Day 386

A nice, easy run today.

Day 385

I didn't run at lunch, and waited too long this afternoon. I had to hurry one before picking up the kids. However everything felt fine at the hurried pace, no pain, no soreness.

When it ends

What happens? My wife asked me recently how I'd feel when I stop running? I wasn't sure how to answer it. I'd like to say "no big deal" especially as I've gone a full year, but it's hard to answer. I love running, and I think I'd just start again, but will it mean the same thing? Not sure.

She said I could be crushed, or ignore it, but she thought I'd probably feel bad, but shake if off quickly.

I know it will end someday, so I can't worry about it. When I hit about 200 days, I started to worry that if I didn't make a year, I'd be disappointed, but that didn't happen, so I don't think it will be a huge deal if I stop someday.

Day 384

A nice run on the treadmill. My knees were slightly sore when I got up, and it was windy, so I didn't go outside. I'll probably regret this a little in the winter, but for now I was happy to be inside.

Day 383

Another day I almost forgot. Did things with the kids during the day and then we had plans to go out. I remembered just in time to go down and knock out a short one.

Day 382

Out at the Scout Jamboree, I had a full day of following Delaney around, watching him shoot guns. I had wanted to run early, but as an adult supervisor, the timing didn't work. Finally after the 4:00 close, I found some time to run.

Tired, hot, a little dry, I hadn't had enough water, but I headed out of the facility and down the road. It was a gravel road and with some runoff from the rain, I had to be careful about watching where I ran.

Two songs later on the iPod, I was 9 minutes in and turned around. It was hard to get going, but felt good as I moved along.

Day 381

I let this one go for awhile and then had to hurry up before we left for camping. Everything felt good, however.

Day 380

Another quick one before karate in the am.

Day 379

Still feeling a little sick, so I had an easy run. I slowed down, trying to hold back a bit after a mile and not push things.

Day 378

A quick one, not too fast, not too long, before a morning karate class.

Day 377

A nice, easy treadmill run with snow dropping outside.

Pain is my Friend

I came home one day to find a box of Lidocaine patches in my bathroom. I had no idea why they were there, so I ignored them. A day or so later my wife asked me if I was going to use them.

Huh?

I said they weren't mine, and she then mentioned my sister-in-law had dropped them off. They had them for some reason and noticed that I was limping, moving slow, or generally icing some part of my body on a regular basis. So they thought that I might want some relief from the pain.

For the most part I don't, and told them the next day that I appreciated the offer, but I wouldn't use them.

Pain is my friend. While it's not pleasant, it helps me to better understand my body. It often warns me that I'm flirting with injury, or more serious injury. It reminds me that I'm getting older and also lets me know where to focus my training. It tells me what's weak, and what I should be careful of.

And in my running, karate, and baseball, let's me know how hard I can go on a particular day.

I hate taking drugs, and hate masking symptoms. It's easy to hurt yourself more, or create a bigger injury if you hide the pain. Professional atheletes do it all the time, and with career-ending results at times.

Unless the pain interferes with recovery, I tend not to do anything. Even Aleve/Tyleno/etc is something I rarely take unless I'm hurting and might have trouble sleeping.

Pain helps me, and I appreciate it.

Day 376

A nice steady run today. Used the cho-pat straps, and everything felt good.

Day 375

A quick run, after starting to take a shower, I raced downstairs to get a run done before I had to go out. Glad I did since I didn't get back until after 9.

Day 374

An outside run at Hidden Mesa down south of Parker. My wife wanted to take her horse, so we went there. We walked about a half mile, then I started running up the trail to the loop at the top. It's a tough run at the end, 1.4 mi, and I was feeling it.

This week at karate had me sore, groin and hamstrings, and I felt like I was slow. I struggled to get going, but managed to keep a slow jog up the hill. I ran 27 min, and then started walking back. It was about 2.5mi to that point.

Nike + is back and working as well!

 

Day 373

In town for an early karate class, I decided to get the run done first. I have a new nano, but forgot my Nike + plug in, so I just jogged around before class. A short, 1.16mi run, not sure of the time, but I'll guess 12 min.

12 min
1.16mi

Day 372

Took it easy today, holding down to 5.6mph. It's not much slower, but it feels slower. Trying to let the legs heal.

18:00min
1.6 mi

Day 371

A nice, easy run. Held it at 6.2 most of the time.

22:00min
2.1mi

Day 370

Still a little under the weather with a cold, but a short run helped a bit.

1.41mi

16:min

Grrrrrr

My Nano came back from Apple today, and it wasn't repaired. It had a  sheet in with it, with a checkbox next to the "was not repaired due to external force damage."

No other explanation, no other recourse, no note. How cheap and bad is that. At least a clue to what's wrong ought to be provided. I looked it over,  and it doesn't look like  a scratch on it. It's been in a case, hardshell, for almost every minute I've owned it. The connector looks fine, and it connects and is seen in my computer, but it rarely populates a volume and so it doesn't ever sync up.

I use this exclusively for my Nike+ runs, so this is really annoying. I now can choose to either take it to an Apple store and see about a repair for $80 or buy a new one. I'm thinking to take it in tomorrow for a repair and see where that gets me.

What Next?

I was driving with my son the other day and we were talking. I mentioned that I was thinking of setting another goal. He asked, "after a year?" So I asked him if he knew how many days I'd run. At that time, it was 368, so I told him and he was impressed.

Then he said "what's the next goal?"

I said it was 400 days for now. I'll reach that when I get to Austin next month, which will be pretty cool. I like those round numbers, so that's one to shoot for. 500 days is a cool number, and it would put me almost in the top 100 of the retired streak list for the US Running Streak Association. That will in in 2010, sometime in Jan or Feb.

However 1,000 days seems like a nice goal. That's another 2 years (almost) of running, getting me almost to 45 years old, but that would be very cool.

We'll see. Right now it's a part of my life, and I'm just going day after day.

Day 369

Not feeling well today, a bit of a cold starting, but I went downstairs for a quick treadmill.

16min

1.55mi

Day 368

A nice morning run, felt good, and I ran a nice 6.2mph pace. I could have gone faster and further, but held back. My lungs barely working, but trying to let the legs heal, especially ankle.

1.52 mi
16:00min

Day 367

Back to real shoes, and it felt good. Both ankles were sore and I struggled to get going, but I felt better once I'd gotten going.

1.36mi

14:00min

Five Fingers Running

My wife bought me some Vibram Five Fingers shoes a little over a month ago, and today was the first day I tried running in them. It was interesting.

It has been my plan to try it out, but I was worried about hurting myself. So I waited until I'd finished a year of running, gave my feet a few more days to get stronger, and decided today I'd try. I went on the treadmill, at it's softest setting, and did my 1.3 mile run.

It felt like my first few days wearing these shoes. My feet seemed to be "slapping" the ground hard, and it didn't hurt, but it wasn't super comfortable. I found myself missing the cushion of my running shoes, and while I ran at my normal pace, it wasn't something that felt good.

I could feel my feet sliding a touch and the beginning of a blister on the right pad (ball) near the end of my run. Even when I walked to cool down, I had trouble not slapping the surface of the treadmill.

I have the classic model, which is low cut, and doesn't tightly grab my feet. When I flex, the sides bend out a touch, and it seems that my feet slide a little in them. If I were to get another pair, I think I'd go for the flow model to more tightly fit on my feet. Especially if I were to keep running in them.

I might do some more outside running in the, maybe on the road or on some softer trails. I don't think I'd run on pavement, concrete or asphalt, with these. At least not without much stronger arches.

Day 366

My first day running with the Five Fingers shoes. It felt a little like I was pounding on the treadmill, but not too bad. However they were loose and I started a nice blister on my pad.

The run felt OK, short, trying to not hurt myself and rest up for the 5k this weekend.

1.33mi

14:00min

One Year

I finally made it. A year of running every day, 365 days in a row.

I really didn't think I could do it. At least not at first. I'm not sure when I finally could start to see it as a probability and not a possibility. Maybe when ski season ended, or sometime after 180 days it felt like something I could just do forever.

Through numerous sprains and twists, a season of snowboarding and baseball, karate, a busy year of traveling and vacation, and I managed to run every day. A very cool feeling, though I'll get up tomorrow and do day 366.

Day 365

A year.

Of running every day complete today. A nice outside jog with my wife, my normal 3mi out and back, though a little slower than I otherwise would I felt great, and ready to start again tomorrow.

32min

2.95mi

Day 364

A nice, long treadmill run that felt great. I’m thinking to go long tomorrow to celebrate a year, but I couldn’t do another short one today. It felt great, and a nice workout.

22:00min

2.17mi

Sore Nipples

I ran a 10k one time in San Diego. It must have been in the winter because I was wearing a long sleeve shirt, and running in the cool morning air. I felt great, but after I got done, a friend asked me if I was OK. I said I felt great, and they pointed at my shirt. Two nice trails of blood ran down from my nipples on the inside of my shirt.

I'd had a good run and didn't notice. At least not until I got home and cooled down. Then I had trouble wearing a shirt for a few days and actually had to put tape on so I could walk around without wincing. Since then, on a few longer runs I've put vaseline on my nipples prior to running. It helps prevent a shirt from rubbing back and forth as you move. It works well, and it's a trick I've kept in my back pocket. However I must have forgotten a bit as the weather was cooler here recently and I didn't do anything. I ran outside with a shirt for a couple days and noticed some soreness later on. The side-to-side motion of running had the shirt rubbing, and I was sore. It reminded me of the first few times I'd go surfing each season. A little chafing then too that marked the start of trying something new. This was new since I rarely run with a shirt anymore. Most of the time I'm in the neighborhood or on the treadmill and I run without anything on top. It's more comfortable to me, and I like it. I'll run shirtless tomorrow, but for now I need to remember to use a little vaseline if I'm going to run in the cool weather in a shirt. Especially when I'm running every day.

Day 363

Up late, a lazy Labor Day holiday. I hit the treadmill again for lunchtime, a nice run. Pushed it up to 6.5 for about half the run and felt great. No soreness, no tightness.

16:00min

1.55 mi

Day 362

Went a touch longer on the treadmill and then lifted a little for the first time in 6 months. Felt great!

20:00min

1.9mi

Day 361

A quick one on the treadmill before chores. Felt good, even upped the speed to 6.5mph and it was fine. Reigned myself in since I could feel the left hamstring tightening slightly.

1.35mi

14:00min

Day 360

A nice easy job with my wife.

2.25mi

25 minutes (we weren’t really timing)

The Nike + is still down, so I was missing my data calculations, but this was just a fun run.

Full Circle

Today is day 360 of my running streak, a full circle! It’s been a great time running, and it’s become a habit with me. It’s something I look forward to doing. Today Tia said she’d run with me, so we headed out together. Her pace is a little slower, so she doesn’t want to hold me back, but I’m in cruising mode.  No training.

After finishing baseball, I’m just running to run and enjoy it. No pushing too hard.

A nice jog in the country, past the bus stop, to one of the kid’s friend’s house and back.

Day 359

A nice one on the treadmill. Ran a couple minutes longer because it felt good. Still no Nike +

1.73mi
18:00min

Still a 2.0 incline

Day 358

Well I did a quick run before my presentation. I had a remote presentation to do, and wanted to get the run out of the way. Everything felt good, and I had time, but once again I held back a bit to try and heal a little more.

However I had another issue. My iPod freaked out, so no Nike+ downloading.

1.6 mi
16:min

Day 357

Another day, another nice, easy run.