Writers Gonna Write is My Substack

 As I'm receiving an inordinately high amount of traffic today, presumably from bots, I thought I would update my running and all. Who knows? Maybe they'll index it.

First of all, I'm walking. Wobbly knees and weight gain haven't helped. An hour each week, no matter what. Outside of inclement weather, which is known to happen from time to time in North Georgia, I'm out there with a bunch of guys walking about 4 miles. We talk about important things. Our families, our faith, and which band made which song a hit.

In non-running news -- though that's not exactly running news -- I launched WritersGonnaWrite.com. Writers Gonna Write is my Substack. One lesson every Wednesday on how writing actually works, drawn from two decades of writing speeches for a living and fiction for love. Hemingway, Kurt Vonnegut, and the Three Little Pigs all get put to work, and every issue closes with a prompt and a joke that isn't funny. I throw in examples about running when I can.

Always, Again (Still)

Do you know what has lagged more than this blog? My running. 

I have reasons but no excuses. Work, family, the Georgia heat (not to be confused with the Miami Heat). Got sick a couple times. I published a couple of books. The high schools here in Gwinnett County, Georgia have a phobia it seems about opening up their tracks to the public, unlike the ones in the western suburbs of Chicago. That doesn't help.

All of that is code for "not making most of the opportunities" I did have.

I could tell you that I'm back at it, and just you wait. But it wouldn't be true. I have been walking occasionally, but not enough to really make a difference. Most of my walks have been involved in photography trips to take pictures and videos of spiders. Those are slow, stop and start walks through the woods wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt. I'm doing my best to avoid  Poison Ivy and mosquitoes, and all sorts of thorny things.

Naturally, I'm not pleased as I've gained some weight and lost some fitness.

I think I'll go for a little jog tonight.

1.5 Miles? Not Really. Well, OK. Sort of.

 Today, I stood on a treadmill at my HOA. 

As you can see by previous posts, it has been awhile. Blogging has changed even since as well. However, no matter how far I get from running, running is always, only just one step away.

I ran/walked 1.5 miles. No bandana. I wore bermuda shorts. I did wear running shoes (ASICS), so there's that.

Oh, and I looked for upcoming local 5Ks. I miss racing.

Five Miles Finished

It will be some time before I wax poetically about running. Right now, I'm just tired.

I just finished my first outside five mile run a long while. No PRs were broken. No one swooned and thought, "Wow, that guy is fast." A dog looked at me funny and a guy mowing a lawn gave me a nod. It's all good.

30:03 out (12:01/mile)
29:00 back (11:36/mile)
-----
59:03

The times are more for myself to give me a sense of how I'm progressing. The big news for me is that I ran the entire way. There are a couple killer hills that make me want to walk each time.

However, I felt pretty good 90% of the time. Unfortunately, that 10% remaining goes 5x slower, so it all feels strangely achy good bad tired upbeat.

Got it?

I also got out earlier than I had been despite only getting 6:30 of sleep. Getting out before breakfast, I believe, burns more calories.

The scale seems to be tilting in my favor, but it bounces around to much to declare any success yet. It is not going the wrong direction, so there's that. My goal is to lose 15 pounds and to have it gone by July 2018. I've only just begun (again).

Feeling Goodish

I climbed down a mountain on Saturday. Walked through a deep forest on Sunday. Today, I jogged.

The mountain is more of a mole hill, but no less a challenge.

The forest is within a suburb of Atlanta.

The jog was, is the same route as before, slightly faster.

3.6 miles.

43:35 - 12:06/mile

As a Monday update, I feel somewhat fitter but have little tangible proof. My weight hasn't really moved. My clothes fit the same. I do feel better.

Beating the Beast

I beat the RRR. The Ridge Road Route.

3.6 miles of up and down. Long slopes of agony. 90% humidity. 80 degrees.

A beast.

44:10 - 12:14/mile.

I'm not bragging. 12:14//mile is not brag-worthy. It, though, is a benchmark.

My legs are tired, sore, and stiff.

I'll live.

Pain, as they say, is weakness leaving the body.

Still aches. Pithy quotes don't change squat.

It Ain't Easy: Hills

The plan was to run 3.6 miles on my new there-and-back route. 1.8 mils each way.

My goal was simple: stay running, no matter how slow, the entire way. Hard?

Apparently. I made 1.25 miles. Walked. Jogged another 1.25 miles. And walked home. My pace was unexpectedly

Hills. Hills. Hills. Hills. Hills. Hills.

Hills.

This route has a name. Ridge Road Route. It has beaten me twice and things don't look good the next time.

It is mostly uphill on the way out in a set of rising tiers. It is short but it does not forgive. I'm not in shape to flatten it.

My scale believes I lost 2.2 pounds over what was about 55 minutes walk/jogging. Since my goal is to lose 15 lbs, I think at this rate, I'll be done in two weeks. If only.

Feels Like the First Time

It wasn't pretty. I joined the 3.0 mile group and ran about 1.5 miles before having to walk. After the turnaround, I jogged/walked. I'll say I ran 2.0 miles total.

I will survive.

To be accurate, "I Will Survive," by Gloria Gaynor really has nothing to do with a good run. Or a bad one. It is a bitter song of a woman trying to hold on after a nasty relationship. My situation is just an out of shape guy running in conditions he's not used to.

Saw several deer within a few meters. And a bunny.

A few good things came from this:
* For that 1.5 miles, I ran about 9:00 pace. I had no idea.
* There were enough runners at whichever pace.
* I can't help but get better.

It is a well-run club. Water stops, water at the store, safe trails on the Suwanee Greenway, good people. There was even a guy passing out Popsicles. I didn't get in on that. Next time.

Rebooting Running (Again)

Once again. Once again. Once again...

I've said it before. I expect (but hope not) I'll say it again.

I've started again.

Walk. Run.

Only now, I'm near Atlanta. Moved.

HHH.

Hills. Heat. Humidity.

I'm joining the running club at the local running shoe store, Big Peach Running. I'm not sure what I'm getting into but the people on Facebook seem nice enough. And they like pie. That's a plus.

The game plan? I don't have one. I bought new shoes. That's not exactly a plan, but it is a start. As I mentioned I joined a club. Sort of. I said I'd show up, though it has no such requirement.

I've run 3.11 miles extremely slowly. Just under 11:00/mile. Mostly, so far (as in the last two weeks), I've walked.

I'll need new courses. New tracks. New races. New, new, new.

Same old, same old?

This isn't a runner-friendly area. Road shoulders are small. Drivers are rude to runners.

There aren't as many running trails as in Chicagoland. The ones I've heard about are short. 9.5 miles. Short. Now, as it happens, that remains long to me. I hope that will change.

I head to the running club tomorrow, if I can get the rest of my schedule together.

Review: Meb For Mortals: How to Run, Think, and Eat like a Champion Marathoner

Meb For Mortals: How to Run, Think, and Eat like a Champion Marathoner

Worth Every Penny: Meb Knows His Stuff

As I was reading "Meb for Mortals," a non-runner friend saw it. "I don't know what a Meb is," she said. To runners, however, Meb Keflezighi is a household name. Why? Because he is winning in a sport we Americans haven't won very often. His credentials as a marathoner are long and deep. Even as he has turned 40, he is still among the best.

But why this book?

Meb finds that space between inspiring and informative.

It is unlike other distance running books. "Meb for Mortals" isn't filled with detailed workouts 18 or 20 weeks out from race day. Nor is it a long dissertation on the merits of a quality diet. And you won't find it going on and on about some philosophy of running. That said, there's a little of all that in here.

Ghostwritten by Scott Douglas, it is better than most other books on writing. Douglas is a senior content editor at Runner's World (same publisher as the book). The guy knows running and isn't just another hack.

Tony Dungy wrote the foreword. You can skip that. Dungy doesn't really say anything interesting or unique to his relationship to running or Meb. It feels sort of pasted on. But no worries, you are reading the book for the rest, not the foreword.

The chapters:
Think Like Meb
Run Like Meb
Train Like Meb
Race Like Meb
Eat Like Meb
Strengthen Like Meb
Stretch Like Meb
Cross-Train Like Meb
Recover Like Meb

Like the chapter titles imply, we get this from his point of view, from his personal experience as a runner. He's not (yet) a coach, nor does he necessarily have expertise in nutrition and so forth. But he wins. That means it is worth learning how one guy is getting it done.

Within each chapter, he relates the content to his own life. When discussing diet, he tells how much he weighed when, and what weight his physician told he should weigh.

Among the things you'll gain from this is a sense of his personal discipline. He stays on the game even when he's resting. By that I mean he takes seriously the process of making good choices. He doesn't take his success for granted. He reminds us of three simple keys in life:

Good goals
Commitment
Hard Work

This shouldn't be the only running book you read. Bob Glover's The Competitive Runner's Handbook: The Bestselling Guide to Running 5Ks through Marathons  is a great one, as is Hal Higdon's Marathon: The Ultimate Training Guide: Advice, Plans, and Programs for Half and Full Marathons. There are too many others to name, but Meb's book is worth your money and time.

Anthony Trendl
AmericanSpeechwriter.com

Secretly (But Now You Know)

Running regularly, consistently has been a challenge since I rebooted several years ago. Any reader of this blog knows I've stop-started too often.

So I am starting again. 100+ people already know. Following the basic 100 Day Challenge successfully accomplished in early 2014, I decided to begin a 50-day version. Same thing, only shorter.

I needed company. So I asked a few friends to join me. And they asked a few friends. 111 people have started. A few dropped off, but 107 are still at it. I only know 20% or so.

Today is day 12. I'll workout tonight. Ran a treadmill 5K yesterday in 28:28 (9:10/mile) as part of my run.

The general plan is 30+ minutes a day. I'm trying to add five minutes each day, per week. That is, each day of Week 1 I'll try to do 30 minutes. And each day of week two, I'll do at least 35 minutes. My true goal is the 30 minutes, and hope to well-exceed it as time goes by.

So far, mostly so good, but I'm getting there. Gained a little weight, but I'm not concerned. My mileage is still low, as it the intensity. Some of my workouts are walk-runs. It will accumulate.

To all of you who struggle to keep at it, you can do it. So can I.

Join me on Facebook, whudja? 

https://www.facebook.com/AnthonyTrendl

Boston Marathon Bombing

Pray for Boston

As many of you know, I am a runner. I raced this weekend. I won my age group. I ran a 24:10 after starting too fast. That's what this blog is all about: running. Today's Boston Marathon bombings, though, are bigger than running. It could have just as easily been a football or basketball game, or a parade or shopping mall. It wasn't. It was, instead, at the one of the most famous races in the world.

Many runners dream of racing the Boston Marathon. I do. I watched it this morning as a fan, and preparing for a client call (an Olympic runner who might want help writing a speech).

The explosions that blew near the finish line are frightening -- leaving the door open for all kinds of rash speculation. I won't entertain any of that here. I am a runner, and like any distance runner, have known a lot of people who have raced the Boston Marathon. My first thoughts weren't about politics, but about my friends.

My friends are safe and I am thankful to God. That's why I'm saying we should pray.

• Pray for those injured and their families. 
• Pray for the businesses who are seeing material damage. 
• Pray for the authorities to learn definitively what caused the explosion. 
• Pray for our national leadership in both parties to be wise and careful. 
• And if you do not believe in prayer, hope.

(originally in a different form posted here)

High Schooler Mary Cain Wins National Indoor Mile Title

May Mary Cain become who Mary Decker never became. Decker started with excellence, but injuries and other matters pulled her career to a halt.

Runner's World:
High Schooler Mary Cain Wins National Indoor Mile Title:
16-year-old defeats field of pros in tactical race.
By Peter Gambaccini
read here

 Fan of the mile race? See Bring Back the Mile on Facebook.

50 Days of Working Out (and more) into the 100 Days Challenge

51 days are behind me in the John "The Penguin" Bingham - 100 Days Challenge.

I have not skipped a day.

I did weigh myself. I said I wouldn't. But I did. It looks like I have lost 7-8 pounds. I could stand losing 10-15 more pounds.

I have run 79.20 miles, and walked 74.65 miles. That equals 153.67 miles.

101.391 miles were within the last 31 days. That includes walking.

I'm still having "walk days," meaning I do not run on that day, but walk usually around 15:00/mile.

7.25 miles run yesterday (Day 51) in 62:09 (8:34/mile)

5K in 24:17 (7:53/mile)

All on a treadmill, so all times are adjusted when I run outside. See this chart to convert treadmill times to outside running.

Given the treadmill factor, I have no idea how fast I can really run, but I am pleased with my progress. It is cold here in Chicago, and running during daylight is logistically not possible. I am anxious to try.