Banned on the Run - Episode 6?

Banned on the Run - Episode 6?

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These guys are pretty funny.  I realize this is an old podcast, but if they get enough downloads, maybe they'll come back.  You should check out their blogs also.  Later kids!

The Macho Imperative

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  After a couple of days of little sleep and lots of driving, I got in a decent run.  After being cooped up in the car for 5 hours, it felt good to stretch my legs for a bit.  I considered going to my office and start my run from there, but the SEC tournament is in town (Go Vols!!!).  Downtown was a nightmare, so I headed to Centennial Park for my run.  By this afternoon, the rain had moved out and the sun was doing its thing.  So the park was crowded with runners.  As I started my run, I noticed this guy pass by me at a pretty good clip.  Clearly the exhaustion had gone to my brain, and against my better judgment, I decided that guy would have to learn who the badass in the park was.  So instead of starting out slow and warming up my muscles, I bolted out at a decent clip, caught up to the unwary passer, and proceeded to pass him.  I stayed ahead of him until I left the park and was able to slow my pace down a bit.  I may as well have thumped my chest, pissed in the middle of the park and claimed all that I surveyed as mine, but there are just some days, even easy days, that you want to be faster than the other guy.  That was my day.  Because I started out too fast, I never settled into a good rhythm.  At times I felt quick and light, but for several portions of the run, I just felt plodding, despite maintaining a decent pace.  Now for the hard numbers:  A 6.31 mile easy run at 8:01/mile.  After my run, my calves were burning, but I felt pretty energized.  Overall a decent run.



 

Geek review:  DC Comics is running a new mini-series:  Rise and Fall.  The story revolves around Green Arrow’s murderous quest for vengeance after the damage and devastation done to his family and his city.  I’m not familiar with the writer’s previous work, but I can’t help feel that I’ve seen this story time and again with Ollie.  And frankly, I’m tired of it.  I thought the whole point of Judd Winick’s GA run was to resolve Ollie’s tortured past with his role as a legitimate hero in the DC Universe.  And one of the ultimate tenets of the DC hero community is:  Thou shall not kill.  I get it, I do.  That’s the whole reason for the story.  Make GA dangerous.  Pit him against his friends and his enemies.  Again.  This story has been done and re-done so many times, it makes the Superman-Flash races look fresh and exciting.  Throw in the fact that the art work is relatively uninspiring and confusing (Does Ollie’s mask have lenses or not?  Why does Promethus’ body keep moving?), and I’m thinking that the current Green Arrow story line will have to go into the crap pile.  I think that the last writer to truly understand Green Arrow was Judd Winick.  Come back Judd, please!  Later kids!

Global Warming, My Ass! 6.66 Mile Run Report

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  I considered naming this post “The Beaver Attack Race,” but I was afraid that title would attract the wrong kind of readers.  Also it wouldn’t clue everyone into the fact that I had completed Razz’s challenge of the bloggers (kind of like Challenge of the Superfriends, but without Casey Kasem….I think).

In any case, I ended up doing MY race on Monday.  The sun was out and it was a beautiful and warm 70 degrees.  I hadn’t intended to run the race on Monday, but I couldn’t drag anyone else out on a middle distance run.  Left to my own devices, I decided to use part of the last leg of the Country Music Marathon route as my race course.  Now this probably wasn’t the smartest idea in the world, but I wanted to make the most of the only really good weather this week. 

It probably wasn't smart for a few reasons.  One, I had just run a hard 18 miles two days before, and while I was mostly recovered, I was still a little sore.  Two, I hadn’t brought my racing shoes.  I don’t know about most of y’all, but I have a pair of shoes that I only wear for racing.  They’re a pair of white/blue Nike TriD III’s that are light and cushiony.  Instead, I had my heavy red/white Asics 2140’s that have over 400 miles on the odometer.  Last, I’m recovering from a cold and my allergies have been wreaking havoc on my sinuses.  Still I thought, beautiful day, birds are singing, people are dancing, yadda, yadda, yadda, I may as well knock out the race so I don’t have to worry about running it in a storm (It’s supposed to rain the rest of the week with a chance of storms on Wednesday).  I figured 7:30 miles would make for a respectable showing, if not avoid wholesale embarrassment and ridicule from my blogging/running peers.

My first mile was a bit slow starting out at 8:02, but not bad considering that I had to dodge traffic and throngs of walkers as I escaped downtown and headed across the river towards LP Field.  Running pas the stadium and through the projects towards the downtown greenway at Shelby Bottoms Park, I caught a slight downhill slope and churned out a nice 7:28 mile.  Mile 3 took me over a slight hill into Shelby Bottoms Park, but I had momentum on my side, which produced a 7:13 mile.  As soon as I crossed into the park, this is where things started to go wrong.  The fatigue from my 18 miler two days ago and the strong start to this race were catching up to me, and my legs started to feel sluggish.  Then the unthinkable/unexpected happened at mile 3.28.  I was charged by a beaver.  A large, fast, angry beaver.  I was about midway into the park, a 9 hole par 3 golf course on the right side of the road and the river on the left side of the road, when I heard a loud rustling in the trees lining the golf course.  I looked ahead and saw this enormous beaver crash through the foliage charge straight at me.  Given this situation, I did what any self-respecting runner would do…I jumped back, almost out of my shoes, and swore like  sailor on shore leave (thereby breaking my Lenten promise also.  Curse you again crazy beaver!).  The beaver was racing straight at me.  I don’t know what I did to offend it.  Maybe I was one of too many humans invading its space.  Maybe he didn’t like the way I smelled, or possibly runners’ legs look like useful building material for beaver dams, but I don’t know.  I tried to prepare myself for the wild beaver-melee that was sure to come.  However it didn’t happen like that.  Instead, Mr. Wild Beaver ran straight into a large drainage pipe and disappeared from view.  Glancing around to make sure it wasn’t a trap or some elaborate beaver ambush, I sped along the greenway out of beaver-harm’s way.  Sadly, my exhaustion and narrow beaver-escape had taken their toll and my speed dropped to a 7:45 mile (I think I was able to keep it under 8:00 due to my attempt to outrun said beaver.  I know he was waiting for me to come back.  I know it.).  The rest of my race was rather uneventful, if not exhausting, as I did my best to recover and build back my speed.  As it was, I managed to eke out a 7:35 on mile 5 as I fled the park/beaver ambush and a 7:39 mile as LP Field came into view.  My last leg, which finished just short of the Country Music Marathon finish line, I did in 5:05.  I did end up going slightly over the 6.66 distance (6.70), and my end time was 50:50 at an average pace of 7:35/mile.

Overall I was happy with my time considering that I wasn’t “race ready” and that I was nearly mauled by an angry beaver.  This was a fun exercise, but I doubt that I could race by myself again.  I like to start out a race in a crowd of strangers, because I know that many of them want to beat me as much as I want to beat them.  There’s something about being in that mix of runners that gets the adrenalin pumping and pushes you to go harder.  Running by myself seemed to lack the urgency and energy that other races hold.  Still I had a good time, and I can’t wait to read the reports from my fellow bloggers!  Later kids!

End of the Week Recap 3/7/10

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  This week I ran 38.44 miles at an average pace of 8:18/mile.  I did only 38:00 minutes of cross-training, so my strength training is off for the week.  I wasn’t home this morning so I didn’t get to weigh.  Yesterday after my long run however, I clocked in at 157 lbs.  After several plates of barbeque this weekend, I’m feeling decidedly heavier today, so let’s call it around 160ish.  My only speed run this week was a fairly short 3.1 miles at 7:21/mile.  My long run was 18 miles at 8:27/mile.  That was a pretty good run even though I hadn’t taken in enough carbs to sustain myself on the run.  So at the end of it, I was pretty whipped.  To get ready for the marathon, I ran most of the marathon route.  This time around, I’m finding that I can handle the hills better and am working on my pacing.  The grossest thing that I saw on my run was that someone had puked on a car on the street.  Totally gross.  The forecast for next week is calling for rain and storms for most of the week, so I anticipate that my runs will not be very long.  I hope this doesn’t end up being the case, but I’m already planning on spending more time at the Y this week.  I guess that’s all I have for this week.  Later kids!

The Blog Tool

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  Despite my claims to geeky awesomeness, it appears that I’m behind the curve on some nice bloggy tools.  Thanks to aron and her great blog for tipping me off to the blog tools she’s using.  On her recommendation, I downloaded Windows Live Writer to see if I liked it better than Blogger’s rigid format.  So far it works and looks a lot like a very bare Microsoft Word.  Essentially you set up your post in Writer, and then upload it to your blog host.  You have a little more control over image size, effects (I rotated the image a bit) and placement.  You can also put a hyperlink in a picture as I did below.  I was hoping that it would help me with my layout in Blogspot, but it looks like that may require some playing to find what I need.  It works well with Internet Explorer, which is fine, but lately I’ve been a Chrome guy.  I’ll let you know how the experiment goes.  No hard numbers today.  It was a rest day and I was in a CLE all day.  Tomorrow is a long run though, so you should get a recap on that.  Later kids!

  

The Churro Variable

Hail my running brothers and sisters! Food=Fuel=Good.  Churros+Me=Bad.  You can also substitute churros for chocolate covered almonds, cookies, apple pie, cheesecake, pizza, or burgers.  I have to come clean.  This weekend I was less than stellar in my appetite control.  There was the churro on Saturday after a late lunch of pepperoni pizza at Costco.  Sunday, I partook of that fluffy chocolaty, rich croissant.  And all through the weekend I dabbled in decadent morsels of dark chocolate almond goodness.  

Hi.  My name is Joel, and I'm a food-a-holic.  Hi Joel.  

You would think that after a year and half of dieting and exercise, it would be easy to control the cravings, but it isn't.  Now, I don't sneak ding dongs into my briefcase and  I don't secretly cram twinkies into my face at midnight, but I must admit that I do enjoy food.  I don't think food makes me feel good or secure, but is there anything better than a good juicy burger?  Okay, maybe a creamy, smooth slice of cheesecake with strawberry topping is close. Now if it just stopped at taking a few bites or eating a small portion, I would be golden.  Like cake.  Fluffy, buttery cake.  However, I tend to eat till my plate is cleared, which is why I try to avoid eating out too often.  If I make my own meals and snacks, I'm able to control the portions, but when I eat out, I always feel compelled to clean my plate.  And when I say clean, I mean clean, as in leave no-crumb-behind-clean or as in if-cleaned-the-house-this-way-my-wife-would-stroke-out-from-happiness-clean.  My latest indulgence has been dessert every night of mixed fruit with a graham cracker crust, drizzled with chocolate syrup and Cool Whip lite. I've tried doubling up on the servings of fruit to make me feel less guilty, but I have to admit to savoring the crust the most.  Hmmm....crust.  Okay, now for the hard numbers.  I ran an easy 6.2 miles today at a pace of 8:01/mile. A good run if not for this little interruption to my route:

You can see the story here.  I was hoping to just find a way around the wreck, out of the way of the police, but the officer blocking my way told me that it would probably turn into a crime scene, so I needed to go around the block.  I guess it's good that I hadn't left for my run 20 minutes earlier!

Final notes:  I received my early registration letter for the 2010 AJC Peachtree Road Race, and I have submitted my registration.  Yay for me!  This is a huge 10K that is popular, strongly supported and well organized.  However, the fact is that I enjoy the race for the opportunity that it gives me and my family to spend some time with our good friends in Atlanta over the holiday.  Finally, I signed up for ROATM's virtual race.  By the time you read this, the deadline will have passed to sign up for the race, but he has a hilarious blog that you should check out.  Later kids!

The Conditioning Factor

Hail my running brothers and sisters!  As my war on obesity rages, I've found that many neophytes try to follow my path of running as a means to lose their fatty-mc-fat-fat.  The problem with that is that Herr Burgermeister often goes out too fast and too far without conditioning his body to handle the exercise.  Running is wonderful in in its simplicity in that it need not take much training or expense to participate.  Just go out and run.  Shoes are even optional these days.  Still I try to get new runners to wade in slowly.  The run-walk method is proven way of preventing injuries and building endurance.  Unfortunately the newly converted-former couch potatoes may sometimes feel so good that they believe that they can tolerate either more speed or distance and end up hurting themselves.  Trust me, I've been there.  Lots of times.  Lots. and lots.  And it hurt. So my recommendation to new runners is that you run-walk for no more than 30 minutes every other day the first week.  I also suggest that you do some weights to strengthen your core and entire body to handle the stress from running.  The weight conditioning need not be overly-strenuous or difficult.  Body weight exercises  are a great way to build your base strength before you can start to really lose weight, as muscle burns more fat (or some other saying like that which I didn't really understand).  Geek Tip of the Day:  If you're not watching Flashforward, head over to Hulu.com and watch the first 10 episodes.  It's no Lost, but it does have an interesting premise in that people worldwide blacked out for 2.5 minutes and saw their future in that time.  Pretty cool.  All right kids, run hard and have fun.