Boy Camp Bike/Run

Boys Camp is in effect for the summer. We've already done a great many things, including seeing the new Spider-Man movie, dining on chicken and waffles, and purchasing an extremely dangerous knife.

I got sick the last day in Chicago, and I have been struggling through it for the past ten days. The wife and the boy have been to the gym, the girl is engaged in conditioning for high school soccer (it's pretty intense) and I can't even get up early enough to write, let alone run.

The back exercises have gone to the wayside, and I am feeling that, too. In spite of all this, or perhaps because of it, I proposed a three-mile bike/run with the boy.

Because Boy Camp!

Distance: 3.5 miles
Avg. Pace: 9:31
Duration: 33:18
Route: Boulevard Loop

Temperature: 71°
Climate: hot & sunny
Mood: It's Boy Camp!

Not bad, stopping every mile for water, talking about all kinds of things. I encouraged him to join me in a brief jog at the end, it was very challenging for him. Says his ankles hurt, his heels hurt, his toes hurt.

Running is hard. This is a true thing.

MLK Twelve-Miler

Morning, Mahatma.

Pain in my right hip this morning. My right knee has been a little pained. I was concerned that running at night the other night was a mistake. My paths were very dark in places -- that is the problem with running on side streets. During the day its night, at night however the trees can make your path invisible and it is possible to misstep, hit the pavement wrong, and hurt yourself.

I have two bruised toenails on my right foot. No idea how that happened. It may have been due to my ten-mile on the beach, wearing the old shoes. I have been trying to keep my nails trim and neat.

Oh, I'm also reading a book. Like, I am in the zone reading a book that I don't want to stop reading to do anything else, like run or write or eat or anything.

Distance: 12 miles
Duration: 2:27:33
Avg Pace: 12.17
Route: Lakeview & MLK Loop

Team challenge: The boy on the bike, and I running. He remembered not to wear cotton, choosing one of his baseball jerseys. Good call.

It was another epic, this time heading through the cemetery and the Case campus onto MLK to the India Cultural Garden and back, taking time to check out Wade Chapel and the lagoon. The boy, like his mother, loves the water fowl.

We discussed the possibility of his joining me for the 20 miler on August 30. That would be a big deal for a ten year-old, but certainly possible. What an education! Though I do not have as many knowledgeable things to say to him as he does to me.

Week Four Total: 31 miles
Training To Date: 102 miles

Made up for missing last week's twelve mile run by having one today. Just worked out like that.

Temperature: 79°
Climate: overcast and humid
Weight: 156.5 lbs.
Intake: yogurt & granola
Hydration: yes
Stretches: yes
Upper Body: 100 reps

You're my number one guy.

Are you ready to go back to Titanic?

Boy Camp 2015 is in effect. Yesterday we went bowling, and I attended his baseball game. We had hot dogs for dinner and watched The Terminator. Oh my God, Bill Paxton is the blue-haired punk.

The wife and the girl attend a feminist retreat in Pennsylvania each July, and have done so since 2010. The boy was five at that time and a little distressed to learn mom was not only going out of town, but taking his sister to do some special thing.

I told him that if they were going to girl camp then we were having boy camp. This piqued his interest, and he asked what boy camp was. I said I wasn't sure yet, but that it probably involved bowling.

Distance: 5 miles
Avg Pace: 7.45
Route: Forest Hills Loop

This one hit the pavement and took an awesome five mile run through the park while the boy slept in after a night that also included a hard-fought ball game, in addition to a super-violent sci-fi adventure. Actually, I think he's seen worse action on SHIELD and that Terminator's R-rating is due entirely to judicious use of the f-word and Linda Hamilton's boobs.

Consensual sex, bad ... pulling the beating heat out of someone's chest, good. Let's have this discussion again.

Tomorrow I am due for a 10-mile run, having missed my long-run last weekend. We will have to make an adventure out of that. Perhaps visit Gandhi.

Temperature: 73°
Climate: bright, clear and cool-ish
Weight: 175.5 lbs.
Intake: bagel w/cream cheese
Hydration: yes
Stretches: a little

What's That Lyric?
Ready For the Floor - Hot Chip

A little wine and a moan.

Weather has been ideal for running, and yet. Since we returned from vacation, the days have been long and inaccessible, at the service of work, children and home. Baseball games, soccer practice, music lessons, tending the injuries, enjoying movies and television, and the company of friends.

But no running. Evenings end around midnight, the mornings spent either writing or sleeping in ... but usually sleeping in.

There has been yardwork, however. More proud of the front beds than I have in some time. Moved a ton (literally!) of earth last weekend, weeding and planting and making all nice. At least, in the front yard. Don't go in the back yard.

Sitting at my desk for eight hours a day, and not exercising, makes me torpid and dull. Again with the right vastus lateralis, always a pain when I am off the road.

Temperature: 77°
Distance: 3.25 miles

Better any run than no run at all. It's Boy Camp this weekend, I am about to pick him up from goalie practice and we are going to see opening night of Cleve Shakes Romeo and Juliet BECAUSE WE ARE CRAZY LIKE THAT.

Friday Night Playlist
Friday Night - Lily Allen
Bryn - Vampire Weekend
Smile - Lily Allen
Golden Touch - Razorlight
Shine - Take That
Pizza, New York Catcher - Belle & Sebastian
Henrietta - The Fratellis
Pumpkin Soup - Kate Nash
Not Big - Lily Allen