Beautiful Day in the (Springbrook Prairie) Neighborhood

5.5 miles - 52:01 (9:27/mile)
1.0 warm down hard walk
total: 6.5 miles

43°F
Clear
Wind: SE at 0 mph
Humidity: 86%
course: Springbrook Prairie

62°F
Clear
Wind: SW at 3 mph
Humidity: 35%
finish?

An amazingly beautiful morning filled with an easy wind, chirping birds, a sense of Spring all around. Controlled field burning began after I left, so I avoided much smoke. The temperature was probably closer to 50, and around 55 when I finished.

My goal was just to get in the run, to put in miles at any pace. As such, I started slow, and gradually picked it up. My last mile, I think, was in the low 8s. My overall time was not much, but to burn fat, I need to keep the S part of LSD slow.

Met Tom, a guy wearing a back pack and 40 pounds of gear. Why? Training for a descent down the Grand Canyon.

No 200-Mile Relay, but Instead Cream of Wheaton 5K

The 200-Mile Relay I was expecting to run has flopped. The race will go on, but our team will not be involved. A few guys of our 12-person team are hurt or busy.

It is just as well. My workouts have been weak and irregular. My part of the race was to be 3.42, 7.55, and 8.57 miles.

Which bring me around to the Cream of Wheaton Run for the Animals.

Last year, I ran it in 25: 12, an 8:07 pace, taking 19th of 59 places in my age group, and 282 overall. Not ready yet to call my race, but I expect to run much better than that. I ended last summer with a 22:00 5K. If I can equal that, terrific. It would have earned me sixth in my age group, and 111th overall. However, don't call Vegas with your bet.

Compared to last year, off the bat, I am a smarter runner. This will help me train better, and race more sensibly.

To run a 22:00 5K, I need a 7:05 mile pace. Presently I am in no shape to pull that off. I do expect to drop weight aggressively, and with it, catch my wind back, both as a matter of aerobic training that will lose the weight, and by simply not carrying the same baggage.

Today, I ache from last night's four miles. Tomorrow will be warm. I'll shed the cold weather togs and lighten my load, and see if I can get a few miles. Sunday will be off, a rest day, and back at it Monday.

Four Miles of Drizzle

4 miles, out and back, around 37:30 (8:59, 9:00, 9:37, 9:17)

48°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: E at 4 mph
Humidity: 37%
course: Illinois Prairie Path

No spectacular running tonight. Sluggish, at best. Frank mentioned he was coming off of three weeks down and would be running four miles easy. I decided to tag along. I simply did not need speedwork with a base deficit.

Coach Jim was nowhere to be found. At least, not in Illinois. He is sun bathing in the beautiful air of Florida on a family vacation, working on vitamin D synthesizing. This distinction was made clearer as the rain came down in a strong sprinkle (Don't let the weather listed above fool you. It was cool and sloppy out there.)

The work was to be officially a favorite, had I actually run it.

15 m's wu vf, 6x100
3 sets of 3x400 (200)[400]
1st set - all f
2nd set fgf
3rd set gff
wd

Mmm... That's Good Squishee

1.5 miles easy

33°F
Snow
Wind: NE at 7 mph
Humidity: 100%
course: Wheaton College campus

What if a party was held and no one showed? Such was tonight. Mike Demerrit came by in street clothes to pick up socks, and Jim came by to deliver them, but otherwise, I ran alone. I almost skipped it, feeling lazy, but feel better for it.

Snow was especially wet and sloppy. Mike pointed out his car was covered by 'squishee'.

Another, better run tomorrow I hope. Tonight was not a loss. It will be getting out on the dreadful days that will make all the difference.

Looking for a Few Good Miles

3 miles run
.5 miles walk

3.5 miles total

52°F
Clear
Wind: NW at 0 mph
Humidity: 45%
course: Illinois Prairie Path

Today's run was an easy three. Maybe not that many. Pace was 9:30-10:00/mile.

The IPP was wet, but tolerable. Tomorrow has a chance of ice and a high of 38, a drop from today's balmy weather.

Key was getting back out there, doing it again. Tomorrow will be my workout with the Spivey Club, so I needed to be loose today. I am relaxed, though tired from poor sleep last night. With tomorrow, I also want to run Friday, getting three days in succession - maybe a 5-6 miler?

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (For a Three Mile Run)

3 miles easy 26:59 (9:15, 9:07, 8:36)
1 mile walk

total: 4 miles

39°F
Mostly Cloudy
Wind: N at 7 mph
Humidity: 46%
course: neighborhood half mile loop

My base was largely, if not entirely, lost over the winter. Now, I need to pile the miles on safely. Hitting the road today was not planned but it was such a nice day that denying the run was no good.

It started slow, but picked up. I was still slower than most of my JSRC warm-ups, but, then again, those often feel too fast. My last mile was merely me feeling better, looser. I think I had a couple more miles in me, but I am saving those for Monday.

I have fat to lose, muscle to gain, and a mileage base to gain. In fact, JSRC running pal Margaret suspects that's what kept me from breaking 20:00 last summer. I agree, and now, I have 1.5 months extra to get it in, plus the reckoning of its necessity.

Time for me to begin thinking about upcoming race options, and how to run through April. I would love to enter May ready, at around 3o miles per week.

pictured: Bloomington-Normal Constitution Trail
I used to run here when I lived in central Illinois

Will China Ruin the Beijing Olympics?

Yes.

Smog.
With Haile Gebrselassie likely skipping the Beijing Olympics because of pollution caused by errant Chinese policy, the gold medal winner will have an asterisk next to his name. The only way to supplant this will be to break the world record. But, outside of that unlikelihood, a win in the marathon, a key event, will be about as official as a 1980 medal in the 100 meters. Who wants to say, "I won, but..." Distance runners aren't in the same low integrity category as, say, Major League Baseball's Barry Bonds.

Tiananmen Square.
Site of protests that ended in the Chinese military murdering college students, in an event that made the USA's Kent State Massacre look like an Amish gathering. China is considering banning Tiananmen broadcasts. They fear protests:

The communist government's resorting to heavy-handed measures runs the risk of undermining Beijing's pledge to the International Olympic Committee that the games would promote greater openness in what a generation ago was still an isolated China. If still in place by the games, they could alienate the half-million foreigners expected at the games.

The fear of protests is reasonable. China's citizens did not forget 1989's killings, or the white washing the Chinese government did. They have not forgotten the continued oppression demonstrated through the shutting down of internet cafes, and otherwise inhibiting dialogue between China's average person and the free world.

Now, by killing protesters in Tibet, and blocking YouTube access, lest the rest if China see, and lest the Chinese citizen freely post videos for you and I to see, China must fear protests. Nothing unexpected by me.

So for those of us who remember how Presiden Jimmy Carter ruined the 1980 Moscow Olympics, we will endure Hu Jintao, President of China make a shameful mess of what could have been great public relations.

Then again, nine years after the Moscow Olympics, the Communist walls fell. Maybe there is hope after all?

Unfocused, Slow, But Complete Workout

2 mile warm up
6x100 striders
800 (300)
800 [400]
400 (300)
400 [400]
800 (300)
800
600 warm down

total: 6.3125 miles

50°F (dropped to 41°F)
Clear
Wind: N at 8 mph
Humidity: 29%
course: Wheaton College track

Jim was home with the flu, but a decent crowd made it out for a few laps, including newbie John Christiansen. He held his own, and, in fact, seemed to be holding back.

I went into it knowing I was not feeling my best. Not that I was sick. My mind was squirrelly. Unfocused. Add to that my tired showing last week, and a tough night was ahead.

I forgot my watch. No times as such, then, on my intervals. I'm guessing I hovered near 2:00 for the 400s, 4:15 for the 800s. I really did not care tonight what my times were, but that I broke a hard sweat, burnt a few cheeseburgers into caloric oblivion, and completed the workout.

On the agenda will be to get my diet into gear. Better fluid intake, watch the fatty stuff. Not too complicated, but hardly a breeze with my coffee-happy taste buds and love of bad Chinese food.

Horse's Hooves and Muddy Waters

2 miles, slow loping
400 walk

total: 2.25 miles

36°F
Cloudy
Wind: E at 14 mph
Humidity: 81%
course: some park I don't know the name
Just a park off Roosevelt, west of here.

The plan was simple: a park I drove past a lot. Did that. Parked. Ran. The smell of wood-burning fireplaces took me back to central Illinios at fall.

The snow began belting down moments after I stepped out of my car. Muddy, flooded paths slowed my pace, and, ultimately, kicked me off course. Horses ran through there, compromising the paths, making it all difficult to navigate.

My pace was maybe 10:00/mile.

8 (plus 6-6-6) Times 1000: First Track Workout of the Season

3200 warm-up
6x100 striders
800 (300)
600 (300)
600 (300)
600 (600)

total: 4.9375 miles

56°F
Clear
Wind: SW at 13 mph
Humidity: 51%
course: Wheaton College track

The weather was pretty good. I was not. My pace was around 7:45-8:15 for the 600s and 800. I had faster in me, but felt tired enough in the warm-up to know it was going to be a month before I found my sea legs again.

2007 CARA Runner of The Year Suzanne Ryan joined us for a while. Rudi, Michael, John and Jay Duffy, Lee, Margaret, Linda, Brad were all there, with Coach Jim on the watches.

Tomorrow, I hope I walk it off like coffee for a running hangover.

Misery Has No Time: 2.5 Miles of Timeless Agony

2.5 miles run (time: unknown)
0.25 hard walk

total: 2.75 miles

46°F
Clear
Wind: S at 21 mph
Humidity: 46%
course: neighborhood half mile loop

No clock on today's run. Presume slow. Why? Look at the dates of my posts. Not many workouts. My watch was hiding, and I left it hid.

Right out my door I have a half mile loop with minimal traffic. Given how little expected to run, it made little sense to drag myself to a running path or track. The journey would been longer than the run (though this run was long despite its length).

Each step was laborious, like slogging through sludge while wearing a backpack. Every part of me defied my kind request for movement. Wearing tights, running pants, and a t-shirt, mock tee, and a running jacket, all topped with a knit hat, I was hot. Not in a good way.

Tomorrow I'll do it again. Maybe farther. It will be more enjoyable soon.

News
I'm committed to run the 200-mile relay. We meet Sunday to talk about who gets which legs.

It's Like May 2007 All Over Again

3.1 miles (29:45ish, 9:35/mile)
0.52 hard walk

total: 3.62 miles
course: COD fitness center treadmill

In May of 2007, I started running again. My body, not used to the pain of training. Now, with my workouts, if I can even call them that, having dwindled to a mere once a week, I am aching from last night's run.

I ran at 10:00 for maybe 1.5 miles, then eeked it up a notch or two, with a faster last 0.3/mile. Foolish at this point. I need to discipline myself to keep the same pace.

My mind wasn't on running, though. 22 students were shot at Northern Illinois University. Seven so far, from what I have heard, are dead. It was all over the news, on the TVs in the gym. For those of you who pray, this is as good of reason as any. With the Tinley Park murderer still at large, it is a strange place to live. My own residence is 45-60 minutes from each place.

Madison-Chicago 200 Mile Relay

The Madison-Chicago 200 will take you on a scenic tour of the Madison-Milwaukee-Chicago corridor. The 200-mile course is divided into 36 Legs that teams of up to 12 members will navigate over a two day period. Teams will gather in Wisconsin's capital city of Madison on Friday, June 6th.

That's what Chris McElwee had the audacity to invite me to do. I've not said yes, and I've not said no. Looks like a fun time sweating with the oldies. The oldies would be the 12 of us.

As a runner, I'm intrigued. A new challenge. My 20:00 5K goal is intact, still unmet, and still a strong desire. This relay though, would be fun in the relational side of running. Running is so often, especially for adults, not a team sport. Here's a chance that it could be.

Stoked? Not yet. Eyebrow raised? Absolutely.

See: http://www.mc200.com

So This Is What It Comes To?

3.1 miles, alternating running and hard walking
0.4 miles wd
total: 3.5 miles

course: COD treadmill

Out of shape. I admit it. It was never supposed to come to this. In May, last year, I threw it all down: fitness, speed, endurance. Now, in cold of winter I have become what I dread: lazy.

Blame it on life. Excuses. The time was there. I chose not to sort my days to allow for it. When a couple were free, I let them slip away.

True, as it warms I expect to run more. A good run is just a door knob twist away.

Tonight's run: a little walking, a little hard running. Walking was 15:00/mile, and running was around 6:39 /mile. I needed the speed to keep me engaged.

Tired. Ate some leftover Chicken Paprikash, drank a lot of water, and now, tired, will rest.