No sweat

Distance: 4 miles
Duration: roughly 37:30
Weight: 166 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade Endurance
Snack: dired dates
Time: 6am
Weather: 44º cold & windy

Cruise Control (175 BPM) - dj steveboy
"I listened to this driving on the freeway and my car started sniffing up the white line like a supermodel. This thing moves. Which means you will, too."

Ugh, that was nasty. Weather said rain, thank heavens that wasn't true. Stepped out and thought, hmn, maybe 4 miles this morning. Slated to run 20 on Saturday, but that isn't going to happen. Either it is a short run on Lakeshore Drive or a long run on a treadmill at the Holiday Inn Mart Plaza. This weekend: Chicago.

Drown'd, drown'd.

Distance: 5 miles
Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Strehces: yes
Drink: yes
Snack: dried dates
Time: 6am
Weather: 61º downpour

Jackhammer (180 BPM)
"61 minutes of lights-out lumberjack-style merciless full-contact chainsaw macho pump-uppedness to bring out your inner fwuffy bunny."

I am a soggy man. My back has been aching lately, the kind of ache I get from overstretching it. Sometimes it's difficult to sit. The pain in my hip has returned, but the run was good - it had to be. First off, 180 bpm is pretty high speed, and even if I am trying to keep my pace under it, when it starts raining like hell it's hard not to find myself in synch with it.

I get my thing in action

Distance: 5 miles
Weight: 165 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: dried fruit
Time: 6am
Weather: 53º cool ... but not that cool

"In the Night Kitchen" Playlist
Army of Me - Bjørk
Under - Filter
Unmarked Helicopters - Soul Coughing
Parsec - Stereolab
I Don't Wanna Grow Up - The Ramones
I Saw the Light - The The
Enter Sandman - Apocalyptica
White Lines - Duran Duran
Hell - Squirrel Nut Zippers
The Beautiful People - Marilyn Manson
The New Pollution - Beck
Verb: That's What's Happening - Moby
Cooldown: Bazamba - Sister Soleil

What the hell was that? That was great! I guess two days of air travel, packed in like a sardine, is good for what ails you. Seriously - I should be bulding up to a peak here, but it's kind of tapering off. Missed a day last week (and the week before that) 12 this Saturday turned into seven on Sunday, and I don't wish to take the time when we're in Chicago this weekend to put in my final 20. And running it during the week is out of the question ... or is it?

However, today (which should have been a four, but I couldn't help myself) I felt like I haven't in weeks. Just felt great. Put in a few speed intervals, nothing aching or throwing me off. I have burned/worn away the callouses on both feet, so there is much less irritation there, and my hip ... well, my hip let me through. Today, anyway.

I should add - there's a tendon or ligament in my left big toe (I'm not making this up) that I pulled a year and a half ago. This tiny little pain in my big left toe. Walking around the city over the weekend really aggravated it.

Lonesome for a place I know

Distance: Almost 7 miles
Stretches: yes
Drink: Lucozade
Snack: NutriGrain bar (before) & Special K bar (after)
Time: 7am
Weather: cool & crisp

Accelerator (162 BPM) - dj steveboy
"This one feels like it speeds up (it doesn't) until it gets enough velocity to leave the planet. After that it's one big space race."

It was a whirlwind journey to London, but I did get a decent night's sleep the night before (8 hours - barely noticed it) and got up at the EST equivalent of 1.30am to go running. If I had planned a little bteer I may have know it was the date of the London 10K - 30,000 people! - and signed up. But the first race was to be at 10:15 and then I would have no morning in Covent Garden.

As it was Hyde Park had all these temporary barricades strung through it, which I was too confused to go around. What if I got yelled at? That kind of thing. So I altered my route, to one which was much more ... boring (I am not a big fan of Hyde Park, anyway) and headed out towards St. James.

Yes, you know you are in London when you are jogging past Buckingham Palace ... and there's absolutely no one else around.

So different, running through St. James than strolling through it. I used to think it was so large, but it only took a few minutes. The playground the kids used back in March, I have photos that make it look much bigger, it was like a tiny patch.

A small man, on the another side of the planet, going for a run. Different air, different land, same pair of shoes.

This pain will go

Distance: 5 miles
Weight: 163 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Snack: dried figs (good boy!)
Time: 6am
Weather: 51º

"In the Night Kitchen" Playlist:
La Femme d'Argent* - AIR
Scream - Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson
Animal - Prick
Local God - Everclear
One Angry Dwarf & 200 Solemn Faces - Ben Folds
We Prick You* - David Bowie
Lovefool - Cardigans
Burning Ground - Van Morrison
Female of the Species - Space
Birth-Day (Love Made Real) - Suzanne Vega
Airbag* - Radiohead
Cooldown: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me - U2

These new-fangled online mapping programs are downright handy. I already have a route around Regent's Park for use on Sunday. I don't anticipate doing 12, but I will be pleased to do any running at all.

I swear my butt is smaller than it was six months ago.

Gotta get up to get down.

Distance: 5 miles
Weight: 163 lbs.
Streches: yes
Drink: Gatorade (after - but not before, STUPID.)
Meal: oatmeal
Time: 9.30am
Weather: 70º warm & windy

"In the Night Kitchen" Playlist:
1979 - Smashing Pumpkins
Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Catz
Wrong - Everything but the Girl
Brakhage - Stereolab
Piku - Chemical Brothers
Stupid Girl - Garbage
Good Sh*t - Cornershop
Mama Told Me Not to Come - The Wolfgang Press
Fast Love - George Michael
Cooldown: Dark and Long - Underworld

Uhm, seventy degrees and no fluid before you run? Dumb. But otherwise satisfying, especially considering I have been socked with a nasty cold the past two days. Tried some sprints, as suggested by K (thanks, K!) and they felt very, very good. Knocked me out of that robot feeling.

Autopilot

Distance: 3 miles
Weight: 166 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Drink: Gatorade
Meal: Cinnamon Beef Soup (w/pasta)
Time: 8.15pm
Weather: 59º cool and clear

"In the Night Kitchen" Playlist:
Connection - Elastica
The Perfect Drug - Nine Inch Nails
Zoot Suit Riot - Cherry Poppin' Daddies
Making Plans for Nigel - The Rembrandts
You and Me Song - The Wannadies
Broken English - Queue Up
Soundtrack to Mary - Soul Coughing
Cooldown: Hello - Poe

Feel like I'm running like a robot, I'm all stiff legged. I don't feel normal, at all, when I run. Doesn't matter how much I stretche. Things were loosened up by the time I started, but it didn't feel "good." I got no idea where this is all going. And yet I keep running.