Spirit of the Marathon

Last night I met Tina at the Showcase in Ann Arbor for the one-night-only showing (or not-- apparently now there's an encore showing on February 21) of the documentary Spirit of the Marathon.

The theater was packed. I think it was completely sold out. We lucked out with some awesome seats right in the middle not too close and not too far back. During the film, everyone laughed at the same parts (like when one of the first-time marathoners featured in the film reported that some of her friends asked her, "Do you think you're going to win?" when she told them she was going to run the Chicago Marathon). When repeat marathoner Ryan was told he had a serious knee injury and could not continue his training nor compete in the marathon, we groaned right along with him. When elite American runner Deena Kastor talked about her training schedule, there was an audible intake of shocked breath around the room as she said she had run 145 miles for the week. When a totally spent Deena managed to hold off a surging second-place runner to win the 2005 Chicago Marathon, people clapped. When the film ended and the screen darkened before the end credits and music started to roll, the room was completely silent. No one moved or made even the tiniest sound. Then the spell was broken and there was scattered applause as people began shuffling around. For an hour and 45 minutes several hundred like-minded individuals had come together as one to watch human beings push themselves past normal limits of endurance.

I am more excited than ever to run the Detroit Marathon in October. Watching the emotions pouring out of people as they crossed the finish line was overwhelming. I found myself getting a lump in my throat, thinking, That could be me in nine months.

If you can, try to see this film when it's shown again in February. It really is wonderful.

Why Can't I Be Independently Wealthy?

I can think of only one thing right now, as I look out my third-floor office window to the sunny outdoors:

*sigh* "What a beautiful day. I wish I was out there running instead of sitting in here."

59.8

59.8 pounds. That's how much weight I have now lost on Weight Watchers. I was only a lousy 0.2 lbs away from 60 at weigh-in last night. That's 3.2 ounces. 3.2 stupid measly ounces. I was pretty disappointed. I really wanted to hit 60 lbs. Well, you know what? I'll get there next week and there will be much fanfare (and feasting upon the lambs, and sloths, and carp, and anchovies, and orangutans, and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats...)

Since our meeting resumed on January 8 (we had two weeks of no meetings for Christmas and New Year's Day) there has been a steady stream of new people at my meeting. The January 8 meeting brought in the biggest influx; the stack of "get started" packets must have been 12 high. I have seen a lot of unfamiliar faces. I have been a part of this group since August 2006 and I recognize all the long-term members. We're a big family. A big family who suddenly gained a lot of long-lost cousins.

I don't think I was as aware in January 2007 (after only four months on WW) as I am in January 2008 of all the new members. Now, I can't help but wonder, how many of these people will I still see in three or four months after their initial 12- or 16-week membership expires? Let's face it, many of them are there as part of a "gotta lose weight this year" New Year's resolution. And we all know how long most of those last.

Losing the weight I have hasn't been easy. It's been really hard, slow, and long. At the end of February I will have been on the program for 18 months. I'd like to say I will be at Goal by then but I really can't be sure. Things happen. Weight is gained, then lost. I've lost almost 60 pounds on the program, but I also gained little increments totaling 42 lbs along the way. (If I had gained 40+ lbs over my highest weight...I'd be pushing 265 lbs by now). I'm just fortunate that my overall loss outweighs my occasional gain. But I can't deny those gains are tremendously frustrating. They can easily derail a person who expects consistent weight loss week after week. I had a gain in my second week on the program! I was terribly disheartened. However, I told myself to tough it out, that this was the first small step of many, and my goal was too important to lose sight of this early.

I wonder if the new people know what a long and hard road it's really going to be for some of them. If I had known when I started WW that almost 18 months later I'd still be trying to get to goal...I might have quit right there. I would like for all of them to stick with the program. There are some folks I've seen in meetings over the last few weeks who really need to be there. I am glad they have at least taken the hardest step of all: the one through the door. The next few months will slowly winnow out the more determined. I hope that some of the new members join our family permanently

Something Good, Something Bad

I saw two stories today that have stuck in my mind. First, the good one:

Marathon runner says she caught suspect after break-in at her Lighthouse Point home

Woman also has karate black belt

Marathon runner chases down would-be burglar
Margo Foster, a marathon runner who holds a black belt in karate, surprised an intruder in her house. The burglar tried to escape out this back door, but Foster chased the man down over seven blocks and held him until police arrived. (Sun-Sentinel/ Michael Stocker / January 21, 2008)

A would-be burglar met his match when he tried to elude Margo Foster, a marathon runner with a black belt in karate who also knows kickboxing and kung fu, police said.

On Friday morning, the 53-year-old Lighthouse Point resident returned home from tennis practice to find an intruder rummaging through her bedroom.

Without thinking twice, she said in an interview, she bolted through the living and dining rooms and followed the startled man out to the backyard. Police said he had one of Foster's backpacks strapped on his shoulders, filled with her property. She wanted it back. A seven-block-long chase had just begun. Lighthouse Point police corroborated Foster's version of events, and without endorsing her gutsy conduct, said she had evidently been up to the challenge.

"Luckily, it turned out OK," said police Commander Mike Oh, a spokesman for the Lighthouse Point department.

As related by Foster, the intruder began to climb the 6-foot-high wooden fence in the yard, when she "grabbed him by the neck, ripped him off the fence.. threw him to the ground, and put my knee to his chest."

The two struggled for a few minutes, Foster in her white tennis skirt, before the burglar dropped the bag and started running again.

"Go ahead and run," the former yacht detailer said she yelled. "You're not going to get away from me. I've been running for 40 years."

Police said the burglar headed north on Lighthouse Drive into the city of Deerfield Beach and then turned right on Southeast 14th Street, before he got tired and started walking. Foster followed behind and flagged down a motorist, who called police.

"I outran the kid," said Foster. "He had no cardiovascular system."

Gregory St. Germain, 24, was arrested by Lighthouse Point police and charged with burglary to an occupied dwelling, battery, possession of stolen property and grand theft. Police said Foster recovered all her property, including what Foster said was a gold identification bracelet given to her as a teenager by a boyfriend as a Christmas present. "He almost got away with the most sentimental thing I've kept for years," she said.

Oh, the Lighthouse Point police spokesman, described Foster's actions as "courageous," but cautioned that burglars are often armed and dangerous. "She's had some advance training and obviously is very physically fit and confident," he said.

Foster said she'd trained for years for such a situation. "I wasn't going to sit back and let something like this happen," she said.

Next, the bad one:

Two-time Grandma's Marathon winner slain in Kenyan violence

BY BRUCE BROTHERS Pioneer Press

Article Last Updated: 01/21/2008 07:07:27 PM CST

Wesly Ngetich crosses the finish line as the first finisher in the 31st annual Grandma's Marathon, Saturday morning, June 16, 2007, in Dulth, Minn. (AP Photo/The Trubune, Derek Montgomery) (AP {SOURCE} DULUTH NEWS TRIBUNE)

Two-time Grandma's Marathon champion Wesly Ngetich was reserved and modest until he pinned a number to his chest.

Then Ngetich, who died during ethnic violence in his homeland of Kenya today, became a tiger.

According to Race Results Weekly, the 5-foot-5 Ngetich was shot in the chest with an arrow during fighting in his hometown of Trans Mara.

Hundreds of Kenyans have been killed in ethnic violence that erupted after the East African country's Dec. 27 presidential election, which opposition leader Raila Odinga accused President Mwai Kibaki of stealing.

"Words cannot express our feelings at this moment," said Scott Keenan, the executive director of Grandma's in Duluth, Minn. "Our sympathies go out to Wesly's family and friends, and our thoughts and prayers will remain with them during this extremely sad and difficult time. We loved having Wesly here at Grandma's, and he enjoyed coming here. It is difficult to imagine that he is gone."

Ngetich, 34, won Grandma's in 2005 and again last June, but it was the 2006 race where he demonstrated his competitive streak. On a hot, humid day, he seized an early lead and pushed the pace before he was finally caught on the course's famous Lemon Drop Hill in Duluth. He ended up sixth.

"Last year, I took the lead early," he said after winning the 2007 race in 2 hours, 15 minutes, 55 seconds. "I just didn't understand how the humidity would have an impact.

"This year, I hung back."

Ngetich recorded his best time of 2:12:10, when he finished second in the 2006 Houston Marathon.

Ngetich was expected to return to Duluth to defend his title this June in an attempt to become the first three-time winner of the event. Four others - Garry Bjorklund, Dick Beardsley, Doug Kurtis and Patrick Maturi - have won the race twice in the event's 31 years.

Ngetich reportedly had planned to run in the Rock 'n' Roll Arizona Marathon in Phoenix on Jan. 13 but could not get out of Kenya because of the violence.

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I hope the other fine athletes of Kenya stay safe. That is a really unfortunate story.

In other news, I was laid low with some unfortunate stomach flu virus over the weekend and haven't run since Friday. I feel great today (finally) and would really like to squeeze in some kind of a run before my Weight Watchers meeting, even with the snowfall we are currently experiencing. Today's weigh-in might be A Really Big One as my scale yesterday afternoon, if it is to be trusted, will have me at 60 pounds lost at the meeting tonight. Finally!

I don't recommend The Stomach Flu Virus Diet as a way to lose weight, however!

UPDATE: Snowstorm over. Sun currently shining (for the next few minutes, anyway...this is Michigan, after all). Outlook for run this afternoon: excellent!

I'm (Quasi) Famous

Late last week I sent Steve Runner of Phedippidations a long, rambly email about "my running story." He saw fit to kindly include me in the runner email segment of the Phedippidations podcast this week. It's "Fdip 131: The Big Boom." You can hear Steve talking about me beginning at 36:46 into the podcast.

It's A Small Runner's World After All

Tuesday evening I was sitting at the bar at the Arbor Brewing Company in downtown Ann Arbor enjoying a pint of Big Ben House Mild. I was waiting for John, who had dropped me off at the ABC before heading down to the South Main and Hill St. area for a band audition. I had been sitting and staring at the back of the bar for about 30 minutes, occasionally checking the door over my shoulder. I heard the door squeak open and looked back to see a couple of guys come in. Immediately I thought, No one wears something like that if they're just out and about. Those guys have to be runners. A further quick assessment: Running shoes...check. Nylon pants and jackets...check. Hats and gloves...check. I turned back to my beer and thought, We runners are everywhere!

Then I heard a voice at my elbow asking if the seat next to me was taken. It was the running guys. I couldn't help myself; I blurted out: "Were you guys just out running?"

One of them said, "Yeah, we were!"

Well, one thing led to another and soon we were yammering away like old pals. I discovered that they had just gone on their first Running Fit 501 training run, that they lived in Dexter, that one of them was an experienced marathoner with 30 races under his belt and the other was training for his first marathon...also that one is a hydrogeologist (yay for geology!) and the other owns a printing company that does all the coursepack printing for a former division of the company I work for now (yay for Company Q!)...

I informed them of the Wednesday evening group run at the Running Fit HQ which they both got very excited about since that location is much closer to Dexter than the downtown Ann Arbor location.

That's another thing I love so much about being a runner...I feel like I'm part of a real community. We love our sport with varying degrees of intensity, we all have different ability levels...but we're all simply runners. We all have that in common. We can talk about races, training, weather, or crazy yappy dogs even if we've only just met. We all have a "how did you get into running?" story. We can cross paths in a bar as total strangers and after 20 minutes part as friends.

I Finally Get It

Something just occurred to me. For my entire life, my dad has been a runner. He started running in the early 1970s before I was even born. He ran a series of marathons in San Francisco in the early 1980s. Incidentally, he is also going to be running in the Marine Corps Historic Half with me.

During the winter, he always went running no matter the weather. My mom's constant refrain as he prepared to head out the door into a blizzard or 10-degree air was, "Bruce, I don't know why you want to go out when it's like this! Please stay in, just this once!" I didn't get it, either. From my warm, comfy perch indoors on the couch, the winter landscape of northeast Ohio was an inhospitable place indeed and only a crazy person would venture out on foot. On purpose. Without driving somewhere, like the mall.

However.

I finally understand what drove him out our front door every single day. He was incapable of sitting idle. He was addicted to running, if such a thing actually psychologically exists. I have been similarly afflicted. I can't not run when I reasonably could go for a run. Like yesterday. Even after going to the grocery store after work and spending what felt like forever putting groceries for the next two weeks away, finishing at 5:00, with snow starting to fall, all I could think was: "I have to go for a run. I have to." I just couldn't say, "It's too late/getting dark/too cold/snowing/rush hour/too slippery to go for a run." The need for physical exertion was too strong. I had to get out there and get my daily fix.

The cold doesn't bother me; I have warm clothes and after a little while I'm generating so much heat I often get uncomfortably warm even when it's 25 degrees outside. Now I know how my dad could go running when it was zero degrees. I'll probably find myself out there, too, at that temperature.

I think the only time he ever stayed in due to weather conditions was in January of 1994 when we had a tremendous cold snap that had us in -20 to -25 degrees F temperatures for several days.

Yeah, that's cold.

But still...with the right gear...

Smoky & Creamy Corn Soup

Yum, can I say, yum! for this one. Also extremely healthy. And very fast and easy. The only prep is cutting up the vegetables; everything else comes from a package.

(From Weight Watchers All-Time Favorites cookbook.)

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 celery stalk, coarsely chopped
• 1 16-oz bag frozen yellow corn kernels
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1/4-1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 2 tsp olive oil

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, bell pepper, and celery and saute, stirring occasionally, for 8 minutes until the vegetables are slightly browned. Add the corn kernels, 1 cup of vegetable broth, and the chipotle chili powder to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. Transfer soup mixture in batches to a blender or food processor and purée until smooth. Return soup to original pot, add remaining 3 cups of vegetable broth, and cook over medium-low heat for 10 minutes until heated through. Serves 4 (1 1/2 cup servings).

Now, what I did differently was instead of completely puréeing the entire soup mixture I briefly spun half of it in the blender so that some chunkiness was retained. I like my soups to have some bite, you know? There were still whole corn kernels in it. Then I really puréed the remaining half. I also only added two cups of vegetable broth at the end because the soup looked thin enough already. The chipotle chili powder provides the interesting smoky flavor, but I'm sure regular chili powder would do in a pinch. I was fortunate to find some chipotle powder (McCormick brand) at the grocery store. I also courted kitchen disaster by not letting the soup cool before transferring it to the blender!

Healthy Start Festival of Miles

Saturday morning John and I participated in Running Fit's Healthy Start Festival of Miles, a free-for-all no-pressure event at the University of Michigan's indoor track facility. We arrived around 9:45 and started circling the track. The event was billed as an excuse to run in shorts in the winter. However, I was able to run in shorts outside last Tuesday...

I lost count of how many circuits I made of the 200-meter track and instead decided that because I ran for one hour at a moderate pace with only two brief breaks I probably covered close to 6 miles. John was by my side for most of it but he had to stop after about 3 miles as he was pooped.

I saw a bunch of people I know or at least recognize, including Tina, Victor from the RF store, and some people who were at the Wednesday evening group run last week.

John was hurting yesterday, a pain I know quite well: the aching quads. He's a cyclist and his muscles are used differently for biking. I encouraged him not to give up on running. The hardest part is going out for that second run when your legs feel like they're going to fall off. It was that feeling that made me almost quit cross-country the first week of practice when I was a freshman in high school. I'm glad I stuck with it instead.

Bingo!

Tina got it exactly right; the person I quoted in yesterday's entry is none other than Steve Runner, a self-described "goofball from New England," of the (brilliant) podcast Phedippidations. Fritz made a casual mention of it a few weeks ago and I promptly forgot about it until yesterday, whereupon I subscribed, downloaded about 40 of the 130 episodes, and for the past two days have been listening to nothing but Steve's "rambling diatribes" about running. And let me tell you, folks, if you're a runner you should be listening to this podcast. This is not a suggestion. This is an order. You will not be sorry.

In other news, I did make it to my gym yesterday for some much-needed weightlifting. But I ran there (2 mile round trip).

A Kindred Spirit

A few of you may recognize the man behind the words I am about to quote.

"Well, I've joked with you before that one of the reasons I love to run is because I love to eat pizza. Well, the funny thing about that is that it's not a joke."

"You know, I hope this hasn't happened to you, but about a year after I started running and was in training for my first marathon, someone called me a 'running psycho'. Big deal, right? Of course they were just joking around, they didn't mean it...except that they really did mean it. As my training went forward and my excitement about our sport increased, the label of 'running psycho' became a recurring theme in their attacks."

On the former, I have to say: hear, hear! Life is not worth living without pizza.

On the latter, the label that has been applied to me most often and with increasing frequency is "obsessed." I've heard that from both friends and family. And you know what? It's true, and it doesn't bother me. I want to be an obsessed runner. It's the obsession that keeps me going. If I was not as passionate about, nay, obsessed with running, I wouldn't be doing it. I love doing it. I love it so much that I now listen to a guy I don't even know talk about running and I think, "Oh, man, that is so true! This guy rocks!"

Bonus obsessed-runner points to those of you who know who/what I quoted.

In other news, last night I attended what I hope will be the first of many Wednesday-night group runs out of the Running Fit HQ. I ran five miles, which makes 18 for the week. Today I will spend cross-training at the gym. I need to do some strength training.

I also ordered a RoadID bracelet. I had a RoadID dog-tag necklace years ago but the information on it is totally obsolete. I decided that as I embark on my heavy training schedules this year (first for the half marathon in May and then the Detroit Marathon in October) which will include runs stretching to 20 miles I need to have something on me in case of emergency.

Darn

Yesterday afternoon I had to take advantage of the freakishly warm weather and go for a run. I only had to wear my Nike cropped pants and a Nike Fit Dry shirt. No gloves! No jacket! No heavy pants! It was 64 degrees! In January!! OMGWTFBBQ!!!

I also strapped on my iPod, freshly loaded with music. I hadn't listened to music while running for about four months. What to listen to...what to listen to...I went with the music of my youth, Depeche Mode. Black Celebration, 1987.

I set out. Clear sidewalks, warm temperatures, less clothing, totally rocking tunes. I was on fire! I felt like I had wings on my feet! I was definitely moving at less than 9:00 per mile, but I refrained from peeking at my Garmin because I didn't want to fall into the psychological trap of "this is too fast I have to slow down" when I am physically capable of keeping such a pace. I just decided to run as fast as felt comfortable and hopefully I would have a nice surprise at the end of my run along the lines of "holy crap, I averaged 8:30 per mile on a four-mile run!"

I got a surprise, all right, but not a pleasant one. Closing in on the end of my run I sneaked a quick peek at my Garmin, hoping to catch with my eye only the distance field on the display (I wanted to ensure I ran a full four miles). To my dismay the device had shut down and the screen was blank. It had run out of battery power before I had even run 0.75 mile (the distance it did manage to record was 0.72). I thought I had my music turned up loud enough to drown out the lap alert beeps; I didn't hear them because it wasn't making them at all.

Well, phooey. That left me kind of deflated so for what was left of my run (maybe 0.25 mile) I slowed down and just moseyed along. I hadn't made note of the time when I left the house so I couldn't even see how long my run had taken according to the clock.

The first thing I did when I got home was plug in the Garmin for charging.

Too Much is Never Enough

In the past two days I have run 15.7 miles (9.5 on Saturday (aka yesterday) and 6.2 on Sunday (aka today)) which is more than I ran over the previous 10 days (15 miles).

Too much? Perhaps. Inviting injury? Maybe. (I admit I'm a wee bit sore today.)

But did it feel sooooooo goooooood?

YES.

Oh, and on another note, for my Michigan readers, hello warmer weather and melting snow! Maybe those blasted sidewalks will clear up after all...

Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh

Finally, FINALLY, I was able to get outside for a run yesterday afternoon. I hadn't run at all since Sunday and that was only 4 miles on the treadmill at the gym. The last time I was able to run outdoors was a week earlier at my parents'. I hate it when circumstances keep me from running. This was a combination of really bad weather and the holiday (gym not open at normal times). Thus I was very antsy and agitated and sad to say feeling very fat. I figured the snow removal situation was under control enough for me to brave the sidewalks/roads of Chelsea. Yesterday it was cold and sunny and IMO, perfect for a nice post-work run. Which I did. Five and a quarter miles. Thank god. The sidewalk situation was severely sketchy, with some stretches being well-tended and free of snow while others were untouched or poorly cleared. It's official: I hate people who don't clear their sidewalks. After weaving on and off the sidewalk via driveways I just gave up and stayed in the road. This meant more slippage in the mushy stuff at the road's edge (sometimes I felt like it was a "two steps forward, one step back" situation) but at least the road was basically clear. I got some "WTF?" looks from people I passed in driveways and such. Yeah, yeah, I'm clearly nuts.

It was all made worthwhile as I had probably the nicest run through the cemetery ever. The road was unplowed but a few brave vehicles had passed through, creating a two-track of firm snow. The rest of the cemetery grounds were a smooth, pristine carpet unblemished by foot or tire. The snow clung to every tree branch and twig. The smaller headstones were reduced to white lumps. It was very, very quiet; the only sound was the squeak squeak of my feet on the packed snow. The sun was setting so the snow was beginning to glow blue and purple in the twilight. I wished I had a camera with me. I wished the road was longer because I could have run like that forever.

Scratch that idea

I know a few of you are from southeast Michigan and thus it will come as no surprise that I did not run in the midnight Eve On The Ave 5K in Jackson Monday night.

Too bad, though, because according to the race results I probably would have won my age group had I run.

I got my New Year's workout by shoveling 5,000 pounds of snow instead.

Reflecting on 2007...and Goals for 2008

It's the final day of 2007, a year of great change and upheaval for me. One year ago I was at the the midway point of a great downward spiral which would end only when I had surgery in February. I had lost about 20 pounds on Weight Watchers and was managing to run (when I had the energy) maybe twice a week, one or two miles at a time. More than that and the fatigue brought on by persistent anemia would lash out and strike me down. Most of those final gruesome weeks leading up to surgery it was all I could do to make it through the day, lured by the promise of sweet, sweet rest when I got home. Afternoon naps were my lifeblood, considering that my actual blood was leaking out of me faster than it could be replenished.

That is all behind me now, a horrible phase which has thankfully been relegated to memory only. 2007 was the year I was REBORN!

I ran (as best as I can guesstimate, considering my stats are spread out over three different record-keeping places) about 460 miles since May.

I ran one one-mile, six 5Ks, one four-mile, one 5.25-mile and one 13.1 mile race.

My best mile time was 7:48.

My best 5K time was 25:01.

My best (unofficial) 10K time was 54:45.

My half marathon time was 2:07.

I killed off two pairs of running shoes and am now working on my third.

I acquired the greatest piece of electronic wizardry known to man, the Garmin Forerunner 305. They can have my Garmin when they pry it from my cold dead hands (I say the same thing about TiVo).

I lost a further 40 pounds (slight setback over the past week of holiday feasting but I'm back on track now)

I made some excellent new friends who also love to run.

I have annoyed family and friends with endless blather about running.

I learned to love the quiet predawn hours. I also (sort of) learned to love the biting cold.

I learned how to love life again.

For 2008 I want to:

• Run my next half marathon in under 2 hours
• Run a 7:00 mile
• Run a sub-25:00 5K
• Get a new 5K PR (will have to be less than 23:21)
• Run a 10K race
• Run the Detroit Marathon!
• Reach my Weight Watchers goal weight
• Run as much as humanly possible without injury

As for this New Year's Eve, there's a 5K race in downtown Jackson that starts at midnight...

Holiday Wrap-Up

Apparently this year I was "easy" in the gift department. I got a new iPod Nano and headphones (for running). I got a Velcro wristband for my Garmin (for running). I got a totally rocking three-piece Pearl Izumi outfit (for running). I was very happy.

I went for a couple of long runs while I was in Ohio, an 8-miler and a 10K. The 8-miler was a nice easy lope (9:44/mile) to the dead end of my grandmother's street and back to my parents'. The 10K I did in 54:45 (8:48/mile) including the final mile which was almost all downhill (8:23/mile) and the 0.2 at the very end for which I basically ran as fast as I could just to see how it felt and I ended up running at a 7:14 pace. I was tired but not totally overwhelmed. Breathing fast but not out of control panting.

That 10K was one of my nicest runs ever right up until I turned onto Sherman Rd. from Caves for my final 0.8 mile and in the ditch on the south side of the road was a headless, half-skinned dead deer. It had probably been hit by a car and had probably been a buck with a big rack hence the chopped-off head. It was horrible and disgusting. It was decaying there in the ditch and because the ditch was full of water the stink and contamination were being carried downhill and I was running alongside the ditch with my nose full of dead animal stench. I went faster and faster, trying to outrun the smell. I had to go about 200 meters before I moved out of the stink zone. Part of the reason I ran so fast was because I was so disgusted by the sight of that dead deer and pissed off that someone would just lop off the head and leave the rest to rot. That was probably some perfectly nice venison.

I also installed SportTracks so now I can keep track of everything that ever happens on a run and see my running routes in full color. Thanks to Fritz for the suggestion.

The Few, The Proud, The....Totally Nuts?

Anyone who lives in the Midwest or Northeast and has a window knows what the weather has been like for the past day. Why, here in southeast Michigan we got over a foot of snow from this, the Blizzard of December 2007, which is unusual for this area.

When I got up this morning and peeked out the window, I saw a landscape not conducive to anything but donning flannel and sitting on the couch all day preferably with an endless mug of hot Irish whiskey. (See picture at left. That's John trying to clear the driveway.)

Snort. Yeah, if you're TOTALLY WIMPY!

However, if you're TOTALLY HARDCORE, you look at the snowy world and think, "It's a GREAT day for running!" Undeterred from plans made earlier in the week, myself and Tina agreed to give it a go, each of us armed with many layers of clothing and a set of Yaktrax. Never mind that I almost didn't even make it out of Chelsea after getting nearly stuck in the snow at one of the intersections downtown. (Sometimes I miss my Jeep with its four-wheel drive. But then I think, "47 mpg" and all is well.)

We met at Hudson Mills Metropark in Dexter, a little more than a month ago the site of the Ann Arbor Turkey Trot. There were other people at the park, too, including one other runner, so we weren't as insane as I thought. Though, oddly enough, most of the other people I saw were on cross-country skis...hmmm...

We did two loops of the park path for a total of about 5.3 miles, which was probably enough given the conditions. Fortunately the path had been cleared recently so we weren't breaking a trail through over a foot of snow. The Yaktrax worked beautifully and I was warm and dry from head to toe though the occasional cold glob of snow blew into my ear. Sometimes the wind blew fiercely in our faces, other times it was at our backs. After our second circuit of the path we decided to stop because the path was becoming drifted over due to the incessant wind.

A few hours later, the snowstorm ended and this was the view from my front window:


Damn! If only we'd waited until the afternoon to go running! Now it's a beautiful day! Then again, there's something to be said for really braving the worst of the elements, for getting out there when normal people hide indoors, for being not normal enough to think that running during a blizzard is fun, and for finding someone to do it with.

Just One of Those Days

Nothing special...just a nice six-mile run after work yesterday. The weather was an absolute joy, unlike Tuesday. When I set out I didn't really have an idea of how far or where I would go. I headed west on Cavanaugh Lake Rd. to Conway Rd. and turned north. Conway was a bit of a struggle. I ran my first two miles at a steady 9:15 pace and then when I began mile 3 about 100 meters into Conway Rd. my pace dropped to almost 10:00. Conway was an icy, mess not conducive to going very fast. I minced along, dodging potholes and puddles, muddy ruts and icy patches. My sparkling white brand-new shoes managed to avoid becoming dirt-splattered, much to my surprise. Once I turned east on Bush Rd., which is paved, I was able to pick up my pace again. The sun was starting to get very low in the sky and I had to decide whether I wanted to stretch my run to six miles or do a little less. I chose to lengthen it because really, the weather was too good to pass up (for December in Michigan, anyway) and I was feeling perky. Ivey Rd., paved though it was, was an ice-covered nightmare and I went even slower on it than I did on unpaved Conway Rd. When I finally reached the relative ice-free comfort of Werkner Rd., the sun was setting and the western horizon was ablaze with orange. I felt fortunate to be outside, generating my own heat to keep warm, breath billowing in great clouds, churning along, happy and strong. (6 miles, 58 minutes, 9:40 pace.)

New Stuff!

Friday evening John and I went into Ann Arbor to the downtown Running Fit store. They were having a one-day sale, and since I had been unable to get to the big sale the previous weekend, I knew this was my chance to get the new pair of shoes I had been thinking about since before Thanksgiving. And, while I'm at it (and how could I say no to 20% off everything?) how about a new really-bad-weather jacket, a new really-bad-weather pair of pants, some new socks, and new running bras...

One hour and several hundred dollars later I walked out with a big bag full of my new goodies. The next morning I suited up in almost everything I had purchased (forgoing the pants because the weather wasn't bad) and hit the road for a lovely 6-mile run. No hurry, no pressure, just out and about on a crisp, clear Saturday morning.

Mackinac Bridge Run Lottery

Today I entered the lottery for the Labor Day Mackinac Bridge Run. I was able to do so because I participated in three Governor's Council on Physical Fitness-endorsed events this year. I really hope I get picked. I think being able to run the bridge would be a fantastic experience. Only 300 people get selected. I won't know if I won the lottery for another six months.

I also filled out the section on being a Fitness Ambassador and leaned heavily on my 60-pound weight loss as well as the "overcoming adversity" angle in regards to my illness and subsequent surgery. It doesn't improve my chances of being randomly selected in the lottery but if I am chosen maybe it will help me stand out from the crowd.

In other news, I was recently made aware that a new group run is starting up on Wednesday evenings at my favorite place (aside from my couch), the Running Fit store by Jackson Rd. Only 10 minutes from my house! I'm there! Unfortunately I found this out this morning and the first run was yesterday. Oh well, maybe next week.

Note: yes, I did say that my favorite place is my couch. Even though I work out a lot, I still make room for quality couch-sitting time every evening. I watch a lot of TV. A lot of TV. And there's no place better to do so than bundled up in warm clothes and blankets with quality cat, dog, and husbandly companionship. They don't all sit on me at once, though. My lap only has room for two cats at the same time. Or one if he spreads out a lot.

Running is important, but so is loafing around!

Why?

Why do I run? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune...wait, that's my high school A.P. English extra-credit assignment come back to haunt me (isn't it strange how something I memorized in 1991 can still be lurking in my mind but I can't even remember to bring in a check to pay my co-worker for the Weight Watchers cookbook she found for me at Sam's Club?).

No, the question is: why run when there are so many things that are so much easier to do?

Why do something that pushes my heart rate past 150 bpm when I can sit on the couch watching TV and expend no energy at all? Why be forced to don three or four layers of clothing, hat, and gloves, when I can be inside wearing jeans and a T-shirt? Why go outside on purpose in a frigid Michigan December when my house is warm and climate-controlled (though some might say that 63 degrees is a bit frosty...hey, natural gas is expensive and that's why God (or Malden Mills) invented synthetic fleece). Conversely, why go outside on purpose in a sweltering Michigan July when my house is cool and climate-controlled? Why sweat profusely when I hate being sweaty above all things and once again, sitting on the couch watching TV does not make me sweaty. Why pound away at my joints when I should be mindful of their aging status and how such pounding will affect me 20, 30 years in the future? Why spend oodles of money on attractive, tempting, soft, warm, fancy, 100% necessary-all-the-time running gear when my wallet can't handle the burden of an expensive passion?

Hold it right there, that's the key. Passion. This is my passion. At this point if I had to stop running it would be like asking me to stop breathing. It's that important, that vital. Running makes me feel alive. I can hear my heartbeats, feel cold air in my lungs, taste the sweat on my lips (damn, there's that sweat again...seriously, people, if you could have seen me after one of my summer runs you might have thought I had had a bucket of water dumped over my head). Oh, and then there's spitting, nose-blowing, phlegm-gargling, runner's trots, callouses, funky toenails, chafing, PVCs, tears pulled from my eyes by a biting headwind, chapped lips, side stitches, cold air-induced spastic coughing (does anyone else get that?), aches, pains, exhaustion. Yes, running certainly makes me feel alive!

But seriously.

I took the easy path through life for a long time. At the end of that road I weighed over 220 pounds and couldn't even go up the stairs in my house without getting winded. The couch was much more appealing than the outdoors. I considered the walk from my car to the front door of my workplace my daily exercise. I was alive, but I wasn't really living. I was just sort of...drifting along.

Running changed that. Running changed everything. Running has helped me shed almost 60 pounds of excess weight. Running has driven me to want to achieve things that were unthinkable a year ago, and, even better, actually do those things (half marathon, anyone? Sub-8:00 miles?). Running a half marathon successfully has made me want to do a full marathon. Running a sub-8:00 mile has made me want to run a sub-7:30 mile. Running has tempered my loathing of being outdoors in cold weather, unto itself a nearly unthinkable achievement. Running lets my mind wander freely onto any subject imaginable, for what else am I going to do for an hour when it's just me, the road, and the occasional bird in the bushes? Running begets running, too; the more I run, the more I find I want to run. I want to run farther, faster, stronger.

Yesterday as I neared the conclusion of my afternoon run, I crossed paths with my next-door neighbor who was out walking her dog. I paused to say hello and she commented that it certainly was cold to be out doing what I was doing. I replied that after nearly four miles, it didn't feel cold at all, I was as warm and toasty as could be and I was also wearing four layers of clothing (I really need to get one extremely warm outer layer, oh, would that be more expensive running gear, perhaps?). We parted ways and I continued onward, cold wind beating against my face. It was a beautiful day to be outside. It was a beautiful day to be alive.

How True...

This was Saturday's Frazz comic.

Wow!

I was recently made aware that registration for the Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon was already closed. Boy, that was fast. I looked at the race's Web site and saw that registration was open for only two weeks! I'm glad I only waited until 12:20 (20 minutes after registration opened at noon on November 1) to register. I am so fantastically excited to be a part of the race.

You know, they sent me my race shirt already. I'm not really sure why. It's actually a pretty cool shirt: navy blue and white, short-sleeve, tech fabric, the word "DETERMINED" on the back. Kind of reminds me of high-school cross-country T-shirts that say things like "pain is temporary" and the like (I still have all of my high school cross-country team shirts...so what? 1988 wasn't that long ago).

In other news, I had a very enjoyable 8.5-mile run on Saturday on the paved path at Kensington Metropark. At this time of year and with the weather particulars over the weekend in the area, the path was deserted but for a handful of runners and rollerbladers. Bird life was abundant and weirdest of all some kind of fighter jet made a very low banked pass over the lake. Freaky!

Like I Said...