Start time: 11/08/05, 6:30pm
Location: Clarendon & Wilson Boulevards
Distance: 2.7 miles
Average pace: 9:28min/mile

A funny story by way of introduction. Before I ever started up this crazy running thing, I remember seeing people run up and down Wilson Boulevard (while eating dinner at Whitlow’s) and thinking how everyone who ran by looked really buff and athletic, and how cool it would be to be like them.

Fast-forward half a decade… and I’d finally gotten off my butt post-marathon and out running. Nine days of no running and apparently that’s all it takes for me to be huffing and puffing as I did a loop around the neighborhood. I just felt beat after a mile or so. Still, the important thing was to get back out there, finally.

Start time: 02/15/05, 4:30pm
Location: Local Neighborhood
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 4:1
Average pace: 12:30min/mile

In case you were wondering what that horrible sound coming from near my apartment was yesterday, it was my run coming crashing to a halt halfway through. I suddenly and without warning got a nasty stitch in my side that derailed me badly enough that after the second of four loops, I gave up. Bleah.

Start time: 7/29/03 and 7/31/03, 5:45pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles & 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:12min/mile & 13:30min/mile

Oops! Clearly this is what happens when you get out of the habit of doing your maintenance runs during the week—you forget to post the updates! Both days I had people I had to meet that evening (and had decided to sleep in), so I did the short loops and just two and a half miles. Tuesday’s run was near perfect; I felt really great at the end of the run and ready to do more. (If I wasn’t already a little late I would’ve probably done at least another half mile, maybe a full mile more. Ah well.) Today’s was good, and I’m feeling pretty confident about Saturday’s run now.

Start time: 7/3/03, 9:00pm
Location: Parents’s treadmill
Activity: Running
Distance: 2 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:00min/mile

So, starting today I’m watching my parents’s dog while they’re on vacation for the next week and a half. I figured after tonight’s “Amazing Race” I’d go running. It’s a safe neighborhood, I’ve got no fears with running late at night through it.

I forgot to pack shorts. Oops.

Oh well, it’s not like the dog will care that I’m running on the treadmill in my boxer briefs. (I really loathe running on the treadmill, though. Decided two miles was more than enough under the circumstances.

Start time: 6/17/03, 6:45pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:30min/mile

The moral of today’s story is to not put things off. I reset my alarm this morning to let myself sleep another hour or two with the promise that I’d run when I got home from work. When I went to work, it wasn’t raining. When I got home, it was. But, somehow, I hauled myself out through the light drizzle for 2.5 miles and then decided to call it a day. My achilles tendons were still a little tight and the weather was crappy enough that I wasn’t feeling up to the extra distance today. Hopefully Thursday will be a bit more pleasant.

Start time: 6/5/03, 6:45pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:45min/mile

So I decided that I wanted some peace and quiet when I went running last night, so I left the iPod at home. What I got, well, that’s an entirely different story…

Greg’s Body And What It Had To Say:

Left Calf: You know how your body doesn’t ever really warm up for the first mile or so? Well, in light of that I am going to be a little stiff.
Right Thigh: In an effort to keep you balanced, I will sympathetically stiffen up as well.
Left Hip: Ooh, ooh, can I play too?
Left Calf: No.
Left Hip: Drat.
Ears: In an effort to be helpful, we will start running Liz Phair’s “Divorce Song” through your head to keep you company. “And when you asked… for a separate room…”
Right Foot: Stop that! Stop that right now! Here, I will distract you by almost stepping on a huge rock that is mysteriously sitting in the middle of the sidewalk.
Left Calf: I know that I’ve been loosening up, but now I will momentarily tighten so you don’t forget about me.
Eyes: Hey, are we going to get home in time to watch The Amazing Race?
Left Wrist: Yeah, I think so. Aren’t you going a little fast?
Nose: Gak. Freshly spread mulch smell.
Ears: “And it’s true that I stole your lighter…”
Right Thigh: I’m bored and tired of this game. I will loosen up and leave you alone now.
Ears: “And it’s also true that I lost the map…”
Forehead: Is it safe for me to drip sweat into your eyes now?
Ears: “But when you said that I wasn’t worth talking to…”
Mouth: How about a drink of water?
Entire Body: “I had to take your word on that!”
…silence…
Left Wrist: Hey, we took that first mile and a quarter a little faster than what we were aiming for! That means the second mile and a quarter we get to go a little slower!
Entire Body: Hurrah! We love slower!

Repeat over and over again.

(Postscript: And then the second half was still a little fast.)

Start time: 5/14/03, 9:30am
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:1
Average pace: 13:25min/mile

While still trying to decide my training plans, I figured I should try out what would be my new run:walk ratio. If I’m going to be in the 14:00min/mile group, that means I should be training at a 3:1, instead of my old pace of a 3:2 (for 14:30min/mile).

Phew. I knew I did the first loop way too fast, something I am all too familiar with doing when out on my own. Especially at a new pace, I have a tendency to blast through my run cycles and then collapse in a heap before too long. (Especially since with switching from 3:2 to 3:1, my running speed should actually be slower than before, if you think about it.) So when halfway through my second loop I had to walk a little extra, I felt emotionally crushed, even though logically I knew that this was because of the far-too-fast earlier speed. In the end, with an extra two minutes of walking in the second loop I still ended up just over half-a-minute per mile too fast overall. Yeesh. (Even with the temporary crash, the second half clocked in exactly at a 14:00min/mile. Waaaay too fast in the first half.)

So now I’m still in “furnace mode” even after a nice cold shower. As soon as my body temperature drops a little lower, off to work I go…

Start time: 4/30/03, 8:00am
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 13:30min/mile

Oof. Been a loooooong time since I did a weekday run in the morning. This is a habit I need to get back into. Unfortunately I found it hard to fall asleep earlier last night and so I was pretty beat before I even started this morning. My pace definitely dropped a bit in the second loop, where I ended up walking a tiny bit more because I was feeling so ragged. Still, a good overall pace.

Start time: 4/16/03, 6:15pm
Location: Local neighborhood
Activity: Running
Distance: 2.5 miles
Run:Walk ratio: 3:2
Average pace: 14:30min/mile

“Holy crap!” That’s all that was going through my head by the time I finished today’s little run. It’s been, um, a while since I’ve pounded the pavement. I have no real good excuses for the vast majority of my avoidance of doing so. So this was gonna hurt, that much was certain.

Let’s just put it this way. I don’t remember being this wiped out from a mid-week run in a looooong time. Ugh. Looking down at the gut, I can see why. Time to stop being such a lardass. Ah well, better get the pain in now instead of Saturday, which would be far worse if I didn’t start moving today!