Early morning solitude

Schedule goal: 30 minute run

Result: 36.37

Distance: 3.92 miles (9.20/mile)

Walking breaks: 0

I was supposed to meet up with a local running group for about a five-mile run this morning. The group meets at 5:30 am, which means I need to get up around 4:40 - I am certainly not a morning person, which means I require a little extra time to be sufficiently awake for running. I did wake up and get moving without much of a problem, but I still didn't get moving quickly enough. I pulled into the parking lot where the group meets at 5:33, and while the lot was full, the place was empty of early-morning risers wearing tech gear and iPods.

Disappointed as I was to not reach the starting point in time, I knew this was no excuse to not get today's run in the books. Since I had wasted a little bit of the morning driving to and from the running group's starting line, I figured I wouldn't have time for a five-miler, so I cut it short to just under four miles...which is actually a pretty happy medium. The training calendar I'm following is dedicated towards first-time marathoners, and it called for a 30-minute run today, so I knew that by committing to the running group, I'd be exceeding that time this morning (there's just no way I'm going to fit a five-mile run into thirty minutes...that would be insane!). Logging just under four-miles means I still exceed my 30-minute goal while running at a comfortable pace, but not the amount I would have if I had run with the group. Of course, my chance at redemption is just two days away - the same running group has a run planned for Thursday, and I'll be there.

I've accepted that getting up early is a necessary part of running, and while I don't enjoy the waking up part, the calmness I find on those early-morning jobs is an extra perk I didn't anticipate. And while I enjoyed running with the group last Thursday (and I'll certainly need to be used to running in a group to prepare for October's big run), there's something to be said for the quiet and calming nature of running solo. Aside from an occasional car driving by, neighbors dragging their garbage to the street on trash days, or wild animals running by (ranging from squirrels to deer), there's nothing on these early morning jogs to stop you from diving into your thoughts. And since I don't want to depend on music to keep me going during a run (headphones are forbidden in the Marine Corps Marathon for safety reasons, and while plenty of people skirt past this rule easily enough, I still would rather be able to take in the full experience of the event), I'm not running with my trusty iPod blasting classic rock and blues into my ears. The stillness of an early-morning solo run is refreshing and wholly different from running pre-dawn with a group - it's easy to get distracted by other runners while on a run together, and the close quarters typically leads to conversation - and it can be a welcome change when you're surrounded by people the rest of day. In other words, sometimes it's just a relief to escape once in a while.

In other news...I signed up a new race today. I'll be running in a half marathon the first weekend in October as a part of the Roots N Blues N BBQ festival. I've heard great things about the event, and while I love the blues and I love BBQ, I've never been to this event. There will be some serious blues musicians performing, and I'm really excited about the chance to see Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi.

Concerning the run itself, the training calendar calls for a 26-mile run that weekend...sort of a final long-run-tuneup before the Marathon at the end of October. Which means that when I run the half marathon at the festival, I'll run the 13.1 mile loop...then do it again. I have no idea why two 13-mile loops sounds more intimidating than one 26-mile run, but it does...but I'm sure this isn't the first time I'll be intimidated by running great distances. There's no turning back now, so I might as well just enjoy it.

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Sunday run

Since I tend to get songs stuck in my head on each run, I figured I'd work that into this blog. Today's run was brought to you by Dream Theater, one of my favorite bands. The opening track of "Black Clouds & Silver Linings" was the first song that popped in my head on today's run, and it stayed there on a loop for about 2.5 miles or so. If you're into heavy rock with an intelligent progressive twist (and don't mind songs that go beyond four minutes) I highly recommend checking out Dream Theater. Their stuff gets pretty musically complex, but even if you don't know anything about music theory, it's easy to see how talented they are...which is fitting, since I'm pretty sure everyone except the singer was classically trained on their instrument. The song "A Nightmare to Remember" is truly epic, and the intro makes for great pump-up music.

Part 1
Part 2

Tried a new route today. More hills than I expected, and since I started fighting a calf cramp early in the run, I played it safe by taking a one-minute walking break every ten minutes. My marathon calendar called for a four-miler, though my route came in just under at 3.9...not sure how, since I measured it off with DailyMile before-hand, but I'm not too worried about it since I have plenty of yardwork to get to today. (Check for an update on that later today here, perhaps tomorrow).

So how did today's run go? Not bad...I think I'm at the point though where I'm past feeling proud that I just finished a run and want to feel like I'm accomplishing something. Was tough to get into a groove today - along with the calf cramp early in the race, my right shoulder started to twinge a couple of miles in. This isn't the first time that's happened, though I have no idea why. I don't have a history of arm injuries, and it's not like I'm carrying or dragging anything while I'm running...anyway, it's not enough to stop my run, more of annoyance than anything else.

That's it for now, time to get some breakfast and get started on the yardwork for today.

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Entering the running world

After years of hearing "you should start running" from my dad and weighing the benefits of the exercise against the benefits of laziness, I've finally committed to take up running...and there's no backing out now.

Back in March, I signed up to run the Marine Corps Marathon. It will be my first marathon, and I'm doing my best to not think about if it will be my last or not. Merely surviving the run in October is my goal, If along the way I manage to have a fun time, get in better shape, lose some weight, raise some money for charity and make some friends along the way, I'll welcome those perks, but for now, simply finishing the race and living to tell about it will be enough for me.

I've been running consistently three times a week for about a month or so, and I just started my marathon training program last week. Jeff Galloway's program comes highly recommended by the officials running the Marine Corps Marathon, my dad (who has completed the MCM twice), and, surprisingly, my next-door neighbor, who it turns out is a runner and has invited me to join his running group (more on that in a future post). I've had good days and bad days, and so far the good days have outnumbered the bad ones...we'll see if that continues as my milage increases.

I plan to use this blog as a journal of sorts for my training. I'll focus on training for the MCM, detailing how runs are going, but really, I'd like to use this blog to share the random thoughts that I have during my runs. These can range from anything to future house projects, the charity I'll be running for, playing with the dog, the incredible ball of suck that is the Kansas City Royals bullpen, thoughts of how to use this blog (yep, I'm might even post a run blog about thinking about blogging while I'm running)...really anything that pops into my head while I continue to try and put one foot in front of the other. Feel free to participate in the comments...my goal is to post something at least after every run and go from there.