Run on thoughts
4.20.2010
Early morning solitude
4.18.2010
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.
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.
4.15.2010
Entering the running world
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.