A New PDR!

After the flop of a run last Saturday, I'm extra happy this morning. I set a new PDR (personal distance record) running just over 12 miles at a pace of 8:39.5 mpm. And, I did the run in Greenville, SC where there are some really nasty hills. Of course, I don't want to do anything else the rest of the day!

The last couple of weeks, I've had a problem I hadn't experienced before -- squishy shoes even when it's not raining. My feet felt close to getting blisters. Hopefully the humidity will be lower for the half-marathon.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Runner's Low

I've experienced a runner's high -- also, see this link -- many times but today I found out what a real runner's low feels like. I suppose it's a lot like hitting the wall in a marathon.

I'm guessing that a combination of weather (75° and 85% humidity), not sleeping really well this week, and, probably some dehydration resulted in what felt like my worst run EVER! I didn't feel great when I started -- thought about cutting it short several times even at 2.5 miles. But, I pushed on and was OK, if not great, right up to the 7.5 mile mark. At that point, I just imploded. From there, I walked about as much as I ran. Was supposed to do 11 but ended up with only 9.9 -- it would have been shorter if I had been closer to home.

Oh, well. There will be another day.

According to Weird Conversions, I weighed the same as 17,475 sheets of paper today after running the equivalent of the length of 1,945 'weinermobiles".

Run well, y'all,
Bob
Richmond

Oops! This Was Not Good

I scared Linda, my wife, half to death on Saturday -- not because I ran 11+ miles, though.

We have a small whiteboard on the fridge where, every morning, I write down the time I leave, the time I expect to be back, and a list of the streets that I'll run. Saturday, she was up earlier than normal getting ready to go to an ESL (English as a Second Language) training session and realized that I was not back even though it was 30 minutes after I said I would be back. After another 15 minutes, she hopped in the car and went to see what ditch I was lying in and trying to figure out what hospital the EMT's would have taken me to. She couldn't follow the route so came home, hoping I was back. I wasn't and, to make things worse, she had seen that I had my route up on my laptop screen when she left but, while she was gone, the screen saver had kicked in and she didn't know the password to get back to the route (gMap Pedometer). Now, in her mind I'm badly hurt or dead, she can't find me, and she can't even get into my computer. That wasn't the most comforting thought she could have had. So, she left again to try to follow my route from the end back toward the beginning.

Well, I was within about 0.4 miles of the end of my run when I see this car stop at a very odd place in the road. Now, at this point, I'm oxygen-deprived, glycogen-deprived, probably slightly dehydrated and didn't recognize the car. But, I'm thinking, "Why is this lady parking there and blocking my way? She's going to make me run around her? Come on!" About the time I got to the car, I realized it was Linda but I thought she had decided to head to the training early and was just coming by to tell me "Good-bye".

Then, when I stopped, I saw she was upset about something. She asked me if I was OK. I said, "Yes" but thought I must really look awful for her to be upset and to ask me that. Then, she held up the whiteboard, pointing to the time I said I would be back. Now, at this point, it's about 8:05 and I'm about 5 minutes earlier than I thought I might be. But, I had written 7:15. Whoa! I was in the dog box for a bit, there -- somehow my breathless and energy-less "I'm sorry" wasn't really adequate. She knew I was OK and, because I had just stopped dead, I needed get moving before something bad happened to my body, so off I went to finish the last of the run. (I'm really not completely heartless but just stopping dead still after running can do bad things to one's body.)

After her adrenaline levels went back to normal, we were able to laugh about this. But, I guarantee you that I'll double-check the times I write down. Putting down 45 minutes when I mean to put down 1 hour and 45 minutes isn't the best way to make one's wife happy. Also, she now knows my computer password (I can no longer hide the account where my million dollars are stashed). Further, she knows that I have both our house phone and **her** cell phone numbers on the Smart ID on my shoe. Hopefully there will never be a reason for her to worry again.

Run well -- and smart -- y'all,
Bob
Richmond

Long Run

After running the [equivalent of] the Golden Gate Bridge 14.1 times this morning, I weighed $78,996.00 in US$1 bills! Of course, I ran at a snail's pace -- a beam of light would have traveled 1,070,192,370.765 miles in the time it took me to run that distance (1:35:45) Talk about a strange was to think of one's run! More Weird Conversions.

Run well, y'all,
Bob
Richmond, VA

Different Ways To Think About the Distance of a Half Marathon

The McDonald's Maymont X-Country Half Marathon will commence in 43 days. Here are some interesting ways to look at the half marathon.

1 Half Marathon =

83,0016 inches

52.70612 laps around a 400 meter track

21.0825 kilometers

0.003294 the length of the Great Wall of China

0.00655 the length of the Oregon Trail

11,857.37 giraffes' necks

702,748.5 American cockroaches laid end to end

9,765 Shaquille O’Neals laid end to end

After I finish my long run tomorrow, I will likely weigh the same as:

0.33 of a baby grand piano

0.0144 of an African elephant

440,806.045 cubic inches of air at sea level

40 chickens

467 hockey pucks

During tomorrow's long run, I'll probably lose weight equivalent to:

$3,518 in US $1 bills (That's an expensive run!)

$38.50 in US quarters

9 cans of soda

Thanks to Just Your Average Joggler for the inspiration for this blog.

For more wacky and weird conversions check out the Weird Converter (NOTE: There are some crude comparisons at this site.)

Now that'll give ya' something to think about on your run. What are your strange comparisons? Leave a comment.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Now I Know Why I'm Sore

Wednesday was a day I dreaded almost like the plague. Repeats of 3 1600 meter runs at 7:00 mpm with 800 meter recoveries just didn't sound like any fun at all. The run livd up to my expectations -- I did it but it was a pain, literally. I have been so sore for the last 2 days. Today's 5 miler at a slower pace helped but, still.

Now, though, I know why I get so sore even after 4+ years of consistent running. Check out this blog:

Muscles Do Hurt More Than When You Were In High School - Here’s Why

Here's the article that gives a bit more scientific explanation. The key concept is ...as we age, the lines of communication to the stem cells of our muscles deteriorate and, without the full instructions, it takes longer for injured muscles to heal.:

ScienceDaily: Why Aging Muscles Heal Poorly

Now I know and I can complain and groan and moan with scientific justification -- it gives me some credibility. :-)

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Needed: "Swimmies"

The weather this week has been awful. Thursday was a tempo run (1 mi easy warm-up, 4 miles @ 7:29 mpm, 1 mi easy cool down). The problem -- well, besides the fact that I knew it was going to be hard -- was that it was like running in a sauna. When I stepped out the door at 4:55 AM, it was 81° and the humidity was 74%. When I finished, there was not a square millimeter of skin or clothes that was dry. That was the worst day, but the rest of the week wasn't much better. I wondered if I needed those inflatable "swimmies" or "floaties" that we used to put on our kids' upper arms when they went swimming.

I've mentioned that I'm training for the Maymont X-Country Half-Marathon at the end of September. I know it's not a marathon but this video probably shows what I'll feel like on Sunday, 30 September:



Run well, y'all,
Bob, Richmond, VA