Ain't lost yet, so I gotta be a winner.

Week 11 Total: 35 miles
Training to Date: 287 miles

Question: Run today, when it is cold and dry, or tomorrow when it may be warm and wet? What I really want to avoid, have avoided, is destroying my feet. I am prepared for a forty degree run, though it may be less than pleasant. The other night I ran in 40 degree temps and both knees hurt for two days.

However, once I get an idea in my head, it is hard to stop it. I got up at 5 AM, drank coffee and snacked, waiting for the necessary to occur, before stepping out at 6 AM.

I chose long pants. And gloves. Good call, very good call.

Distance: 20 miles
Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes
Route: Cleveland Heights to Lakewood
Band-aids: check
Lip balm: check
Bottle: check
Body glide: check?

Factory of Gladness!
Temperature: 39º
Climate: cool, very slight mist at times
Pre-Snack: banana, toast
Road-Snack: GU 2x*, cereal fruit bar
Hydration? yes!
Stretches? yes

*GU Roctane Island Nectars. Gross! Also the old stand-by, Vanilla Bean (cuz I -heart- caffeine.)

Thank you, Gypsy, for letting me pee.
The aggravation of carrying a sloshing water bottle for twenty miles was entirely worth it. The last two miles were a bit of a slog, keeping the end of Lake Avenue in sight ... but then running around the block to get to my parents' house to make it a true 20-miler.

Podrunner:
Step Sequencer (164 bpm)
In The Meantime - Spacehog (168 bpm)
Tiger by the Tail (163 bpm)
I Will Dare - The Replacements (167 bpm)
Bolt (160 bpm)

A little Replacements in there, in honor of my brother, who is visiting from the Twin Cities to see The Velocity of Autumn tonight! He took me out for brunch at the Root Cafe, before driving me back to the Heights.

I KNOW WHAT I AM DOING.

You always seem to make me feel at home.

Route: Lakewood Park Loop
Total Distance: 4.15 miles
Temperature: 89º degrees

Another writing vacation at my parents' house in Lakewood. You know what goes poorly together? Strenuous yardwork in 90 degree temps followed by two Christmas Ales at a cookout, and hitting the sack at midnight in your folks' poorly air conditioned and (for some reason my wife and I have yet to understand) terribly dehydrating home.

But rise I did. Write I have. And I continue to, though it was necessary to first of all, run, which I have not done in a week (goodbye ocean, hello lake) and to visit Root Cafe to spend that Groupon the wife bought almost a month ago.

Meantime, the wife sent this reassuring link:

10 Ways of Thinking That Lead to Writing Procrastination and Rebuttals to Those Thoughts

Thought #11: I have to tell everyone about this in my blog.

Rebuttal: Who do you think you are?

Romancing the Stone Genius Mix
Romancing the Stone (12” Mix) - Eddy Grant
Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals
Forever Live and Die - Orchestral Manouvers in the Dark
I Don’t Want to Be a Hero - Johnny Hates Jazz
Union of the Snake (The Monkey Mix) - Duran Duran
Saved By Zero - The Fixx
Are We Ourselves? - The Fixx
It’s My Life - Talk Talk
One Night in Bangkok - Murray Head