Good Pace

At 17:56, I ran 3.91 miles in 26 minutes, averaging 6:39 pace. This was a remnant of running with my roommate this past weekend and realizing how fast we could go. It was challenging in the beginning to keep the pace, and got slightly easier towards the middle of the run. As soon as I stopped and had a minute or so to recover, I felt ready to go again. The last half mile was spent just telling myself to just keep pushing. First mentally, then under my breath verbally. I passed a rollerblader in the the last mile, and when I stopped running, and started to warm down, he passed by me and complimented me on my pace. It felt good to hear that.

Thoughts during the run? This is pretty good weather. This is harder than I thought. It's hot. The sun is in my eyes. Can't stop to take a picture. This is getting easier all of a sudden. If I speed up just slightly, I can pass this person before that oncoming runner gets to us. My shoes match my shirt. Run faster up this ramp. If I see someone drowning in the water, remove keys and phone and ask someone to watch them, tell someone my name, and jump in, arms across my chest feet first. Would be a good idea to remove shoes as well. I wonder if matching shoes and shirt has a positive effect on my speed? Last stretch. Last stretch. Last stretch. Sorry mind, I was lying, this is actually the last stretch, keep going.

Triple Double Single Large

4.85 mile run in 44 minutes, though there were a number of long stop lights in there. I ran with my roommate, and at the end we were pushing 5:59 pace (not for the whole mile, but part of it which counts for something). I also biked something like 50 miles. And swam about 500 yards, in Walden Pond.

The biking distance was aided by a side trip out to Kimball Farms Ice-Cream stand. Where in windy overcast, water drop filled air, I got a large (which was about a quart of) chocolate and cookies 'n' cream in a waffle cone. My lips were numb from eating fast, my internal body temperature dropped to shivering, and it was worth it. I spent the next 10 miles pounding down on the largest gear of my bike to work up some internal heat again.

Prior to that episode, I went to Walden Pond, with a copy of Henry David Thoreau's writings. It was already overcast by the time I arrived. I parked my bicycle and walked around to find a spot to swim in. When I finally did, I tested the water and found it to be quite cold. So I sat on a rock at the edge, and debated whether or not to go all in. I was good with the situation just sitting at the edge of water. I was afraid to go in the pond because it would change things. I knew the water was cold, but I didn't know how everything else was. I finally took the plunge, and immediately realized how great it was to be swimming around in fresh water. It tasted great and I didn't want to get out.

Patience

16 + miles in 2 something hours, had another device error, hence the approximations. Now I'm not sure if its me or the machine. Was keeping a pace between 7:13 and 7:24 per mile. Slower at the end, but still felt good. Was able to recover, pretty quickly, and am realizing that I'm not really sticking to my training plan. I am enjoying myself though, which just might be more important.

Today was wrapped in thoughts about patience, persistance and pacing. Though running was not the focus of those topics at all points through the run. As an analogy though, running is a nice contained example where these things are easy to measure and maintain. When I go out on a run, there is start and stop point. If I spend the first half focusing on relaxing and taking it easy, I can go fairly fast, while leaving enough energy to focus on form in the later half of the run. Life is not so easy, because with many things the measuring posts do not exist to easily gauge how fast one should go, or what one should be focusing on at the time. Admittedly though, some of my best runs are the ones with little initial plan in which I go by feel. I do maintain some sense of how far I've gone, and how long I've been running though, so it is not as though I've thrown out every sense of reflection out. And maybe that's how life should be lived.

8 Mile Surprise

At 06:57, I started an 8.1 mile run, that lasted 58:14 (m:s), an average pace of 7:18, for an estimated burn of 929 calories. The surprise was that I did 8 miles in under an hour. I actually woke up at 05:40 this morning, laid in bed, contemplated life, checked and responded to email, and got up to eat some cereal (402 calories) because I was hungry.

When I finally started the run, I felt slow and stiff. Every step lasted twice as long as normal in my head. I saw the sun rise over Boston through a foggy haze that held on to the city with every single ray, like a parent sending a child off on their first day. It made the early morning start sweeter, and created a small longing that I should have started a little earlier. As I got closer and closer to the end of the run, I started to pick up my pace. Slowing down would only make things take longer, so might as well push harder and get it over with. As I was finishing the run, I noticed I was 7.5 miles and decided to keep going past 8. The reward was hitting 8, and then noticing it was under an hour of running.

After the run, I had a Blueberry Banana Smoothie, 323 calories, and Steel Cut Oatmeal with Flaxseed 840 calories. I never knew steel cut oats were so densely packed, it makes sense though.

Hungry

At 09:40, started a run of 4.3 miles, that lasted 32:40 (m:s). It was intended to be a casual run, possibly an extended warm down from yesterday. It started out painful and stiff. About a quarter of the way into the run though, I started feeling a lot better. Without realizing it, I descended all my miles from about 8:30 down to 5:40. As I continued to walk home after the run, I was delighted at how much better I felt after the run, rather than before it. Now, some odd ours later after stopping, sitting in a chair, I feel the need to lay out on a couch, and stare at the ceiling.

Last night, I went to bed full. I woke up hungry, and ate some cereal. I was still hungry, but went for the run anyway. I had a large breakfast afterwards, and was full to the point I could barley lift my head, and now, only an hour or two later, I'm starving again. Food has been on my mind a lot over the past few days. Constantly and incessantly. People often ask me some form of "what fuels/motivates me to run?" This recent barrage of hunger has me thinking about the answer to that, both physically and mentally. I'm sorting through the answer still.

Far and Alone

At 09:00, I started a run that was about 20 miles and took something like 2:50 (h:m). I'm not sure how long it actually was or took, because there was a user interface error somewhere in the middle, and I lost track of exactly how far I ran. When it did stop, my average pace was at 7:46/mile, though I feel the later miles pushed that closer to 8:00/miles. I did finish at a little after noon, and started to walk back home as part of my warm down.

This was a lesson in multiple errors. Aside from not getting the correct readout from my tracking device, I also failed to bring any food or water with me. By about mile 16, my mouth was parched and I was dying for water. When I finally did get to a water fountain in a park somewhere around mile 20, I was a little out of sorts. I had to mentally tell myself not to cross the street until the light turned green. And when the warm water from the fountain hit my mouth, relief rushed through my body as the water was absorbed.

I thought a lot about pancakes and smoothies at the end of the run. The thought of engorging myself on these two items at the end of the run kept me going for the last part of it.

Something that did work out for the run, was making a three hour plus playlist of mellow music, randomly interspaced with songs that were audible reminders to push a little harder, and make sure I was keeping good form. A phone call from a friend in the middle of the run had a similar effect as well. I might consider calling people during runs, it was more fun to have it as a surprise for me though.

Zig Zag

At 07:27 I ran 4.84 miles in 35:38 (h:m) for an average pace of 7:22 (m:s) and estimated burn of 529 calories. It was a casual start, that zig zagged around neighborhoods avoiding red lights and busy streets.

The initial portion of the run was spent being surprised at how many runners I saw zipping around in my starting area. I normally only see one or two before I reach the river, but within my first few minutes, I counted at least four or five runners. A good portion of my thought went into coming up with haiku's, poems and song lyrics about how frustrated I am with UPS for shipping my bike back to the sending address two times now. I can understand the first error, but don't say you have it figured out, not even bother to ask me to confirm the address, and make the same mistake again. I could have rode the bike across the country in the time it has taken so far.

When I run faster, I think more about moving forward and less about everything else.

Stretch

One hour of Yoga. Spent in my room, with the blinds closed, patiently going through the positions I remember from memory. Remembering and reflection are almost complimentary. Searching through my mind for how I practiced before had the added benefit of focusing me very directly on what I was doing at the moment. Concentrating on my breathing and body movements, I tried to make sure I was stretching in a manner similar to the past. The best way to be sure of it was to feel it.

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At 06:31, I ran 7.72 miles in 56:13 (min:sec), for an average pace of 7:18 and an estimated burn of 885 calories.

It was one of my earliest starts, which I'm very happy with. It was also a very cold and overcast morning, which was tough at first, until the weather just faded into the background. I spent time drifting in and out of a problem in my mind. Considering emotional attachment and ethical responsibility. I've been working on a project, that I allowed myself to take a backseat in, and let everyone else fight the harder battles. It is about time that I start to invest more than my time into the project, or that I consider walking away. Those two  options represent extremes, and even if neither of them are the outcome I choose, it is about time that I stop occupying the middle ground.

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At 09:36, I start a run of 14.24 miles that lasted 1:51:40 (hour:min:sec), for an average pace of 7:51 and a caloric burn of 1,613. When I saw how much I burned, I wondered how I was going to eat enough food in the day to make up for it.

I would much prefer to start my runs earlier in the day. I'm thinking 06:00 start times rather than 0:90 start times. Getting to sleep earlier would help with getting up earlier. I didn't plan for today to be such a long run. When I started out, I thought it would be an easy five or six miles. The six miles did happen, at that point though, I was six miles straight out from home, not six miles in a loop.

I realized that a lot of my thoughts while I run are small random, fleeting dances of what is going on in my life. The provides a nice backdrop to think about them in a separate context, and then, most of the time, forget about them. Today I passed by a group of fire men lined up outside of their station, facing the flag pole, and I was reminded that it was September Eleventh. I jay-walked(ran) across the street towards a cemetery and thought that if I had mis-judged how far cars were away from the point I was crossing, I might be getting there sooner than desired. I passed by a number of small shops, and a classic American style dinner that might be worth visiting again. At the around the midpoint of the run, when I started to think about turning around, I thought about the scene in Forest Gump, when he says "I just felt like running."

White Lines

At 07:13, I started a 4.99 mile run, that lasted 36:22 (min:sec), that averages out to a pace of 7:19, with an estimated burn of 586 calories. I then went home and had a blueberry and banana smoothie, yogurt with cherries and 2 slices of rye bread, for a caloric gain of about 900, a little under one third of today's recommended count.

I hadn't reached more than a half mile from my house, when a car pulled out into the pedestrian cross walk zone of the street, almost striking me as I entered it. The driver hadn't bothered to slow down and stop at sign about 3 yards earlier. Luckily for her, I look both ways before entering the street, and stopped before she did. Had I not done so, she would not have been able to stop fast enough to prevent a collision.

I didn't really think about this too much for the rest of the run. I quickly shifted my mind to things like trying to catch up the cyclist in front of me, running down side streets to keep moving during stop lights, and considering how hard to push to catch up the the runner in front of me. A great deal of time on the run is spent sizing up other runners. "How hard does it look like she's running?" "What kind of mp3/earphone set-up does he have?" "What does her stride look like?" "At what area on the other side did I see these two, so how fast are they running?"

Rained In

I woke up at about 5am, and went back to sleep. When I awoke again at 7am, it was raining outside, and very quickly turned into a thunderstorm. I've run in the rain before, and yet didn't feel like it this time. I'm going to have to change that mindset. For now though, I've started some cross training, by doing about an hours worth of Yoga.

I originally started doing Yoga with a gentleman from India, while I was in Ghana. I was at a conference, and he did Yoga every morning, and offered to teach anyone who wanted to learn. I had never been interested in Yoga before, I decided to open up though. I didn't keep it up after the conference though. I then visited him in India a few months later, and again practiced Yoga with him, and again did not keep it up afterwards. I met up with him this past summer, and once again, practiced Yoga with him. This time though, I have practiced a few times since seeing him.

I'm very slow at remembering the poses and the breathing patterns. Some of the come back to me in flashes, as I'm doing one pose, my body will suddenly remember the next. For some reason, I am not as flexible as I was this past summer. I am wondering if it is because I am missing poses that stretched me out more before I got to a certain one, or if running has tightened me up (or maybe some as yet unthought of third option). 

My mind is very impatient when posing. It is a great counter to running, where my body is moving over the ground with a certain amount of speed. I find myself wanting to speed poses up, and get through the Yoga, but that is not the goal. So I wait, and I focus, and I try to go through at an even pace. It was pleasant to practice with a thunderstorm outside.

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At 9:19am, I start running 7.87 miles, which took me a total of 57:51 (minutes:seconds), that averages out to a 7:21 pace, with an estimated burn of 915 calories.

I was listening to the soundtrack from Friday Night Lights, by Explosions in the Sky. It is has a mellow tempo, that helped me to start off my run at a relaxed pace. There were a number of people out around the Charles River, running, relaxing and generally enjoying themselves on another beautiful day. Listening to soundtrack music was inspiring at times during the run, as it brought images of different scenes from the TV show (first season) to mind.

Timedora

At 9:15, I ran 4.72 miles in 32:53, which is an average pace of 6:58, with an estimated burn of 538 cal. It was a later start than I would have preferred, but it was such a beautiful and cool day out in Boston, that it was still a good time for a run. It will probably be a good day for a run the rest of the day as well. Maybe go for seconds this evening.

During the run, the weather was so good, that I didn't pay attention to what was going on internally. I mostly admired the scenery and sensation of being outside. There were few moments of introspective clarity.

A friend recently pointed me towards Cool Running from which I found an article at Active.com about runners stride, that I can't find a link to at the moment. I did find this article on the Perfect Training Week. The article on stride got me thinking about my stride 4 or 5 times throughout my run, to which I made a special emphasis towards the end of the run to maintain good stride, as the article recommended.

Looking at Active.com got me measuring my bodies statistics and calculating outputs (like optimal heartbeats per minute) and inputs (such as recommended caloric intake). I've started tracking my caloric intake, so soon I'll have more numbers to start talking about. Now, to just enjoy the beautiful day that is still going on outside.

Sunrise Squirrel

06:07, 7.48 mile run for 55:30 at an average pace of 7:25, with an estimated burn of 856 calories.

As I ran out to the street this morning, the sidewalk in front of me was littered with trash from the neighbors cleaning out what looked like old roommates items for the past ten years (mattresses, dressers, desks, multiple hefty bags one of which had a very funky smell). Upon continued running, I came across a squirrel, hopping along the street. It reminded me of previous conversations I've had with people about why squirrels are cute, while rats are repulsive. Some of the reasons discussed were that squirrels had fluffy tails, hopped around, and often live in trees (read above ground). This particular squirrel was standing in such a position that his front and back legs were close to each other and his body in an arch, mirroring the arch of his tail, all factors contributing to cuteness.

As I ran across the bridge near Harvard, and looked back over the river, I saw the sun rise through the haze over downtown Boston, with the coloring of salmon burnt sienna (wikipedia list of colors). I considered stopping to take a picture multiple times, but decided against it because I was having such a good time running. I should plan out some more casual runs so that I can stop to take photos along the way.