Thor's Running Journal

Nothing mixes things up like the first snow of the season. After the intensity of winter training earlier this year, I am versed in running in the snow and cold and navigating the terrible ground conditions. But there is a big difference between running in the snow when training and a day like today when there is no milage or pace goals. It would have been a frustrating day indeed if my aim was to hit 5k or 10k paces. A workout like that would have been abandoned before it began.  It won't be fun in March, but it was a little fun today.  This morning I served as trail blazer. Apart from some deer prints the snow was undisturbed. I changed that. I know by tomorrow there will be a patchwork of shoveled and unshoveled sidewalks, but this morning I could keep a rhythm, not a fast rhythm, but steady.  A few people got up earlier to shovel their driveways. A hand full of snow plows did the same with the roads and parking lots. Otherwise it felt still and quiet. Peaceful and ins...

 My legs did not feel nice at the start of my run today. The race yesterday took more out of me than I think I realized. But slow going I OK. There's no rush. Pace is just a word. Anyway I know the first mile is always a bit jaunty after a hard run the day before. I stayed on my feet and took my time getting limbered up. Fired up a podcast about a new document that came out of the Vatican and put one foot in front of the other. The cold felt tolerable until I made the turn for home. Heading west the full. Force of the cold chill smacked. È in the face. I'm glad to have a beard, but would have liked to have a little more face covering. Ah well, there's no way around the discomfort. Just through it. And then when there was the turn off on the Olson path I decided to go one more mile. I figured at this point I might as well. At home obviously the family was still asleep. I cleaned up and made a place for myself to lay down in the sofa. I've master the formula for falling b...

I ran a pb in the 5k today at the gobble gallop. I felt smooth and in control throughout the race, but glad to have it over when I finally crossed the finish line. A cross country race with uneven footing and roots and rocks and a hill thrown in every now and again is much different than being on the road where there is predictability and rhythm. A nice change of pace to be sure. I'm not sure I liked it more or less, but I certainly felt different. I came off the line  fast, but settled into a pace quickly and didn't over do it. I picked off a few people in the first mile and worked on grinding out the. Second behind someone else. It's easier to be a chase than the chased. Navigating tight turns and people walking there dogs made for a unique experience too. I need to be patient and let up just enough to make sure I could pass cleanly and confidentiality. At the end knowing I wouldn't catch the runner in front of me and there was a gap behind me I felt like just letting...

. Maybe I can sleep past 6am. Today was the second time this week my body slept past 6am. When I looked at the clock I sorta couldn't believe it.  I ran 1 mile.  I wanted to make sure I got back in time to wake Sonya up. For school  I could have gone another mile or so, but it was also raining and cold and windy and dark and I am racing a Gobbler Gallop tomorrow.  In fact if I hadn't started this run streak I would have dialed in But out the door I went and 8 minutes later I walked back in the house; wet, but satisfied I overcame the excuses and managed to talk myself into taking the slightly harder path.

 I woke from a dream and realized the clock said 6:15 and not 5:15.  It is the first time in recent memory where I slept past 6:00am and I only woke up because my wife's alarm buzzed and my kids alarm went off. Otherwise who knows.  If I were in marathon training mode I never would have gotten my milage in today, but as things stand, I could get out the door in less than 15 minutes and make it back to shower and take a kid to school.  There is so much more hustle and bustle on the streets when it is Monday at 6:30am rather than 3 or 4am. Much more stressful with all the traffic. The white headlights and the red tail lights. I felt the rush to get home so I went in the predictable 3 mile loop. I could have squeezed one more mile in, but I didn't need to force the issue.  Here is one of those instances where it would have been easier to stay in bed, but I told myself I have a streak and need to reach 2000 miles by the end of the year.  Sometimes it is the sma...

I started a running streak.  This always ends up happening after a marathon training cycle.  I go for a first run back and it feels ok so I run the next day....and the next... And because I don't have a ton of direction and am just running off feel it is relaxed. I keep going day after day until I start the next training cycle.  During marathon training, there is a day of rest. No running. So I am putting on lots of miles, but can't technically count it as a streak because it is 6 days a week.  With a post-training cycle I don't need to take that day so there is continuity.  What counts as a run for a run streak is always up for debate. In my mind, it is one mile. It is a bit of a low bar, but it is a bar. And let's face it's this is suppose to be a fun. It's a hobby. It doesn't have to be fun all the time, but I have a high tolerance for not-fun so 8-9 minutes of not-fun is pretty tame in the big picture.  My last run streak was 57 days. I wonder if I coul...

  A decade ago, I showed up to photograph a wedding, and it looked like it might rain. Like any well-prepared photographer, I showed up early but unfortunately without a raincoat. So with some time to spare, I stuck my head in a thrift shop to see if I could find a low-cost, easy solution. Sure enough, I walked out with two options. The first a 1980s looking canvas trench by London Fog much like one I had years earlier and the other a bright neon orange windbreaker that packed down into a little pouch. I font remember the cost of these things at the time, but I know it wasn't much. The last few days, I've pulled out the windbreaker for my morning runs. The temp is dropping, but it seems to hold enough heat in without too much moisture building up. Not the warmest, but it does what it's name implies and cuts the sting out of the wind. And did I mention it is bright orange? While at night it might not make too much of a difference, every bit of extra visibility matters when c...

I'm starting to do a little bit of math when I wake up. For example. If I wake up at 5:33am and it takes me 14 minutes to get out the door and I need to get back so I can shower, make coffee, eat breakfast and take a kid to school by 7:23am how long do I have to run? It sounds complicated, but with rounding it's about 40 minutes give or take.  Now that the training is over, you would think the choice between going for a run and not going for a run would be easier and I'd lean in the direction of "not going for a run", but that isn't the case. The "not running" option means that void of time needs to be filled a different way. Reading seems too sedentary, checking emails and starting work isn't too productive because it is going to be interrupted soon.  Maybe watch/listen to a podcast? But I can sorta do that while I run. And I've been waking up and running for so long now that it's hard to remember what it's like to wake up and not ru...

It's Christmas light season. People go a little nuts with Halloween decorations these days, but nothing compares to the Christmas lights. Sure there might be a strain on the electrical grid, but from my vantage point it is well worth it. As one who is out through neighborhoods in the earliest hours of the morning, there is something comforting about seeing homes with strings of lights. It creates a sense of place and makes the neighborhoods feel more lived in. Of course the people are there year round, but the Christmas lights give direct and clear evidence of life and activity.

I ran for  56mins 43 seconds today. It ended up bwing 6.63 miles with an average pace of 8:33min/mile. I felt a little more sore today than I can tell the recovery is still very active. I want to go further and faster, but I'm completely relaxed about it. This "downtime" is part of the whole process. I want to enjoy this as much as I did the training for something. Running in the morning seems like a pretty productive way to spend an hour of my day. I could very well spend the hour someotherway, but the outdoor time feels good especially this time of year. 

This morning I got up and had my first run back since last week''s marathon. Perhaps a bit premature, but I was a wake and figured there couldn't really be that much harm in trying to see what happend. My legs felt ok and my spirit was eager. I didn't even bother to measure the miles. Just a timer to let me know how much time passed. Of course, I knew how far I went because I know my neighborhood. It felt very relaxing to trotting along. A bit of a niggle in my hip, that I may have been more mindful of because of my hyper alertness to the feelings happening in my body. I'll keep paying attention, but expect resolution with time.  Even after thinking about the race a little more over the past week I have no regrets. Things I would have changed ... things I will   change for next time to be sure, but I still am glad I went the distance and finished and fought the way I did.  I thought about the process of training too. It seems more ridiculous looking back at it than ...

Waking up at 2am with nowhere to go is tough. Getting back to sleep is harder than running 5 or more miles. My mind is doesn't just turn off when I mentally want to go back to sleep. Eventually it will happen, but it happens a lot faster after I wear out the rest of my body. Soon enough I'll get back outside and on my feet. I can feel my legs coming back. It is a wild sensation to go from having no strength and soreness the way I did to where I am now in just a matter of 4 days. There is something miraculous about healing and the regeneration of the muscles. I don't want to rush it, but I sorta miss running.

 I went on a slow cold walk this morning after sleeping in until about 5:30am. It felt nice to get outside. Still quiet out exception for the crunching of ice underfoot. That sounded disproportionately loud, and I hoped my neighbors were deep sleepers. To state the obvious, walking is different from walking. It allows for a different level of observation of the surroundings. It is nice in some ways, but I like running. I like going a little faster. Walking on the sidewalk today over the uneven surfaces reminded me about how difficult winter training is not because of the cold, but because of the ice or packed snow. I don't look forward to that part of winter running. I don't have to really think about getting into a regimented schedule until early January. Between now and then, I can just put time on my feet. That will be nice. Right now I am at 1850 miles for the year. I'd like to make it a nice round 2,000. This is pretty doable based on my recovery trajectory. It is ...

When I went full send for the marathon this weekend I had nothing to lose. I've given that a bit more thought. I don't think of my general outlook as either optimistic or  one of doom and gloom either. I'd like to think my perspective I am somewhere in the middle.  So approaching the race with a nothing to lose attitude is an exceptional step. It means starting with a mental state in a position that will keep any large waves of disappointment at bay, no mater the outcome. Do I feel a little disappointed I didn't hit the huge goal? Yeah, but nothing on the scale I suspect I would if I geared myself up with higher expectations or took the big goal too seriously. Running is a hobby. It is supposed to be fun. Hard at times, perhaps, but what's the point of hobbies if there isn't some sort of fulfillment in them? I am not mowing the lawn or washing floors as a hobby. There should be freedom to fail at hobbies. Perhaps some failures will be more expensive than others,...