White Squirrels and High Humidity

Well, that was really interesting. I was running along Cambridge Dr. and there was a pure white squirrel in someone's yard. I suppose it must have been an albino squirrel but it was quite unique. (Image from: John Bryan State Park - White Squirrel)



I had remembered that Richmond humidity was bad but the winter's dry air had muted those memories somewhat. There have been several unreal days. Yesterday, the temperature was only 70° when I left the house at 7:30 but the humidity was 98%. I had planned to do about 8 miles but at 3 miles I decided there was no way. So, I ended up turning earlier than originally planned and doing only 5.4 miles. Even so, I was beat and absolutely soaked when I finished -- we're talking (quit reading now if sweat is gross) wring my shirt out twice after I finished running soaked. Today, the humidity was **only** 70% but I was still WET -- and this is early morning. It's just the 10th of June!

Run well,
Bob

Sights and Sounds of Kenya

Watching this brought back memories:

Maasai School Girls -- Singing and Dancing


Bob

Rain and Shine

Stepped out my front door on Friday morning, got out from under the porch and, KUMBE!, it's raining. Not bad, so I headed out. Well, about 1/4 mile into it, the bottom dropped out. I was glad I left my glasses on the porch. It's interesting running in rain in the pre-dawn. It was heavy enough that I really couldn't see very far ahead. And I couldn't see where the puddles (or were they small lakes?) were. It was a new route for me so I knew I'd "have" to run it again soon to see what I'd missed.

Saturday morning and this morning were beautiful. Headed out about 6:30 each morning just before the sun came up. I was able to see the honeysuckle that I had been smelling. Both mornings fairly humid but cool at 48° -- absolutely perfect -- just cool enough for a long-sleeved shirt but not enough to chill. I'm not sure I'll have many more mornings like this one -- looks like next week will be back in mid- to upper-50's.

I ran the new route (Friday) again this morning. There are a couple of fairly long, gentle hills which are a bit of a challenge but not killers like the shorter steep hills. I'm still running slower than usual but it ain't bad.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Hints of Summer

Well, it looks like summer's coming to Richmond -- ugh! The humidity has been pretty bad the last couple of days at 89% on Friday and 83% this morning. I'm drenched at the end of a run. One pleasant sign of summer is the sweet smell of honeysuckle. I haven't seen the flowers, yet, but I sure smelled them yesterday and today. That brought back memories of childhood -- plucking the flowers, pulling out the stamen, and licking off the nectar.

This morning I was dying. Just after mile 6, I had to walk for about 30 seconds, ran for about 1:30, then walked again for about 1:15. I haven't had to do that in a long time. Then I met up with a friend, David Miller, at about mile 6.5. He was walking but picked up and ran with me for about 0.5 miles. That was just the encouragement I needed to finish running to the end. Thanks, David -- you didn't even know you were helping me along.

Run well y'all,
Bob

How Far Does Freedom of Expression Extend?

In the last few years, I have become convinced that often my greatest strength is also my greatest weakness. The steadiness that helps me get things done can be maddening when I need to be excited. I think the same is true of America -- our greatests strengths can be our greatest weaknesses if the strengths aren't used with self-control.

My dad used to tell me, Your freedom goes only as far as the end of the other person's nose. I treasure the freedom of expression that is my right as an American but when that freedom is exercised to the extreme, it's a glaring weakness. Here is a perfect example. I'm glad we have the freedom to express dissent but where does one get off going this far?

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - A Colorado man has been arrested for disrupting the Sunday service at a breakaway Episcopal parish by throwing a pie at the pastor. Witnesses told police that the man entered a side door of Grace Church and St. Stephen's Parish and hit the Reverend Donald Armstrong in the face as he preached a sermon on loving your enemies....Full Story

As a nation, we need to regain a sense of respect for others and learn how to dissent in appropriate ways.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

All or Nothing

DISCLAIMER: I do reserve the right to be wrong and to change my mind.

A couple of weeks ago, maybe longer, I taped a 20/20 show because they were going to talk about child molestation by Southern Baptist pastors (a topic for another day). Last night, I got around to watching it and was surprised to find that one of the segments was on Jim Karas and his campaign to ween America from cardiovascular exercise. (OK, I recognize that's a pejorative statement). I had seen most of the Good Morning America segment and wasn't impressed (I'm not the only one). He says that to lose weight, keep it off, and be fully healthy, we should stop doing cardio exercise and switch to his interval strength training routines. With a hot book and equipment.

This morning, while running, that segment kept coming to mind. I do not want to downplay the importance of strength training. I should incorporate strength training into my exercise routine -- without a doubt, I need to do something to ward of the muscle and strength loss that comes (well, OK, goes) with age. But, to eliminate all cardio exercise and sustitute only interval strength training doesn't make sense. One of Karas' arguments is that you don't see happy people in the cardio rooms of gyms but you see happy, toned people in the weight rooms. Cardio is mindless ... interval weight training is ... well, he implies it's fun and mentally stimulating but doesn't say that. Personally, as you know if you've read earlier postings, you know that I totally agree with his assessment of the dreadmill -- give me the outdoors where I'm going somewhere, seeing changing scenery. And, I've done strength training and find absolutely nothing mentally stimulating about it. It's better than the treadmill, maybe, but ....

Of course, on the other hand, if you are following my running log (see the right side of this blog), you'll see that my weight continues to hang around 178-181. To be at the right BMI for my height, I should weigh no more than 174.5. So, the running, by itself, is not getting me there.

But the details of the Cardio-Free Diet are not really what I was thinking about this morning. It seems to me that Mr. Karas' approach is a symbol of current US culture -- all or nothing. Rather than taking a moderate approach -- i.e., the best of both worlds -- we seem to feel compelled to take one or another of polar views on everything. Politics is certainly that way. It's either big business or the poor. Why else, when someone starts talking about how to control illegal immigration, they are accused of being anti-immigration of any kind -- and why must the only options for dealing with illegal immigration be building a fence or totally consequence-free amnesty? Even discussions about religion often boil down to whether one is a fundamentalist or a liberal. In general, it seems that the prevailing attitude is, if you don't completely agree with me, you are completely wrong. Is it really necessary to be in an extreme position on everything?

Well, I didn't solve anything while running (except to strengthen my heart, burn about 800 calories, hopefully raise my good cholesterol, clean out my pores, and get the lead out) but I did have some random thoughts while running. :-)

John 13:34-35 — A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (NIV)

Run well, practice big-heartedness,
Bob

Running at 53!

Well, surprise, surprise, surprise -- running at 53 years old is no different from running at 52 years, 364 days! It's still hard. :-)

When I started this blog, I thought I would be posting about random things I thought about while I was running. In the ensuing months, I've realized that my random thoughts consist mostly of:

-> Why do I do this to myself?
-> I think I'll quit and go home -- oh, wait, it would take too long to walk?
-> Who says that Richmond's West End doesn't have bad hills?
-> Am I going to die before I get home? If I do, will anybody see me at this time of the morning?
-> Just let me get home before I get struck by lightening.
-> Who stole the oxygen?
-> My shoes must be eating pound cake at night -- they're gaining weight.
-> 8 blocks to go ... 7 blocks to go ... 6 blocks to go ....

There's not a whole lot of "umph" left for thinking deep thoughts. Hivyo ndivyo mambo yalivyo. (Swahili: That's the way things are.)


Run well y'all,
Bob

Not Dead, Yet

Well, I must admit that I was a little concerned. In the last 9 runs, I had only had 2 when I ran under 8 minutes per mile. Granted, I was sick and didn't run for 8 days during that time but the time frame also coincided with using a new pair of shoes (Brooks GTS 7). Still, it's been a very long time when I had run more than one run a month that was slower than 7:59 mpm, so I couldn't figure what was going on. Was my age catching up with me -- I'm almost 53? Had my runs with others who run a bit slower reset my natural pace? Was it just taking extraordinarily long to recover from my cold? Was I over-training?

While I still don't know why and I may run more slowly tomorrow, it was reassuring today to hit 7:44 mpm.

Random thoughts today:

1. It's great to hear the birds at 5:00 am.
2. The flowering trees are pretty even in the moonlight.
3. Drivers in Richmond's West End (Short Pump) seem unusually polite. Yesterday was the first time in almost 2 years that anyone has even hooted at me. The vast majority of drivers see me and give me plenty of room.
4. There are some traffic lights that seem to get farther away the more I run toward them.
5. Why can't my wife and I get a clear word from God about a decision we're trying to make? How patient will those who are waiting for us to make the decision be? Is the lack of a clear word really a clear word that we should just continue with things as they are?
6. It's only 6° warmer today than yesterday. It's odd that it feels much warmer. (When I got home, I found out that the temperature had actually risen by 3° while I was running. In contrast to dropping 2-3°, as on the last several mornings, I guess the difference was really more like 8-9°.

Run well,
Bob

I Love the Spring

After 8 days of no running, it was so good to be out this morning. It was probably the easiest 10k run I've ever done. Yes, you can see from my log that I ran more slowly and I'm sure that was a major contributor to the ease. But, a lot of it was just being out again. A HUGE part of the joy was that it's springtime. Now, I couldn't see the evidences of spring even though there was a full moon. However, I could hear them -- the birds were serenading everybody who cared to listen. It was great. God is so good!

The only downside of running again after 8 days? I'm a bit sore but that will pass.

Live and run well,
Bob

Out of the Race

Well, I was looking forward to running the Ukrop's Monument Ave 10K tomorrow and was ready to break 50 minutes along with a friend. Then, Sunday night I started getting a cold and running a low-grade fever. Surely, the fever will go away by Wednesday or so and I can run. -- I kept telling myself. Thursday, I was still having a bit of fever so I went to the doctor. He says, Just a cold and the fever isn't unusual. But, his very strong advice is not to run. Today, Friday, I agree. Still coughing, still have and off-and-on fever. Bummer! We'll help our daughter move, but no running. After 5 straight days without a run, I am so ready. Maybe in another couple of days.

Today, I collected my t-shirt and other gear -- hey, I paid the fee -- and it was sad. Another day.

Good luck to all who do run.

Bob

4,000 Miles!

Reached a milestone this past week. I wasn't paying attention but realized today, while filling out my running log, that I had passed 4,000 miles of running since July 2003. It happened on Thursday. Whew! That's a lot of miles.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

Prep Run #2 for Richmond 10K

Ran the second prep run for the Richmond 10K next week. We were slow today. My friend had been fighting a cold all week and was still not feeling great. I had run 7.3 miles yesterday and my legs were tired. Still, with all those factors, we did fine.

This was my second run in a new pair of shoes -- Brook GTS7 with MoGo. The reviews for the GTS7 have been really good, talking about how cushioned they are, etc. I would disagree. I've run in a pair of GTS5, two GTS6, a pair of ASR (based on the GTS4), and now the GTS7. The ASR are the hardest (i.e., least cushioned) but kept my feet warmer on cold days, the GTS5 were the longest lasting (we'll see about the GTS7), and the GTS6/7 had the best cushioning (still not great).


Still, I like the Etonics Jepara SC shoes that I've just quit using -- they're more cushioned than any of the Brooks, they've lasted longer than any running shoes I've had in the last 4 years (613 miles), and they have a wider toebox (I could wear a regular width and didn't have to buy 2E). So, I think I'll wear the GTS7 until they wear out (until early to mid-July) and then go back to the Etonics.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

The Real Saint Patrick

I'm not a Catholic but there is a tiny trace of Irish blood in my veins. And, yes, I did wear green today, though not while I was running. Someone clued me in on this article and I found it interesting to read the real story behind the man:

The St. Patrick You Never Knew

Run well, y'all,
Bob

PS -- Earlier today, I ran with a friend at a slightly slower pace than I normally run. Maybe it was the luck of the Irish (I don't put any stock at all in luck), but I felt like I could have run a lot longer.

Prep Run #1 for Richmond 10K

I do like running with someone else -- not all the time, mind you, but more often than I get to do. A friend and I are running the Richmond 10K together in 2 weeks. We hadn't run together before, so we decided to run a 10K+/- this morning just to see how it went. It was chilly, but I actually like that except for the fact that I don' t talk very well when my face has been exposed to 32° for several minutes -- that made communication a little tricky. You know, lots of What did you say?

We did 6.5 miles at a pace of 8.015 mpm. If gMap-Pedometer gave me a good read on the distance, we'll make our goal for the 10K of sub-50 minutes -- a PB for my friend and a PB-baseline for me (since I've never run a 10K race before, 2 hours would, technically, be a PB for me). Hey, we won't be the fastest on Monument Avenue that day, but for a couple of 50+ year olds, we'll do all right.

If you're running that race, we'll see you there.

Bob
Richmond, VA

Longest Run to Date -- Lots of Time to Think

11.938 miles -- I am tired! This is the longest I've ever run. The first 6 miles took 46:54 and the last 5.9 took 47:31 so I maintained a fairly consistent pace throughout -- averaged 7:54 mpm. I don't watch my watch while I run so I was really surprised at my pace. If someone had asked, I would have guessed about 8:15 mpm because it felt slow.

My mental song for this run was You Are God Alone. As I ran, the passage from Romans 7:14-25 where Paul talks about his own inability to follow the law kept rolling around in my mind -- I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me ... Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God -- through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Rom 7:15-18a, 24b-25a). No matter what others see from the outside, I know that my inner self is fighting this same war. There is no reason, within me, for God to use me. But He does! He grants me righteousness, justifies me, and redeems me:

Therefore no-one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. (Romans 3:20-24)

My prayer for myself is that the righteousness that has been declared for me would become reality in my thoughts and attitudes and actions and words.

Pretty weighty for a run -- but, 12 miles gives one a long time to think.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

High Altitude, Again

Just returned from a 2-week trip to Kenya. Didn't run as much as I would have liked but did get in 6 days -- 3 in Nairobi and 3 in Tigoni. Man, the Tigoni was hard!! 7,500 feet above sea level is pretty thin air. But, the last day, I ran 4.3 miles at 8:10 mpm but the hills made for sore hips. It was absolutely perfect weather -- about 55°, no wind, no rain, no dogs.

Tonight, I became 1 of about 22,000 to sign up for the Richmond Monument Ave 10K at the end of March. This will be only my 2nd race since high school. A friend wants to break 50 minutes, so we'll run together. Should be fun if we don't get trampled by the crowds -- last year, the Monument Ave 10K was the largest 10K in the US.

Run well, y'all,
Bob

I'm a Real Runner Now

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

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

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

Addicted!

Well, today I feel like I'm a confirmed running addict. I didn't sleep well at all last night -- had weird dreams and kept waking up. So, I decided I could take a day off. Wrong choice! I have been groggy all day long -- not really sleepy-groggy but just couldn't shake the sleep dust. I should have foregone the last 30 minutes of nonsleep-sleep and hit the road.

My running journey has been interesting. Of course, there were the first few weeks when I was just simply out of shape and I had to push through that. Then, I began to lose weight fairly quickly, one of my initial reasons for getting back to running. At that point and for the next year, I really liked the results of running but didn't like running.

I hurt my knee at the one year point (ran too hard, too quickly when I was too heavy and using, as I later decided, wornout shoes) and had to quit until I had a meniscectomy (arthroscopic) at 14 months. During the time when I couldn't run and then while I was building back up, I realized how much I missed running. Once I got back to running, I realized that I really liked running.

The one day last week when I didn't run, I felt groggy. Then today I felt groggy. So, I've moved from like to need! I guess that's what I get after 3.5 years and 3700 miles. If I'm going to be addicted to something, there are a whole lot of things worse than running.

Run well, y'all,
Bob
Richmond, VA