eatin' well

here is an NYTimes article about eating well, which i thought some of you would find interesting/ helpful.

now i have to find a way to motivate my arse to get out the door and run... when it is windy with slushy rain that is going almost horizontally. i mean, i know for you cheeseheads that sounds like a lovely summer day, but for the rest of us who have come to expect somewhat reasonable weather, it plain sucks.

my training is still going okay. my "long" run on sunday really sucked– i felt like i had cinder blocks tied to my legs for the entire 5 miles and my pace suffered as a result (increasing it by a minute/mile).

total miles last week: 10

total time: you want me to do math!?!

pace: around 10min/mile

overall impression: Why Does Mother Nature Hate Me And Always Make It Rain On My Run Days? (WDMNHMAAMIROMRD)

Sistas Are Doin' It For Themselves

For perhaps the first time in my life, at least as far as I can remember, my oldest sister and I actually went running "together." This wasn't the kind of running in which the oldest sibling "chases" the youngest sibling around the house threatening to punch her. No no, this was real running. We did a nice 4 miler today in the L. J. While everyone else was at church, we took over the streets.

I know one should not immulate spiritual leaders or deities, but following in Sixpack's footsteps I have encouraged my sister to start training for B2B (even though we might not be running it with you in SF). I figured that we Okie Girls could provide a nice balance to the Wisco Supremacy. I have extended an invitation to her to join Drunk Runners. Hopefully we will soon be 10, so keep your eyes open and give "Ginifer" (she was born to be a Drunk Runner) a hardy welcome when she finally joins.

Inspired by DJ and Forest's distances, I have decided to up my "long runs" - I am ahead of my training schedule in terms of pace, so I figure I can extend the runs on the weekend to challenge myself and to catch up with the boys! So look over your shoulders occassionally, you just might see me coming up behind you :)

5 Bottom Plow and So much More

Ladies and Gentleman the five bottom plow:


Normally drug behind a tractor, not a runner, those five blades dig into the earth turning it over making it fresh and ready for planting. I'll leave you to imagine the drag and the extended meaning of Forests metaphor.

That out of the way, I'm proud to say that I have not run a foot since my last post. However, a trip to the physical therapist was most enlightening on Thursday. After assessing the situation he asked what my goals are. He didn't even flinch when I said I wanted to do another marathon. Granted, this is the guy that helped me walk again after the first one, so I thought the coin could fall either way. Either he was going to take it in stride, or he was going to say something like, "Now, you've run two of them. And you are in for your second round of Physical therapy in the last 6 months. I'm seeing a trend here. Are you sure this marathon thing is the best for you?" Thankfully he didn't, so I was spared having to bitch slap him and tell him that I was the one paying the bills and he would do what I said.
So, we've figured out the problem and have devised the beginnings of a plan. It all goes back to that barn in Wisconsin some 30 odd years ago. It looked something like this:

It is here that I fell and broke my arm at the age of 4. It is this accident that, it has been theorized, was the beginning of my scoliosis. No, no one pushed me. If you can believe it I was not the most graceful child, although it was my dream to be a world class diver or figure skater. So, this scoliosis has meant that my body makes a lot of funny adjustments in order to get through the day. What it means most significantly is that my stomach muscles hardly ever work. I use my back for everything which just doesn't cut it sometimes. As I know I've mentioned before, a marathon, in such situations, is much like a rock in your shoe. Imagine, if you will, that there is a rock in your shoe. Now, you could walk across the room and it wouldn't be that big of a deal. You might even be able to walk around the block and not have a problem, maybe a mile, but a 26.2 miles? Your foot would be a bloody messy. Trust me, I've had it happen for 11 miles. Why didn't I remove the rock? I'm not quite sure, but it was a bloody mess. So, 26.2 miles has exagerated what were previously minor injuries brought about by my poor body mechanics over years and years of moving. Frankly, I will continue to keep running marathons, because it is helping me move so much better, that we might eventually fix everything.
With round two of PT Mel promises we will fix even more and get me on the right track. Now if you will excuse me I have exercises to do. Can anyone say, Kegel? Just kidding.

So, the moral of the story is: Don't climb in barns. It's terribly expensive later in life.

UFF-DA!!!

Hey all,
This is my first full week back to running. The PT has been doing a great job at getting me back to and better than before. She wanted to cut me off, but I have a new found relationship with both the P.T. and the P.T.A. They asked if I had any questions, I said yah can you keep me coming until after the marathon, the answer absolutely. I don't know if it's my charm, my witt or just me, THE WHOLE WONDERFUL PACKAGE THAT IS ME.
OK back to why I am writing. My first week back I pushed myself pretty hard distance wise, I wanted to get back on track. I'm proud to say I did. I'm still not running the times I'd like to see, but the distance is where I should be. My previous longest run was seven miles. Last night I ran my longest run ten miles. I was supposed to run it on Sunday but we are having a BLIZZARD as I write this. So I decided to move my long run up two days. The really funny part, as I was in dressing and stretching (Not at the same time) freezing rain started to fall. The winds were about 15-20 miles an hour, figuring this was still better than the prediction for Sunday, I took off for my ten mile run. First five miles were OK, I had glasses and a hooded sweatshirt to stop the sting of the freezing rain. The winds were tough for me to run into, it was really pushing me. At the six mile point the freezing rain changed to snow, with the winds I could only see a few hundred feet in front of me at times. Yah, I know what you're thinking, MAN HE MUST RUN FAST. If only that were true! By the time I hit the ten mile mark about three-quarters of an inch of snow was on the ground. I know, ........ that snow was coming fast, actually I was running very slow, it was more like an exaggerated walk. my pace was 12 min 24sec. More core exercises and I need to start doing speed work.

Total miles this week, 21

total time, 4 hrs 6 mins 46 sec

Pace 11 min 45 sec

Over all impression..... could someone please run up beside me and pull the pin on the five bottom plow I seem to be pulling.
Any questions to this statement please ask your spiritual advisor.

Goals Goals Goals

So,Karneval worked me over in a major way. I'll post a pic or two when my laptop is back from the shop (part of the reason I've been gone...again), but trust me- one million drunken germans plus one drunken deetschei is not conducive to good running...having said that,I somehow managed a personal best 5K during the insanity. I hardly remember running it ;)
This last week was the end of my second 4 week cycle with the Nike + goal generator/ass kicking machine. After a mad dash at the end to compensate for the fact that I spent most of the past week dressed as an inebriated pope, I can proudly say I acheived two of the three goals: I both ran 65 miles (I actually ran closer to 70), and I ran ten runs in under 8:59 per mile (most of them are now under 8:30, and the last few have been hovering around/below 8:00!!! holy jeezum crow!). I did NOT run 16 times in 4 weeks. I only got 14 in. That's okay though, since that is the goal I was least interested in, anyway. That's what I tell myself.
Within those four weeks,I managed my first 20 mile week and my first ten mile run. Now that I've established my pre-prescribed 8 week base, I'm on the hunt for a half marathon to run in about six weeks. Training should begin on Monday. Or whenever my new liver arrives.

Bay to Breakers Costume

I found mine!!! Do you have yours?

Sixpack Chopra

Cold enuf for ya?

It is really depressing to read about all of the weather problems you are having in San Fran and other places of not so cold Climate. Yes, I have been runniing if you can call it that. My last update said the Short, Little Fat Fart wanted to be able to go a mile without walking in between by 2-5-07. Well, I made it to that point on 2-8 in place of 2-5. Surprisingly, it was easier than I was antisipating. The problem being, it got so cold that I did not repeat it until last night. Now the temps are in the 30's during the day, the training is back on. Increasing by 1/2 mile per week until I get to 5.5 miles per day by 4-12.

Now that all have had their laugh, on to the title. Below you will find an analogy of Wisconsin weather supplied by an old friend "Christy".

COLD IS A RELATIVE THING

60 above zero: Floridians turn on the heat.
People in Wisconsin plant gardens.

50 above zero: Californians shiver uncontrollably.
People in Madison sunbathe.

40 above zero: Italian & English cars won't start.
People in Wisconsin drive with the windows down.

32 above zero: Distilled water freezes.
The water in Superior gets thicker.

20 above zero: Floridians don coats, thermal underwear, gloves, wool hats.
People in Wisconsin throw on a flannel shirt.

15 above zero: New York landlords finally turn up the heat.
People in Wisconsin have the last cookout before it gets cold.

Zero: People in Miami all die.
Wisconsinites close the windows.

10 below zero: Californians fly away to Mexico.
People in Wisconsin get out their winter coats.

25 below zero: Hollywood disintegrates.
The Girl Scouts in Wisconsin are selling cookies door to door.

40 below zero: Washington DC runs out of hot air.
People in Wisconsin let the dogs sleep indoors.

100 below zero: Santa Claus abandons the North Pole.
Wisconsinites get upset because they can't start the Mini-Van.

460 (-459.67 F below zero): ALL atomic motion stops (absolute zero, zero on the> Kelvin scale.) People in Wisconsin start saying: "Cold 'nuff fer ya?"

500 below zero: Hell freezes over.
Wisconsin public schools will open 2 hours late.

HELL Froze Over on 2-10-07. School was cancelled on Monday and started 2 hours late the next 2 days. Thus, the reason for not training during that time.

Week #3 And The Hits Just Keep On Comin'

Hey there healthy and recovering runners!

Yet another week has past and yet another 13 miles logged. As much as I H-A-T-E speedwork and tempo runs I am finding them to be really effective in reducing my time. I guess all those running experts actually know something after all - I just assumed you could reduce your time by increasing the amount of potato chips you ate (I still hold to that theory! and if I were mathematically inclined I would come up with a clever little equation for you... give me some time!)

Anywho, I am bound to slack on my training plan. I am just hoping to stave it off for at least another few months. When Sixpack recovers I will let him take over the heavy running for a week or two ;)

My stats:

Total Distance for the Week: 13
Total Time: 1:50:57 (brought my time down by 8:43 from the same distance last week - but I was kinda lame last week, so...)
Avg. Pace: 8:32
Observations/Overall Impressions: I am in a way better place than I was last year at this time (IAIAWBPTIWLYATT)

Keep on truckin' you guys! Only 3 months until B2B (aka CHEERFEST 2007 - Cheese + Beer = Cheer)!!!!!

Is anyone running?

I'm writing from a sunny and warm, but decidedly unexercised San Francisco. I'm sure Nick is sick of hearing me whine about being injured. So, I have decided to stop that. Yes, I'm still injured, but I'm learning to live with it while I wait for recovery. In the meantime Dayton is kicking my ass in the 300 mile challenge. Almost half way finished he is over 100 miles in front of me. I will get out there soon and then the race is on.
I have, in the absence of running, begun swimming at Hearst Pool. A beautiful place, but boy am I out of shape. It was all I could do to stay in the water for 15 minutes. Granted that's 15 minutes of swimtime, but still. I felt like such a wuss. I'll be back next week to go for a full 20. The problem, of course, is not the legs, but my pathetically weak arms. Forrest can attest to the fact that I've always been a bit of a weakling. So, I now struggle to strengthen part of my body that has been neglected by running. The upside? I don't look so bad in a swimsuit. And this also means I will finally be doing the cross training I should have been doing for years now.
Is everyone else out there running? How are things going? Any news from the "Biggest Loser" front? Who's winning? Help me out here people. If you don't post I feel like none of us are running, and I'm not ready to deal with that. That race and beer fest are coming up soon. Speaking of which, if you haven't seen Beerfest yet, you owe it to yourself. This is one of the funniest intentionally stupid films I have seen, since well, Airplane! It's hysterical. My favorite line? This beer is so good, "I wish we could freeze it and ice skate on it, and then in the spring we could melt it and drink it!" I'm warning you it is really really stupid, but I cracked up as I watched it twice.

Long Time, No Post

So, I got hit by a bike last night.

I was crossing a street that isn't usually very busy, but at this time had sixty smart cars careening around in every direction. I needed a bit more awareness than usual, but I ultimately crossed the road without any problems. Of course, the result of such an easier-than-anticipated street navigation was that as soon as I hit the opposite sidewalk, I simply stopped paying attention. This is pretty dangerous since, as you know, in Germany the sidewalk isn't just for side-walkers. As soon as I stretched myself forward in a sinewy lunge towards athletic greatness, I got plowed into like the frog in Frogger. It didn't hurt, really. I mostly remember a series of slow snaphots in which a big headed coed was coming from my right, then she was suddenly near me, then she was more or less on top of me. This was all accompanied by our harmonious screaming in really loud German. I sort of had to hold onto her to keep her from flying off the bike, and she yelled at me for running in the dark with headphones on. Because apparently I'm more visible without them. And I see better as well.

Anyway, as I IM'd with the Pavement Pounder about this last night, it occcured to me that as I was helping this girl back into an upright/riding position, I was actually holding onto her pretty tight (hell, bodies in motion, inertia, startled suddennes...it was physics! Physics, I say!). Sooooo, now my face is probably plastered on some German Hollaback blog as the American pervert who runs around campus, trying to get female students to run over him...

So I got that going for me.

AH, other than that, I finally calibrated my Nike+iPod. I don't know how it went, because A) I cut my run short after said incident, and B) said incident "altered my stride" for a bit. I'm going to go out again today after it stops raining and test it then. I have to. Chantelle gets in today and Cologne shuts down for the next few days because of Karneval. Once again, I'll be putting the drunk back into drunk runners...
BUT, it's okay if I slack a bit. BECAUSE:

1) Last week was my first 20 mile week since the marathon. It went well. 20 miles is a long ways apparently, because it wore my ass out. But the weather was mostly fantastic, and the legs held up well. The only drawback is that over the course of the last four days I ate every cookie, croissant, and piece of cake within a fifteen mile radius of our house, justifying it by saying "Fuck. I ran 20 miles this week. I can eat anything." As a result, I burned almost 3000 extra calories from exercise,and probably still put on 2 pounds.

2) I crowned the big week with a big run. Sunday I managed 10.3 miles, when it looked for a little bit like I wouldn't get 2. It was raining, it was cold, and I pretty much was ready to pack it in and save it for Monday, when the weather improved a little. I decided to shoot for 6 miles, but everything kept getting better; There were blue skies, a hint of something that was almost warmth, and my legs started to untie themselves from the crazy tight knots that kept them from moving in the first two miles. I just kept going, and going, and going, and then I stopped. Um, because I was home. I was pleased. Very pleased. Pleased and broken.

Crappity-Crap-Crap-Crap

Two words: STUPID DOWNPOUR!

This is me after 2 miles in torrential rain (which, might I add, occurred suddenly!) Um, did I mention that shorts tend to really ride up when they are wet and see-through? Not a pretty sight, I am sure!

If I hadn't been running with my ipod, I am pretty sure I would have finished the 5 miles. Oh well, I'll dry out and hit the treadmill later today to finish up the distance.

Last Weeks Stats:
Distance 13 (after today's run)
Time: 1:58:00
Observation: Wear dark colors when there is a chance of rain (WDCWTIACOR)

Of Plica and Influenza

Wow! What a week! It's been nothing if not exciting. Or has it really been just nothing? For the first time in years Steve and I spent the week at home together. Yep, we left the house last night for the first time in a week. No better bonding experience than an influenza quarantine! And why did we leave the house last night? Two words: Jennifer Holliday! We were invited by Steve's PR guy to a dinner for Equality California held at City Hall. It was gorgeous. We were straight up glitterati. If you don't know who Jennifer Holliday here's the short story: She was the original Effie in Dreamgirls on Broadway and brought down the house with the song, "And I'm Telling You....". If you've ever seen me karaoke, you've seen me do this song! We drug our asses out of bed and went to dinner so we could see her sing her torchsong from the steps of city hall. It was fabulous!!!!

In addition to the flu, which included 12 hours of sleep a night and more than one 4 hour nap, the doctor also told me last week that my plica is irritated! Check out Plica Syndrome. He also described it as Patello-femoral syndrome, or something of the like. Basically this means I'm not in as much pain, but it's back to PT. Mel is going to be so happy to see me. I'm sure.

This all means that I have done nothing this week but sit on my ass and whine about how much it sucks to be sick. No running and hardly even any walking. We'll see how next week goes. Of course, the rest should have been good for the Plica Syndrome. It's hard to stress your knee when the furthest distance walked in a day is 30 feet to the sofa. But I'm not complaining. Sometimes it's nice to just be really friggin lazy. And that was me!!!!

Weeks Stats:

Miles: 0
Overall Impression: I Hate Being Sick More Than I Hate Eating Carrots (IHBSMTIHEC)

Behold the power of cheese

I just wanted to write and tell all off you cheddar lovers the news. I found a website that you can watch cheddar cheese age. I have to warn you to only view in small doses, the excitement may overload your senses. I'm hoping that with a great website like this that it will make training for B to B that much easier so you can enjoy more cheddar cheese! Remember don't over do it. OK the moment you've all been waiting for........ www.cheddarvision.tv .

B2B Registration Reminders

Hey all,
Just a few reminders for registration:
If you are looking for the prime position right behind the seeded runners you will need to register for and raise money for LLS. The link is readily visible on the registration. This is quite simple to do and highly recommended. With a few letters to friends, you should be able to raise the bare minimum of $200 for the prime placement. In the past two years we have raised about $2000 each year (that's $1000 per person).
If you do not raise funds, you will be back in the back with the other 50,000 people. Not a bad place to be. Lots of tortilla throwing and beach balls. It's quite a party.

get your shot glasses polished, kids...

it's time to register for the 2007 bay to breakers!

http://www.ingbaytobreakers.com/registration/rwp.html

come one, come all drunk runners... it's time for our pilgrimage to mecca.

A Dull Week

This was not the best week of running I have had. I'm stilling whining with a little bit of knee pain, for which I will see a DR on Wednesday. You may already know that I'm a bit of a hypochondriac. If the machinery isn't 100% I call a doctor. So, I'll see what he says and take it from there. I'm already feeling pretty well rested.
I've started training with the gang here again. It's so far Emily, Mike, Jenn and I. i'm hoping Kooiker joins us soon. Emily can't be there for the 9 a.m. run, but can do an 8 a.m. run on Sunday. So, I did the gentlemanly thing and ran with her at 8 and then ran again at 9. Right now, it's not the big deal it might seem to be. It was a nice 2 mile run at 8 and a 3.5 mile run at 9. All in all a good distance, and one that made me feel great about being in shape enough that that wasn't all that big of a deal.
The down side of the week is that that was the only run. I'm going to try to head out for a run on Wednesday, maybe 5 miles. I'm wanting to recover from the race and get moving forward again. The hardest part is convincing yourself that not running can occasionally be the best thing for you.

The stats:
Miles: 5.5
Time: 47:52
Overall Impression: The Ohlone Greenway Is Only Relaxing Once A Day (TOGIO ROAD -- Is that near Hayes Street?)

One Week Down, The Rest Of My Life To Go

Hey Kids-

Just thought I would check-in and let you know how the first week of my B2B training went.

Kuddos, by the by, to everyone who is putting in the time and the miles!!!

I anticipated certain challenges to this years B2B training, but have been surprised (granted, it is only just the end of week 1) by what those challenges have been. I was almost positive that I was going to struggle on my first tempo run, but I am pleased to report that I came in under the training pace for all of the miles. The second challenge I anticipated, and correctly, was slowing down my long run to the training pace. I didn't succeed in doing that this week, but will work on it. Oddly, this really shouldn't be a "problem" per se, except that I have to make sure that I don't injure myself and that I save enough steam each week for the tempo/speed work. Anywho, I am super pleased with Week 1 and hope I don't crap out anytime soon.

Inspired by Forest writing about the progress he has made over the last few months, I started thinking about my own - I hadn't really realized it, but I have lost between 12-16 lbs. (my scale could be lying slightly - I am never sure, since it is one of those old turn the dial to zero ones) in the last year since I made the conscious decision to run regularly. Sweeeeet! That means I can eat even more tasty, super aged, delicious WISCONSIN CHEDDAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week:

Distance: 13.4
Time: 1:58:38
Avg. Pace: 8:51
Observations: If you can run and spit hard enough that it doesn't fly back and hit you then you can run another 3 miles! (FYCRASHETIDFBAHYTYCRA3M!)

No frostbite

Hey folks, Sandi and I made it thru, at the start of the race the windchill was 70 minus 98 and it really felt it for about a three quarters of a mile when we were running on top of the levy along the Partially frozen Mississippi. I gotta say though it was beautiful With the big paddle wheel river boat and the Eagles soaring in the background.
Before the race we both layered up and found that when all was said and done, that we had actually over dressed, but that is a hell of a lot better than being under dressed. I saw one man that was wearing just shorts and a t-shirt, I thought he was out of his mind. Turns out he didn't plan on being out long enough to get frostbite. He finished the 4 miles in 20 min. and some change. He was amazing and modest at the same time.
Sandi plowed right thru and finished, I'll let her post her own story. We met to leave for the race at a friend of of Sandi's, her name is Monica, she is a life long runner and a very interesting person to party with, I'm telling you she is drunk runner material. Upon arriving at Monica's at 9:00 A.M. she pulled out the pot of coffee and poured us all a cup but left plenty of room for BAILEY'S which she pulled out next. I had two shots in my first cup of coffee when I went for a second cup the coffee only covered the bottom of the cup. Well wanting a second cup I filled it with Baileys, yes Deetchie, Equivalence of five shots for a four mile race, The best part and I attribute this to the five shots I ran my best time ever. So I have decided that I as well will do study of miles to consumption of alcohol and how it improves your time. I'm truly excited to do this study. Sixpack, Pavement Pounder, I thank you for your thoughts and blessings I attribute part of my success to you.

Distance 4 miles

Time 35 min. 15 sec.

Pace 8 min. 49 sec.

Long way to go!!

Brother Forrest already notified all that we made it through without frostbite. I have learned 3 things from this race. I need better gear so I don't feel like the jet-puff marshmallow man when I'm out in frigid weather trying to get my walk on, I can sweat in sub-zero temperatures, and I have a lot of work to do in order to run the Bay to Breakers. This has turned into my true point of conviction. I have continued to drop weight, but I'm struggling with the smoking. My back went out a couple of weeks ago and I ended up not running at all prior to this race, so this was a walker for me. I don't know that I will be running until the weather clears here. It's miserable training out in this crap!! Forrest has informed me of 2 other races in the near future, which will give me goal dates and building blocks for B to B. For now, it's just me, my diet and Turbo Jam (a desperate Midwest attempt at avoiding frostbite).

I was truly amazed yesterday to see Forrest so far ahead of my friend that has been running her entire life!! He was amazing out there, especially since he was fighting some pretty severe elements. My only complaint about this race and the party afterwards: when I'm with my brothers, someone (in this case several people yesterday) think that we are married!! We wore the most amazing hats and since they matched, everyone's assumption was husband and wife!! I may be jaded, but I don't see many couples out there just kicking back and having a good time or bickering in public like I do with them!! Where does the confusion come in? Thank you, Forrest, for letting me do what I could do and not expect more. It was an awesome day spent with you!! You need to be overly proud of your time, cause I am!!

Looking for sympathy

Well folks, Sandi has fallen off the deep end. She called me a few weeks ago and asked if I wanted to do a run with her in Clinton IA. Of course being her FAVORITE BROTHER I said yes. Well it's this weekend, For casted high 70 minus66, windchill 70 minus 87. I bought a heater to for my pants to keep my pipes from freezing I hope that's enough. If I'm forced to I may have to do a few shots to get some antifreeze in the old system before the run. We have the same prediction for Sunday when I'm supposed to do my 8 mile run, Sixpack Chopra please send me the will and the strength to endure all this and let me come through with no or at least very little frostbite.
My report for this week, I've lost a total of 63lbs in 10 months, with the help of diet and exercise. Two months ago I stopped drinking caffeine and last Thursday I quit chewing. The only thing I have left is "The cause of and solution to all of life's problems, ALCOHOL". So in true Drunk Runners fashion, I have vowed to wash down the dust of each race with a beer, what this means is I'm done giving up things in my life, I'm just going to cruise for a while.
Please pray to Sixpack for Sandi and Forest, pray for warmth and speed to get done quicker.

Run 7 miles

Time 77 min 5sec

Pace 11min 1sec

More about Nike +

Don and I have alluded to the Nike + in the past, while giving snippets of information about the hardware and its basic interface on the iPod. I went ahead and took some screen captures on my iBook so that everyone could see the website, which is really the more dynamic/fun aspect of Nike (+). You may click on the pictures for larger images.

The first shot is exactly what you would see after uploading a run. Its extremely simple. Once you plug the iPod nano into the computer, a prompt asks you if you want to visit the Nike website. All data is automatically uploaded for you, and usually within miliseconds. Sometimes it takes whole seconds:




The graph loosely corresponds with your speed over distance. You can see where you are slowing down, where you are speeding up, and your mile average at each mile marker. Usually, if you have run a distance multiple times, then a second graph appears titled "My Best Run". This allows you to compare your most recent run to your best (fastest) run.

Each run is cataloged and can be acccessed or viewed against other runs in month, week, or day formats. If you slide the cursor over each bar, then the information for that group of runs pops up. It will tell you how far you ran, what your overall time was, your average speed, as well as the calories you burned. Nifty, nifty:



There are three tabs on the right side of each personal page. The first links to your runs, and the second links to your goals. There are three different types off goals you can set: Distance, Speed, and Frequency. Each goal is represented by a bar that shows your progress, while simultanesouly displaying where you should be in relation to whatever goal you set. If you want to run 10 times in four weeks, it will let you know that you're behind a run. I cannot stress how much I have enjoyed this function in keeping me focused on where I want to be over the course of a month:



Finally, since we are all competitive types at heart, the third tab links to a challenge forum. This lets you search through the ether to find whoever is running and challenge them to a variety of races. Don immediately took up the opportunity and set up a race to 300 miles. Because 250 was just too short ;). My favorable positioning right now is mostly attributable to the fact he didn't bring his chip to the marathon:



If personal goals don't convince you to run, or you're just ridiculously competitive like a lot of us, then this function alone is a blast. I'm challenging Don to a trans-atlantic 5K as we speak. Should be interesting.

I'll post about my runs later this weekend (Frankfurt actually was amazing, and I didn't see a single barge), but wanted to take this opportunity to show everyone a little bit more of what Donno and I are going on about. I realize these things (Nike Plus kit) are not cheap if you don't already have a nano, but they do kick a certain amount of ass, if you're into ass kicking.