Black Bear Running

Black Bear Running in Italy (Part II)

2011-06-21T09:46:00.000-07:00

Continuing on...I was able to run probably 3 x per week, I found a little route near the hotel - it was a little confusing the first few times because the street names are nothing like "Main" or "Second" and more like "Via Symposia Gardlianiase" or Via Dei Mille." After a week, I felt like I knew the city layout really well so I was able to run in different places. Unfortunately, my Garmin GPS got wiped out on the plane ride, so I don't have any data to show where I ran. Delta Airlines I hate you.

The weather was pretty good for the first week. High 70s and sunny.

This would change as soon as the weekend arrived and I went to
Milan click here for Milan info which is about 1 hour 45 minutes North of Bologna and a very wealthy city. I took the speed train, which was nice, there's a little dining car. Anyway, I was supposed to meet another student there, but I took the bus the wrong direction, got lost to the train station and ended up on a different train, so I walked around Milan in the pouring rain. Milan is really pretty and so different architecturally from other cities.

Even the train station in Milan is gorgeous.

I couldn't afford to buy anything in Milan because the dollar is just so weak, even McDonald's is about $10 for a meal.

I tooled around Milan and went to Florence the next day which was a Sunday (and an Italian Holiday weekend)...

click here for Florence info

So, yes, Italy is big on Food and Churches...
We went up into the Cupola which is like a bell tower next to the Duomo...The Duomo is the big dome on the left (This shot is taken from the cupola). I can't describe how incredible the view is.

Here's a picture of me infront of the Baptistry Doors - these are bronze doors by Ghiberti

It rained. A lot. Here's a picture from a pretty intense hailstorm that came through in the afternoon in Florence.

I felt pretty safe, given all the churches around though it was a pretty big storm even by Michigan standards. God was bowling, but had no intents on striking the Duomo. Fortunato,(heh heh slipping in some Italian I picked up....I'll tell a little story about why I know what Fortunato means later....) I was stuck for 2 hours during the hailstorm, with Olivia (one of my travel buddies) in a shoe store in Florence. I ended up trying on about 20 pairs of shoes and got these cool ones for 25Euro ($40)

So, we ran into some other school friends in Florence who told us if we didn't have a return trip to Bologna, we should go get one because they were all sold out until midnight. Sure enough, we ran over to the train station, and ended up on the last train out with all our friends - packed like sardines in a aisleway of the hottest train you can ever imagine but I'll get back to that ....

So after we got our tickets we headed back into the city but again the skies opened up again, so we were forced into a restaurant for cheese and wine while the storm subsided....

And it rained and rained, so we ate and drank more...

and got back for the late train with all our friends and waited an hour because it was delayed, then we got on like sardines standing in the aisleways on the stuffiest hottest train ever and it moved about 20 feet and then....sat there for another hour. Italy is not well-known for it's trains, and for good reason. They are the same trains that Mussolini himself built 60 years ago, I am certain. They ought to have hanged him for the trains alone. Toilets and Trains. Suck. Got back to Bologna at like 2:00 a.m.

Sometime that week I went to Pisa. It's about 2 hours west of Bologna by train so was able to go after class (which ended at noon). I went with a schoolmate Candice and we were both aware that it might be a big hokey Disney type touristy thing (like some tower standing in the middle of a park surrounded by vendors selling t-shirts). Instead, we got off the train, walked like madmen to the 2 miles or so to the tower so as to get back intime for our return train and stumbled on the coolest sight ever. DEFINITELY worth it. Had to do a lot of running to get up the tower because they only let a certain number of people up every 30 minutes (wondering now why it isn't the weight of the people they are concerned about but the number...like is it going to fall?). Anyway, it was pretty cool. So far, every sight I'd seen in Italy was even better than the last one.

Here's me eating on the train on the way back. Nice dining car. Nice airconditioning. This train was built by Capitalists. Three cheers for Capitalism and no sweating!!!!

It rained all week, we went on a wine tour at Cesari Vineyards click here for Cesari vineyards info which was pretty nice.

Then I went on Saturday to Venice on Saturday again with Olivia who is a sculpture artist. It was still raining since the prior Saturday, but whatever, you can't stop touring. We got to Venice and breezed through San Marco Square in the rain, and decided to take the water taxi to Murano (an island off Venice where they make hand-blown glass). Olivia is an artist and she and another guy on our trip who had been there said it was a 'must-see.' Apparently, they aren't giving tours anymore because the Chinese are taking pictures and copying the designs and manufacturing. I'm not sure if this is true or not, but it's the story everyone tells.

Anyway, it becomes really sunny out and beautiful and we go into a small glass store and there's one guy behind the counter. Long story, but the guy finds out we are from America and specifically that Olivia's from Los Angeles and he loves Los Angeles. He doesn't speak any English, but somehow he starts saying "fabricca" and points to his wedding ring and says, "wife", "5 minutes", "fabricca" "fortunato" "fortunato" and is making all kinds of hand motions. So out of this, Olivia deciphers, "Oh, he wants to take us on a tour of the glass factory." Meanwhile, I am thinking, "No, I think he is telling us that his wife is going to meet us all at the fabric store, and then they will proceed to kill us." So, we go, and sure enough we get a private tour of the factory, which was AWESOME!!!! Turns out Fabricca means "factory" not "fabric store" and we were fortunato to see it.... And Olivia makes some glass...

I am so glad I didn't try because I wouldn't have known that you can't suck in or your lungs will explode with glass. We saw a designer showroom of $20,000 chandeliers. Unreal.

Water taxi back to San Marco (the big square in Venice)...this is where I saw Rich Rod....I'll only post one picture of San Marco because it's just so unbelievable, a picture doesn't show anything.

On Sunday, Anna and I went to Ravenna and met our pal Don there. click here for Ravenna info This is when I realized that if you ever go to another country it is a much better trip when you know what you are looking at (duh) and especially if you are with someone who speaks Italian. Because we got a complete guided tour of Ravenna and the whole historical background on the Eastern Empire and Western Empire. I would've never even thought of going to a place like Ravenna if not for a side comment from one of our professors "if you want to see some pretty impressive mosaics, go to Ravenna..."

So we get in this church that looks pretty old on the outside, called Basilica San Vitale, and here is the inside....these are all little tiny 1/2 inch mosaic tiles....

I'm skipping the story about how Eli and I and a frenchwoman got trapped on a train in Ferrara, because the doors wouldn't open at our stop.

Later that week a group of us went to lunch at a place in Modena (about 30 minutes north of Bologna) called click here for La Hosteria Giusti info and pics Modena is the birthplace of Balsamic Vinegar). It turns out that this restaurant is the oldest deli in the world and only seats 15 people and dinner reservations are sold out through October. But, we got in for lunch! After sprinting 20 minutes to catch the train and sitting on the hot car, I had perhaps the best meal of my life. Ever.

These are puffy gnocchi (like a puffed pastry) with proscuito and salami and the white topping on the one is the fat from proscuitto on the top. Yumma!!!

This is duck with noodles.

Here's some gelato drizzled with 35 year old balsamic vinagrette.

Now I'm hungry.

After my final, I went to Riccionne which is a beach city on the Riviera (Adriatic Sea) click here for Riccionne info . It was gorgeous and relaxing. A nice way to end the trip, I thought.

Well, actually a nice way to end the trip was getting a stupid 5 Euro fine (about $8) because the first two normal train ticket machines were broken at the station and we had to buy some ticket from a machine from 1920 and then we didn't validate it because it didn't say you had to. Anyway, typical.

By then, I was just DYING TO GET HOME. So I got to the airport about 4 hours before my flight to make sure I didn't miss it. :)

Italy is just plain unbelievable to visit, but I am very thankful to live in the U.S.

P.S. I have about 280 other pictures and stories but I will spare the boredom for Jim. :)

Black Bear Running in Italy (Part I)

2011-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

For today's installment I'm using my running blog for my trip to Italy recap. I stayed in Bologna all three weeks. If you click on any of the pictures below you can make them bigger.
And yes, the bologna lunchmeat originated there I guess. Pronounced (bowl-OH-nya). I know: I have no business being snobby about pronounciation with my fine-tuned Midwest accent. BTB, so about 10 of us students are sitting in a cafe in the middle of BowlOHnya b.s.ing over lunch, and some older woman tourist walking by down the sidewalk says in English, "who here is from Michigan?....I can recognize that accent a mile away." Kinda funny, because she was from Ohio. Buckeyes. Boo.

Below is my first picture of food for the trip. My lunch at the KLM lounge in Amsterdam. If you click on the pictures you can enlarge them.

Here's a picture of the Italian Alps out the plane window from Amsterdam to Bologna. You've seen one mountain, you've seen them all. But they seem so much more awesome when you can't understand a thing the flight attendant is saying on the intercom. And who says German is like English is crazy because every sentence sounded like, haufenwesienschlactmenth gestudepentdent. And I had German in High school.

Here's a picture of my bathroom.
Yes, that's a bidet, and this will be the last thing I post about the bathrooms in Italy since I've gone on about it too much, but spend a week in Italy and you'll come to really appreciate that portajohn on a freeway in the U.S. Ok, just one more thing about the bathrooms and I don't mean to go on about it and the Italians are probably sick of spoiled Americans complaining about it, but I still can't get over how bad the bathroom situation is. No soap, shared facilities, no baskets, no towels, having to pay anywhere from $1.50 to $2.50 to use a really dirty public one....

Here's the elevator in the hotel -
if you're claustrophobic, this is not the place to be, but it's really cool. It holds two people and is really slow and shakes when it gets to the top floor (5th floor). But, I hear there is a balcony up on the roof, so I go to discover it...

Here's the unbelievable view from the roof.

The sidewalks in the city are all covered with porticos so you don't have to worry about rain. Here's a typical example of the portico.

I walked about 15 minutes to school every morning. This is the typical street scene.

This is the headquarters of the Dominicans which is right outside my hotel. click here

There is a church way up on a hill called San Luca click here in the city and to get to it, you go up about 2 miles of covered porticos and it's really hilly and an incredible workout. View from top of San Luca.

I studied at the University of Bologna which is the oldest university in the world. click here

bathroom at university ( all the bathrooms are unisex...don't be fooled by the soap dispensers...they don't work)

Here's my classroom and some of my classmates.

But, enough with the bathrooms and school....here's what Italy's all about.....Here's some yummy tortellini with proscuitto stuffing I had for lunch one day. Yumma!

Here's a random dinner I had. Lasagna alla Bolognese with House Vine (Vino della casa)

...installment 2 coming....I have 300 pictures so I'm cutting out a lot

Sunday's Trail Run

2010-05-24T08:15:00.000-07:00

I ran Sunday with some fasties on this trail. This is the third time in my life I've actually run on a trail (besides the BlackBear Race which is more of a sandy trail). Today the arches of my feet hurt. I think from running on rocks, and my ankles are all 'twisty.' But, probably tomorrow will be back to normal. If I can stop the bleeding from the inside of my ankles getting clipped by the opposite shoe. LOL

Had a great time, slowed the fasties down, but they needed to see how the other half lives.

BlackBear at Cleveland

2010-05-16T19:36:00.000-07:00

This has been me (above) since the Philadelphia Marathon in November. Immediately after Philly, I signed up for the Cleveland Marathon to seek some retribution. I didn't know I'd be off so long for knee injury, so I switched to the half, and even then knowing I'd be running a half, I was basically Black Bear Eating and Black Bear Goofing Off.

So today was the day of reckoning: I went in feeling pretty undertrained, having run just a couple of 10 milers in the last few months and very sporadically otherwise. Last year, I ran this in 1:54 and definitely had some gas in the tank that day, because I DNF'd the full at the halfway point - so really I think I could've been around 1:52ish. Coulda Shoulda Woulda.

I started out kinda slow and felt really sluggish. I went out to dinner Saturday night with an imaginary friend, Connie, who lives in Cleveland. I felt so sluggish the first few miles, I couldn't believe it. Maybe it was the rueben with coleslaw and the fries and 2 beers. :-0 My garmin wouldn't pick up a satellite for several minutes which is why it only shows at 12.9 miles instead of 13.1.

At the 5 mile point, I looked at my watch and saw I was looking at way over 2:00. So, I just stopped looking at my watch-lah lah lah lah. Amazingly, I started feeling better - I think after I had 4 waters at one stop. Cleveland, even though there's this giant lake right there is deceivingly hilly (freeway overpasses -long long uphill pulls so annoying they never end) and why it decides to be windy today of all days.

Split Time Avg HR
1 11:22 152
2 09:15 153
3 09:15 153
4 08:48 158
5 08:54 157
6 09:04 158
7 08:37 161
8 08:44 162 - This is where the hills really start. Strangely, I felt like I was really slow in here.
9 09:01 165 This is where I thought, I'm going to finish.
10 08:16 167 This is where I thought (about 25 seconds later), I'm NOT going to finish.
11 09:03 170
12 08:42 169
13 07:24 173 I am shocked at this split, my legs felt like cement.
Summary 1:56 161 (avg)

So, I came in 26/219 division, and 1310/4614 overall. yep yep, that and a dime gets you nothing.

Here's a little map of the route and if you click on the little "show details" in the corner, I think it will take you to my fascinating heart rate graphs and pace graphs. LOL.

So, I'm satisfied considering the lame training I've done!

My Problem

2010-04-27T09:58:00.001-07:00

These are all my shoes from 2008 - today. The ones on the upper left are my 'fast short' shoes. The ones next to those are my $50 deal shoes that I love - they're cushy. And the 5 of the other pairs are old shoes and 1 of the lower ones (on the far right 2nd stair) is a new one.

Don't ask me how I know which shoes are which out of the bottom 5 or 6. I want to donate the bottom 5 pairs, but I am have this hoarding mentality about running shoes lately.

I painted the house in the orange shoes on the 2nd shelf, and only got 1 drop of white ceiling paint on them. I use the neon green ones to bike, and out casually.

It appears I will do anything to not study...like catalogue shoes.

For Miele

2010-02-08T05:42:00.000-08:00

ElliptO-cize.....

2010-01-23T06:21:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm still working on getting my knee better so I did the elliptical machine. I had no idea how to use this thing when I used to have a club membership last year so I could never get my heart rate up enough to get a good workout in.

It turns out you have to adjust the stride length. Duh. Also, they told me that if you increase the resistance that it will be harder, but I just found that it was the opposite, you have to decrease the resistance to make the pedals move faster. So anyway, here is my HR graph from elliptical from some interval sessions - where the HR drops that is where the resistance is increased, slowing the pedals down. This thing kicked my butt. (Click on the graph to make it bigger)

NFL Sixty

2010-01-10T14:57:00.000-08:00

I started NFL 60 a few weeks ago. Basically, the idea is just to get 60 minutes of activity in every day. I started this because of the cool commercial PLUS when I mapped out how many miles I ran last year...1232, it amounted to about 25 miles per week, or about 4 hours per week. Sure, some weeks I got up to 9 hours, but that was rare. I was kind of floored, since if someone were to ask me, I'd pretty much guarantee I worked out an hour per day average. OOPS. No wonder I've gained a couple pounds. All that easy running, my body probably got efficient along the way and wasn't stressed as much as the mileage accumulated.

So, I did some reading about fat loss the last few weeks and it seems the quickest way is a concerted effort of shutting the hole under the nose + weight lifting + anearobic (hard) intervals. Sooo, since I'm injured and off from running for a few more weeks, I've been biking, incline walking (which is amazingly pretty difficult compared to running) and stair stepping. And LOTS of weight lifting. Soon, I can STAR in the NFL 60 commercials....as T.O.

Here's a picture of my Heart Rate today on bike intervals for an hour today. Get a look at those spikes!!! (click on the graph for a bigger view)

Boring sh/t, I know. But, it's all I got for now.

Dirty Floors are fine by me....(now)

2009-12-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Great knee day today! I've been managing a knee issue and started PT about 7 days ago, since I couldn't run more than about 10 minutes without my knee sloppily seizing up (say that 5 times really fast). I haven't run more than probably 20 miles total since the marathon. I think the attempted 8 mile run (I think I made about 7 of it) I did about 5 days post-marathon was a really BAD IDEA and cemented every issue I had from the bad roads at Philly.

I tried to manage it on my own, but it wasn't working so I started PT about 7 days ago. They gave me some excercises to do at home as well as pretty intense stuff at the PT place and some ultrasound and pretty heavy duty muscle massage (think biting a bullet it hurts so bad)....so today I did 17 minutes on the treadmill = 1.6 miles which was my goal for today.

Amazing that only a month ago, I could run 3+ hours without pain. Ah well, at least it got me to start doing some upper body lifting and some cross-training.

And I decided to allow shoes in the house since barefoot was not helping. Yeah, when it's me who has to wear shoes, then the shoe's on the other foot. (or whatever that saying is)

New Years Resolution Turkeys

2009-11-29T06:47:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of 2009, I planned to run at least 6 races for 2009, so it looks like I'm going to make that:

Arizona RNR Half
Martian Full
Cleveland Half
Philly Full
Detroit Turkey Trot 5k (okay so it was 45 minutes for a 5k)
Jingle Bell 10K - Dec 12

The 15 pounds????.....well, I will save that for 2010....

4:06:38 - Getting closer

2009-11-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

Ah, so I know you blog followers, especially Julie are going to be soo excited that the quest continues. LOL

The beginning…1) Took forever to get our bags off the jetway, 2) Forgot my camera, 2) Lost my glasses at the train station….can't read for sh/t so had to go to walgreens to buy a new pair....3 strikes and the trip just started.

Missed lunch but met the BQ gals (some online friends) at the expo! Very cool!

Night before: Someone had a barking dog on our floor at the hotel, until 9:30 alone in their room. I got pretty fired up calling the front desk (along with I guess everyone else on our floor) but I ended up sleeping okay after the owner came home and the dog shut up. Why stay at a super 8 when you can bring your dog to the westin? WTH. Anyway, no excuses!

Got to the portapots, Jim and I are in the same grey corral, cool! but we couldn’t manage to find it after waiting in the bathroom line so long, so I think we ended up going off way further back. What a sh/tty start. I ended up with like a 10:28 first mile due to a ton of walking – somehow I was in the 2nd wave, but I figured, “okay, I’ll just make that up.". I had to go to the bathroom so badly, I saw some portajohns over on the left (I’m running over on the right side) , it looked like no line, so I figured “get it out of the way…” so ran over and the stupid line was formed BEHIND the portajohns with about 20 people in it. So I started thinking, “would I p/ss myself for a BQ?” Uhm, “no,” but apparently I’m okay with being seen 'going' in some random parking lot a few minutes later. Another slow 2nd mile due to the crowds and the potty stop. Now I have a few minutes to make up; and I just started.

In the first probably 7 miles, it was so crowded my choice was to either run on the sidewalks or run a pace at a near- walk at times. So I ran on the sidewalks (jumping over thrown off clothes, garbage bags, garbage, dogs…)

I screwed up my watch so I had the gmaclin pace band, but I couldn’t find some of the mile markers so I couldn’t tell what pace I was running. I just could not get in any kind of groove. I was stuck behind the 4:15 pace group – there were like 100 people in that group for about 3 miles, so I hooked up with 2 other guys right behind them who were on my pace and we ran together for a few miles trying to get in front of the 4:15 group. And I’m thinking, “wow, 4:15 shouldn’t feel THIS hard.” It was so hilly, so I figured that was part of it. So, a mile later the guy says, “We’re on a 8:50 pace right now…” And I thought. “This. This, is not going to end well….” At this point, I’m still already behind my pace band times by 30 seconds,net.
THEN THE HILL appears. It seemed to last about 2 miles. I disregarded my pace band which allowed me a 9:30 and I just ran. 9:08. Not good. I knew this was a really bad strategy at the time, but I kept thinking I’d be rewarded with a nice long steady downhill to get my HR down. But, NFW, because the downhills were more like jumping down a 10 story elevator shaft than a nice slow steady downhill. And the road was cambered like this --> / at times.

I got through the half almost dead nuts with where I was supposed to be for a 3:59:59, but I distinctly remember thinking, “This is how I needed to feel around mile 18.” My band had me on a 1 minute negative split plan. Then I turned a corner (sort of up a freeway entrance or something-maybe around mile 16) and there was another steep hill, and I looked at my watch and said, “screw it. (editors note: a different couple of words might have been used here...) I hate marathons.” So I got halfway up the hill and started walking - 9:25 for that mile. At the top of the hill I got really mad at myself for letting go, so I kept running and this is where the 2 courses joined. I screamed as Agile and GIM passed which got me excited, but only lasted for a nano-second. Then I saw LIC who looked awesome!(at least I think it was her).

Then I heard the Four Tops “If you feel that you can’t go on….” COOL so I kept going! By mile 21 I was still just a minute or so off from the 4:00:59, so another hill (although little – I looked at it, and just said, “I’m going for it.”) so I charged up the little hill and then did some rough math in my head and thought, “I need five 8:50 miles right now – I could start RACING now…start NOW…c’mon legs.” And then I just couldn’t do it. My quads were gone. And mentally, I folded. Which surprised me– not that I’m a studette, but I know I am a much better mental-runner, than a runner-runner, if that makes sense. I was so disappointed in myself for my poor pacing early, and feeling like I was giving up, but I didn't care. I tried to recall positive things about the last 3 hours, but I couldn't summon anything up, except for walking up that stupid damn (ed note: I might have used a different word than 'damn' here.) hill earlier, and knowing even if the mind was willing, I wasn't going to make five 8:50 miles after having run 21 already. No groove, nothing for 3 hours prior. And then I saw them handing out beer, and I thought, “screw it. Might as well have fun while I’m a walking loser.” So, I had a beer and kept moving forward.

Then I realized I had forgotten to take some gel somewhere probably around 15, since I had “n+1” remaining, so I was offering what I had left of gels and endurolytes to other people who were cramping. (Seriously, I just really wanted someone to NEED my help, so I could have a decent excuse for walking.)

I found Phillyrunner at mile 25! WOOHOO – I said, “hey it’s me.” Cuz I’m thinking by now, I look nothing like what I normally look like. Then NTK and Betaboo just another maybe ½ mile up – was soo cool to see all the BQ babes! I think I was probably walking here when I saw them, but I was soo excited to see them – that they got me to actually run through the chute where I heard could hear Jim screaming for me, which was the best.

Hills – Sucked. There was no corresponding nice easy downhill to each uphill. The short fast downhills, just couldn’t get my HR to recover enough

The route–I heard we ran by some museums and some water and through some cities. All I saw of Philly was a billion manhole covers, hills, sidewalk cracks, and bumpy asphalt and really cambered roads. My ITB’s are not happy today.

I really expected a nice 3:55 surprise for myself, but I lost the pacing strategy too early. I totally knew better when I was doing it, but I just couldn’t stop myself. 6 minute positive split - all pretty much in the last 5 miles.

It’s a little better time than April, so I’m relatively happy. And we had a great mini-vacation time in Philly. If I ran this again, I’d practice hills. But, I think I’m going to let sleeping dogs lie/lay on Philly and just move on.

I did work on my Motown's Madness Challenge which I'll post up, when I get it organized.

Sunday's No Excuses Weather for Philadelphia

2009-11-16T05:21:00.000-08:00

weather.gov: Partly sunny, High near 60, low 41

weather.com: Partly Cloudy High 56 Low 45

inaccuweather.com: Cloudy with a chance of rain 60

weatherunderground.com: Partly sunny, high 60

Lookin' good.

This week, I just have to get in maybe a 8 miler today and a couple of shorter runs.

3 weeks left

2009-11-01T17:05:00.000-08:00

I finished off the week with a 16 mile run today and 49.3 miles for the week. Either my Heart Rate monitor is broke or I'm in way better shape than I thought. My run stats from today....

Pace / HR (my "easy" HR is 138-150)
10:46/ 148 (had to stop and adjust monitor)
10:19 /130
9:59/ 129
9:55/ 130
9:47 /132
9:43/ 132
9:28 /136
9:44/ 136
9:46/ 138
9:37/ 144
9:54/ 137
9:49/ 140
9:42 /143
9:37/ 143
9:46/ 146
9:48/ 149

Avg 9:47 138 (throwing out the warm up mile)

I have no idea what this means, except that maybe that 4:00 is definitely within striking range in 3 weeks.

This week I have a 20-21 miler on Friday or Saturday and I guess about 45-48 total miles. Then I get a 2 week break before race day.

BlackJack

2009-10-25T16:20:00.000-07:00

21 miles today. It took me FOREVER. 3 hours 39 minutes. That's about 10:20 pace and I've verified that it is possible to have your nose run like a faucet for three and a half hours.

I think 3 hours 39 minutes is about the flying time to Las Vegas.

That is 51.4 miles for the week for me.

Philly Week 4 & 5

2009-10-22T05:33:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been absolutely battling this sinus thing, and I swear I could use that toilet paper invention.

To the passing biker on the sidewalk the other day who I almost spit on: Next time, can you yell something like "on your left" when you are passing me at 20 mph, so I don't end up sending a lunger on you? You missed my projectile by about 1/2 second.

So, I got 36 miles in last week, it was my cut-back week and this week looks something like this:

Mon: 9.34
Tues: O
Wed: 9.9
Thur: 4
Fri: 21 (yep blackjack tomorrow) 3.5 hours (3.5 hours Uh huh)
Sat: 5
Sun: 8-10

I haven't quite done the math and I mostly run by time anyway. Sometimes I just say to myself, "okay self, just run 10 more minutes and then head back" so my mileage kind of varies.

I got some new shoes! Dicks had my Cumulus 10's for $60 and then DSW had these lightweight shoes Brooks Ghost (I've never run in Brooks before) for $55. I am going to try them out today....

"You don’t have to be fast to feel fast in the Ghost. With an enhanced midfoot wrap for runners who like a secure feel around the arch, and an increase in the amount of forefoot cushioning and under-foot support, the new Ghost, with its eco-friendlier BioMoGo midsole, lets you run as fast as your feet want to go. Like, as fast as if you'd seen a ghost—or two." Skeery Fast - Must wear these on Halloween.

Sinus Special

2009-10-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

This is me running this week...but I use kleenexes, and don't have the soccer gear on.

This is really what I need for my cold (below).

Crabs, Democrats and Tigers - Philly Week 3 - And Spartans!

2009-10-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Well - week 3 of Philly is in the books. The day I was supposed to do my 16, it was rainy all day. So I stayed inside, stared at the treadmill (see picture above) and watched The Deadliest Catch (which if you've not seen this show, is about fishing for crab off the Bering Straits in Alaska click here to see a video -- this one kid who volunteered to be a deckhand made $13,000 in 3 days of crabbing) followed by The Democratic National Convention of 1968 (which if you're not familiar with this, I must've been delirious to have this on - I was too lazy to change channels) recap on the History Channel.

Sixteen miles running. In. One. Place. Makes even the Democrats seem interesting. (kidding to my D buds)

To be honest, it didn't seem that long, until I realized I saw the Snuggie Commercial about 20 times. (oh no, now if Jim's mom sees this commercial we'll probably get 20 of these things for Christmas)

So, yeah, onto the Tigers...Today, I could have made my 9 miler outside, but didn't want to miss the game (which the Tigers won!), so I again hit up my 2.0 horsepower pal.

I love my treadmill because I got 40 miles in this week - I am counting the 1 recovery mile I had yesterday running from the MSU-Beats-up-on-Michigan-yet-again game to the car. Scoreboard photo below.....

And yeah, the entire house probably stinks like sweat.

Rain Rain Go Away

2009-10-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

This is what it looks like today, but more rainy and without the palm trees. I am supposed to get my 16 miler in today.

So far this week I've done.
Mon: Off
Tues: 9 at 10:05
Wed: 5
Thurs: Off

And I'm due for...
Fri: 16
Sat: 5
Sun: 6

Philly Week 3

2009-09-28T05:07:00.000-07:00

Mon: 8
Tues: 9
Wed: Off
Thurs: 16
Fri: 3 or 4
Sat: 5 or 4
Sun: Off
41 miles

Hard Rounding

2009-09-27T15:42:00.001-07:00

So, I did
Mon: 7.85 miles at 10:16 pace 139 avg HR
Tue: Off day (after 5 days running)
Wed: 8.92 miles at 10:31 pace 140 avg HR
Thu: Off day
Fri: 14.01 miles at 10:34 pace 142 avg HR
Sat: 3.2 miles no idea of the pace
Sun: 5.14 miles 9:38 pace 147 avg HR (jammed in two tempo miles at 8:47 and 8:34 by accident)

I checked my paces versus my marathon back in April. I'm about 20 sec / mile slower. Oh well.

So, If my math is correct....39.12 miles. Okay so if I round up, I'm gonna call that 40. Yeah, that's what we call a "light round". And no injuries, apart from slipping down the stairs after my run today, on the stairs where they turn at the bottom, you know, where the rise over run rivals an Eastern European country dungeon.

I haven't done a great job of tracking my runs since my own Garmin is broke, I have to 'borrow' Jim's. Must get butt to call Garmin about fixing my own.

Philly Week 2

2009-09-20T11:56:00.001-07:00

Wrapping up Philly week 1, My 36 miles are in the books, but in much different order than I had planned. 8 off 8 off 5 Friday 12 Saturday, 3 Sunday.

I feel good about the miles and my legs feel good. It must be the crazy oxysox. http://www.oxysox.com/oxy-compression-sock.html

Week 2 has 39 miles:

Mon: 8 w/ 2 x 1 mile at 8:20 w/ 800 m cool down inbetween (which I think I will pass on since this is my 4th day in a row running) Tues: 9 miles at 10:25 pace OFF DAY

Wed: Off

Thurs: 14 miles at 10:25 pace

Fri: 3 miles at 10:25 pace

Sat: 5 miles at 10:25 pace

Sun: Off

Philly Week 1

2009-09-13T08:55:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow starts week 1 of my Philly training. I inadvertently did a cut-back week last week with a 6.6,4.0, 5.1 and 8.5 for somewhere around 25 miles. I procrastinated the LR until Friday, then Friday turned into Saturday wherein I ate a bunch of beer and donuts and Saturday turned into Sunday, so I ended up doing 8.5 today.

Philadelphia is Nov 22, so my 10 week plan starts tomorrow.
Mon: 8
Tues: 8
Wed: Off
Thurs: 12
Fri 4
Sat 4
Sun Off

36 miles

30!

2009-09-06T15:37:00.001-07:00

Week wrap up:

Monday: 6.5 miles 10:15 138 bpm (it was more miles than this, since my watch got messedup)

Tuesday: 4.0 miles 10:06 135 bpm

Wed: Off

Thursday: 5.3 miles 10:26 136 bpm

Friday: 4.1 miles 10:16 137 bpm

Saturday: 4 beers and about 40 powdered donettes.

Sunday: 9.2 miles at 10:27 143 bpm (much higher and slower at 78 degrees and sunny). I got this in just under the wire, since I didn't start until about 5 pm.

That's a 30 mile week. And I'm injury free, so I feel good about that.

Ramp up

2009-08-24T05:36:00.000-07:00

Wahoo, I got 20 miles in last week! This week my schedule looks like:

Monday: off
Tuesday: 6
Wednesday: 5
Thursday: 8
Friday: 3-4
Saturday: off (golf)
Sunday: 8

31 miles

I ran 6 miles yesterday at 10:20 pace and average HR of 139, which is the bottom end of my Zone 2, endurance, so that felt good. My fitness is coming back.

This is way more of a mileage increase than I wanted from week-to-week but seeing as Philly is only 13 weeks to go, I only have a couple weeks to be able to get up to a 12 miler in for my Long run. I figure next week,I'd do a 10-11 for my Long Run, and the week after a 11-13. Crossing fingers. Behind back.

SEVEN, no not the movie

2009-08-18T04:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I got 7 miles in for my Long Run last week. This week, shooting for 8-10.

Philly is 14 weeks away, and I got about 20 miles in last week. Not where I expected to be at this point in the training, but better than nothing. My schedule for Philly is only a 10 week schedule anyway, but I have to get to about 35 miles per week in the next 4 weeks.

Stay away from the honey jar Black Bear

2009-08-13T13:41:00.000-07:00

I don't remember this happen to Winnie. I was in the backyard/frontyard, whatever it's called and stepped on a bee's nest and just got 7 bee stings. Ouch.

Oh, and I realized, if I don't get my run in in the morning, it doesn't happen. So, I'm a slacker today.

RunningWithHardCoreCathy

2009-08-05T09:17:00.000-07:00

Tan lines followup: I did indeed run that day, completely garminless, since it wasn't charged after the move. So, I went old-school, and used my trusty Timex and did an easy 35 - 40 minutes. PERFECT. And HOT!

That was Friday, I think, and I did the exact same run on Saturday morning.

Two days off followed, then I scheduled an evening run yesterday (Tuesday) with a long lost RunningWithCathy (who's blog I follow). Of course, why NOT run when it's 85degrees, Sunny, and humid? Why not, indeed! So we did.

We met up at a trail (which I rarely run on trails, since I don't know where many are), and had a nice 4 miler - It's been a long time since I actually ran with someone else. Cathy's hard core, as I found out during the run, that she had already run that morning. That's crazy. But, maybe some day I'll do a 2 a day. Hmmmmm....

Tan Lines Cometh....

2009-07-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm not pre-greiving yet over hills, but today, this very afternoon (after my lunch pizza with pepperonis settles down) I am off to do 3 miles from the new house. I was going to pip it to tomorrow, since I had an early meeting this morning. But, I sneaked/snuck/snooked (whatever grammar) off to the library to grab the internet hookup and checked out RunningWithCathy's blog, and well, she inspired me to run this afternoon. I used to run all the time in the afternoon, I don't know how I became a go-morning-or-go-home runner...but I digress.

I've assessed the path, it appears a bit hilly, and will have a full report out later. It's 78 degrees, with a slight breeze, and low humidity today.

Game On. Time for some serious sock tannage.

Tom Watson and me

2009-07-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

This isn't about Tom Watson, but I had as good of a morning as Tom. I was actually cold on my run this morning. It was a beautiful fall-like morning. 6.1 miles and average heart rate 139 bpm. My pace, 10:44. I caught up with Jim and ran with him the last 2 miles.

Pace/ Heart Rate bpm
10:17 139
10:15 141
10:24 143
10:54 142 Stopped to scare the geese with some rocks
11:17 137 Ran with Jim
11:14 139 Ran with Jim

4.43 and eating like a bear cub

2009-07-13T08:13:00.000-07:00

4.43 miles today nice and easy - 10:25 pace. Kinda slow, but to be expected given the time off and my eating everything in sight last night.

The Ranch Pringles, McDonald's Chipotle Snack Wrap (nom nom nom), Fries (c'mon they were the small teeny, 230 calorie 50g of fat version), Klondike Bar (oreo, dang, did I really eat this much crap) Nerds candy apparently was not a good choice of fuel last night.

Two Miles - Ring the Bell!

2009-07-05T06:18:00.000-07:00

Today, I did 2.5 miles or so, just re-testing out my semi-sprained-semi-hyperextended-or-who-knows-what-the-heck-happened-to-them middle toes and they are fine. So, while I was running, I thought, 24 miles more and I'd be all done. heh heh heh. My goal this year was to run a race every 2 months. I've only done 3 races, and this is already July. Must get act in gear BlackBear.

My favorite 2 races, DexterAnnArbor and the BlackBear run, I missed.

What the heck, so I came back in, and signed up for the Philadelphia Marathon on November 22. Ring the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin!

The Return of Black Bear

2009-06-21T05:56:00.001-07:00

I am BACK! I got a 3 miler in on Thursday and a 4 miler in at high noon in the heat and humidity on Saturday. My heart rate is pretty comparable to where it was (not bad for a 4 week off period). At 75 degrees and 90 % humidity, I was only about 10 seconds per mile slower than a month ago. I'll be starting back out running every other day for a week or two.

Bring it on!

I could post a few choice pictures of the bruises on my shins from going up and down the ladder during my house painting hiatus. But, I will spare the sympathy.

P.S. I am glad I didn't end up running the Grandmas Marathon in Duluth. It sounded pretty hot 76 degrees at 10:00 a.m. I will have to hold off now for a fall marathon for my BQ.

New address

2009-05-31T17:22:00.000-07:00

I should change the name of my blog to "Black Bear Not Running". I think though, tomorrow's the big day and I'm planning to get a little 3 miler in in the morning.

Cleveland ROCKS!

2009-05-17T17:41:00.000-07:00

Cleveland Rocks - Click Here

So, I got to Cleveland yesterday afternoon, not sure what my plans were for running. I figured I would start at 9:09 mile pace (4 hour marathon) and just see how it went.

Dinner Sat Night: Sat night, it was a torrential downpour in Cleveland. I met up with Sara and George for dinner. We waited at least an hour for plain ole' spaghetti and meatballs. But, it was terrific and my Peroni beer, was just perfect. Apparently, George has zero pull in the Little Italy section of Cleveland. LOL But, we had a few yucks, then the youngsters went out to "study". (insert beer glass picture here)

No Sleep: Saturday night I didn't get much sleep, my hotel room was right outside the elevators and all the half-marathoners and 10k people were coming in til 1:00 am and congregating in the area near the elevators. Ugh. Stupid runners.

Race Morning: So, race starts at 7:00 a.m., I get up around 6:00, get my act in gear and walk on down to the start (about 4 minutes from the hotel - very convenient). I look out my hotel window and I can see the waves ripping across Lake Erie, right beyond the Browns Stadium. Click on picture to blow it up. Great, another windy day.

I still hadn't quite figured out whether I'd run the full marathon today, knowing I had so many days off leading up to this and I still have the other marathon in 5 weeks in Duluth that I can take my last summer BQ shot.

Startline: So, I get to the startline. It's pretty wild! The music is just jamming, they're playing the Cleveland Rocks song from Drew Carey Show (which may be the best comedy show ever) and the wind is blowing like crazy. I meet a guy at the start line who lost 50 pounds and it's his first marathon. Which reminded me of Cathy S! He started out walking. Now he's running a marathon. He was pretty geeked up. It's blowing like crazy, but the starting area is absolutely electric!

No Matter where you go, there's the Browns Stadium: The race starts out and runs right toward Browns Stadium, right in front of it. This is so cool! I decided not to look at my watch today, so I have no idea how fast I'm running. I'm just running by feel. I'll cut to the chase. No, just kidding.

So, I felt really good, and was around the 4:00 pace group. Even though I KNEW they were running much faster than a 9:09 pace (I overheard a few other people talking about their pace). Why pacers start out too fast escapes me, but I see it all the time.

Course Music + Head Music: There was great music every mile. I'm not sure why, but 2 songs got stuck in my head during the race today: Sam and Dave's: "Hold On I'm Comin' Click Here if you've got rhythm and Barry McQuire "Eve of Destruction". Click Here if you don't hate this song already

Sam and Dave is still stuck in head as I write this.

Miles 3 - 10: In the next several miles 3 - 10, I wavered back and forth during the race about whether to run the full or just run a half. I felt really good, but after around mile 8 when I could see the 3:50 group in my sight, I started to question whether I'd gone out too fast to hold it together 14 miles later, and also whether I'd brought enough gu gels and other implements along to take me through the full 26 miles. But, at this point, I was still somewhat mentally preparing myself to do the full 26.

The Cramp that talks to the brain: Just then, around mile 10 or 11, there's a huge expressway bridge. I hate these long slow upgrades. Mt. Everest. Is Tenzig Norway still alive, I need to channel him RIGHT NOW! Into the wind. My right calf cramped, just a twinge, but enough that it made me stop and massage it out.

A blonde moment: Once in a while, late in a full marathon, I'd get calf cramping so I take these things called Endurolytes but I didn't bring enough to last for 16 more miles, and I lost a gu on the ground earlier, so I didn't really have enough to last. I hadn't eaten anything in the morning, and on recollection, didn't drink enough either. I don't know why I neglected to eat, but I must've forgot. (See, blonde.)

So, I thought, "There's no way I'm going to deal with this vague cramp thing for the next 16 miles." Also, I definitely knew I had been running a little too fast for too long to not have a complete blow up on the back 9 (and it'd probably be in some Cleveland neighborhood resembling East Philadelphia and Grand River).

So for the first time I thought back to the time on the 11 mile marker time and knew that I'd be well under 2 hours for a half. So, I decided at that point to just roll it in and cut it off at the half and run back through to finish up and nab myself a half medal and not trash my legs out too badly to save them for 5 weeks from now.

I never looked at my watch, but here are my splits:

1 8:58
2 9:13
3 8:45
4 8:35
5 8:34
6 8:25
7 8:38
8 8:27
9 8:25
10 8:15
11 9:06 Hill + I stopped to massage this calf which helped a little
12 8:47
13 8:05

1:53:29 is what my split says on their website(I don't remember when I actually shut my watch off, so my watch time is slower). This is almost 10 minutes faster than I ran in January, and it's on to Duluth in 5 weeks. This BQ is sooo close I can taste it.

Randomness

2009-05-11T06:46:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of my taping job on my ankle. It worked quite nicely. Is my calf that big? Geesh.

Here's a pic of some friends at dinner before the Pittsburgh marathon. (Note to self: Self, stop wearing the same black shirt all the time)

Cleveland Weather - Looks halfway decent. "45 - 65 degrees. Chance of showers a bit breezy."

Be Still My Beating Heart

2009-05-05T10:38:00.001-07:00

So, I ran 6.2 miles today after 5 days off. Uh oh, what a difference a few days off makes. My endurance zone is 138-154 and today for 6.2 miles it was at about 148. Only the pace was 10:45 or something. Oooops.

Hopefully, it will drop with a few more days of running. Hoping to get a 12 miler in on Saturday with some friends. I'm still going to run Cleveland, just not sure what my plan is yet. I may shoot for the BQ and get it, or shoot for it and have a bodily yard sale. Or, I may just use it as a nice long training run.

Pooh Bear

2009-05-01T07:54:00.001-07:00

Click on the picture below to enlarge...

I'm Gonna Be A Grandma

2009-04-29T14:46:00.000-07:00

I'm going to be a Grandma. Well, sort of. I signed up for The Grandma's Marathon in Duluth Minnesota, (say yah to da yoopers, eh!) on June 20. I remember a different post I wrote about signing up for the Cleveland Marathon on a whim, and I probably had one earlier about signing up for the Martian Marathon on a whim, too.

So, here was my dilemma. I am randomly taking 12 days off in the 4 weeks prior to Cleveland. I did get a 21.5 miler in 24 days before Cleveland, but I had to take 4 days off prior to that due to the supergloo incident of 2009. And then I took 5 more days off after my Collamer Implantable Lens. My confused last month looks like this:

Two weeks ago:
Thursday: Supergloo idiot accident
Friday - Monday: 4 days off

Last Week:
Tuesday - Thursday: 3 days running
Thursday: 21.5 miles + Superman vision improvement 1st eye
Friday - Tues: 5 days off

This week:
Tuesday: 4 miles super slow,
Wednesday: Day off
Thursday: 12 miles + Superman vision improvement 2nd eye
Friday - Tuesday: 5 days off

Next Week:
Tuesday 4 miles
Wednesday 5 miles
Thursday 8 -10 miles
Friday: off
Saturday: 10 miles
Sunday: 3 miles

So, anyway, I'm not sure I'm going into Cleveland with a full set of steak knives to take a good shot at a Boston Qualifier, so I needed a backup plan. And I had some frequent flyers I have to use by October. I know this is Father's Day weekend, but the race is on Saturday, and I plan to just make it a 36 hour trip so I can meet my Dad (who gave me these AWESOME knees that seem to be able to take anything I can dish out) at the Casino for Father's Day.

My new love affair with the alarm clock

2009-04-24T11:59:00.000-07:00

I hate the alarm clock. Always have. It's not the 5 hours of sleep. Why then? Well, for as long as I can remember, the alarm clock looked like this to me.

But a lot fuzzier. In fact, I couldn't discern the color of the red light on it.

Today, it looks like this below...only clearer!

I woke up about 20 times last night just to check the time, to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

I had the surgery on one eye yesterday and I go back next week for the other eye. I keep moving my hands back and forth over each eye as I write this, just to check it out. I can't believe it, that indeed, just like the doctor said, I can see better out of my new eye with the implantable Staar Vision Collamer Lens than I can out of my eye with the conventional contact lens.

I don't know, can I expect big things out of my short game in golf now? Now there's a fantasy.

COOLEST. THING. EVER.

Black Jack and Chocolate Milk

2009-04-23T09:58:00.001-07:00

Normally, when I get a blackjack, I usually find it paired up with a "free" (and I use this term loosely) casino cocktail.

Today, I had a BlackJack by running 21 miles. 21.5 miles to be exact. And for my chaser, I had a nice big chocolate milk!

Eyelash Data

2009-04-19T08:40:00.000-07:00

Those aren't mine above, but after losing a bunch of eyelashes (I lost count after about 6 more this morning), I found out that they do replace themselves every 3 months. And in the snake-oil category, it is recommended on the internet that people put vaseline or olive oil on their lashes to make them grow longer.

The cloudiness is gone from my vision (YAHOO), and my eye is just a little bit sore now and probably by tomorrow, it will be almost back to normal. Well, apart from some glue that is still on some of the lashes and undereye area.

From Superglue to Vicodin

2009-04-16T14:31:00.000-07:00

So, today started out pretty inauspiciously. I’m pretty geeked about my upcoming vision improvement. With my eye surgery at 3:00, I had time to run a few errands today. Laundry, Drycleaning, your usual nothin’ doin’ Thursday junk. Around 10:00 I threw my running clothes on to get a 9 miler in before I left for my surgery. “Hmmm, I seem to have split a fingernail.” So, off to the bathroom to bondo up the back of my nail with superglue. Now, I’ve done this only about a million times before. Superglue lid is stuck. Okay, fine. Just stab it, then throw it out. Step 1) Grab sharp implement. Step 2) Stab. Step 3) SHIT SHIT SHIT. At exactly a 82.5 degree angle, the superglue shot out of the tube from the top of the counter 3 feet down, and spewed into my left eye. A ton of it. Shit, I am somewhat shaking, just writing about it.

I quickly dunked my head under the sink faucet and kept my eye open for about 10 minutes under the streaming water. Uhm, not good enough. I couldn’t shut my eye, and it burned like hell. SHIT. Now what? This is bad bad bad. I can’t see out of my left eye. Everything looks white. I think, “Hmmm, maybe my contact lens saved me!” Immediately, I knew I have a big problem. WHAT TO DO? WHAT TO DO? WHERE’S MY FRIGGIN’ PHONE? AGH. Jacket pocket. Okay, where’s jacket? Do I call 911 or Jim or just drive? Which is faster? Think to self: You can't drive, and you’ll get some moron at 911, call Jim. He’s far but probably faster. Since I’m in the apartment complex, I really don’t know any neighbors except the women of the evening across the street. And none of the other neighbors speak English, I’m pretty sure.

With my eye stuck under running water, I call Jim. Thank God, he is in town this week. He says, “I’m on my way.” About 25 minutes later (or, in my world of stinging-eye-burn, about 4 years later, he arrives) We drive to the emergency room (about 2 miles away, or about 400 swerves and left turns and right turns) with half my head stuck in David’s popcorn bowl filled with cold water. The water is sloshing all over me and the inside of the car. Just horrifying, I’m thinking, “Calm down, calm down, one eye still works. Everything else on body works.” I look at Jim and say, “I’m such an idiot. Such an idiot, I’ve done that a thousand times and that NEVER happened. I’m so glad this happened to me and not David.” (Not that David is even allowed to go NEAR chemicals, but just that, well, in perspective, at least I’m old.) I figure now, the damage is pretty much done, so I say to Jim, “And don’t you dare call me Cyclops. I hope I’m not going to end up making only right turns the rest of my life.”

Emergency room: I get in, in 2 seconds. I guess, when you spew chemicals in your eye, there is no waiting list. They ask me all my vitals. Bloodpressure, pulse. I’m sure I’m in a bit of shock, they ask, my height and weight. The nurse walks out, and I say to Jim, “Uhm, I may have slimmed 5 pounds off the real number.”

So, they get me in an “eye room” about 4 minutes later, an eye doc comes in. He looks like a good-looking Hugh Grant (I can see this with my good eye – uh huh) and puts some drops in my eye and says, “This is going to sting.” And I say, “Doc, you got nothin’ on superglue.” So, he is nice and calming and after poking with lights, “look over here, look over there, look down, look up…” I can see Jim with my good eye sitting on the chair right under the cross on the wall (it’s a Catholic hospital) and I realize I’m in the best hands ever, and I breathe out for the first time in about 45 minutes. I’m just thankful for everything I have. The doc and nurses prod, pokes, and peels off my contact in 4 pieces he says, “Okay, you’re going to be fine. This isn’t uncommon. It should take a couple days for the glue to peel off.”

So, my vision is pretty cloudy out of that eye, but he said that’s normal since it is pretty scratched up. He showed Jim all the scratches and the glue with the CSI Miami Blacklight. I have some antibiotic ointment and drops and the antibiotic ointment softens up the superglue and it will peel off either by me, or by itself it will be a bit slower. My eye lids are still kind of jammed with superglue in various spots. It’s stuck in my eyelashes, so I’m a little leery about pulling it off, since I think I already lost about 20 eyelashes. My undereye area and the outer corner, looks like I went a couple of rounds with a bad Botox doctor.

And, thus the story ends with vicodin, which is what he gave me to take the pain away. I guess it’s working. And obviously, I didn’t get the implantable lens today, but I talked to the eye doc and I’m rescheduled for next week and the week after and he'll also check out my superglue eye next week to make sure it's back to normal before he works on the right one.

Here's my eye after about 4 hours:

Beam Me Up - Martian Marathon Report

2009-04-05T17:03:00.000-07:00

Martian Marathon www.martianmarathon.com This was to be my comeback marathon – This is my 1st marathon of my 4th running career (my 11th marathon). I negative split 5 minutes and it felt sooooo good!

My race: Well, it was freezing and windy, as expected for Detroit in April at 7:00 a.m. MSU got in the NCAA Championship game, so I slept like a baby last night! I was mentally ready for any weather, since I had an epiphany a few days ago that no matter how race day weather turns out, I’m just happy to be able to lace ‘em up and run, because there was a time I didn’t think I’d run again, just a couple years ago.

I brushed up on Jim2’s(no, not my Jim, but an online marathon expert) webpage last night for race strategy and adjustment of MP pace. After that, I felt calm and my only dilemma was to be what to wear? Tights or Shorts. 33 degrees at the start with 8 mph winds. NatNat(an onliner) hooked me up with these fast looking arm warmers which were the best! I went with shorts. I wasn’t going to wear a watch (ala MattM-another onliner), then I worried I’d lose my math skills so I grabbed my watch. Good thing, the mile markers weren’t timed, but they did have a plastic blow up Martian guy on each mile marker post, which was cool, because I high-fived every one with my left hand as I passed it, much like a dork. Yep, high-fiving a blow up doll.

The Course:It’s an out and back course and the 2nd half was into the headwind, so I had to bank some energy to fight it. The wind wasn’t going to mess with me. Not today.

1 10:10
2 9:36
3 9:23
4 10:41 (long way to the bathroom up a hill)
5 9:20
6 9:24
7 9:32 I started to panic a little, like I was going too fast, remembering Jim2’s advice. “If you don’t think you’re going too slow up to mile 10, then you’re probably going too fast.” “You have to Correct Immediately BlackBear.” So I intentionally slowed down for the next few miles.
8 9:45.
9 9:41
10 9:46 I thought, “that’s good, I’m going to need some energy for the headwind coming out of the East for the way back.”
11 9:39 Everyone seemed to pass me in the first 10 miles. And I mean everyone. That’s okay, I kept telling myself, “I will pick them off, one-by-one in the last 6 miles.”
12 9:23
13 9:37
2:07 for the 1st half – although I didn’t ‘split’ my watch at the 13.1

14 9:32 “Dang, this is windy. Start using the banked energy”
15 9:38 (ran off to the side of the road to the ‘non-bathroom’ bathroom – hopefully I will not be on Marathoners Gone Wild)
16 9:21 I started passing people.
17 9:31 A lot of people
18 9:26 I
19 9:24 Passed
20 9:31 Everyone.
21 9:15 One-
22 8:51 By-
23 9:05 One.
24 9:19 Just Like
25 9:25 I said I would at mile 10
26 9:03 “Bye Bye Martians” as I tapped the last blow-up Martian on the head.
26.2 1:46

2:02 for the 2nd half (This is the same time I had in the Arizona HM just 10 weeks ago and believe me, I did not dog it at Arizona)

4:09:17 on my watch. Don’t have an official time yet. Wall? What wall? I never hit it. I can even walk down stairs. I can’t believe it Well, tomorrow I suppose I will be walking them backwards.

I'm a believer: Lots of slow mileage exclusively (well, with a few tempos thrown in to keep it fresh) seems to work for me.

Next up: Cleveland in 6 weeks and hoping to get a little better weather conditions and maybe slim 8 minutes and 17 seconds off for my BQ 4:00:59 and also slim a few pounds off of my beer tummy. Although, the 3 Blue Moons I’ve had today is not helping things.

No Middle Ground

2009-04-01T05:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I've checked the weather for Sunday from 4 different sources. Yeah, I'm a weather nut in the first place.

weather.gov 52 degF partly sunny (no wind data)

weather.com 48 degF partly cloudy (I guess this means the same as mostly sunny)I'm feeling pretty good now. Oh yeah. It could be just purrrrfect for Black Bear!

wunderground.com 54 degF partly sunny (oh boy, this site has a wind reading. It shows: 9 mph ESE. Uh oh, that's a headwind for the last 13 miles)

accuweather.com 51 degF mostly cloudy (I guess that too means partly sunny) Oh crapula, wait a minute missy. This wind reading shows 13 mph ENE and a are-you-sitting-about-ready-to-cringe GUSTS to 22 mph. Coming out of the East. Seriously, North east. The only thing that ever came out good from North of here is Santa. And Finnish Saunas.

Hit refresh on the computer, recheck the zip code, nope, still Detroit weather. Windy in April? I just don't know why, when I was really starting to embrace the snow, and the slush, and the salt lines on the bottom of my pants, it decides to vanish. And be windy instead. Dumb stupid weather.

I got 3rd Place!!

2009-03-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

No, not running related. But, I have to post about my 3rd place position for the basketball pool I'm in. For 10 years now, I've subsidized this pool. With my pick of MSU in the final four, I now sit solely in 3rd place. $$$$$ It's so close I can taste the victory. Well, you see, I had to post this this very second, since my winning pick, Oklahoma, is now down by 12 with 3:30 minutes left to play.

Oh, and I'm running a marathon in 7 days. And, it doesn't look like an ice storm!

Go Sooners Go!

Blackjack and my black toenail

2009-03-20T18:26:00.001-07:00

Blackjack! That'd be 21. I ran 21 miles yesterday. 3 hours and 32 minutes. It was 28 degrees and windy. That's about a 10 minutes / mile pace. That is the most I've ever run in a training session. My plan was to run 3.5 hours and if I was close to 21, I'd just finish off to 21. The reason is, it's a big mental game for me. When I run, anything in the 30 minute range seems like a walk in the park. So if this were the actual marathon, at 3.5 hours, I'd only have 30 minutes to tough through to finish. I feel really good going into my taper now. My race is in 15 days!!!!

Now, on to my toenail. I will spare posting a picture of it. Well, back in the late summer last year, there appeared a giant black line across the bottom of it. Then slowly the black spot grew. Turns out it's a bruise under the toenail. I was told by some experts (who have lost several) that I'd lose it. I'm happy to say, it is still here with me 6 months later. The black line is about 1/2 way up now. I can't believe I'm actually writing about my toenail. The things I do to kill time before Sparty comes on in 5 minutes!

Cleveland ROCKS?

2009-03-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

Oh boy. I got up around 5 this morning. And thought, "I feel really ready for this marathon. But, what if it snows April 5?" Really, with Detroit weather, it would not be remarkable, at all. So, I froze - panicked. Panicked like the time I took the GMAT and the first math question was something like, "Susie is 12. Susie's Dad is 46. How old will Susie be when she is half her Dad's age?"

So, in my view that action is always better than inaction in a panic..... I signed up for the Cleveland Marathon on May 17. Yes, indeed. Disregard that we may be moving just exactly about that time, and packing up Sanford and Son,(how a 10 year old has more stuff than me, escapes me), yet again. Disregard that this is 6 weeks after the Martian Marathon. Disregard that this is the beginning of boating/fishing/golfing/summer season. Disregard all that. Because I panicked. About snow. On April 5.

Peaking for the Final Four!

2009-03-16T15:14:00.001-07:00

Just like Michigan State basketball, it looks like I am peaking nicely for the marathon in 3 weeks.

Last week I ended up doing 51 miles and this week I am looking at about the same. I remember today's run clear as a bell when I made up my schedule 8 weeks ago. It was to be a day to fear. 10 miles with 70 minutes of Tempo (aka faster running) at 9:06 min/mile. Well, it turned out that I kicked it's butt today like a little rag doll. I ended up doing 11 miles total and hit the Tempo paces in the right training zones. 9:04 average pace and 154 average Heart rate! I think this was clearly my best run of this schedule.

% of LT Personal Training Zone BPM
Zones Lower Upper Lower Upper
1-Active Recovery 80% 0 138
2-Endurance 80% 89% 138 154
3-Tempo 90% 93% 155 161
4-Subthreshold 94% 99% 162 172
5a - Suprathreshold 100% 102% 173 176
5b-Aerobic Capacity 103% 105% 177 181
5c-Anaerobic Capacity 105% 181 +

City Hill 3-16
Mile HR %LT Zone Pace Notes
1 145 84% Endurance 9:11
2 148 86% Endurance 8:59
3 153 89% Endurance 9:08
4 156 90% Tempo 9:11 Uphill
5 160 93% Tempo 9:28 Uphill
6 157 91% Tempo 8:46 Downhill
7 155 90% Tempo 8:52 Downhill
8 159 92% Tempo 9:01
Average 154 89% 9:04

This week I have the following:
Monday: 11 miles with 70 minutes Tempo at 9:06 (complete, did 11 miles see above)
Tuesday: 11 miles Easy
Wednesday: Off Day
Thursday: 21 miles Easy (this is my 2nd, and last 20)
Friday: 4 miles Easy (recovery)
Saturday: 10 miles Easy
Total: 57 miles

One long run left before the race!!!

2009-03-12T13:47:00.000-07:00

I got my 16 miler in on the treadmill today. That's 2.5 episodes of Desperate Housewives. So, I have only one long run of 20 miles left - next week. I do have an 11 and a couple 10 milers left, but funny, how over time, those don't actually seem like Long Runs anymore.

This week (week 4 before race):

Monday: 11 miles with 60 minutes of tempo speed (9:05/6.6mph) - Done
Tuesday: 12 miles Easy at 6.0 mph - Done
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: 16 Easy at 6.0 mph - Done
Friday: 4?
Saturday: 7?
Total: 50 Miles

Next Stop...Cutting the lawn in Dress shoes????

2009-03-06T14:21:00.000-08:00

"Are you really going to leave the house wearing.... THOSE????"

Well, I guess so. Because today I wore my new Oxy-sox compression sox (shown above on the calf model) for my 40 minute (about 4 mile recovery run).

Yesterday, I got in a 20.5 mile run! Finally, I was able to run outside. My days of the gym treadmill are disappearing quickly!!! Although tomorrow I think I will have to show off my new socks to the unsuspecting people at the gym. I'm sure they'll be impressed. Especially the high schoolers, since they kinda look like an old lady wearing soccer gear. Next stop...pairing these up with some black dress shoes and working outside. ha

5 weeks and the elimination of Sunday in the Gregorian Calendar

2009-03-02T05:13:00.000-08:00

Sundays: I need to complain a bit about Sundays. Can we just eliminate Sundays? I've been trying to do the weight watchers flex plan (this is a great plan and easy to follow) to drop a few pounds, but then Sunday ROLLS around.....every darn week. Homemade cinnnamon rolls, eggs swimming in butter, bacon, peanut butter cookies, Mojitos, hummous, pizza,Valentines Day candy hearts. (And that was all before 1 pm). I give up all my good work on Sunday. But, it is day 6 of giving up chocolate candy for Lent, and so far.....Black Bear is clean baby!

5 weeks until race day:
My running schedule for this week
Monday: 9 miles Easy
Tuesday: 8 miles with 6 x 5 minutes @ 8:00 pace with 2 min rest inbetween
Wednesday: OFF
Thursday: 20 miles Easy
Friday: 4 miles Easy
Saturday: 5 miles
Total: 46 miles

Scientific Mumbo Jumbo

2009-02-23T05:28:00.000-08:00

Last week's recap: A big week last week, and very successful. The 18 miler was tough,boring,sweaty, but I'm soooo glad Mary Ann was at the club to chat with me and take some boredom away. I did see one of her other friends that was sweatier than me (I know, hardly possible) that day!

By popular demand, here is my training program for the marathon

Weeks until Race: LongRunDistance/Weekly Miles
10: 12/36
9: 14/39
8: 16/41
7: 18/44
6: 9/35
5: 20/46
4: 16/49
3: 20/51
2: 8/27
1: 26.2/40

I've been also monitoring my Heart Rate at times during my runs to make sure I am in the correct heart rate zones. Instead of basing training zones off of % of Max Heart Rate or % of Heart Rate Reserve, I base it off my lactate threshold(LT) heart rate. In my case, my LT is 173 beats per minute (bpm). Heart rate training is good and bad. GOOD, because it keeps your runs in the range they should be in and it's a cool thing to look at. And BAD, because the heart rate monitor strap that fits around your rib cage, TEARS up your skin, like mine did a few weeks ago on a long run. So, I haven't really monitored my heart rate in a while, since the strap is now in the punishment corner.

..............% of Lactate Threshold....... Training Zone bpm
ZONE................Lower......Upper....Lower....Upper

1-Active Recovery...................80%...........0...........138
2-Endurance..........80%..........89%...........138........154
3-Tempo.................90%...........93%...........155.........161
4-Subthreshold....94%...........99%...........162........172
5a-Suprathreshold.100%........102%........173.........176
5b-Aerobic Capacity.103%.......105%........177.........181
5c-Anaerobic Capacity.105%.... +............181..........+

THIS WEEK'S (WEEK 6) SCHEDULE:
Mon: 9 Easy
Tues: 5 Easy
Wed: Off
Thurs: 9 Easy
Fri: 4 Easy
Sat: 8 Easy
Total: 35 Miles

So, there's a lot of scientific mumbo jumbo and gadgets galore, but at the end of the day, you just have to do what JenniG, a recently-found old running pal, who's now in Kansas City, says, and "just run, fat girl, run".

(Dear U-M Master's English Major Jenni: sorry for the "punctuality" in that last sentence...LOL)

7 weeks...

2009-02-16T06:00:00.000-08:00

Only 7 weeks until April 5, The Martian Marathon. Last week was a big mileage week for me. I haven't run 41 miles in one week in a long long time. So far, only a very slight calf issue (but I'll see my niece the doc to take a look at it - and if she tells me "stop running"... I'll cut her out of her inheritance LOL), but I've been icing and Ibuprofening (Vitamin I) to combat it.

Monday: Easy 5 miles @10:00
Tuesday: Tempo Run 8 miles incl 6 mi @9:01
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Easy 18 Miles @ 10:21 (That's a biggie)
Friday: Easy 4 miles (recovery run after the big'un)
Saturday: Easy 9 Miles @ 10:21
Total: 44 Miles

I've moved into the Asics Cumulus (a Neutral Shoe) from the Kayanos (a Stability Plus shoe). This also saves me some $$$ since the Kayanos are the Gold Standard of running shoes. I'm pretty sure now, that I was running in the wrong type of shoe all these years. I've upped my mileage a lot and my calves don't feel like a bag of concrete anymore.

Martian Marathon

2009-02-10T05:55:00.000-08:00

Cue the Twilight Zone music......The marathon I've decided to do this spring is the Martian Marathon on April 5. It runs in Hines Park Marathon Route - Click Here and is a relatively small race, but the date works perfectly for me. Here's a video of it from last year.
Martian Marathon Video - Click Here
Every mile marker has a giant plastic blow up martian to go with the Martian theme and some people (not I) dress in Star Trek costumes. Scene from Star Trek (The Trouble with Tribbles)

I'll also be able to do some of my long training runs on the actual course, when the weather breaks, and the sun comes out, and Hines isn't flooded. So, basically, I'll be doing all my training on the treadmill. Ha.

My training for this Feb 9 week looks like:

Monday: Tempo Run Dist: 8miles Total including 5miles @8:56
Tuesday: Easy Run Dist: 5 miles @10:21 (I did this in 10:00)
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Easy Run Dist: 16miles @10:21 (last 2 at 10:00)
Friday: Recovery Run Dist: 4 miles @10:21 (10:00 )
Saturday: Easy Run Dist: 8miles @10:21
Total: 41 miles

The Rental Car Scam..

2009-01-25T07:05:00.000-08:00

When we got to Arizona to get the rental car, Budget, we had reserved an economy car. Knowing a bit about how often they give upgrades, and with 2 of us, I'd never get anything but the cheapo. So, we get to the rental counter and a guy about 30 years old is the rental agent.

Agent: "Oh, I see you have a economy car rented. That's a Chevy Aveo today."
Me: "Okay"
Agent: "Are you sure you don't want something more? I mean, have you ever seen an Aveo, it's really small 2 door."
Me: "Nope, that's fine, we like small cars." (I say this knowing a lot about the rental car business, they generally don't order up too many small cars for rentals. And I'm a bit surprised they'd have a small 2 door that wasn't a sports car.)
Agent: "Well, it has crank windows, and it's manual door locks. An upgrade isn't much more."
Me: "That's okay, we need some excercise. You don't know what we're driving at home, crank windows that actually work might be an upgrade." (At this point, I know he's got some kind a scam brewing - like he gets a bonus if he talks us up into something more expensive. Knowing a lot about auto, I happen to know, that the Aveo is a pretty loaded up base-vehicle, and I believe, pretty much no manufacturer even makes crank windows or manual door locks for the US market anymore, since the complexity of the labor, costs a lot more than offering more expensive options)
Agent: "Are you sure? I mean, this thing is a piece of junk."
Me: "It has Air conditioning, right?"
Agent: "Well, it does, but when I was in it, it took 10 minutes for it to come on, and it hardly worked."
Me: (Smiling) "Well, if the air conditioning doesn't work, then I'll just bring it back."
Agent: (Angrily)- "okay, here's your keys it's in spot H13"

We walk to spot H13 in the rental garage, and............it's a fully loaded Ford Fusion. Yep, in fact, there are 100 Budget cars in the lot and the lowest level is a Pontiac G6, there are ZERO Chevy Aveo's, anywhere in the garage. So, basically, this guy knew we werent' getting an Aveo right out of the gate, and tried to screw us into paying more for the same car.

Lesson: It pays to be cheap....... and stubborn.

Arizona RNR

2009-01-20T15:32:00.000-08:00

Flight in Friday - No problem.
Will post on Rental Car Scam later.
Saturday - went to the expo, ASU campus, and Sedona (John and Cindy's),

then met up with some friends Sat for pasta dinner.

Saturday: had a fun time at dinner with Greenlee and Sllygrl (a couple of imaginary friends I met online),

but it passed much too quickly. Thinking of everything, I had a martini, just so I’d have something to blame a poor performance on, should that come to pass. Greenlee = planner extraordinaire for setting all this up. Also met Greenlee's friend, who gave me the prognosis, that indeed, my toenail that I’ve been waging a 3 month battle with and obsessing over, will be a lost cause.

Sunday a.m. Off to the races:Since I was struggling with my calf last week, I wrote on my hand…I got this idea from Runnerbabe (another online running friend).
If you can't read it, it says, "Brain = Boss. Calf = NOT Boss." Um, yeah, those = my man hands. I shaved the fur off., This was to come in handy late in the race.

We started walking to the race, about .1 miles outside the hotel, we were waiting to cross the light and a couple fellow runners yelled out their car window in the darkness, “Heyyyy, you want a ride to the race?” How GREAT!! And they were New Yorkers, so I thought that was good karma. New Yorkers being nice! They did do an awesome NYC no-left-turn traffic maneuver that impressed the hell out of me. No 1.5 mile walk. No 5:15a.m. shuttle, we got the personal driver at 7:30!!!

We make it to Corral 5 right as the gun goes off (our corral starts about 7 minutes after the gun, so we are in PERFECT shape now.)

I've been doing heart rate training and these percentages are off a Heart Rate max for me of 184. Now, after some discussions online with another imaginary running pal, I plan to run another max HR test in a month or so to see if 184 holds.

My Target is 9:03 pace for 1:58:34.
Mile Pace HR %MAX
1 9:09 155 84% “wow, this is like a tempo pace HR. Must just be nerves.”

2 9:05 159 86% “Hmm, HR not dropping, usually it drops by now. It should be high 140’s.”

3 9:10 162 88% “Not good, really into the wind. My 1:58 is in jeopardy, if I can’t get this HR down. WTH is going on? But, at least this new visor is cool - looking.”

4 9:11 165 90% “Uh oh, this is my 10K race HR. No way that I can hold this for more than 40 more minutes. Maybe I just need some Gatorade” (water stop = stuff called Cytomax. I gulp it, having never tasted it before. I about spew it 30 feet in front of me. It tastes like children’s cherry cough syrup mixed with sugar water. Nasty. Note to self: Never enter a race again that has this as the official drink.

5 9:06 168 91% “Hmmm, maybe I can hold it." Look at hand, "Brain = boss”

6 9:26 169 92% “Okay, sub 2:00 might still be possible. Maybe I just need a gu.” Take Gu. “Dear Wind: Please stop.” My sister is going to see my 10K split time back home, gotta hold it.

7 9:15 172 94% Gu worked, I feel better, but HR out of control. "This is crazy. I’m going to just blow up in the 2nd half. There’s going to be a Black Bear yard sale if I don’t settle down.”

8 9:56 167 91% “Dear Brain: Don’t listen to Brain. Brain is an idiot.” 2:00 no longer possible “Okay, Brain, how ‘bout we go with 9:20’s in the back?” Then I see THE hill. Brain says, “Okay, you can slow down a bit and just claw back some time to offset this mile later.” Other Brain agrees. This is where I really notice the heat in addition to the wind and I think about toughing it out since sllygrl and greenlee are about mile 15 by now and probably hitting them hard. Up a hill, you know, 60 feet doesn’t seem so high on paper. I decide I better tap into some Endurolytes I brought along, so I don’t cramp up. It seems pretty hot now and the sunload is intense. Plus, I could use a little break so I fumble with my fuel belt finding the Endurolytes, drop the cell phone, and have 3 waters. 2:00 isn’t going to be happening now, unless there’s a city bus around.

9 9:09 171 93% Course turns south!! "Yea, just a cross wind now. No head wind."

10 9:16 173 94% “Damn martini – it’s killing me.”

11 9:43 173 94% Into the wind again. My legs feel fine, but my heart is going to pop out.
"Alien! I'm an Alien! This is too close to my max to keep up." 2nd Gu goes down.

12 9:24 174 95% Course turns south! Phew no head wind.

13 8:52 178 98% “WTH am I? ” I don’t even notice there is a giant ASU mountain and I’m running right next to it.

.1 8:17 181 98.4% Get my 2 free beers and try to see end of marathon to see if I can see Greenlee and sllygrl finish. No luck. Wait for Jimbo and find him. Give him a much needed beer. He finished around 2:30.

2:02 Top 13% all women. Top 10% in my division. Top 21% overall.
Averages: 9:16 pace 168 BPM 91%
Front 9:11 m/m
Back 9:22 m/m About a 1 minute positive split.

A couple minutes slower than I went looking for, but the wind was a big unknown factor. Pretty much the whole course was directly into the wind. The sun load was pretty high. No shade. I gave it the best effort I had. For that reason, I am really happy. Do the best you can with the hand you're dealt that day.

Get back to hotel. Meet the girl in room across the hall -she was the 10th female finisher. She ran 1:27! We chatted about the conditions and she said it was windy, so I felt really good about my time. I also met a Kona Ironwoman on the plane (both to Phx and back home) who ran a 3:05. I asked her about heart rate training, and she said, yes, definitely it works and she does it. And, uh, no, she did not see me woofing down that Cinnabon (treat) and beer.

Baseball's Best - Not Running Related

2009-01-14T05:10:00.000-08:00

We get to go to Cooperstown this winter....YEA!!!! A few years ago I fielded a team of the greatest baseball players ever. I stumbled upon it in the pig pen closet. yesterday. (Phew, I thought it was lost. I did lose my list of marginal HOF players, like East-coast-bias Phil Rizzuto.....) One person at each position with a Relief Pitcher. So here's my list of the best NL and AL baseball teams.

AL
P Nolan Ryan, Walter Johnson
C Ivan Rodriquez
1B Hank Greenberg
2B Charlie Gehringer
3B George Brett (my sister will be happy to see this!)
SS Lou Gehrig (okay, he only played 1 game at SS, but how else was I going to get him on)
LF Ted Williams
CF Mickey Mantle
RF Ty Cobb
DH Babe Ruth

NL
P Sandy Koufax, Christy Mathewson
C Josh Gibson
1B Stan Musial
2B Rogers Hornsby
3B Jimmy Foxx
SS Honus Wagner
LF Ducky Medwick
CF Willie Mays
RF Hank Aaron

I tried to get Wahoo Sam Crawford in here, and Pumpsie Green, but there's only so much room.

My shin and my Dad

2009-01-13T09:21:00.000-08:00

Well, so I couldn't stand prosperity, so today I ran 6 miles with 5 miles at my half-marathon pace. Comparing 3 different pace calculators, my 53:08 10K corresponds to a Run Less: 1:57:25, McMillan 1:58:14 or Daniels 1:58:34. Since I'm going to consider myself as following the Daniels plan of late, I'm shooting for the 1:58:34 or a 9:03 pace on Sunday. Today's treadmill run, I did 1 mile warmup and 5 miles at 8:49 pace. (I know that's faster than 9:03, but okay, I said I couldn't stand prosperity).

I was just going to run easy, but I just HAD to know what this shin is going to feel like on Sunday. Yikes. Here's where it hurts below. I thought at first it was shin splints, but I'm thinking it's somewhere around where the calf muscle meets the achilles toward the back of my leg. A few weeks ago I had some twinges in my calf while running, but they passed on and my achilles was a little sore. So, I'm taking the next 4 days off. And yea, those are my shiny new Kayano's from Santa (and my "man hands").

Now, onto my Dad. So, I sent him an email with the link to my new blog and he responded with this.....

"I read your blog it wasn't that bad Love Dad" Which absolutely cracked me up and made me feel better about my stupid shin/calf.

Is this really only the 3rd week of winter??

2009-01-12T15:52:00.000-08:00

Ticking into my last few days before Arizona....I had a little lower shin issue late last week, so I took today off and just did an easy 6 miles on the treadmill yesterday (Sunday). Trying to get a couple more 6 milers in before the race on Sunday. I'll shoot for a 6 on Tuesday and Thursday. I've been icing and ibuprofen-ing and anti-biotic-ing (for these sinuses) like crazy. I've got so much antibiotics in me, by Friday, I should be able to lick the headrest on the airline seat without getting sick.

It seems it hasn't stopped snowing since October. More snow tonight. I've had to do all my training in the last month on the treadmill. It's killing me. I have so much winter running gear that I can't use. I just can't take a chance running on the snow/ice anymore. Someone posted on RWOL whether training exclusively on the treadmill can cause injuries. I wonder whether that's part of my shin issue. Or maybe I've switched into a light neutral shoe, and maybe I still need more stability. I'd like to get outside, but yeesh, this won't melt for at least 3 weeks now.

Saw Gran Torino the other night. WOW. I think this is the first non-Disney movie I've seen in 5 years.

Speaking of Disney, my friend Jed ran the Goofy Marathon in Disney this weekend. A half - marathon on Saturday, and a full marathon on Sunday. That'd be 39.3 miles, or if you're keeping track at home, about 13.1 miles more than I'd ever do in a weekend. That's impressive. And crazy. Can't wait to see the medal and hear about his race. I've done the Disney runs before , but I think this is the first time he's done the Disney runs. Maybe next year, I can talk my better half into the half-marathon there.

Speaking of my better half. He's also doing the Arizona half this weekend. He's been traveling so much though, that he hasn't been able to get any good long runs in. So, he's on the "finish" strategy. I feel bad for him, he just doesn't have the ability to get the runs in like me. But, I'm going to take a stab at it and say he comes in at 2:15!

Black Bear's 2nd Post!

2009-01-08T07:18:00.000-08:00

Wow, I can't believe this was so easy to make a blog! It's the simple things in life....

So, my friend Matt emailed me and wants to put together a relay team to run this race, Dances with Dirt in September. The only thing that freaks me out is running through that scummy water. From the pictures, it looks totally nasty.

http://http//danceswithdirt.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

I've only done one trail race, which I think may be my favorite race of all time. It's the Black Bear Run in Engadine on July 4. The shirt was the best shirt - bright orange with a bear on the front and the back of the bear on the back. It ran through a couple small areas of mud and that was about enough for me. Okay, I'm actually considering Dances with Dirt. How many chances do you get to run through Hell? Don't answer that.

Black Bear's First Blog Post

2009-01-08T07:05:00.000-08:00

This week in review: I have the Arizona Half Marathon coming up on Sunday Jan 18. My running schedule this week is all treadmill since I'm in Canada. I've been running 35 miles per week with no injuries, but I need to ramp down the volume for the next 2 weeks before the race, so I have fresh legs.

Tuesday 6 miles with 25 minutes of Tempo at 8:30 pace
Thursday 5 miles easy
Friday 5 miles easy with 6 strides of 20 seconds at 7:41 pace.
Saturday 8 miles at Half Marathon Goal Pace + 20 seconds. Several running calculators put my Half Marathon time at 1:57 - 1:58 based on my latest 10K time of 53:08. So, with that in mind my target pace for Saturday's 8 miles is 9:04 + 20 seconds = 9:25 pace.
Sunday 5 miles easy