That makes me sweat

Distance: 4 miles
Stretches: yes
Sports Drink: yes
Snack: PowerBar
Time: 5:30am
Weather: warm, humid & foggy

"Breaking Point" Playlist:
World Shut Your Mouth - Julian Cope
The Mayor of Simpleton - XTC
It's the End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
Need You Tonight - INXS
Dominion/Mother Russia - The Sisters of Mercy
Radio Song - R.E.M.
Dreaming I Am - Bob Mould
Mandinka - Sinead O'Connor
Alex Chilton - The Replacements
Cooldown: Fairplay - Soul II Soul

Hernias the size of grapefruit. That's all I'm saying.

Sunrise over Bong Hill

Week-end Total: 21 miles

Distance: 9 miles (oops.)
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: PowerBar
Time: 5:45am
Weather: balmy

"Breaking Point" Playlist:
Just Like Heaven - The Cure
Heal the Pain - George Michael
I Want Your (Hands On Me) - Sinead O'Connor
I Am Stretched On Your Grave - Sinead O'Connor
Hard Day (Shep Pettibone Remix) - George Michael
Alphabet Street - Prince
Pictures of You - The Cure
No Sleep Till Brooklyn - The Beastie Boys
King for a Day (12" Version) - XTC
Reptile - The Church
Don't Wanna Fall in Love - Jane Child
Sign O the Times - Prince
I.O.U. - The Replacements
Pop Song 89 - R.E.M.
Hand to Mouth - George Michael
Lonesome For A Place I Know - Everything But the Girl
Hey Jack Kerouac - 10,000 Maniacs
Cloudbusting - Kate Bush
Cooldown: Night and Day - U2

WARNING: Potty Talk

I would prefer to run in the afternoon or evening, when my body isn't stiff as a board. I run early because 1) that's when I have time 2) it's too darn hot. The problem, of course, are facilities.

I have learned a lot about running marathons. For example, since I have no chance of winning, I should focus on simply getting there. Walking is not cheating. Eating and drinking while running is not cheating. And stopping to go to the bathroom is not cheating. Unless you're from Kenya, you're not going to reach the finish line fast enough to neglect necessary bodily functions.

I tried going to the bathroom before the run, but sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't. I knew there would be a restroom facility by the new recreation center where I could get a mid-run drink, but would the bathrooms be open at 6am? By mile three I was in need, and had no friendly neighbors to let me into their home. Praise Bob, the john was unlocked. Let's hear it for Athens, Ohio, where anyone, even a man of the cloth, can find what they are looking for in a public facility before dawn.

We are visiting the Out-Laws, and I took the bike path by the Hocking River. Not too many gnats, but a few. Went out at dark, past the hospital, my old rooms on South Green, and then way out past all the depressing "big box" developments and back again as the greenskeepers were sweeping the links. I miscalculated and actually ran nine miles instead of the scheduled eight. Oh well. The weather was perfect.

The folks installed a sun shower behind the garage last summer, so I had a remarkable cooldown, just me, the trees, the deer and open pores.

Toys

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: banana
Time: 5:30am
Weather: HUMID

Playlist:
We Share Our Mothers' Health - The Knife
Suzie - Boy Kill Boy
Chase Me - Hexstatic
Hindi Sad Diamonds - Moulin Rouge Soundtrack
The New Pollution - Beck
Mainframe - Kaada
Music Plus 1 - Cornershop
Pump It - Black Eyed Peas
Sweet Dreams (Are made of This) - Eurythmics

2GB iPod nano (black) for my birthday yesterday, so I can stop using the wife's. Inscription: Daddy Runs Fast | To NYC and Beyond! Damn.

There is hope

Distance: 5 miles
Weight: 165 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: yes
Time: 5:30am
Weather: balmy

Playlist:
Sympathy for the Devil (The Neptune Mix) - The Rolling Stones
Tainted Love - Soft Cell
It's a Set Up - Plasticman
Keep Hope Alive (JDS Mix) - Crystal Method
Tandem Jump - Jonathan Richman
Find My Baby - Moby
Real Real Real (The Real Pop Mix) - Jesus Jones
Dead Man's Party - Oingo Boingo
I Can't Wait - Nu Shooz
You're So Damn Hot - OK Go
Gett Off - Prince
Cooldown: Point of View Point - Cornelius

Felt a nasty twinge in my left calf, stopped, walked, stretched, walked, kept going. That's how you do that - I used to just try and run through those things. My friend in Chicago just ran the marathon in the Gay Games on a sprained ankle. He added a half-hour to his previous time, but he did it. I have no reason to complain.

Honky better back up

Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Time: 10pm
Weather: blessedly cool

"Chunk Style" Playlist
Informer - Snow
International Bright Young Thing - Jesus Jones
It Takes Two - Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
Jimmy James - The Beastie Boys
Jingling Baby (Remixed But Still Jingling) - LL Cool J
Jump Around - House of Pain
Mama Said Knock You Out - LL Cool J
Cooldown: Mea Culpa - Enigma

I think I can do this, especially after all that. Baby's asleep in bed, with a reconstructed head.

10 mile

Week-end total: 21 miles

Distance: 10 miles
Time: roughly 90 minutes
Weight: 165 lbs.
Weather: 5am, rain
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: yes

Down Mayfield to Little Italy, through University Circle, four laps around Wade Oval, past Severance Hall, stopped to look up at Rainbow where my son recovers from a fractured skull, back up through Little Italy, and home.

Don't go for second best, baby

Distance: 4 miles
Weight:
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: not yet
Time: 5:45am
Weather: cool & humid

Ten miles on Saturday. Never run ten miles. Wish me luck.

Older than Lou Rawls

Distance: 3 miles
Times: about 30 minutes
Weight: 165 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: yes
Weather; 6am, cool & humid

"Improve Your Endurance 1.1" Playlist
Funky For You (Spacehopper Mix) - Deadbeats
Rocket Ride - Felix da Housecat
Hip Hop Hooray - Naughty By Nature
Decent Days and Nights - The Futureheads
Wound Up - Office
Mirror in the Bathroom - The Beat
To Ulrike M. (Zero 7 Mix) - Doris Days & Zero 7

For almost thirteen years now, I have strived to avoid my neighbor when I run. She will wave me down with a question at the worst fricking time. Sometimes I ignore her, but she's just too sweet. So there I am, at the end of my run, feeling my muscles calcify as she tells me about how someone's garage caught fire last night. *Sigh*

You, Me & Crystal Method

Distance: 4 miles
Time: about 36 minutes
Weight: 163 lbs. (!)
Stretches: yes
Water:
Snack: not yet
Weather: 6:30am, sunny, warm & humid

Felt awful at the outset, great by the end. And that's the way it's supposed to be, right? Had the sun in my eyes half the time, but still cut a minute off last week. Strecthed, iced, elevated, read the NY Times. Happy Sunday.

Got more suits than Jacoby & Meyers

Week-end Total: 17 miles

Distance: 6+ miles
Weight: 164 lbs. (?)
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: yes
Weather: cool & humid
Time: 5:30am

"Chunk Style" Playlist
Say No Go - De La Soul
Rockin' Back Inside My Heart (Tibetan 12") - Julee Cruise
Tread Water - De La Soul
Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia) - Us3
Jump - Kriss Kross
Shadrach - The Beastie Boys
I'm Too Sexy - Right Said Fred
Who? Where? Why? - Jesus Jones
Never Gonna Give You Up - Rick Astley
Connected - Stereo MC's
What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy) - Information Society
Personal Jesus - Depeche Mode
Everybody Everybody - Black Box
Shake Your Rump - The Beastie Boys

That was all right. It's the day after the longer runs I need to worry about. Word. For those interested in what I am in for, here is the ING NYC Marathon Official Handbook.

Oh, poop.

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: yes
Weather: cool & overcast
Time: 6:30am

Okay, here's a story. I went out with some old college friends Wednesday night. I did a little drinking, not too much, more than I should if I am planning on running the next morning. And I was out too late, I was up until one. But I drank an awful lot of water at that bar, we were outside so I wasn't inhaling much smoke. I'll avoid such situations in the future, but there I was.

I wake up around six and decide, all right, I can do this. I try stretching well before the run, I got a little flop-sweat going. I had downloaded an "encouragement" mix from iTunes, you have this perosnal trainer telling you when to pick up and cool down, etc.

I have a four-mile circle mapped out from my house. A big circle, out to Newbury (past the girl's school,) up Mayfield, down Noble, and home.

A bout half-way from home, I have to void. Seriously. I try to bear down, but it just gets worse. I another quarter-mile, I am in big, big trouble. I cut down a side-street in a pointless atempt to get home faster, but that just makes it worse, mentally. And I have a voice in my head (well, on my iPod) saying "Go for it!" and "Visualize your goal!"

I am freaking desperate and am assessing the foliage by the elementary school I am jogging past. Luckily for me, it was trash morning in that neighborhood, and this young guy in a tie is dragging a length of carpet out to the curb.

I said excuse me, and he say yes, and I said, I hate to ask this but I really need to use your bathroom. He hestitated for a moment in that way that made me feel as though, if my skin tone had been any different from his, he would have said no.

"Oh, all right," he said, and led me through the back of his house, and into his basement, where I found salvation. It was even a new bathroom, they were doing the basement. I think they were rehabbing the entire house.

On my way out I tried not to catch his wife's eye. "Love what you've done with the place," I said, and slunk away.

The rest

Distance: 4 miles
Time: about 37 minutes
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: yes
Weather: 5:30am, cool

So I am currently running better than a ten-minute mile. Wasn't sure there, not after Sunday. Amazing what a day of rest can do, yesterday was spent assuming I simply won't be able to do this this year. The race is one thing, the training is another. How do I run 12 miles during my 48-hour trip to London? Or a half-marathon in Chicago? Will all the travel dehydrate and exhaust me?

Well, I don't know. What I do know is I have until November 1st to drop-out and still have automatic qualification in next year's race. That's a lousy way to mentally prepare yourself, I know, but at least it's a question for another day. Right now I feel pretty good.

Grueling

Distance: 3 miles
Weight: 166.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: No
Weather: cool
Time: 6am

That was hard. The follow-up day, hard. Probably not a good idea to see Shakespeare in the park without a chair anymore, moving around after the show was difficult. This morning there was burning pain in the back of my left shin. My whole left shin is going to be a problem. Again - can I do this?

Right now, after ice & elevation, there isn't any pain at all. All I can do is keep up with the designated stretches. And rest tomorrow.

Yesterday I downloaded Runner's World NYC Marathon podcast. It was inspiring. It gave me a lot of info I didn't have, but there are no illusions that this is going to be the most difficult thing I have ever done with my body. I have never given birth, but I am doing this. If my wife do that - three times - I can do this.

New Shoes

Week-end Total: 15 miles

Distance: 8 miles
Weight: 167 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Weather: cool & clear
Time: 6am

Playlist:
Drive: Nike+ Original Run - The Crystal Method

Took nearly an hour and a half to go 8 miles. I was seriously taking it easy, breaking in new shoes, being very kind to my shins and feet. I found some shin splint exercises online (I will get that link up soon) which may or may not have already had an effect. But they don't hurt today, at all. Other things hurt.

My new shoes, ASICS Duomax Gels (my old favorites were Asics, but they were very old, indeed) I got slightly larger than usual. My feet are always cramped in my shoes, my left foot is slightly larger than my right. Yet I am concerned about whether or not this was the right decision. God, finding the right shoes is a struggle.

UPDATE: When I was in Vermont, taking care of the kids, I found that I wasn't drinking nearly enough water. There are times like that, when I don't feel thirsty, and drinking seems like a chore. Since I have returned home I have been very aware of my thirst level, and have been working very hard to make sure I have some water near me at all times.

Home

Distance: 3 miles
Weight: 169.5 lbs.
Stretches: Yes, and they've gotten more involved
Water: yes (never enough)
Weather: cool
Time: 6am

It's the shoes, Michael. Shopping today: new shoes, rain gear, glasses strap. Looked up some info on care and feeding of shin splints. The description of what a shin splint is doesn't match what I have. Hmn.

Niagara

Distance: the circumference of Goat Island, Niagara Falls, NY (1 mile?) *
Stretches: no, but I swam around a pool holding a small child afterwards
Water: yes
Weather: f*cking beautiful
Time: 8pm

Hope to do that again tomorrow morning. The run was far too short, and how often do I get the chance to run around Niagara Falls State Park?

* 8/23 UPDATE: It was actually 2 and a quarter miles.

This Is Where It All Begins

Distance: 3 miles
Stretches: sorta
Water: yes
Weather: rain
Time: 5:30am

So I am a total geek. Last night I was trolling iTunes for great workout tunes, and found they have this new N*ke sponsored thing, featuring N*ke sponsored mixes, and even a 40 minute composition by the Chemical Brothers. Which I bought. The next time I think I'll be running for 40 minutes, I'll try it. Picked up a couple of songs from other mixes suggested by visitors to iTunes ... thinking of making one myself ... complete dork ...

Four our 7th anniversary (wool) my wife got me five albums that had the word "wool" in them - either the artist or album title. She got me the TOCA Race Driver 3: Official Soundtrack - it's the soundtrack to a video game, composed by Plastic Man & the Wool One. Pretty sweet.