That's a Good Boy!!!

I wanted to post today and tell of my winning the battle with that demon that Forest refers to as Sybil. I would call mine Heinrich, but he's much nicer than the voice I was battling with during my run today. For argument's sake, why don't we call him Jason Whitt. So, I've got my fancy "new" iPod on (it's an old model that was replaced under warranty right before Christmas) and I'm going for a treadmill run at the RSF. Past experience tells me that the Nike+ doesn't measure well when using a treadmill. Something about the strange gait on a treadmill throws off the rhythm or something, ask Deetschei, he's the one always using words like coefficient.

  Today, however, the measure was WAY off. I was on one treadmill and it told me I had run more than a mile when the mill itself hadn't yet registered .88 miles. Then my favorite machine came open so I thought I would switch to it. There things got worse. While running at a treadmill described pace of 9:20/mile, my iPod was clocking in at 7:30. As I said, WAY OFF!  As I'm approaching 6 miles (today's goal) on my iPod the treadmill reads only 4. Then the voice begins!!!! "If I keep the iPod running, then the distance will show that I ran over 7 miles when I only ran 6. So, I'll have to shut off the iPod."

"If I shut off the iPod then I can just meet the distance halfway, and run only 1 of the 2 miles I still have left to run." 

"If I shut off the iPod no one will ever know that I didn't really run the full 6 miles."

So I shut off the iPod. Then continued to run and run and run, until Jason Whitt had been struck down, and I had run the full 6 miles according to the treadmill. So, Nike+ thinks I ran 6 miles incredibly fast, but I know in my heart of hearts that Jason Whitt can't always talk me into not finishing a workout, and that I am going to beat this thing!!!

Rock on all you marathoners, half marathoners and Ben's that refuse to blog!!!!

Playing with Nike + (again)

So it looks like Nike+ has developed widgets you can embed into your blog in order to show people your running progress. Shall we test? I concur:



Look at that! Now you all can see the little-green-line-that-is-my-run! For my last five runs! And by restricting the swoosh to the top right corner, we're only providing Nike with moderate free advertising. Except for the fact that I'm dedicating the title of this post to them. Again.


(But seriously kids, that Nike+ sure is something.)


The week has been pretty chill, as you can see by my times. I'm in no hurry to get anywhere, just happy to log me some miles without the effort of going fast. I figure I'll work on speed again soon enough, but I'm not interested in burning out right now. I realized in my quest to reach those sub-7 minute miles that I wasn't enjoying my runs as much as I used to. I didn't have the time to reflect on my day, or organize my thoughts about work. I also couldn't rehearse catty comments I might have used in certain past situations, just in case similar opportunities to be passive aggressive arrive in the future...and I love doing that, it's why my delivery is so good. In short, all focus on breathing and footwork, but no zen.

I've basically been running about four times a week, trying to hover around 20 per week, and trying to just stay ahead of wherever Don might be while he's running circles around his camp. ("This one time, at band camp, I went so fast that I ran into my own spit!") BUT, as I have no idea where he is, this race to 100 might already be decided and I'll be polishing my silver medal with my tears.

The real running story in Cologne this week is Tessa. She finished three miles today in spite of a medley of maladies (ha ha, see what I did there?). I have to be honest. I thought she was going to puke by the first mile marker. But she always kept on going, puke free, while utilizing this cute little right-leg-swing running style that makes it look like she's running with an invisible Skip-It.
Basically, every time I would have fallen down, rolled over, and started sucking on mud for water and valuable earthwormy sustenance, she not only didn't fall down, but, um...kept going...

She's unstoppable when she decides she'll finish a certain distance. It's simply "how she rolls". So I'm saluting her for her dedication and also to remind her that when she started running earlier this year her goal was to be able to finish a 5K. Now she regularly runs four miles at a go and is looking squarely down the barrel at running not only five lousy kilometers, but 5 miles. How cool is that?