Sock It To Me Biscuits

Distance: 5.5 miles
Stretches: yes
Sports Drink: yes
Snack: Balance Bar
Time: 6.00am
Weather: cool

Playlist:
Putting Boxes In Boxes - Plasticman
Legal Tender - The B-52s
I'll Keep Coming Back - Chanelle
3 A.M. Eternal (Live at the S.S.L.) - The KLF
Weapon of Choice - Fatboy Slim
Dance Hall Days - Wang Chung
La Colegiala - Gary Low
Rocket Ride - Felix da Housecat
Toxic - Britney Spears
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Tarzan Boy - Baltimora
Brand New Colony - The Postal Service
Slip the Drummer One - Cornershop
Cooldown: Natural Blues - Moby

A little disappointed. Should have mapped it before I ran, it was only 5.5 miles. I knew it couldn't be very far. But I ran it again today, instead of the 4 I was supposed to do, which makes up for it a little. And it was more clear and bright this morning. I was keeping pace with a shipping vessel as it slowly made its way down the Mississippi, and I can't do that every day. I am troubled by the next few months, especially October. I am supposed to do 20 in London and 18 in Chicago or something like that, but I don't see how that's possible. I'll need to adjust my schedule.

Thanks, St. Paul.

Trail Ends

Week-End Total: 20.5 miles

Distance: not sure UPDATE: 5.5 miles
Duration: roughly an hour
Stretches: yes
Water: yes
Snack: no
Time: 6.00am
Weather: cool & breezy

Playlist:
U Got Me Up - Dajae w/Cajmere
True Faith - New Order
Chains of Love - Erasure
An Area Big Enough To Do It In - Prophet Omega
Rapture Riders - Blondie vs. The Doors
Let's Go to Bed - The Cure
This Woman's Work (remix) - Kate Bush
Love's Theme - Pizzicato Five
What She Wants - Felix da Housecat
Go - Tones On Tail
Hippychick - Soho
Velvet Pants - Propellerheads
We Share Our Mother's Health - The Knife
The Boy From Ipanema - Crystal Waters

Jogging along the banks of the Mississippi, visiting St. Paul, MN. It was nice, if disorienting - they have some lovely bike and pedestrian paths, but they don't have mile markers. Then, the direction I headed was blocked after about half a mile, so I headed back, and went until the trail became less of a nice path, and more of a sidewalk next to a highway, so I headed back again. I'll try to map the actual distance soon. I was supposed to go 8 miles today.

Throbbing

Distance: 4 miles
Stretches; yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: banana
Time: 6.30am
Weather: cool

Who brought Cheetos into the house?!

Left calf really singing today. Miss that one day off. Saturday: 8 miles along the Mississipi River. In honor of our destination, the next playlist will consist of nothing but Hüsker Dü singles.

God does not want me to run the 2006 New York City Marathon

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 164 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sports drink: yes
Snack: yes
Time: 6.30am
Weather: quite cool

A hard lump has suddenly appeared on the inside of my right foot, something which could only be described as a bunion. It does not hurt, but its sudden appearance (I have been examining and taking care of my feet, believe me) in the past two days is alarming. It doesn't hurt, but it can't be good news. The websites suggest they are the result of constricting shoes, and lots of walking. We did a lot of walking on Monday at the zoo, but I was wearing good shoes, and my running shoes are not tight at all.

This just sucks.

Bowel-shaking earthquakes

Distance: 4 miles
Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Snack: yes
Sports drink: yes
Time; 6.30am
Weather: cool

Playlist:
The Distance - Cake
Sixteen Military Wives - The Decemberists
The Way - Fastball
Comfortably Numb 9original ATOC Extended Re-Edit) - Scissor Sisters
Ladykillers - The Similou
We Share Our Mothers' Health - The Knife
Love Rollercoaster - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Buffalo Stance - Neneh Cherry
Cooldown: Still In Love Song - The Stills

A brand new complaint in my right ankle made me turn around a wrap it. What will tomorrow bring? That's a good point, actually - beginning tomorrow the schedule dictates I run on Wednesdays. Three days in a row before taking a rest on Fridays. I don't know if this is going to increase my strength and endurance, or bring me down through sheer bodily attrition.

It was right for you to run

Distance: 3 miles
Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes (not enough)
Snack: not until after
Sports drink: yes
Time: 7:30am
Weather: cool

"The Brat Pack" Playlist:
Pretty in Pink - Psychadelic Furs
The Big Sky - Kate Bush
The Gap - The Thompson Twins
Da Da Da (Ich Lieb Dich Nicht) - Trio
Johnny Come Home - Fine Young Cannibals
My Ever Changing Moods (12" Version) - The Style Council
Into the Groove - Madonna
This Charming Man - The Smiths
Infected - The The

You know what I can't stand about high school reunions? The music. It's all the same stuff you hear on the light rock station. The event organizer, bless her lungs of steel, was trying to get my wife and I on the floor - fortunately - just as we were headed out, but you know, they hadn't played a single song that you could dance to. From the Hooters to Hootie, it was either the wrong song or the wrong era. You can't dance to Born In the the U.S.A., I'm sorry.

Advice to all aspiring 80's party djs - please consult the last two playlists. They will praise you for your taste, even as you drive out the squares.

It's not the long runs that wreck me, it's the day after runs. I cannot stretch enough, something gets hurt on those runs. Today was far more painful than yesterday. I harmed something in my left shin (what else is new) and now I fear I am getting shin splints in my right leg. And I didn't think I needed to eat something before a brief, 3 miler. I was shaking by the time I got back.

I kiss the city of New York

Week-end total: 24 miles

Distance: 13 miles
Weight: 165.5 lbs.
Stretches: yes
Sports drink:yes
Snack: balance bar (bfeore) NutriGrain bar (after)
Time: 2 hours, 4 minutes
Weather: 5:30am, cool

"The Brat Pack" Playlist
I'm Your Man - Wham!
Perfect Kiss - New Order
Everyday is Halloween - Ministry
Close (to the Edit) - The Art of Noise
Rock Me Amadeus - Falco
Conga - Miami Sound Machine
Like Wow Wipeout - Hoodoo Gurus
Space Age Love Song - A Flock of Seagulls
Delirious - Prince
Weird Science - Oingo Boingo
Don't Go - Yazoo
Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads
Let's Go All the Way - Sly Fox
Strait Old Line - Split Enz
Nemesis - Shriekback
Whammy Kiss* - The B-52s
Can't Get There From Here - R.E.M.
Hyperactive - Thomas Dolby
The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & the News
Gone Daddy Gone* - Violent Femmes
Synchronicity II* - The Police
Shout - Tears for Fears
Pressure - Billy Joel
The Metro* - Berlin
Mirror in the Bathroom* - The Beat
Relax - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
Hold Back the Rain - Duran Duran
The Fanatic - Felony
Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) - Haircut 100
Cooldown: I Go Swimming - Peter Gabriel

The wife suggested coffee the moment I wake up, before stretches, might assist in my exoneration. Caffeine is a diuretic, but it also dehydrates, so I had a little more fluid ... and felt like I needed to pee the entire run. But it did take care of the other problem, too.

I woke with a slight headache, as I have the past several days. I did not take my prescribed Imitrex. That stuff constricts your blood vessels in order to stave off migraines - and I didn't want to have a heart attack this morning.

Down Little Italy and through University Circle to MLK. Took a lovely walk through the Italian Cultural Garden before heading back. Water break at Wade Oval, one lap there, past Severance Hall and the hospital before heading back up the hill, past Coventry (water break in Turtle Park) and home.

I did feel some pulling in one glute, and then the other, about two-thirds of the way through, but stopped to do some gentle stretches and they went away.

A half-marathon, all by myself. And it only took a little over two hours, which is entirely acceptable.

The question is, could I do it again, right now?