Monday - New Year's Eve

"Run slowly, run daily, drink moderately and don't eat like a pig." -Dr. Ernest van Aaken

Lift in the morning, Swim at lunch, Run after work.

With that last run out of the way, I'll know my total 2007 mileage!! I think it will be 1,463 or close to that. Better than previous year, but I'll try to improve it for 2008. I'm coming up with my 2008 New Year's Resolutions.

These are my tentative running, swimming, and cycling goals:
1. Run 2008 miles or more.
2. Run 2 or more marathons.
3. Swim 200 miles.

(to be continued)

Saturday - Long Run

The holidays are just killing me. That and the weather. I ran three times this week, 6,6, and 12 for a measly 24 miles. I did get to the weight room a couple of times and I did swim a couple of times... so I maintained my place. But I'm not in better shape than I was a week ago, and that's always the goal.

so 12 miles this morning. Next Saturday I'm still planning to do a 26.2 mile training run. I did some 20's and then a 12 today, so if I run a couple of times next week I should have no trouble. I'm still planning to do the Snickers Marathon Bar marathon in Albany on March 1st, so this run is just part of my training for that event.

Thursday

Went to the gym this morning. I must be getting old... Take a few days off and it's like taking 4 giant steps backwards, in terms of my workouts. Sort of. At least in the weight room. I did OK with the bench but really ran out of gas on the ab stuff. No sweat, it will come back. I'll make it up over the weekend.

I'll swim at lunch and then run 6 easy miles tonight after work.

There's a good article on nutrition in Runner's World. The article was published in 2004, but I got it in my inbox this morning. Chris Carmichael, Lance Armstrong's coach and nutritionist, discusses nutrition during high intensity training. Lance was eating 70% carbs during the Tour...

What I do is in way comparable to participating in the Tour de France, yet his carb intake at 70% underscores just how skewed your diet has to be to maintain energy levels for extended periods of time. Low-carb diets? Not for me, thanks.

Wednesday

Grrrrr

Work in the AM, swam a mile at lunch... and then ran 6 miles when I got home from work. 46° out this evening, blustery for Bozeman MT but a bit nippy for Columbus, espescially when you add the 10mph wind in my face.

My daughter bought me a Road ID bracelet. I've been hinting around and did everything short of setting the Road ID homepage as her computer's homepage. She had the opportunity to add the last, bottom-most line on the ID, so she added "Isaiah 40:31" which is,

"But they that wait upon the LORD
shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings as EAGLES
they shall run, and not be weary;
and they shall walk, and not faint"

I'm very happy with the bracelet and very proud of her. She knows that now that it's on my wrist, it's like my watch, or my ring... it will probably never come off.

Having the Road ID or similar bracelet is a good thing. I've passed out a few times and have been very lucky that I've been near people who knew me; it could just as easily happen when I'm running by myself early in the morning, or swimming... it's important to keep some ID on you. This bracelet is just a very handy way to make sure the information is always there.

Red Nose Marathon details

Heidi, from the Columbus Roadrunners, emailed us the route for the Columbus Red Nose Marathon and Half Marathon... so here are the routes:

Red Nose Marathon

Red Nose Half Marathon

Both runs start and finish at Fountain City Coffee.

Since I have to work that day (at Below The Knee), I'm planning to start at around 5am so that I'll be finished and at the store by 10am. My only goal is to finish the run and then be able to work all day, so I'm just treating it as a longer training run. I've been doing 20 & 21 mile runs for a while now, so I don't anticipate any problems other than getting lost when I get to Fort Benning.

On my long runs I normally turn around at the 10 mile point, which for me is where the Riverwalk trail crosses 10th Division Road. I've crossed the road before, but I always seem to lose my way once I get up the hill. If you look at the course map, we go across the street and then follow the path all the way to the intersection of Baltzell & Bergen St, right by the Follow Me Golf Course. So that part will be new to me. I might go to Oxbow Meadows this Saturday and incorporate that part of the course into my run.

So my plan is to start at 5am, run the thing by myself, finish it in around 4:20, then shower and get to work by 10.

Saturday - Long Run

Man, the holidays are tough! Work parties, stuff to do at home, errands to run. Crikey.

Still, this week I did manage to run a couple of times, lift weights M-W-F, and swim 4 times. And I did a 20.5 mile run this morning. I'm going to try to run Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, since the gym won't be open much.

So next up on my calendar is the Columbus Red Nose Marathon on January 5th. I'll need to start very early and try to finish up and get to work by 10 am.

Tuesday

Lower body & abs at the gym in the AM, plus 1 mile swim at lunch. The new goggles are working, my last pair were old and really messed up. Had a work commitment last night.

*****warning: nerd alert******

in other news, I finally got off my butt and forwarded the Treo 700p phone number to my Blackberry Curve, so it will answer both numbers. Since I run a blackberry server and a Windows Sync Enterprise Server I need to have both phones up and running all the time to help monitor the servers. But it's an embuggerance to carry both phones,and now I just have to carry the Curve. I can leave the Treo charged up in my bag, or whatever.

I can post photos from the Treo directly to this page by emailing a certain address. They automatically show up here. The Blackberry Curve, on the other hand, has a different phone number and in fact my Curve photos go to a different site. My goal is to get that fixed so that I can post pictures from the Curve straight here. The Curve's camera is better than the one on my Treo.

Saturday - Long Run day

This morning I ran from the Chattahoochee River Club to Fort Benning & back, so a total of 20.6 miles or thereabouts. Followed that with a shower at the Y, then a trip to Starbucks, home to grab my bag... than off to work.

Last Saturday I was running on the Riverwalk and was running in the soft ground off to the right of the actual paved trail, since my knees were hurting a little. It was still pretty dark. All of a sudden, I was poked in the eye by something, either a stick, a branch, an owl, some hidden guy's finger, who knows, but it literally dropped me to the ground. It hurt like hell. I got to my feet and staggered around and finally finished the run, but ended up going to the opthalmologist to have it looked at the following Monday.

The opthalmologist's office was a trip. I got there at 2:15, like I was asked, and left just before 5pm. I'm guessing that elderly people are an opthalmologist's bread and butter. I think I was the only one in there under 65 years old. Glad I went though, my cornea was scratched and infected.

I'll be at Below The Knee from 10-6 Saturday and 1-5 on Sunday.

Friday

Made it to the gym at 5am for my strength workout. 35 minutes, then back home to get ready for work.

Ran at lunch, and I think it was about 65 degrees. I ran with no shirt- the sun was out, the weather was just about perfect. I ran from Bibb City Mill to Phenix City Amphitheatre & back, about 5.7 miles @ 8:20 per mile.

What's with the homeless on the 14th Street Bridge? I have nothing against homeless people, my heart goes out to 99% of them, but the dipsticks on that bridge need to be moved out of there. I ran past them and then they yelled at me (love that- they wait until you're about 50 feet away before they say things.). I'll keep running past and just closer and closer. What a mess.

WCAP Runner's blog - Thursday

Swam 1 mile, ran 6 miles. I'm really enjoying the swimming again. I swam last winter too, I need to go back through my entries to see why I stopped... but I'm liking it again so far.

When I had my store in Auburn, College Street Sports, I was lucky to have some great athletes work for me. Brian Abshire, Carlos Gibbs, Demarcus Curry, Leonard Thomas, Jenna Yancey to name a few (google them- Abshire ran a 13:20 5K at Carlsbad, then ran in the Olympics... Demarcus played for Tampa Bay... Leonard played CFL...Jenna's done the Hawaiin Ironman numerous times)and actually helped place Carlos into the Army World Class Athlete Program. At that time (1996) there were a bunch of WCAP guys in Auburn training for the steeplechase. Quite a few went to the Trials, although none made the Olympic Team.

Anyway...I just ran across a post in the Runner's World forums and found Nate Pennington's blog. He's a WCAP runner, a marathoner, and he was the the fastest American at the California International Marathon just a couple of weeks ago. Ran a 2:19:35 in that race. We'll be looking for him in the 2012 Olympics???

Wednesday

Swam 1 mile.

One thing about weightlifting, at least the way I do it: I hadn't been to the pool in a month and went back in last week, swam 1/2 a mile like it was nothing. Could easily have gone a mile or more.

Tuesday

Well, I was gonna swim at lunch today but my son borrowed the car, and.... so I was stuck. Ended up running 6 miles after work. I'm enjoying running in the neighborhood when I get home. It's dark, I can wear my AirDrive earphones and still hear traffic, and then I get to enjoy all the holiday decorations. I'm listening to an audiobook now, Ken Follett's Hornet Flight. Each chapter lasts just over an hour. So I run 6 miles and do some cool down & stretching in the driveway while I wait for the chapter to finish.

It's still shorts and no shirt weather here. Supposed to cool up next week.

Monday

2 or 3 things planned today:

- run 5.7 miles - the weather looks awesome, shoes shorts & no shirt run at lunch...
- lift weights
- swim

and oh yeah, the eye doctor. I called and got an appointment for 2:30, told to be there at 2:15. I got there at 2 and left just before 5. My eye was scratched and infected.

But I did get to lift today, and I ran 5.6 miles around 7pm after I got home from work.

Eye Pain

I was running yesterday morning in the dark, on the side of a path, and got jabbed in my eye by part of tree branch. It hurt like hell and I walked for a couple of minutes until I could see out of my (now very painful) right eye again, and then went on and finished the run.

Last night I woke up every 30 minutes with a lot of pain. I even filled up the sink with warm water and stuck my head in, opened my eyes, moved them around etc in order to clean it... but it's still really painful today.

I'm going to see an opthalmologist tomorrow, but I'm wondering if there's anything I can do today to help. I think I scratched the eyball, and that there might be some dirt or something in my right eye, still.

Any ideas?

Thanks

Mike

Saturday

10 mile run this morning.

I'll be helping out at Below The Knee today until 2pm and then on Sunday.

Thursday - Friday

Less running, more swimming.

I plan on doing my long run on Saturday, but this week I spent more time lifting and swimming than running. And swimming with the world's crappiest goggles, I might add. It takes forever to get them to seal correctly, and on Friday, I made it halfway down the pool when the strap broke! I stood there in the middle of pool tying the strap in a knot... finally got them usable again, but they fog up badly about 2 laps into it, I can't see anything, it's a miracle I don't just smash into the wall at the end of the pool.

I'm getting new goggles this weekend.

I am running at 6am Saturday at the Riverwalk, starting from Rotary Park and heading south.

Sgt Jill Stephens - Miss Utah

I know who I'll be rooting for in the Miss America pageant: Miss Utah! Sgt. Jill Stevens is a medic in the Utah National Guard's 1st Battalion, 211th Aviation Regiment. She's also completed 9 marathons, most recently the Marine Corps Marathon.

Mon-Tues-Wed

Have you read the Runner's World article on General Petraeus? Wow. He took his staff on a 5.7 mile run and averaged less than 6-minute miles... then did 17 reps on the pullup bar where he touched his feet to the bar... pretty amazing. Read it if you get a chance.

So after reading that on Sunday, I'm doing the Crossfit 'knees to elbows' exercise in between decline bench and bench sets at the gym. I still did a couple of sets of the glute-ham situps. I can do 10 of the knees-to-elbows. I'll just keep doing them and see how much I can improve.

Mon- weights, no running
Tue- core, 6 mile run
Wed= weights, 6 mile run, maybe 1 mile swim added tonight

Saturday

Got to the Riverwalk at 6:30 this morning, running a bit late. I saw quite a lot of Columbus Roadrunners running club folks at Rotary Park, then saw another big group of runners coming from the River Club area... so it was pretty busy.

I went out 6.5 miles & turned around. I didn't run many miles this week, but I've promised myself to do better next week.

When I get in the habit of lunch runs, or evening runs, my mileage goes down. I have to run in the mornings & then add other workouts to that in the remainder of the day. So my goal for next week: 5 runs totalling 40+ miles, swimming & weights.

The AirDrive earphones are working great. Half marathon distance today, 18 miles last Saturday, never once had to adjust the earpieces and I could talk to people while listening to my music. It's pretty amazing that you can hear all the ambient sounds while listening to your mp3 player with these earphones.

Friday

Plan for Friday:

Gym at 5am for weights & circuit training. Run at lunch. I can't decide whether I'll run near work (5x1.1 mile loop) or go to the Riverwalk and run from Bibb Mill to Phenix City Amphitheatre and back (5.6 miles). It's supposed to be 68° today and sunny... so a lunch run will be really nice. Just need to figure out how much time I have and where to go.

One of the ladies at work did the Couch to 5K program last January and February. She got up to 70 minutes of running over the summer... she still runs 3 or 4 times a week but now she's added some core work with a fitness ball. She has been really excited about the results.

Thursday

I guess falling down in public is funny- at least it seemed like that to the people who were there to witness my faceplant yesterday at lunch. I had to get up on the sidewalk during my run and I guess I wasn't paying attention...

So I ended with 5.7 miles and a skinned-up shoulder.

Sun-Weds

Swam a couple of times but no running. I did do abs 3x.

Monday

It's raining like crazy right now (5am), which is good, but I hope it stops by noon so I can run.

My neighbors must think I'm nuts. I come home on Saturdays after my long runs and after parking the car, I gingerly and painstakingly inch my way up the driveway. I probably look like the people in this video:

Columbus Riverwalk Alligators

I talked to some folks yesterday who claim that an alligator has been seen between on the Riverwalk between Rigdon Park & the Columbus Water Works.

Saturday

39° this morning... ran for a couple of hours... 18.1 miles... from Rotary Park on the Columbus Riverwalk to Fort Benning and back, then up to Broadway in Uptown Columbus and back. Clear, cool & breezy. My pace was all over the charts today.

Thanksgiving

10 miles on the Riverwalk this morning. First time i've noticed the "CAUTION ALLIGATOR HABITAT" signs... You might want to read Tim Chitwood's column in the local paper for further clarification :-)

Ok, so a little 10 miler this morning, then Thanksgiving dinner & football all day.

Friday a shorter run and then a 16-18 mile run on Saturday. I'm thinking about doing the '2nd Annual Red Nose Marathon on January 5th.

Tuesday

Core workout in the morning, 5.7 miles at lunch.

I'm using SportTracks in addition to the excel log that I've used for years. I haven't used SportTracks in a long time but decided to download and install the newest version. Very nice software that works with my Garmin 201. I'll probably use it exclusively starting in January.

Monday

Made it to the gym at 5am for my weight routine.

Ran 5.5 miles at lunch, the work loop next to my office building. It's warm Monday - Tuesday - Wednesday this week. 69° during my run...

I was very tempted to take my shirt off, but didn't. I would have if I'd been on a different route not so close to work. There's an interesting thread in the Runner's World forums about running shirtless... I guess the only place I don't run shirtless (in warm weather) is that one route near my office. Everywhere else, the shirt comes off.

Review: AirDrive Earphones

AirDrive earphones:

I am very particular about my running gear, whether it's shoes, shorts, shirt, cap, Camelbak, gloves, whatever. I'll spend a little more to get quality merchandise that lasts longer or performs better. This includes my mp3 player & my headphones. Up till now, the weakest link has always been earphones. Well, not any longer. I finally got some AirDrive earphones.

Three things separate AirDrive earphones from others:

• The ability to hear ambient sounds
• The ability to adjust the ear piece so it stays in place, even on long runs
• The built-in volume adjustment slider.

The ability to hear ambient sounds: The AirDrive earphones do not cover your auditory canal. When you put the earphones on, the speaker is located just to the front of your ear, so you can hear the music but also hear everything that's going on around you. You can carry on a conversation, hear approaching cars, listen to the sounds of nature...in short, you're no longer unaware of your environment while running. I can hear footsteps in the grass 10 meters in front of me while I'm listening to Led Zeppelin, in other words. I can hear a dog barking across the Chattahoochee River while I'm running on the Riverwalk listening to Korn. And when I'm running on the street I can hear all the traffic sounds. I'm not locked inside my own isolated music cocoon.

The ear grips stay put during runs: Usually I'm constantly fiddling around with the earphones. Forget earbud earphones, they don't work at all. The earbuds fall out once I get sweaty. And with all the other ear grip type earphones, the ear grips get sweaty and rotate around, because they aren't moldable enough... but the AirDrive ear grips are a little bit thicker and easier to shape, so that I can shape them to fit my ear exactly. I can totally mold them to fit my ears. I put them over my ear, adjust them, and they stay put. Even on a 3-hour run, I never once have to touch them- they stay in place.

The built-in volume slider: I've got gigs worth of mp3 files, and the recording level is different on all of them. Or it sure seems like it! I'll set the volume just perfectly, and 3 songs later I can barely hear the words. Or it will be too loud. And I'm too lazy to normalize the volume, so it's just been an embuggerance I've learned to live with. Well, on the AirDrive earphones, there's a built-in volume adjustment slider that's easy to find and use. I can adjust the volume as I'm running, from loud as hell to totally silent or someplace in between. It's a great feature and one that I've used many times already.

Obviously, I like these earphones a lot. I've used them for running, and I've used them while sitting at my desk at work. My co-workers have tried them and have been astonished that they can listen to music and still hear what's going on in the office. My wife now wants a pair, since they mold to her smaller ears (that's a first- she's gone through more workout earphones than I have).

The earphones are $99 and they're available by going to the AirDrive site and following the link to an online retailer. The price is well worth it.

Saturday

I decided to run the God Bless Fort Benning 5K this morning. About 200 runners showed up. It was pretty cold, 35°, and this race was competing with another local 5K that was the last race in a 3-part series. I needed to decide whether to do a long run, do the 5K at Smiths Station, or do the Fort Benning 5K. I decided to do the Fort Benning race, and I'm glad that I did. I only wish that I could have stayed to enjoy more of the whole God Bless Fort Benning event, but I had to leave after the race.

This race course was a little different than the other one I've run in Uptown Columbus. This course took us down a hill toward the river, then after a long block it turned back and we had to go up a hill... this sort of took the wind out of my sails and I began cursing silently to myself... but got through it and through the first mile @ 6:45, which was my target. I was behind a group of 4 or 5 soldiers and ran with them pretty much until the 3rd mile, when 2 of them shot forward, 2 fell back, and I was left in the middle. I ended up with a 22:38 which was disappointing, but good enough for 1st in my age group. I think this route found all the hills in an area known for being flat as a pancake!

There were lots of soldiers at the event and as I watched the Rangers In Action demonstration, I looked to my right and there was radio host Dr. Laura Schlessinger standing next to me.

God Bless Fort Benning 5K

Just saw that radio host Dr Laura Schlessinger will be running in the God Bless Fort Benning 5K this weekend. Her son is deployed in Afghanistan. link

The God Bless Fort Benning 5K starts at 8:30 am at the 1000 block of Broadway on Saturday. Pre-Registration starts at 7am. This run benefits the God Bless Fort Benning benevolent fund, which supports soldiers who need a helping hand. Good cause!

Couch to 5K Program Podcasts

I've known several people who've used the Couch to 5K Running Program. It's a 9-week program to get back into running or to start running as a beginner. Really good method to get in shape. I printed this program out and gave it to a co-worker a year ago and she is still running, and she's running about an hour a day. She followed the C25K program all the way through and then kept adding distance and time until she hit 45 minutes. After that, she added 5 minutes a week. This past summer she was running 80 minutes a day, 5 days a week. She's totally into running now and it will definitely be a lifetime thing for her.

The C25K program uses walking and running. Here's the first day's workout in Week 1:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk. Then alternate 60 seconds of jogging and 90 seconds of walking for a total of 20 minutes.

I just found a site this morning for people who are going through the Couch to 5K program and have an iPod or mp3 player. Robert Ullrey has created podcasts (mp3's) that you can download and listen to as you're going through the C25K program. The podcasts are located on Robert Ullrey's site. The podcasts are separated out by Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 and so on, so they match the C25K program's workouts. You listen to the podcast and it will tell you when to walk, when to run, how long you've been running, etc... along with some catchy 'beats per minute' music. Just seems like a great way to stay motivated and not have to set & check your watch all the time.

Thursday

One more time doing the lunch 1.1 mile loop 5 times. I did use the Garmin "virtual training partner" today just to make it interesting. That little monochrome bastard was beating me until I warmed up and shot past his sorry butt around mile 2.

I may do that loop regularly now. It's sort of hilly but my knees aren't acting up, so I'll continue it. It's convenient to work so it saves both time and gas money. I can change, run, shower, and change again in just about an hour.

I did use my AirDrive headphones today again. I'll do the review on them this weekend, but I'm still very impressed. It's great to finally have something that I don't have to constantly re-adjust every 1/4 mile. And I can hear what's going on around me, which is nice on this loop since there's quite a bit of traffic. I could hear every car and still listen to the iPod.

Wednesday

Weight & circuit training this morning at 5am:
1. Decline Bench (4 sets 8 reps)
2. Dumbell Flies (4 sets 8 reps)
3. Bench Press (4 sets 8 reps)
4. Circuit: 5 iterations of:
Crossfit ham-glute situps (20 reps)
Heavy bag work, left jab & straight right
Curls
Dips

Lunch run, 5.6 miles, around the 1.1 mile loop near where I work. Uphill 1/2 mile, downhill 1/2 mile, repeat etc. Monotonous save for my new AirDrive headphones which I am truly loving. I showed them off at work today and can verify that they fit large and small ears, since about half a dozen people tried them on. It's just great not to have to constantly adjust the earpiece during a run, and to be able to hear music and the noises that go along with running outdoors. I'll put together a review of them on Saturday or Sunday.

Got home and walked/ran my dog around the lake, 2.5 miles start to finish.

Tuesday

God Bless Fort Benning 5K - this Saturday


Did some situps in the morning, then ran in the afternoon yesterday. I had my first opportunity to run using my new AirDrive headphones. These are the headphones I've wanted since I first heard about them- they allow you to hear all the ambient noises while still listening to your favorite music. There are a lot of features. I was very, very impressed and will do a complete review on them this weekend.

I don't know what's going on but my normal training runs are sure getting faster. It could just be the weather...it is getting cooler...or it could be something else.

A normal Monday, Wednesday, Friday for me:
5am - 35 minute circuit training / weights
noon- 6 mile run
evening - 2.5 mile fast walk

Tues - Thurs:
am: situps, back exercises
noon: 6 mile run
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Saturday:
am: 15-20 mile run
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Sunday:
no running or weights
pm: 2.5 mile fast walk

Monday

Supposed to be in the 70's Tuesday and Wednesday, so I'm running at lunch to take advantage of the nice weather.


Weights in the morning consisted of these exercises:
1. Decline Bench (4 sets 8 reps)
2. Dumbell Flies (4 sets 8 reps)
3. Bench Press (4 sets 8 reps)
4. Circuit: 5 iterations of:
Crossfit ham-glute situps (20 reps)
Heavy bag work, left jab & straight right
Curls
Dips

Ran 6 miles at lunch @ 8:00 pace

Saturday Pt II

I took a few photos with my Treo this morning and posted them using the "mobile blogging" feature that's available in Blogger. I take a photo & send it to an email address, and it shows up here. So just a couple in reverse order.

Got to Rotary Park a few minutes before 6 and met up with Jack, who ran 6 with me before turning around. I kept going to the turnaround point (for me) at Fort Benning. Then back to Rotary Park, but I went past it for another mile before going back. Ended up with 17.2 miles this morning.

Oxbow Meadows

Rotary Park 6am

Saturday

46° wind chill this morning. I'm planning to do 15-18 miles, depending. I'll bring the Treo and try to send some photos straight from the run... should see the sunrise around 7am.

Friday

Made it to the gym at 5 for my weight workout. I'm up to 5 sets of 20 of the crossfit glute-ham situp, which I do in between sets of decline bench and bench. I go through everything pretty quickly and am finished with the entire workout in about 30 minutes. I'll probably just add reps to that situp, not sets. I'd like to get to 5 sets of 50.

I've been able to get out for a run at lunch this week pretty easily, so I'll do the same thing today and update the distance tonight.

One thing I've noticed is that drinking the carb/protein shakes after both the weight workout and the run workout has really made a huge difference in my energy level and my ability to keep doing 2 workouts a day most days. I usually mix CeraSport & protein powder. For runs, I mix it up ahead of time in a 32-ounce Nalgene bottle and just keep it in the car for when I finish. After weights, I mix it in a blender when I get home. After 15-20 mile or longer runs, I follow that up with some additional drinks, usually by buying a gatorade or similar and then mixing some protein powder into it. I'm not gaining any weight from it... just feeling better. More energy, stronger...

On last Saturday's run, I ran the last 7.5 miles with a tall 27-yr old, 210-lb ex-college quarterback, lean and in great shape, who was doing 8-minute miles until he was saddled with me as a running partner and had to slow down to 8:40. Talking to him, he was saying that he's stopped the lower body weight workouts except for lunges, which he said really helped him, but he was still doing the upper body. He ended up running 21 miles Saturday. He said that he follows up both his weight workout and running workouts with the protein mix, so it sort of confirmed what I had been thinking myself about it.

Thursday

I went back to the Bibb City Mill - Phenix City amphitheatre route today. Probably around 55 degrees and sunny when I started at 1pm... Nice run. I used my Garmin and came up with 5.6 miles for the route, starting at the Gazebo and running to the Dillingham Street Bridge and back.

Wednesday

Weight room this morning at 5am. Same as usual, except that I did 5 sets of 20 ham-glute situps instead of 4. And I did 14 reps of 160 on the bench at the end of my 8 decline bench / bench sets.

A little chilly here, in the 30's this morning.

Provided I don't accidentally defibrillate myself in my CPR/Defibrillator class this morning, I'll run at lunch again, the same 5.5 mile route, only this time i'll remember to wear the Garmin in order to get an accurate distance. Lunch runs are the same for me: change in the bathroom closest to the exit door, get to my car, haul ass to the run site, run, then get back in the car, haul ass back to work, shower & change, then get back to my desk. I shoot for an hour total.

**UPDATE**
I didn't defibrillate myself, the machine was smarter than me. The class was good and our instructor was very good. However, it did include a lunch so I blew off my run until this evening. So I ran 5.6 miles in the neighborhood. 54° here, not so cold, but a far cry from what seems like yesterday when it was hot & humid all the time.

Tuesday

Ran at lunch. I got to the north marina and it was taped off for some reason, so I drove to the Riverwalk entry point near the Bibb City Mill and ran south to the Phenix City Amphitheatre, then back. About 5 miles? maybe a little further. Next time, I'll take my Garmin so I can figure out the distance. A very enjoyable run and it may be my default lunch route from now on. Flat, and interesting, since this route passes the projects, the TSYS campus, and then crosses over into Phenix City. And workers were putting Christmas decorations up on the Phenix City side of the Riverwalk.


This was in my Daily Runner's Quote:

"The greatest treadmill running song, of course, is 'Black Dog' from Led Zeppelin IV." -Pete Pfitzinger

Monday

Gym at 5am... the usual.

I got an email back from the God Bless Fort Benning 5K event coordinator, and they will be doing 5-year age groups for the run. That's good news, since races usually have more participants if they split the age groups like that. I'd love it if this race became a well-attended annual event.

I'll update after my run today.

God Bless Fort Benning 5K

I noticed that the God Bless Fort Benning 5K information is available. Does anyone know about the age groups? Are they 10-year or 5-year?

Not too sure if I can make that one, since I have to work that Saturday, but I'll be there if I can find a way.

Saturday

49° this morning when I got to the Riverwalk at 6am. Met Jack there, who I'd done some runs with before his Twin Cities marathon. Ran 5 miles with Jack, then continued to my turnaround point at Fort Benning, and met up with one of the Tennessee Tech football coaches who's in town (they play Auburn today in football). He is training for the St Jude Memphis Marathon. He had been clicking off 8:00 miles until he joined me for the 7.5 miles back to Rotary Park. He continued on, since he was running 20 this morning and I was only doing 15. I think he also sped up a little :-)

He slowed down for me, but we still averaged 8:40 miles for that 7.5 miles... so for me it was kind of hard. My half-marathon time today was 2:01:02, which is not too bad for a training run in my case. I've had faster, but normally it's a couple minutes slower than that.

But anyway, we were talking about the Olympic Marathon trials, which were this morning, and he knew Ryan Hall. Ryan Hall kicked it in the trials this morning, running a record qualifying time. Ryan Hall just seems like a great guy, as does Brian Sell, who came in 3rd. Brian works 20 hours a week in the Home Depot Garden Center when he's not running. It's a pretty cool outcome and I hope it gets people jazzed about the Olympic marathon.

So for me, a nice morning's run & good people to run with. Can't ask for much more than that!

Friday

Decided to lift weights this morning instead of run, so I went to the gym and it was CLOSED! I guess the guy who opens it overslept. So now my whole day is in turmoil...maybe I can get away at lunch, and then run tonight. Hmmmm.

Planning to do 16 miles on Saturday.

Thursday

I revamped my whole morning alarm routine: clock radio, blackberry, treo... all 3 were set, and it worked. The alarm on a Blackberry Curve is very loud, by the way. The effect of all 3 of them was like waking up in a clock factory. Left the house at 4:15 am, walked .2 miles (warming up),ran 7.7 miles, back home by 5:40am to feed dogs, wake everyone, iron my clothes etc. And take a shower :-)

I'll probably get to the gym at some point today to do the leg extensions & hamstring curls. They seem to be helping the vague knee pain I've been experiencing the past few weeks. I'll do some ab and lower back exercises while I'm there. I've been doing the Crossfit ham-glute situps (4 sets of 20+) M-W-F in between bench sets, then I do the bicycle crunches (3 sets of 100) T-Th-Sa.

Beginning bodyweight for November 2007: 178 lbs

Wednesday

How is it possible to sleep through 2 alarms????

Weights @ lunch; 2.5 mile run

Last post for October 2007. 153.6 miles total running, 37.5 miles walking

PBS

Tonight on PBS:
Marathon Challenge
Tuesday, October 30, 8:00pm
CHANNEL 8 (GPB/Georgia Public Broadcasting)
Thirteen novices, ranging in age from 22 to 60, train nine months for the Boston Marathon. The group includes a former smoker, a heart-attack survivor and an overweight woman, and receives support from three-time Boston Marathon winner Uta Pippig.

How do you run 26.2 miles if you have trouble making it around the block? With good coaching, discipline, and lots of group support, as NOVA shows when it follows 13 normally sedentary people through a training regimen designed to prepare them for an ultimate test of stamina and endurance. Created in cooperation with the Boston Athletic Association®, which granted NOVA unprecedented access to the 111th Boston Marathon®, and Tufts University, "Marathon Challenge" takes viewers on a unique adventure inside the human body, tracking the physiological changes that exercise can bring about. More

Tuesday

Ran this morning at 4:30am. I need to get back into the morning run routine, so this week is it for me. 5.2 miles. It was 49 degrees out. I've had frostbite before and my hands get cold even in relatively mild weather, so I wore gloves. Also the SportHill loose-fit tights, longsleeve t-shirt, and a cap. Just about perfect for the weather.


Daylight Savings Time begins on Sunday, so it will be dark when I get home from work. My routine will be run in the morning, gym at night after work. The bad part is that the in the morning, I always had the entire free weights area to myself. Not so at night... usually a few others there with the same plans as me. I'll start at the gym tonight with just the leg extensions, hamstring curls, and ab exercises. I just hope it's not too crowded.

Monday

Basically just a cross-training day for me. I went to the gym at 5am and did my weight routine for 40 minutes.

What's the Burn? A Calorie Calculator

You can use the formulas below to determine your calorie-burn while running and walking. The "Net Calorie Burn" measures calories burned, minus basal metabolism. Scientists consider this the best way to evaluate the actual calorie-burn of any exercise. The walking formulas apply to speeds of 3 to 4 mph. At 5 mph and faster, walking burns more calories than running.

Your Total Calorie Burn/Mile Your Net Calorie Burn/Mile
Running .75 x your weight (in lbs.) .63 x your weight
Walking .53 x your weight .30 x your weight

Saturday

This morning was one of those really great runs. I did a 15-mile out-and-back at the Riverwalk, starting about 6am. Clear skies, about 50 degrees, full moon, starry sky. As I ran in the dark alongside the Chattahoochee River, the moon was over my right shoulder. About 2 miles into the run, the trail enters a wooded area with a lot of twists and turns and then a mile later into a big open area, then back into the woods, then back into the open. Best part of the run, for sure... I had planned on doing 18 but got a late start.

It looks like we'll have a new 5K coming up in November, on the 17th, in conjunction with the God Bless Fort Benning celebration. Every year in Columbus there's an annual protest against the School of the Americas, which used to be at Fort Benning. Basically a bunch of spoiled, naive college kids and some professional protesters show up in town, stand around the gates of Fort Benning, eat granola, chant, and then form into a drum circle. It's just ridiculous. The college kids even get course credit for doing this. The God Bless Fort Benning celebration is a counter to that, and draws about 20,000 people for several days. So anyway, this year the venue has been changed for the God Bless Fort Benning celebration, and it looks like there may be a 5K involved on November 17th.

Thursday

Went to the gym this morning and did leg extensions, hamstring curls, and ab exercises. The ab exercises are the Bicycle Crunches shown in this Runner's World video. I do 3 sets of 100 pretty quickly. The leg extensions and hamstring curls will hopefully fix the knee pains I'm getting occasionally. I do the Crossfit glute-ham situps on M-W-F and the bicycle crunches on T-Th-Sa.

Ran 5.5 miles at lunch today, hilly again... it's 5+ laps... on the street by my workplace. You go uphill for about 1/2 mile, then downhill...then uphill, then downhill...

The weather last night was pretty crummy, so it looks like I'll be running on Sunday.

The best news is that I went over 1,200 miles for the year with today's lunch run! I'm at 1,201.78 miles :-)

Tuesday

Went to the gym early this morning.

Hilly run at lunch on the North Marina Riverwalk. Here's my route Breezy and warm, nice run

Monday

Lifted weights in the a.m, ran 5.7 miles in the evening.

 

 

Sunday

There's a good article on The Importance of Protein for Endurance Athletes on the Badwater site.

My son left some protein powder in his room when he went back to school, and I've been adding it to milk and even to Gatorade, after my long runs, for the past month. I can tell a difference. Now I even have my own protein powder, both whey protein and soy protein, and in different flavors... I drink it after lifting (soy protein) and after running (whey protein).

Saturday

On Friday I ran 2.5 miles & did ab/back exercises.

This morning I got to the Columbus Riverwalk at Rotary Park & ran to Fort Benning and back: 15.3 miles. Finished, showered at the YMCA, then went by Starbucks... I had to be at work at 10, otherwise I would have done the Cross Country 10K at Fort Benning today... bummer.

Next Saturday I'll plan to do 18 miles again.

Thursday

Cloudy, chance of rain... in other words, just about perfect.

YMCA gym early early for weights, since I missed in Wednesday due to my Atlanta trip. Psssst don't tell anyone, but I want to get to 235 lbs on the bench by this summer so that I can surprise my son with that. The secret, like in running, is consistency... I'm going to be there in the mornings or at night and just keep adding a little weight each week until I get 2 45-lb plates on each side for my regular workout.

I was busy at lunch so wound up running after work, but the weather was pretty nice. Breezy, 75, fairly humid. 6.2 miles but the last mile was fast.

Wednesday

Wow, long day...

Took my wife to her appointment at Emory Hospital in Atlanta. Got homearound 6, walked her & the dog around Lake Heath, then when back and ran 3 laps around it. 5.7 miles running.

Monday

The weather in Columbus was beautiful today. Got up early and lifted weights at the YMCA this morning, ran 6 miles after work.

I ran 42.2 miles last week; at the end of the week I was 1157.63 miles for the year. I'm in the 1200 Mile Club with the Columbus Roadrunners, so I'm glad that I'll probably hit 1200 miles sometime this month.

Saturday

A brisk 52 degrees here this morning... I had to hunt all over the house for my long sleeved dri-fit shirt, but found it and got to the Riverwalk at 6am. Ran to Fort Benning and back and then a little extra for a total of 16.7 miles.

Someone was asking about the Podrunner mixes. I use the 175 & 180 beats per minute ones sometimes. My normal pace is probably in between 175 and 180, so 180 is the one I use when I want to go a little faster. These are free downloads and they're measured in beats per minute. The 180-bpm one I have is nearly 2 hours long.

I'll be at Below The Knee on Saturday & Sunday.

Friday

There's a really good opinion article in the New York Times by Frank Shorter about the Chicago Marathon. It's entitled, "Running Into Trouble". Those of us who live and train in the Deep South run all through the hottest part of the year, so we're (I think) knowledgeable about the dangers of running in hot & humid conditions... but it's still a good read.

Went to the weight room this morning. Running at lunch today, since the weather will be ABSOLUTELY PERFECT!!!!!!!:-)

Wednesday

There's an article in the online Fort Benning Bayonet about the Fort Benning Army 10-mile team. Please read it. These runners are FAST!


OK. For me, it was weight training at 5am. Work then straight to the Riverwalk after work for a 10 mile run. The same route I did Saturday, except I turned around at the 5 mile point.

Lots of folks on the Riverwalk tonight.

Tuesday

Another 5 mile run at North Marina during lunch. I start at the marina and head south; I saw a few Total Systems runners running north yesterday.

FYI, the creepiest place on the entire riverwalk is about a mile north of Total Systems, just north of the projects, where the bathrooms are- there are always homeless people there, lots of them, and it's common to see men and women wandering around with bottles in brown paper bags. I've run the riverwalk top to bottom and that is definitely the only spot I don't like.

Monday

Went to the gym this morning and did weights. Ran 5 miles at lunch, North Marina riverwalk. 80's, about 60% humidity... not too bad.

 

I've had 3 or 4 incidents recently where various species of wildlife have paced my runs.  About a month ago I was running by the airport and a coyote ran alongside the fence next to me for about half a mile. Then I had an armadillo run in front of me on the Riverwalk for about 30 yards. I had a goose run down the trail in front of me for about 50 yards at Lake Heath. And today, a monarch butterfly stayed right by my side all the way up the hill, so about 1/2 a mile. Just bizarre. I'm thinking either I'm becoming more in harmony with nature, or I probably need to wash my running clothes more often.

 

Probably the running clothes.  

 

Plan for tomorrow: wake up on time, run in the early a.m.

 

 

Sunday

Lots of OCS Candidates came into the store this weekend, and quite a few Ranger Indoctrination Program [RIP] students. Most of the OCS candidates came in with shin splints & needed new running shoes. The running program at OCS is pretty demanding and it often comes right after less demanding Army schools, so the students get quite a shock and a lot end up with shin splints. The RIP guys have already been through basic & Airborne schools, so they're in pretty good shape. A lot of them just pick up lightweight training shoes.

If you have shin splints, you need to check out the Runner's World Forums, specifically the Injuries section, and even more specifically, the Shin Splints section.

So I ended my week with 7 days, 43.1 miles, weight = 180.

Next week, here's the plan:

M-F mornings: run 5-8 miles depending on how I feel.
M-W-F evenings: lift
Tu-Th evenings: not really sure
Sat: planning on 16 miles.
Sun: 2 or 3 miles

I've never followed a plan yet, so we'll see.

Saturday

Long run day... The Tuskegee-Morehouse parade was going on this morning & I didn't want to get caught up in traffic, so I started from Rotary Park & headed south to Fort Benning. From the boat ramp at Rotary Park to the posts that cross 10th Division Road is 7.61 miles... since I did an out-and-back I ended up with 15.22, according to my Garmin.

Here's a link to the route from this morning.

I'll be at the shop all day Saturday & regular hours on Sunday.

Friday

Gym this morning. Ran 5 miles on the North Marina Riverwalk at lunch today.

I get a lot of questions like, "Mike, how is you're able to rock that fabulous 6-pack?"

Actually, I never get that question. I'm not sure I ever will get that question. But I'm just enough of a geek to upload video using the new MSN Soapbox video uploader, which converts a lot of different file formats and is very fast.

So I would rate the production value a D-, but at 5am using my phone, it's not bad. I usually do 3 sets of 25 of these 4 times a week at the gym:


Video: situps

Thursday

Ran this route on the Riverwalk last night, so I slept in this morning. Ran 2.5 miles after work. Will run tomorrow morning.

Wednesday

Went to the gym this morning. 2 of us there in the free weight area... I know they're building a new YMCA downtown, and even though I'm looking forward to using a great new facility, I'm sure it will be a lot more crowded even at 5am. That part, I'm not looking forward to. Right now it's great: go in, turn on the radio to whatever station I want, then knock out a workout quickly without having to wait on anything. Try doing that at any other gym in town.

I'm going to try to run North Marina today at lunch if I can. If the weather holds out. If not, I'll run this evening.

My friend Skyles sent me a map of his run yesterday somewhere close to Boston. I guess he's traveling.

UPDATE: I drove to the Riverwalk (Rotary Park Entrance) and ran 8.2 miles after work, since my wife was going to a class at the new gym on Fort Benning. Weather was perfect. Groups of cyclists, but didn't see any other runners tonight. A couple of walkers.

Tuesday

Early run this morning, 4:30 am. 7.5 miles at fairly easy pace, up to the point where I got chased by a dog, then it was more like a sprint, then dead stop, then sprint, then dead stop, then sprint

Probably will walk with my wife tonight if she wants, then go to the gym. I need to swim. Also, I really need to get an indoor trainer for my bike... I've promised myself that this winter I'll use that on days when the weather is just too awful to go out and run.

Monday

Got up and went to the gym at 5am, did the usual including 3 sets of 20 of this lovely exercise: glute-ham situps. Work was like a 10-hour tooth extraction... got home and ran 3 miles.

I'll run early tomorrow morning.

Historic District Preservation Society 5K

Quite a few runners this morning for the Columbus Historic District Preservation Society 5K. This year was the 30th run... I remember running this race in the 80's. And I ran it last year.

This year, all I wanted to do was break 23 minutes for the 5k, and I was able to that, just barely. I think my official time was 22:58. I'm not very fast but I think I could have gone a little faster... but no big deal. I got 2nd in my age group (45-49) and a medallion. I got passed right near the end, or I would've had 1st and the trophy.

I did have a chance to snap one picture:

Thursday & Friday

Thursday:

Core exercises in the morning, 2.5 miles in the afternoon.

 

 

 

Friday:

5.2 mile run in the morning, lift weights at the gym in the evening :-) 

 

 

Wednesday

I got up this morning and went to the gym at 5. I was the only one down there in the free weights area... Did I say homeless people occasionally break in and sleep there? True- although I've never seen any. You think they'd go straight to the heated pool.

Work from 7:30 to 5:30...

Got home, my wife is off having dinner w/ friends so I ran 3 laps around Lake Heath then out onto the street and back home: about 6.3 miles, something like that. Got home, put 32 ounces of chocolate milk, 1 banana, some protein powder & some flax seed into the blender..... ahhhhhh, dinner! (of course, I did eat a big lunch today :-)

Tuesday

I GPS'd my new, safer, hillier, more Mike-friendly route this morning: 7.4 miles. I run through the neighborhoods until I reach Whittlesy Road, right at the church on Moon Rd... then go up to Veteran's Parkway and then retrace my steps all the way home. Very very few cars, lots of sidewalks. Very safe. Sometimes I drone out and I was concerned that I would drone out and get run over.

So yesterday was weights and 2.2 miles. Today is 7.4 miles, then core work, then 2.2 tonight again.

Columbus Riverwalk Detour Info

There was a comment about the Riverwalk detour... I don't mind the detour -  it makes the run a little more entertaining - but my problem was that I didn't have a way to keep track of the added distance until I found a way to charge my Garmin and GPS the route again. The detour is in place through March 2008. Prior to now, if you wanted to run 20 miles on the Riverwalk, you ran from the River Club to the road crossing at Fort Benning, then back. Exactly 20 miles. From the Ironworks there and back is like 18.8, or something. From the Ironworks to the buildings at Oxbow Meadows and back is 16 miles... pretty easy to keep track of... So now, with the detour, if you want to do a 20 mile run, you probably want to start at the Ironworks and go to Fort Benning and back using the detour, then add a little out and back at the tail end of the run.  I will probably do that 2 Saturdays from now and I'll use the Garmin and post the map here.

Anyway, here's a link to the full article from the Ledger-Equirer about the detour.

Here's part of the article:

 

Ramp will detour Riverwalk's users while construction is under way

BY CHUCK WILLIAMS

chwilliams@ledger-enquirer.com

--­--

Users of the Chattahoochee Riverwalk may find themselves inconvenienced during the next seven months.

Due to a storm-water project by the city of Columbus, a section of the Riverwalk behind the Columbus Civic Center has been closed and those who use the path will be diverted to the South Commons. A new ramp has been constructed between Golden Park and the Civic Center to detour walkers, runners, cyclists and others into the South Commons. The detour dumps back into the Riverwalk at the National Civil War Naval Museum at Port Columbus.

The closure went into effect Friday. The Riverwalk section is scheduled to reopen March 30.

"We made the ramp part of the project," Deputy City Manager David Arrington said. "That will allow the public access to the South Commons in order to continue using the path."

The Riverwalk is a paved, lighted trail that stretches about 15 miles from Lake Oliver in North Columbus to Fort Benning. Another three miles of trail continues on the post.

From Sept. 20 to Aug. 1 -- during the annual fair -- access to the South Commons will be blocked by a fence. Those seeking to do long bicycle rides or runs on the Riverwalk should use Rotary Park.

 

 

Saturday

Long run day... so for me that means going to the Columbus Riverwalk at around 6:30 am. Which I did. Ended up running 14 miles and I used the Garmin, so now I know how far the detour added to my runs the past couple of Saturdays.I'm going to include an image of just the detour...

Anyway, it was fairly good weather & I had a pretty good run. Today I just put on the camelbak, stuffed my Ipod into it, and went running :-) Next week I'll crank it up a bit, maybe 15 or 16 and then ease back to 20 which is where I was pre-vacation.

Here's the detour:

Friday - National Run At Work Day

Today is National Run At Work Day.

Thursday

5am gym workout this morning: incline bench, bench, curls, dips, ham/glute abs machine, dumbbell shoulder extensions.... 

 

At lunch, I ran 5.2 miles at North Marina Riverwalk: 

75°F
Cloudy
Wind: E at 13 mph
Humidity: 65%

 

Probably walk tonight again w/ my wife (2.2 miles), which we do each night w/ the dog unless the weather is bad.

 

Will run tomorrow AM

 

I had some major trauma in my life:  2 weeks ago, I misplaced the charger for my Garmin!  I've searched everywhere-  the only thing I can think of is that I took it to work on a Saturday after a run, and placed it in a bag along with some food. After eating the food, I threw the bag away. So I haven't been able to use it for 2 weeks. The ForeRunner 201 and I go back a long way.

 

Today I found an old phone charger that works on my Garmin!  it's 7volt DC instead of 5volt DC, but it charged it up.  :-)   back in business!

 

 

 

Tuesday

6.5 miles @ Marina. Just about perfect weather, a couple degrees cooler and it would have caused me to forget about working and just stay there at the riverwalk all day.

Forgot to mention, I've been pretty diligent about the weight training for the past 3 weeks. Great results so far.

Monday

4 miles- busy at work till 7:30 pm and planned on running afterwards... oh well. Got caught up. Happens sometimes.

Saturday

Been taking a mini-vacation....

Ran 8.5 miles this morning on the Riverwalk. I'll lift tonight.

Plan on running 7 miles tomorrow morning and then back into that morning routine again. it was nice out this morning, 71 degrees or so... very comfortable

Sunday

There is a pretty good set of video interviews on with Chris Carmichael, Dean Karnazes and Lokelani McMichael here .

Saturday

Not really sure how far I ran this morning, since they are doing work on a portion of the Riverwalk and I had to use a detour. I think around 12.5 or so.

I haven't been sleeping well at all. I think I overdosed myself with Sudafed somehow. I fell asleep last night at 10, woke up a dozen times, and finally got up at 2am.

I posted a pic on Thursday of the free weights room at the downtown YMCA here. I often have it all to myself if I get there at 5am... :-) very old school. They are building a new one, so we won't have too much time left in it.

the early bird catches the worm

Thursday

I've been dealing with a cold for a few days. I bought some Sudafed which didn't help at all, then found out that for the REAL Sudafed you have go ask the pharmacist, since they keep it behind the counter. You have to show ID etc just to buy it. so I went back to Target and got the REAL Sudafed, and it's working a lot better. I'm one of those people who never really get sick, not even a cold, but when I do... I turn into a big wuss. I've already taken another Sudafed, a 500mg Aleve, 2 vitamins, and if I had any Nyquil here I'd probably drink the whole bottle.

So I've been running with a cold and feeling sh1tty. Anyway, I did 6 miles tonight and will do 7 or 8 tomorrow morning.

Wednesday

6.5 miles through the neighborhood to the outdoor mall area on Whittlesey Rd & back

Ended up with 151.85 miles for August, and 932.63 toward the year.

Saturday

10.2 miles on the Riverwalk

I sort of 'overdid it' on the squat machine earlier this week and my right leg - the inner thigh - is all messed up. I don't know why I do that but it's pretty typical. I won't play racquetball for 6 years and then one day I'll play racquetball for 5 hours, rendering myself useless for the next couple of days.

so anyway, the past Saturday runs were 20, 16, 18.8, and 19.2 miles... so I figured that I would take a little break this week. Next week I'll be back to normal mileage and probably do 16-20 on Saturday again.

Friday

3 hilly miles @ lunch

Tuesday

I've been averaging about 18 miles on my Saturday runs, and I'm feeling a little scrawny. Since my son Rick went to camp for a month, and then went back for his last year of college, I've been slacking a bit on the weights. So this morning I've gone into my FALL running program, which means lifting in the mornings and running at noon or at night.

So I lifted this morning at 5am and did abs. I'll run after work tonight around Lake Heath. Probably 1.9 x 4 = 7.6 miles. The good thing about running there is that I can listen to my iPod, so there are some benefits. The downside is that it will be hot. The pool will still be open when I finish... so there's that.

Monday

There's a good personal race report from the Country's Midnight Express run on Trey's site.

The Country's Midnight Express race results are located here .

Saturday - Long Run

19.25 miles this morning on the Riverwalk. Basically, that's starting from the Iron Works and then going out to Fort Benning, circling Russ Pond, and then coming back. 75°F with 82% humidity.

Didn't see quite as many runners, probably because most were taking the morning off so that they could participate in the Country's Midnight Express race tonight. I always plan to do it, but I always find myself sound asleep at midnight. Maybe if the race was at 4am I could do it :-)

Friday

I'm planning a long 18+ run tomorrow morning, so this morning I only did 3 miles around the neighborhood. 80°F with 80% humidity. I'll swim at lunch today to add to that a little bit. I had a fueling problem last Saturday, or something, that made that run suck so bad. Anyway, just playing around with it. I want to get in the habit of long runs on Saturday, then gradually build up to a longish run on Wednesday as well. Ideally 20 on Saturday and 10 or so on Wednesday.

Cooler weather looks like it's right around the corner; the forecast is for 80's starting about September 1st and low 70's in the mornings as well.

Thursday

7.2 miles on my normal route this morning. 80°F with 80% humidity. Saw about 3 police cars during the run.

The temperature of the pool water has got to be 90°, but it's still good to get in there after the run to stretch out and relax. It won't be long until it cools off.

Wednesday

4 miles this morning. Lift weights in the evening.

Hydration Systems & Fueling

This morning it was 79°F with 86% humidity. I go out to run for an hour or so, lose about 6 pounds in the process, and then try to work out again at lunch. Nearly impossible for me unless I hydrate during my run, giving me a headstart for the lunch and evening workouts, which are typically swimming & then either weights or cycling. In hot, humid conditions it really helps to have a well-tested plan to stay hydrated. I try to drink fluids during the summer that have a high sodium content, so that means sports drink mixes. I've experimented with a few and found that diluted gatorade & salt works, if I mix the Gatorade from the powdered mix. I also have a case of CeraSport. CeraSport works even better for me, but it's expensive... I don't mix that at all.

For carrying my liquid, I've been switching out between these three hydration systems this summer:

Camelbak FlashFlo 45 ounce


The Camelbak FlashFlo holds 45 ounces, according to its hang tag. 96 cubic inch cargo capacity. At 45 ounces it's easy to run with. However, the waist strap loosens as I run. Probably every 10 minutes or so I have to tighten it. It also chafes against my back when I run shirtless (Body Glide fixed that chafing issue.) The drinking tube is easy to reach and exactly the right length for me; it clips to the waist straps when not in use. There's a toggle switch on the tube that allows the liquid to come out; it's important to flip that toggle switch after you drink, otherwise the liquid will go back into the bladder.

I can store my drink mixes in one of 2 back pockets, and my gels, keys, ID etc in the other back pocket. For cold weather, there's a way to strap a shirt onto the back pocket area. This is a great, well designed hydration pack.

This is probably my favorite system as long as I know I can refill it during a long (20+ mile)run. It's easy to refill- you stop, unzip the largest pocket to get at the bladder, pull it out and fill. Very easy, and easy to use with drink mixes at a water fountain. I usually pour the mix in, fill it with water, shake it up, then stick the bladder back in, zip it up and start running again. On a 20 mile run in hot, humid weather I go through almost exactly 2 FlashFlo's worth of liquid.


Camelbak Mule 100 ounce


I'll be the first to admit: this bugger is heavy. It's a load, espescially when you put other stuff in the pockets. 3 liters of liquid and a 9 liter cargo capacity. Plus, a weather resistant mp3 player pocket at the very top... So what do I put in the pockets? Gels, food, drink mix, keys, ID, cell phone, an extra shirt, whatever... there's a lot of capacity. I use the 100-ouncer when it's hot, humid and I don't know absolutely that I can get a refill on a long, long run. Call me crazy, but sometimes I fill it up all the way and use it on shorter runs just to get used to it. Even full, it's not that bad. Look, there are soldiers running farther than me in hotter conditions with heavier packs. It's all relative.

The drinking tube on this one comes with an L-shaped connector, so the liquid is there and easy to get to without having to flip a valve switch or anything. Drinking from a Camelbak is a breeze. I normally just put the hose in my mouth and keep running. Nothing ever gets spilled and I don't swallow any air. Plus, there are insulated tubes to use in the winter, when things tend to freeze up.

There's a water resistant mp3 player pocket at the very top of the pack. Skeptical at first, I placed a cell phone in it and went on a 20 mile run in very hot, humid conditions. At the end of the run, the entire pack was soaking wet... but the water resistant pocket, and the cell phone, were perfectly dry! So I've put my iPod in it and gone on long runs since, knowing that it won't get wrecked.

Sometimes I take the 100 ounce bladder out and replace it with a 70-ounce bladder... then it's very, very manageable. The big, 100-ounce capacity Mule with a 70-ounce bladder inside is an AWESOME camelbak to run with. You get all the storage capacity inside, but it just weighs less because you're carring 30 ounces less liquid.

Wearing this camelbak I don't chafe at all on my shoulders when running shirtless. It's padded in the back and the unit rests comfortably against my skin. Inside, the cargo area is really well thought out, everything is easy to get to. 3 zippered pockets in the back, plus a large mesh storage area. Straps on the front for extra cases (gels,phone,mp3 player, whatever). Padded shoulder straps, plus a waist belt and chest tightening strap.

I always seem to start out a little more slowly when I fill up the 100 ounce bladder, but after a couple of miles I don't even notice it.


Nathan Speed 4 (4 10-ounce bottles)


When it's colder outside, and I only want to bring essentials and I know I can count on water resupply, I use this one. It's very comfortable. I know a few runners who use only the back 2 bottles since the front 2 can interfere with their arm motion. I've run with all 4 10-ounce bottles filled, and it didn't bother me. There's room in the back pouch for about 5 gel packs, or 1 Hammer Gel bottle, or a cell phone. There's also a smaller front pocket. I usually put my car key & ID in the front pocket, then put gels in the back. The Speed4 comes in sizes, and I use a medium. It uses Velcro to fasten, and it's elastic, so you can loosen it or tighten it during the run if it starts to bother you. When I tighten it up, it doesn't bounce around. I've never had chafing issues with this one. I like the Speed4 a lot and used it exclusively through the winter here. The only thing I don't like about it is that I tend to spill liquid when I drink from the bottles. Also, they are hard to drink from when it's below freezing (go figure).

Conclusion
I went through a lot of different hydration systems... water bottle carriers, camelbaks, fuel belts, handheld bottles... these are just the ones that work best for me and have been readily available to purchase locally. You will probably end up with a few yourself before you find one that works best for your running style. I'll probably see something tomorrow that I want to try next.

Hydration Links:

Camelbak site
Nathan Sports site
Cera Sports
Gatorade Fluid Loss Calculator
Hammer Nutrition
Runner's World: "Drink This
UltRunR Hydration Page

Tuesday

6.35 miles this morning at 4:30am. 79°F with 76% humidity. Ran w/ my 100 oz camelbak fully loaded so that I could start getting used to it. It's definitely heavier than the 70 ounce, but after a couple miles I didn't notice it. It's all relative anyway- if you're used to spending all day with a ruck on your back, I'm sure a 100-ounce camelbak is not a big deal. I don't ruck anymore, but still... the camelbak always weighs less the farther you run.

I forgot to mention that yesterday morning I was investigated by BATS at one point. At the bottom of a small hill there are some trees, in between 2 homes. As I ran past it I saw perhaps a dozen or more bats whizzing past my face.

Monday

5.2 miles around the neighborhood; not the usual route. More hilly. 75°F with 85% humidity.

Swim at lunch, lift tonight.

Saturday

18.8 miles this morning... 74°F with 90% humidity...everything was going fine until about mile 16, when it seemed like the bottom fell out. I kept going to where I started but didn't finish it up with the last 1.2 miles like I wanted. Here's the route:




I refilled my Camelbak Flashflo at Oxbow Meadows (mile 8.5 on the map) on my way back. Went through 96 ounces of liquid!

1. I need to eat better on Thursdays & Fridays.
2. Time to replace my shoes!

No sweat, it will be better next Saturday!

Friday

85°F with 72% humidity when I ran. 6.2 miles on the usual route.

Was in Atlanta at EMC for a demo on Thursday morning.

Tuesday

6.2 miles, normal route. 82° and 78% humidity

Monday

The rain last night drove down the temperatures, so this morning's run was pretty cool compared to last week. 73° and 91% humidity... not too bad at all. Clear skies, lots of stars, no moon.  Ran 7.5 miles at 4:30 am. Didn't drink anything during  the run so the weight loss in fluid was 3.4 lbs

 

 

 

Hot Saturday

Wow it's hot! 82° and 70% humidity Ran 16 miles this morning on the Riverwalk- started at 5:30am with Jack Winn, who did 12 today. He's training for the Twin Cities marathon.

Hot and humid... but not too bad. Near the Water Works, we had an armadillo running the trail about 10 feet in front of us. He kept up the pace for about 15 yards and then peeled off into the bushes.

I was using my Camelbak Flash Flo and went through it, refilled it at Oxbow Meadows and finished it right at the end of my run. About 90 ounces... I weighed after the run and was down 2 pounds. The CeraSport seems to agree with my stomach... and it's not too bad even at room temperature.

I took it easy because of the heat & humidity but I'm glad I did the 16. I'll do a short run tomorrow morning. Next Saturday I'd like to do 20 again if the weather cooperates. It's supposed to cool off next week :-)

Friday

Picked Rick up late yesterday evening in Atlanta, drove home, got to sleep at 11pm... i don't even remember the alarm going off this morning at 3... woke up at 5:30.  Oh well.  I'll swim this evening to make up for it.

 

 

 

Thirsty Thursday

81° and 85% humidity this morning at 4:30 am. We're having a hot week here in Columbus. Brutal. I ran 6.5 miles this morning, drank 30 ounces during the run, and still lost 2 pounds.

I'm at about 22 miles for the week. I'll run 7 tomorrow, then a longer run Saturday and a short easy run on Sunday.

Wednesday

3 miles this morning with 10 x 100-meter sprints in the middle of the run.

81° and 85% humidity this morning at 4:30 am

Swim at lunch, lift after work

Tuesday

79° and 90% humidity.... pretty muggy this morning. Ran 6.4 miles. Weighed before and after run, lost 4.5 lbs through sweat. I drank 40 ounces during the run, so I still need to hydrate w/ something that includes salt (CeraSport, Gatorade Endurance, or similar) or drink water and eat something salty before noon, since I think I"m going to either swim laps or lift weights today at lunch.

It's less than 24 hours since I formulated my weekly plan and already I've ignored it.

Ended up going 6.4 miles. Weather is rough though with 75° and 91% humidity. The pool felt great after the run. Drank 24oz of Gatorade endurance in the pool, weighed when I got back to the house and I was still 2.7 lbs lighter than I was before the run.

Lift weights tonight at the Y.

Next Week's Plan

42.9 total miles last week.

I have yet to follow one of my weekly plans, but here goes:

M: 7.3 run AM, lift PM
T: 7.3 run AM, lift PM
W: 5 run AM
TH: 7.3 run AM, lift PM
F: 5 run AM, lift PM
Sa: 16 run AM
Su: rest
=========
48 miles

It looks like a rough week for the temperatures... 77 degrees at 3am most mornings with high humidity. Daily highs in the 90s.

Saturday

I can't explain it, but somehow I felt the need to go a little farther today when I got to the Riverwalk. My plan was 12 or 14, but I felt pretty good so I ended up running out to Fort Benning and back for a comfortable 20 mile run. Took 3:06:54 to do it, which is OK for me.

Started around 6am when it was 73°F.

9am temps 77°F with 71% humidity.

Used the flashflo camelbak and refilled it once.

Tues - Weds

Short run on Tuesday. 76° with 77% humidity at 4:30 am. 3 mile run.

Wednesday: 77° with 70% humidity at 4:30 am. Ran 7.3 miles. Drank 32 ounces of water after my run (standing in the pool), got home and weighed myself, and I was still 2 1/2 lbs less than before my run. I lose a lot through sweat espescially when the humidity hits 80% and higher. A little over 4 lbs an hour.

Still, the full moon and clear skies... it was an awesome run this morning. I didn't embugger myself with a lot of stuff, just did it in shoes and shorts.

Tuesday - End of Month

6.4 miles this morning. Temperature: 75°F with 85% humidity. Again, the full moon and stars made the running pretty nice this morning. Will run 8+ tomorrow morning.

Monthly totals for July: 154.4

Yearly total miles: 784.8
============================

Upcoming in August:

This meteor shower information is copied from Wes Stone's website . I noticed it in my running log, I must've seen it earlier and pasted it in there for the 10th -15th of August.

PERSEIDS meteor shower:

Best viewing window: Sunday evening, August 12, from the end of evening twilight until morning twilight on Monday morning, August 13. Sunday morning, August 12 should also be pretty good during the predawn hours.


The Perseids are probably the most-watched annual meteor shower. The shower has a very long duration, from about July 15 through August 25. The shower is most interesting around its peak on August 12 or 13. This year, the Moon is perfectly placed and will not interfere for several days before and after the maximum. The shower's normal peak time favors observers from eastern North America to western Europe, but everyone should get a good show on peak night.

Predawn rates for observers with truly dark skies may exceed 80 Perseids per hour, with a nice sprinkling of sporadic and minor shower meteors added to the mix. Adjacent mornings from August 10 through August 15 are well worth watching, although rates will be significantly lower (down to 10 Perseids/hour at the extremes).

Perseids are fast meteors and tend to be fairly bright on average. An occasional fireball is seen.


I'm all about the frikkin' fireballs

Monday

Weekly Plan:
M = 6.2
T = 6
W = 8
Th= 6
F = 6
S = 12
Su= 4
----------
48.2 miles

So this morning it was 6.2....... 75°F with 90% humidity. Typical run. Rained last night but cleared before 4am so that when I started at 4:30 am, I was lucky enough to be running the roads under a full moon. Very nice.

Saturday

13.7 miles on the Riverwalk today... 9:10 average pace. Went out too fast for the first half of it and sucked badly the last couple of miles coming in.

Next Saturday I will start earlier ( 5:30am instead of 6:45 am) and go a little slower... as if my 9:10 wasn't already slow! the heat and humidity are pretty tough right now.

I drank as much this week for 13.7 miles as I did last week for the 16-mile run. I ran with Kevin Hicks for the last mile or so, & glad I ran into him. I was having a rough time and talking took my mind off of it.

Starting to get some twinges of pain in my right foot's arch area during the run. Last week it hurt like hell after my run. Using the spenco orthotic during the day and the Sorbothan full rigid arch orthotic during the run. It's helped. Today has been OK so far, just a little pain during the run and then right afterwards. 2 hours later it's OK.

The rough part about arch pain for me is that I have a high arch and roll my feet to the outside naturally. So I'm forced into a stability type shoe situation which feels very unnatural, but provides the arch support I need during my runs. Hopefully it will be over soon and I can go back to my light, cushiony 'supinator' shoes.

Tues - Wed - Thurs

Busy week so far. Ran 7.3 Tuesday morning, also this morning, & swam twice...

Probably run 8 Friday morning, 12-15 Saturday morning, then 7 again on Sunday to make up the week.

Weather at 4:30am is very nice right now, usually about 73 w/ 85% humidity... it will heat back up soon though.

Saturday

Missed my Thursday & Friday runs because of a server problem at work.

So today, I needed to go long and did a 16-mile run, starting at the Riverwalk a little earlier, around 5:30. Nice and easy, just a long enjoyable cruise. Well maybe not quite so enjoyable at the end ;-) It was 73°F with 87% humidity... I drank 70 ounces during the run (camelbak) and still lost a pound. Using the camelbak really helps. I'm using CeraSport mix now in the camelbak on long runs. One of the Below The Knee customers swears by it and gave me some to try out.

I'll be helping out at Below The Knee today, so no gym this afternoon. Need to swim tonight.

My shoes are just soaked... it's so humid here that regardless of what you wear, it's all soaking wet after just a few miles. Shoes included. Luckily I have a lot of shoes to run in, so I rotate them and won't have to wear wet shoes tomorrow morning. I'll just wear another pair.

Wednesday

6.4 miles this morning. A little cooler: 75° but only 75% humidity.

My wife has a doctor's appt at Emory Hospital in Atlanta, so it will long day & a lot more traffic than I'm used to... But I've put some new stuff on the ipod to listen to on the drive, hopefully that will help.

Tuesday

Got out a little earlier this morning so I could spend a little more time cooling off in the pool afterwards. Ran 7.7 miles. 75°, 95% humidity at 5am........it was a bit humid...

I've read about and talked to a lot of people who say that you don't need to carry liquid when you run, but I'm always glad I have something with me. I try to stay within a pound or so of my starting weight at the end of a run, even if that means bringing 70 ounces of liquid along. I feel better for my next workout which is normally 6 hrs later. And I'm hydrated so that if something unexpected pulls me out of my normal routine, I won't be stressing about getting something to drink.

On the run this morning, I drank roughly 40 ounces of liquid during the run. I drank the other 8 ounces from the camelbak once I stopped running and was walking to the pool.

Monday

Rick called from Fort Lewis this morning at 1 am our time(10 pm yesterday, Fort Lewis time...) to say hello. He passed his PT test and day & night land navigation tests. He was worried about the night land nav test, and said that a lot of the cadets in his regiment were having trouble with it. Anyway, he's doing fine. He ran right at 14:00 on his 2-mile run.

My run this morning was the the same route, but just a bit longer. 7.6 miles this time.

Lift tonight. Tomorrow is Jeff Galloway clinic at Below The Knee, at 6:30 pm.

rick

Testing posting straight from the phone:

Saturday

Riverwalk run this morning, it was very humid... I used CeraSport mix in my camelbak and liked it...

10.2 miles, burned 1440 calories... but I drank the CeraSport mix and then some lowfat chocolate milk from Spectrum afterwards, then went to have oil changed in my daughter's car.

so this week so far:
mon = 5
tues= 7.3
weds= 5.2
thur= 7.3
fri = 7.3
sat = 10.2

by my calculation that's 42.3 miles. We'll see about tomorrow morning. I sort of like the 4am run followed by the pool... If I get off my ass and run 8 miles, that would put me at 50+ for the week. Then again, I might just sleep in... we'll see.

TUESDAY NIGHT 6:30 JEFF GALLOWAY AT BELOW THE KNEE

Friday

75° with 75% humidity this morning at 4:30 am when I started. I ran my usual: from the Miller Road Spectrum straight up Airport Thruway to Veteran's Parkway, then north to Hughston Sports Hospital, then back again. 7.3 miles. If I go to Starbucks, then it's an even 8 miles... but i'm too tempted to stop in for a venti latte!

So let's see... tomorrow morning I think I'll go to the Riverwalk a little earlier than usual and then run somewhere between 10 - 14 miles. I did 14 miles right before my Nashville trip, so I could probably do that run again and then start increasing over the next few weekends.

Thursday

Clear skies this morning, lots of stars. 75° and 85% humidity according to weather.com when I started out at 4:20 am....... on a comfortable 7.3 mile run. Needed a giant squeegee by mile 2. My running shorts were soaked. Gotta love the humidity. I see people running in basketball shorts, I don't know how they do it.

Once again, the very best of the run is relaxing in the pool afterwards. By 6am, I've finished my run, spent some time cooling off in the pool... the perfect start to my day.

I'll lift tonight. My plan is to run 7 or 8 tomorrow morning, then 10 or 12 on Saturday at the Riverwalk, then 6 on Sunday morning so that I'll get 45 miles for the week.

Wednesday

Short run this morning, 5.2 miles. Swim and lift later today.
74° and 75% humidity, not too bad. It doesn't really matter what I wear, everything is soaked after a few miles.

Tuesday

Awesome run this morning. 75° out, 95% humidity... the perfect way to break a sweat at 4:30 in the morning! Finished up 7.3 miles about 5:30am and headed straight into the pool to cool off and do some stretching

I'll try to swim and lift today

In 1981 Below The Knee employee Murray Anderson ran from Savannah, GA to San Diego, CA. Here's Murray with his feet propped up on then San Diego mayor Pete Wilson's desk:

Monday

No more lunch runs! I did 5 miles at lunch today and about passed out in the shower afterwards. Crikey it was hot- 90 degrees and about 55% humidity - between that and the hills... I had to hold on to the showerhead and was thinking that eventually I'd wake up and find the HR folks talking to me about a different work environment. Last summer I had to sit down in the shower once because I felt woozy

But of course, next Monday's lunch run will be a lot better.

Has anyone run in the Gel Stratus? It looks really good to me. SpEVA midsole... light and cushiony... I'm looking for something to alternate with my Air Zoom Haywards. Right now I like the DS Trainer, but I have high arches and am a bit of a supinator. I just saw these at the store last week. Anyone?


more information from the Asics site

Saturday

10.2 miles on the Riverwalk, from the River Club south toward Fort Benning & back. Got a little drizzle but no rain; it was 77° and about 80% humidity before it started to rain. Glad I ran 10 miles on Wednesday... I took Rick to the Atlanta airport yesterday and missed my morning run. I'll run tomorrow morning to get to 40+ miles for the week.

Thursday

It felt great to get a longer run in yesterday, espescially since it was a new route for me.

This morning I ran my 7.3 mile route at 4:30 am. The streets were really deserted- it's a training holiday at Fort Benning - and it was 70° when I started out. A nice run followed by about 20 minutes relaxing in the pool.

I might have a chance to swim or lift at lunch.

Wednesday - July 4th

Did a 10-mile run this morning at about 9am, starting downtown (River Club area) and then running home. It took me past the TSYS entrance to the Riverwalk, up through the North Marina entrance, then past Brookstone, Britt David, the airport, and I finished near Mike's Bikes. Topped that off with chocolate milk and about 30 minutes in the pool.

Tuesday

Did the North Marina run at lunch yesterday, 6.2 miles in 82° weather. Not too bad. On that route there's actually a drinking fountain, but the North Marina route is the hilly route. And I suck at hills. So, I will be doing the North Marina route in the heat all through the summer until I get better at it.

Summer Solstice Run

I ran the Summer Solstice 5k yesterday here in Columbus. I missed it last year but made time for it this year, and I'm glad I did. It was close to my house, the weather cooperated, and it gave me a chance to sleep in on Saturday morning.

The race had lots of volunteers. There was water at 3 different places on the course (it looped, so that was plenty), and the course was well marked. Drinks and food afterwards. The Columbus Road Runners did a great job organizing it and running everything. I will definitely do it again next year.

My plan was to run 7:00 minute miles or thereabouts, but I couldn't seem to get there. I ran 7:03, then 8:02, then 8:30 or something, then 7:10 or so for the last bit. I was truly whipped. Oh well... it was 94°... and hilly... so I don't feel so bad.

This coming week it will be 7-8 mile runs at 4:30 am, then probably 10-12 on Saturday. I want to get a 20-miler in by the 3rd week of August. Rick leaves for camp on the 6th, so that day will most likely by a lunch run w/ hills at the North Marina.

Saturday

I didn't run this morning, but I'm planning to do the Summer Solstice 5K tonight at 8pm. I'm not really where I want to be, in terms of preparation, but it should still be fun.

At least it won't be cold!

2009-2014 The Lost Years

So... I used another blogging platform starting in 2009 until I stopped w/ the blog around 2011; unfortunately, that's all been lost.   I can tell you this: I ran and worked out and did a lot of stuff to stay in shape. You didn't really miss much except for a lot of miles logged.

Friday

Ran 4 miles yesterday, and then I ran 6.5 this morning.  I think I'll try to do 7 miles easy in the mornings for a bit until I feel back to my old self.

 

Lift weights tonight.

 

Rick leaves for his ROTC summer camp next week, so I can change my schedule back.  I've been lifting with him instead of cycling... but I really have enjoyed getting stronger.  I  am going to think about my new training program. Here are the things I want to do, in order:

 

-run

-lift

-swim

-bike

 

I'll work on a schedule for it post it tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

Thursday

I'm back from Nashville. Didn't get a chance to run, even at the hotel. Just a lot of hard work and long hours.

So... about 7 days of no running at all. I'll run at lunch today, then again tonight and get back into it. I was looking forward to the 5k on Saturday but that's real iffy right now because of another commitment. Just have to wait and see.

The older I get, the harder it is to run after a week's layoff. At least the weather is cooperating!

Monday

Still in Nashville!

Local Runner in Western States 100

John Teeples from Fortson is running the Western States 100 Endurance run. They started out at Squaw Valley, CA this morning. This is an awesome race and just the fact that he's doing it is very inspiring, at least to me.

You can check his progress here. I have been checking often (I'm currently working on a project in Nashville) to chart his progress. The Western States 100 website is here.