The runner my friend, is blowin' in the wind. . .

I decided to run 2 x 1.5 mile cruise intervals on Monday evening before the weather got crappy and cold. By the time I got home the only thing this practice had going for it was that it wasn't cold yet.

When I stepped outside to do my warm-up I was clad in tights, a long sleeve technical shirt (Go Halfwits!), a fleece vest, headband and gloves. The temp was 48 with a wind chill of 39 due to the wind blowing out of the South at a 28 mph clip that would gust to 40 mph just for grins. At least there was only 45% humidity.

I ran a mile warm-up in 8:10 and took three minutes to ditch the vest and stretch my back. My intent was to run my intervals at 9:48 (6:32 pace) but with the first interval heading in a generally southerly direction I amended my goal to anything under 10:00 for the first one.

I hit the first 400 in 1:40 after running straight into the teeth of the wind and didn't look at my watch again until I hit 1200 right around 5:00. I caught a bit of a windbreak as I entered an older neighborhood with big trees and tightly packed houses and was surprised to see that I hit my mile split in 6:31.66. I ran the last half mile in 3:17.42 and completed my first interval in 9:49.08.

I took a two minute break during which I tucked my headband and gloves into the waistband of my tights. I decided to retrace my steps and head back to my house instead of finishing up my second interval a mile from my house and warm clothes.

I was at the 1.5 mile mark of my 4 mile course. In warmer weather I would have continued on to the 3 mile mark, taken a breather and ran the last mile back to my house as a cooldown.

I started interval two with the wind to my back for the first 800. I had hoped to be able to run relaxed and still hit my times for another 9:48 showing but passed the half mile mark in 3:02.71. I really had no control over my pace and was merely holding on for dear life. I hit enough of a crosswind the last mile to slow me down to 6:24.37 and a total time of 9:27.08. Talk about running negative splits.

After gasping for breath, hacking up a lung and donning my headband, gloves and vest I staggered back into the street for a much more sedate cooldown mile of 8:45.

It hurt.

Last night I used my Total Gym and did the Starter Program, which is a total body workout of sorts. I like it, I bought it on eBay at the Total Gym scratch-and-dent store. I actually ordered the Total Gym 2000 but was upgraded to the Total Gym XLS because they didn't have the 2000 OR the Total Gym 3000 in stock. I think I came out ahead on that deal.

Tonight I ran an easy 5 in 40:47. I had a cinder stuck in the heel of my right shoe the whole run that I couldn't get out. I don't mean that the cinder was under my heel and I was landing on it. I mean that it was rubbing against my Achilles the whole damn run. It was too cold to stop and fish it out (20 degrees, SE 2 mph) and I wanted to get home before it got colder and darker.

Tomorrow they're calling for about 6 inches of snow so that might put a damper on my easy 4 miles I'd planned on.

Friday night is the SRRC Monster Mash which is our annual awards ceremony. Your's truly will be crowned the Male 25-29 age group Points Series Champion. It is a good thing that it isn't a co-ed age group because the Bionic Woman would have handed me my ass. She beat me SIX of the NINE times we raced this season and actually owns a 9-3 record against me. That means I am 3-9 against her.

My defeats to the Bionic Woman, this season, range from a nine minute and 57 second thrashing at the Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon to a 12 second defeat at the Steamboat Classic 4 mile run.

My wins, such as they are, amount to a 3.22 second edging at the Sizzling Mile, a 13 second triumph at the Parade Run 2 mile and a sound 25 second whupping I laid on her at the Polka Pace Race. Between my Parade Run and PPR wins she dropped me by 50 seconds at Abe's Amble (10k) and she didn't even feel good that day.

When she felt good on a fast 10k course in November she dropped a 39:02. Needless to say, she went undefeated in the Women's competition and probably would have placed in the top-10 in the Men's Points Series.

Either the course was short or . . .

I'm a hell of a lot stronger than I thought I was.

I got up this morning at about 0530 even though I didn't really want to. I had a full bladder and after I'd emptied it I was wide awake and staring at the ceiling. I put on some shorts and let the dog outside and after I had given him his treat and opened the sports page I heard my son call for me from his bedroom. We got breakfast ready after watching the Wiggles, a waffle and Silk for him and Quaker Oat Squares and coffee for me. At about 0900 we went in and woke Kim up and I headed out about twenty minutes later for a sedate ten mile jaunt along the old Lincoln Memorial Half Marathon course.

I chose to run the old LMHM course because I wanted to get some practice on the hills as the old course and the new course have similar elevation profiles and I didn't want to drive into Springfield to run the new course when the start of the old course is only a few miles from my house.

The temps were absolutely balmy compared to what they've been the last few days at 30 degrees, SSW 14, 65% humidity and a wind chill of 20. I haven't been keeping up with my running very well this year due to some instances of a sick kid, sick mother-in-law, crappy weather and another incident that I'm not quite ready to explain in this forum. One or two of you know anyway.

I started off at what felt like a nice easy pace and just kept reminding myself to relax and run easy up the hills and was very surprised to see that I hit the 5 mile turnaround point in 38:01. On the course map the 5 mile mark is also the 8 mile mark so when you're looking at the elevation profile just skip from mile 5 to mile 8.

Once I turned around I had the wind to my back and I took an energy gel because I'm trying to get my stomach used to them again. I used them with much success the first time I ran the LMHM in 2005 and quit using them after that as Gu upsets my stomach. I switched to PowerBar shots or something like that. At the 2006 and 2007 LMHM I didn't use energy gels and didn't perform as well as I would have liked. I wonder how much the energy gels help.

As I was saying, I turned around, took an energy gel, and had the wind to my back. I pocketed my gloves, un-zipped the vents on my jacket and stuffed my beanie in the waistband of my tights and rocketed my way back to the starting point in 35:38 for a total ten mile time of 1:13:40.

Ironically, I set a personal best for ten miles by 2:14 in a practice run. This is a week after running 8 in 1:03:31 and two weeks after running 10 in 1:19:33. I'm not exactly sure why today was so fast but I'm wondering if it wasn't the two cups of coffee two hours prior and the energy gel halfway in.

Either way, I'm getting a good feeling about this year's LMHM.

Goodbye Heath Ledger

I was shocked to hear about Heath Ledger being found dead in his apartment at the age of 28 from an apparent overdose yesterday. I remember seeing him for the first time in "Ten Things I Hate About You" and thinking that he would be an actor to watch in the coming years. He had good looks and a commanding screen presence. Over the next few years I found myself alternately applauding and scratching my head over some of the projects he undertook. I must say though that the character he created in "Brokeback Mountain" is his crowning achievement as an Everyman who has a secret love that not every man has. I think he got robbed at the Oscars that year.

It is sad that a man with so much talent died so early and I offer my condolences and prayers to his family.

Do not fear, just believe.

Goodbye my child. 8/13/08

I dread the second Thursday of the month

It is Explorer Post night at the hospital. High school kids from the Springfield area and tour a different area of the hospital each month from September through May. I don't HAVE to be there every month but my boss likes for me to volunteer and I really enjoy seeing the kids and helping the presenters out by asking questions at times when dialogue stalls.

The only reason I dread it is because it takes me away from time with my son.

I think he knows, by some freakish toddler 6th sense or an uncannily accurate internal clock, when the second Thursday of the month rolls around because he becomes especially cute, lovable and amusing in the preceding days. Tonight he was throwing a ball to me, climbing on my shoulders, sitting on my lap, pretending he was reading the newspaper and giving me kisses every 10 to 15 minutes. As I got him ready for bed he played peekaboo with me and made the gesture he gives me when he wants me to bend down so he can rub the top of my buzz-cut head. He laughed when I laid down on the floor and pretended to sleep and he let me know he was ready to lay down by pointing down the hall and saying "night-night."

He's in bed right now but I can hear him making little noises as he settles down for the night and I know that I won't get to see him but for the 30-40 minutes tomorrow morning when I feed him, dress him and take him to daycare. He'll be long asleep when I get home tomorrow night but that won't stop me from creeping into his room to touch his head and put a hand on his chest to assure myself that he is actually breathing. I know that when he wakes up Friday morning he'll sit up when he hears my voice and raise his arms so I can lift him out of his crib. When I do he'll rest his head on my shoulder for a moment and then he'll start telling me about all the exciting things he did that he didn't get to tell me about the night before.

I won't understand most of what he's saying to me, but he'll know that I'm listening. . . and that I love him.

Sleep tight Nathan.

Sub-threshold tempo

I ran what Greg McMillan calls a sub-threshold tempo run this evening upon returning from work. A sub-threshold run is run done slower than lactate threshold pace because some Kiwi runner says that tempo runs done too early in the season (i.e. early base building) cause a runner to peak too early and for times to plateau over the season.

My tempo run pace is 6:32/mile and I really didn't feel like running that fast tonight because it has been a month or so since I have done so. We had a nice night in the 60s with a nice 20mph wind coming out of the south and about 68% humidity. I decided to shoot for 6:50 pace over the course of three miles.

I warmed up with an easy mile at 8:07 and felt pretty relaxed and fluid. I stretched out for a minute or two and took off. I hit mile one in a very relaxed 6:48.47 and decided to keep the gas pedal where it was. At the 1.5 mark I was on pace to run right about 20:30 but turned due north a block later and had the aforementioned 20 mph wind to my back for close to a kilometer. I hit mile two in 6:46.72 (13:35.19) and still felt pretty good. With about a half mile to go I turned off the bike trail and surged onto the road heading east and going slightly downhill. I surged for a good 30 strides to get back up to speed after making a hairpin turn and coasted up a "hill" with about 600 meters to go. I closed out my run with a 6:45.56 third mile finishing with a total time of 20:20.75. I caught my breath for two minutes and cooled down with a mile in 8:12.

I got home and sat at the kitchen table watching my son eat. As I sat there I remarked to my wife that I think half the job of being a good father is being present in your child's life. I went on to remark that a good chunk of the other half is being happy about being there. She told me that she's thinks I'm a good father. That was a much better compliment than her telling me that I had a cute butt.

Yesterday afternoon was pretty warm and after I finished cleaning the garage Kim kicked Nathan out of the kitchen in shoes and a hoodie so she could make dinner. He and I walked around our rather large back yard (210 feet from one side to the other) and we waved at people in cars, played in mud and watched the starlings fly around the back yard and into the bird house the neighbors built for them next door. Every time the starlings would get to fluttering he would point and exclaim, "Oooo, whoa!" I asked him if he thought the birds were neat and he said, "Bird? Whoa!" His sense of wonder is quite beautiful to behold and I hold his excitement very close to my heart. I marvel at the fascination he holds for the things that I find terribly mundane and it makes me think back to when magic was real, animals could talk and my father was the strongest man in the world.

Happy Birthday Bernardo!

I just want to wish one of my loyal readers a happy birthday. Bernardo, for a guy I've never met in person I think I'd like you a lot if I did. I hope you have a good year.