Chicago

I was in Chicago this last week for three days on business. I had great plans to run up to Lincoln park, or at least around that corner of the city. I packed my running clothes and shoes. And I forgot my orthotics, so I couldn't run at all. I did get out to walk about 10 blocks one evening - it was great - about 20 degrees, a slight breeze, and it was snowing. A pleasant little trip down memory lane.

No Running

Sick with a sinus cold, no running at all. No sleep either.

2008 Running Calendar

Now my 2008 Running Calendar is complete with a race almost every month:

• Marine Corp half marathon - mid-May
• Herndon 10k - early June
• W&OD 10k - mid-July
• Disneyland half marathon - end of August
• Baltimore marathon relay - early October
• Marine Corp Marathon - end of October
• JFK 50 miler - mid-November
• Goofy Race and a Half Challenge - start of January 2009

Hope to see you there!

Goofy Stinks

Maybe I'm the only one - I don't know. What is your experience?

For the 2008 Goofy Challenge they gave out dark blue long-sleeve technical running shirts - equivalent to the Donald and Mickey shirts for the Half and full Marathons. Nice shirts!

Except that the Goofy shirt smells like paint drying, while Mickey and Donald are odor-free. They've all been worn and washed numerous times. Whether hanging out to dry, in a drawer, whatever - the smell lingers on.

5 Miles

I ran 5 miles with the Reston Runners this morning. 35F with a slight breeze and abundant sunshine. It was a good run all told, I finished at about a 12 minute mile pace.

It was a path I'd never been on, lots of lefts and rights, and for once there was no pre-run briefing of the course. I started much faster than I would have liked because I had to keep up with the pack or I wouldn't have been able to follow the course. Adding in the insufficient warm-up time and the too-fast start and oh boy were my shins were hurting by the end of the run!

After stretching and thorough icing my shins and ankles I felt pretty good.

Cold and Dark

I have given up running in the freezing cold and dark. This morning was just over 20F with a sharp breeze and I went back to bed for an hour. What a difference a little sunshine makes on the whole picture! An hour later, the sun had broken a bit, it was still 25F with a sharp breeze but there was sunshine everywhere and not a cloud in the sky.

I took the flat route, 15 minutes out and 15 minutes back, keeping the pace under 9:50/mile. My shins hurt some more towards the end and after, probably from the faster-than-normal pace, but it was fun. Now each day has an extra 2 minutes of daylight, what a relief to have turned the corner from the dead of winter. Not out of the woods yet, but the trees are thinning nicely.

Ice

There was a coating of ice on everything this morning. I just can't get too eager about running in ice. Snow is fine, rain is okay, but ice - I keep on thinking how I'm going to break my wrist when I fall.

Getting the dogs out for a morning break was tough enough - why must they pull hard when it's slippery? - but running would have been impossible. The trees were lovely, all coated with sugar. But the sidewalks were impassable and the blacktop was patchy - just wet in most places, but icy in a few places and not always obvious.

So, it was back on the exercise bicycle again.