Railroad Bed

Week-End Total: 12 Miles

Distance: roughly 6 miles
Time: 6:15am
Weather: cool & damp
Stretches: Yes
Water: Yes

One of the help desk people here had posted an invitation to run this morning. She and I and a Swiss woman went for the best run I have had so far, though the "railroad bed" because apparently that's what it once was. Through the woods of Plainfield, Vermont.

I guess I have resigned myself to the fact that, as my shin splint gets no worse, it may also never get better. My stamina is good, my endurance is good, I just have this pain in my leg. Have to deal with it.

Mosquito Highway

Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: yes
Water: not yet
Time: 5am
Weather: cool & overcast

Took a different route, VT 214 - less traffic, more trees. Also quite hilly with an uneven, wobbly berm. Can I freaking do this thing? In 2004 I broke my personal speed record. I was doing great. Great shape. Then I broke my heel and there was a cascade of complications, hamstring in my right thigh, now a vicious shin splint, maybe my time has passed, I don't know.

Viewing Trees, Eating Mudflaps

Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Time: 5am
Weather: cool

Spending a week in Vermont. Marathon training begins, officially, today. Out on RT 2, lush trees and mountains ... and the occasional semi. I'd try to find a path through the woods, but it rained for a day solid yesterday, I can't imagine any of them are at all dry.

It's been several days, I have had a cold and then there was travel. Just driving made my shin splint act up. I wonder how much of an issue this will remain. It may simply never go.

Another cold and dull rainy day

Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: yes
Water: are you kidding?
Weather: rain
Time: Noon

Reasons today's run totally sucked:
It was raining.
Though I have fashionable and stylish new glasses, they slip off my nose with the least condensation.
I have yet to get a new glasses strap.
So I wore old glasses with a perscription no less than eight years old.
They fogged up so bad I had to take them off anyway and run a little blind.
Because it was raining, I ran harder than I should have and pulled my shin splint again.
It was raining.
Because I was a little blind, and winded and in pain, I ducked not low enough under a tree branch and was poked rather viciously on the scalp.

I have decided to re-read Krakauer's Into Thin Air, if only to remind myself what truly insane training conditions are.

You want it? You got it.

Weight: 165 lbs.
Distance: 5 miles
Stretches: not yet
Water: yes ...
Time: 10am
Weather: Sunny and humid

Stay (Faraway, So Close!) - U2
I Can't Wait - Nu Shooz
Alex Chilton* - The Replacements
Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Catz
Gonna Make You Sweat - C + C Music Factory
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger - Daft Punk
Bust a Move - Young MC
Gone Daddy Gone* - Violent Femmes
Unbelievable - EMF
Jump - Kriss Kross

Deceptively cool this morning. Then the humidity kicks in and sucks all the water out of you. I am a drippy mess. I anticipated getting up early - but not three in the morning, as the boy dictated. I needed to take him for a drive, as I used to do with his sister, listening to scary, after-hours AM radio. Finally got to sleep, real sleep, around five.

It was a tough, hot, active, outdoor weekend. I feel as though I have been hit by a house.

I give up

Wight: 165 lbs.
Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Time: 5pm
Weather: hot & sunny with a light breeze

And so. I have not written about the Plantars Warts because they upset me so. The fact is, though the recommendation on a bottle of Compound W is to consult a doctor if the situatuion has not cleared in twelve weeks, I have been applying the stuff to the ball of my right foot for almost six months. Sometimes I do not notice. Sometimes it feels like I have broken my foot. Today was like that.

I have to stop. I know it has done nothing, these bastards go to the bone. But I have to ask whether they were that annoying in the first place, compared to the misery I am occasionally in trying to get rid of them.

The dogs hate me

Weight: 165 lbs.
Distance: 5 miles
Weather: overcast & cool
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Must have been the time of day, I hit dog-walking time. No less than three dogs (none of them very large - one a surprisingly agressive beagle) snapped and growled at me as I passed. One little old woman desperately held onto her pooch as I sped past, weakly saying, "Sorry ..."

No complaints

Weight: 165 lbs.
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 11am
Weather: cool & sunny
Stretches: yes
Water: yes

Playlist:
All That She Wants - Ace of Base
Push It - Salt N Pepa
Steppin' Out* - Joe Jackson
8 Mile - Eminem
The Way - Fastball
Crystal Wrists - Peter Murphy
Someday, Someway* - Marshall Crenshaw
Let Go - Frou Frou

Received confirmation of my entrance into the 06 ING NY Marathon. So here we go. And today there were no complaints, not in my feet, shins, nor hamstring. Almost pulled something doing the warm-down stretches, I simply cannot win.

Now ... how the hell does one train for a marathon? I have books, and have consulted websites, and yet I am still trying to figure out how to work it into the schedule. Not the race, the training. I am going to have to spend the month of September going to bed at midnight and waking up at 4.

Flushed & pink.

Weight: 164 lbs.
Distance: 5 miles
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weather: cool & sunny
Time: 5pm

The Ice Cream

Weight: 167 lbs.
Distance: 3 miles
Time: 6 am
Weather: cool and humid
Streches: yes
Water: yes

Early morning runs can be very difficult. I really overtaxed myself Tuesday night, and pulled my back a little on Wednesday. This morning was a trial, but highly satisfying ... now, a couple hours later.

There are several pair of pants waiting for me to hover around 160 again. And yet I cannot quit the ice cream.