun.  While this is an awesome thing, it means that the usual waiting room is unavailable for the parents.  No biggie for the beginning of the evening, as I had plans to go running, despite my ongoing foot pain.  You heard me right.. Foot pain.  My plantar fasciitis has been quite bad lately.  Bad enough that I even tried wearing the odd boot in bed to see if it would help!

[caption id="attachment_2684" align="aligncenter" width="490"] I needed a picture here. I liked this one.[/caption]

Despite that, I was all set to run and had plans to meet up with my running partner! 

Avoiding Death on the way to work.

Yesterday was a rest day.. But I'm not going to let that keep me from posting!  In fact, I didn't do anything exercise related at all (even ate two candy bars), so I'm not even going to post about that!

I was driving in to work today, which is about a 25 minute drive (depending on drivers suddenly deciding we all need to slow down to go around a turn on Route 50), going around 17 miles I think.   When I saw this:

The MSB Support Crew Running Team

So, last night the stars aligned, and the other parent of a Maryland State Boy-choir chorister was available to run on the day it was my turn to carpool! We left the choir, and headed up to Lake Montebello - as it has a nice view, and seems like a logical starting point.

[caption id="attachment_2582" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Picture from http://abikeinbaltimore.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.html[/caption]

It was much more crowded than the last time I went through.  I suppose that is the problem with a warm spring day (as opposed to a chilly rainy still-winter day.)   I figure our running and dodging people/strollers/kids on bikes/etc was simply good practice for the start of road-racing!

3 mile run - In pictures!

So, yesterday as i posted, I realized I have been really lacking in providing pictures.. So I decided that I owed you all!   Today you get to see my three mile run - through the lens of the camera on my cell phone!  (Well, the last two miles of it at any rate, as it didn't occur to me to take pictures before then...)

[caption id="attachment_2651" align="aligncenter" width="490"] Picture on the left, what Runtastic shows. On the Right - what it SHOULD show.[/caption]

I started out on my new route from last week, as seen in the map above.  Well, kind of.  You see I apparently screwed up my program the last time I took the cell phone out to take a picture my runtastic seems to have lost the GPS signal in a bizarre coincidence that seemed to coincide with the last picture I took.  I didn't let that bother me, as I really enjoyed the run!

Most of my runs have nice sidewalks.  I like these, as I feel that drastically reduce my odds of being run over by a commuter more concerned with getting home, then watching for poor innocent runners along side the road.  There is one road in the route I take, that lacks these wonderful series of concrete slabs.. And it also happens to be a road commonly used by commuters.

[caption id="attachment_2653" align="aligncenter" width="490"] The way I came from[/caption]

They can't all be good runs

This posting is a little overdue... And any of you that follow my Facebook page have already seen me whine..

I headed out for my run on Saturday, after eating a large supper.  Now, I know that running right after eating can cause problems, so I kept this in mind.  having really enjoyed this  mid-day supper of chicken-pesto melts & corn on the cob, I waited a little over two hours before I headed out.  That should be enough time for the 'ole stomach to settle, right?

Dehydration or pending illness? 'eh, lets run anyway.

I woke up this morning, and my mouth and throat were super dry.. Almost painfully so.  I thought perhaps I had slept on my back with my mouth wide open all night.. (Which makes me wonder how my wife got any sleep as I would imagine that would make me snore badly!)  I proceeded to drink water to dampen up that dry tissue that was complaining to me..   Although my mouth began feeling normal, my throat never did.. After 130 or more ounces of water (and a couple of cups of coffee,) I still had "that" feeling in the back of my throat.. So either I am getting sick, or I was super dehydrated..

Come to think of it, I'm not all that sure I really had any water in the last 48-72 hours..  hmm.

Either way, sick or dehydrated - It occurred to me that today's run should probably be a relatively easy one.  I couldn't see going out and killing myself helping either of these situations, so starting speed work up was put off.

Running in the Rain

Back in NY, I would get out of work before my wife did.  Periodically I would not only end my work day before hers, but end it reasonably near my house.  On some of these occasions, I would "Run for a Ride.'   I would see if I could get to her office, before she left work (leaving me to run home.)  It wasn't to bad, as it was only around 3 miles.

Last night, I managed to get home a bit early.  I had previously run a google maps to see how far her new office was from my home - 3.6 miles.  Well, I was sitting on my couch looking at the clock, and I realized there were 50 minutes to go, before the end of her work day.  3.6 miles in 40 minutes? (After all, I would have to get changed and find all my running stuff!)  ABSOLUTELY!   So I quickly got  changed, grabbed my phone/armband/headphones and opened the door... It had apparently started pouring rain....

Back upstairs, find a rain jacket, phone into a ziplock baggie.  Start I Heart Radio and Runtastic, coat on - and out the door!

It was POURING!  I had forgotten how invigorating it can be to run in a down pour! 

I beat the rain!

So, I didn't get to answer that age-old question of, "Does Robinson still like running in the rain?"   See, when I headed out on my run, it wasn't raining - just very humid.  I ran my current 2.7 loop I am doing (felt very nice I might add), and arrived back home at my house!  I always stretch my Achilles/calf using the front step of my house upon return to my house.  Well, yesterday as I did that - Rain drops started falling on my shoulders, so I went inside and used my stairs there.

That's right.. My timing was PERFECT.  How often does that happen?

The run itself was nice, although I would have preferred longer.  I will continue to hold myself back and ensure that I am building my mileage up slowly.

Glorious Weekend

This weekend was FANTASTIC!  I don't know about the areas you live, but here in Maryland it was a gorgeous with sunny weather!  I got in my long run on Sunday, but took Saturday off.  Friday, the bottom of my left foot was really bothering me, which kept me from doing anything over a walk..  Saturday I was going to head out, as my foot just had a slight soreness to it, right around the high end of "usual."  My wife suggested that I take that as a hint/warning to take another day of rest.

Well, I have been saying I was going to do my build up differently this time, haven't I?

Needless to say, by Sunday I was definitely ready to be out there on the road! 

Slip Sliding Shoe Laces.

It seems I should have taken the advice I gave to David Lawrence over at the The Quinquagenarian Runner (I totally had to cut and paste the title of his blog..)  back on the 1st....

Last Night I headed out, and the bottom of my feet were tight/sore.  I thought I would go with my Kinvara's under the theory that the slight rise to the heel would give my Plantar Fascia a bit of a break. Those darn shoe laces would NOT stay tied.. In the course of a relatively short run, I had to retie each one twice!  That is totally not-cool!  After the last time, I was thinking about how the shoe laces had less texture than my Altras, which meant less that helped to hold them in place.  It seems I do need to replace those - so why not with lock-laces?  Heck, I can pick up two sets and give one away! :)  (If you haven't been on my Facebook page, I am looking for suggestions for giveaways!  My birthday is coming up and it seems like a perfect time to give away a bunch of presents!  If anyone that works for a running-related company, such as road-id, ifitness, etc. - I'd love to have donations!)

Well, as you may (or may not) be aware,

April Recap

Through injury and laziness, this has been a short-distance year, but April has things back on track!

April started with a 10 mile race with no training.  This then lead me to take some time to heal up!  Now I am working on building a solid base to prevent my annual injury..  What is coo, is that this month has been my longest mileage since March of 2012. (It seems I have been pretty lazy.. for a year.)  I ran a total of 39.6 miles in 5 hours and 47 minutes and finally went over 100 miles for the year.

April held one race,  the Cherry Blossom 10 mile run, and I set a PR for the distance.

[caption id="attachment_2496" align="aligncenter" width="490"] The Cherry Blossoms!!![/caption]

Unintentional speed work.

So last night I headed out on my 2.3 mile route.  I can't lie - it's not far enough.  I am not "Satisfied" when I finish.. BUT, I am learning from my previous mistakes and building up my base slowly.   When I get to run the Marine Corps Marathon this year, instead of walking the expo (again) knowing that an injury has kept me from running it (again) and whining non-stop to my wife about it (again), it will all be worth it.

As has been my standard lately, I let my body pick the speed.( IT is one advantage of only running 2.3 miles, I don't have to worry too much about going to fast to make it through the run.  When I hit the one mile mark, I heard the voice in my phone speak: