I'm a real runner now -- I must be because I have the scars to prove it. :) I've been running regularly for just over 3 1/2 years and tripped/fell for the first time this morning.
I had to cross a 4-lane road as a part of my route. Nothing new -- it's pretty hard to run more than a short distance without crossing a road here. As I approached the road, I saw a car coming from the left. No problem because I could just turn left and run against traffic until I could cross safely. When the car passed, I headed across, had to cross the median, looked right to be sure nothing was coming from the other direction, and looked back ahead to see that I was about to tangle with another runner coming from my left (it was dark and I think each of us surprised the other). We dodged each other quite easily and I started stepping up over the curb onto the sidewalk. Suddenly, I pitched forward and my knees met the curb and my hands (gloved) met the sidewalk. As I fell, I felt that my foot had caught on something and heard whatever it was move -- it sounded like a piece of plywood.
I hopped right up and ran on -- my knees hurt but I only had a half mile remaining. Funny enough, I actually felt energized. Boy, it hurt, though. I got back and found that my running pants are now ventilated on one knee. I'll have some bruises but so far am not too sore.
Otherwise, it was a pretty decent (though cold) run.
Run well, y'all,
Bob
15 February 2007
10 February 2007
Running Log
Somehow or another, all of the information on my Palm PDA was erased this week. Arghhh! It's certainly not a crushing blow, but I lost some information that was important to me. Because I had been lax in syncing my PDA to my computer, I lost a fair amount of my daily running log (greatest loss) as well as some calendar changes, a couple of updated contact files, some reminder notes about books I wanted to read and movies I wanted to rent, and some sermon notes that were imbedded in my Palm Bible (almost equal to the running log loss -- see below). Almost as bad, I'm having trouble restoring the information I do have back to the PDA -- I'm working on figuring out that problem.
Some of those things will be recovered in my human memory over time or they aren't important enough to expend any energy trying to remember/recover -- books and movies, for instance. While it would be the spiritual thing to say that the sermon notes are more important than the running log, I don't think there were any real faith-shaping thoughts recorded over the last 2-3 months, so the loss isn't really profound. But, the running log had details that I'll never remember -- no way I'll remember the times or the routes that I ran. I can probably recover the key elements. For instance, at the end of 2006, I did a post on this blog that summarized my running for 2006. So, I have the total miles run for the year and can recover the gross number of miles I've run since beginning in 2003.
I decided that I needed to rethink how I keep my running log. I like advancing technology and had been looking for a good use for Google's Docs and Spreadsheets. My running log seemed to be a good candidate -- while I'm in the US, I have great internet access so speed is not really an issue and Google's archives provide a fairly reasonable assurance that my log won't simply get lost. So, let's try it! Then, in the process of trying it, I wondered if, since I'm creating an online spreadsheet, it would also be possible to have that spreadsheet show up on this blog. Kumbe! (Swahili interjection of surprise -- roughly, Wow!) It is quite possible.
So, here it is -- my running log for all the world to see (including my daily weight so you can see my struggle with that -- being fully aware that at 5'10" and currently weighing in the upper-170's, that won't seem like a struggle to many people -- but, I want to be down to 170, full stop).
BTW, the mid-teens is cold for running. For me, 14° must be about the coldest for running with a long-sleeved running shirt and sweatshirt. I tried running with a fleece the other day when it was 16° and that was a tiny bit too warm. Today, at 14° and a sweatshirt, I was a tiny bit too cool.
Enough! I'm rambling now. Run well, y'all.
Bob
Richmond
Some of those things will be recovered in my human memory over time or they aren't important enough to expend any energy trying to remember/recover -- books and movies, for instance. While it would be the spiritual thing to say that the sermon notes are more important than the running log, I don't think there were any real faith-shaping thoughts recorded over the last 2-3 months, so the loss isn't really profound. But, the running log had details that I'll never remember -- no way I'll remember the times or the routes that I ran. I can probably recover the key elements. For instance, at the end of 2006, I did a post on this blog that summarized my running for 2006. So, I have the total miles run for the year and can recover the gross number of miles I've run since beginning in 2003.
I decided that I needed to rethink how I keep my running log. I like advancing technology and had been looking for a good use for Google's Docs and Spreadsheets. My running log seemed to be a good candidate -- while I'm in the US, I have great internet access so speed is not really an issue and Google's archives provide a fairly reasonable assurance that my log won't simply get lost. So, let's try it! Then, in the process of trying it, I wondered if, since I'm creating an online spreadsheet, it would also be possible to have that spreadsheet show up on this blog. Kumbe! (Swahili interjection of surprise -- roughly, Wow!) It is quite possible.
So, here it is -- my running log for all the world to see (including my daily weight so you can see my struggle with that -- being fully aware that at 5'10" and currently weighing in the upper-170's, that won't seem like a struggle to many people -- but, I want to be down to 170, full stop).
BTW, the mid-teens is cold for running. For me, 14° must be about the coldest for running with a long-sleeved running shirt and sweatshirt. I tried running with a fleece the other day when it was 16° and that was a tiny bit too warm. Today, at 14° and a sweatshirt, I was a tiny bit too cool.
Enough! I'm rambling now. Run well, y'all.
Bob
Richmond
04 February 2007
Running With Friends
Normally, I run by myself. I don't know any folks around here who want to run 5-6 miles at 5:30 AM. Last week though, I flew to Ontario, California for a meeting of our mission organization's board of Trustees. Several of my co-workers who flew out are also runners. Because of our schedule, we could run at 6:00 AM. So, Tuesday, 3 of us headed out. Since we all normally run at different paces, we stayed together for the first loop and then split up -- one went back to the hotel and 2 of us did another lap.
I've found that running with others always makes the run easier. But, running the first lap about 01:15 mpm slower than normal made the whole run easier. It was great! Thanks, Bob and Lonnie.
Tuesday night, we agreed to go again Wednesday morning. Just as I pulled my shoes on, I realized it was raining. This is "sunny" Southern California -- it can't rain! I headed to the lobby where Lonnie and Matt were waiting for me -- Bob was smarter than the rest of us and stayed in his room. We decided we didn't want to pack wet shoes the next morning to go back to Richmond, so we headed to the fitness room to run on the dreadmills. Wouldn't you know it -- they were all being used. Shoot! We're dressed, it's S Calif, let's go in the rain.
The rain wasn't bad but the street drainage was awful and we had some monster puddles. The first one I stepped in was a shocker because the water was COLD! Still, a good run -- slow first 3 miles and a normal last 3 miles.
For the curious, here was my route the second day. Those who only did 3.1 miles turned back to the hotel at just before the 3 mile mark:
DoubleTree Ontario Airport Hotel
Run well, y'all,
Bob
I've found that running with others always makes the run easier. But, running the first lap about 01:15 mpm slower than normal made the whole run easier. It was great! Thanks, Bob and Lonnie.
Tuesday night, we agreed to go again Wednesday morning. Just as I pulled my shoes on, I realized it was raining. This is "sunny" Southern California -- it can't rain! I headed to the lobby where Lonnie and Matt were waiting for me -- Bob was smarter than the rest of us and stayed in his room. We decided we didn't want to pack wet shoes the next morning to go back to Richmond, so we headed to the fitness room to run on the dreadmills. Wouldn't you know it -- they were all being used. Shoot! We're dressed, it's S Calif, let's go in the rain.
The rain wasn't bad but the street drainage was awful and we had some monster puddles. The first one I stepped in was a shocker because the water was COLD! Still, a good run -- slow first 3 miles and a normal last 3 miles.
For the curious, here was my route the second day. Those who only did 3.1 miles turned back to the hotel at just before the 3 mile mark:
DoubleTree Ontario Airport Hotel
Run well, y'all,
Bob
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