Finally!

I finally had a long run that didn't completely suck. It's about damn time! I was really starting to wonder if I would have to, yet again, downgrade to the half distance. I was just struggling so much with my workouts, especially the long runs. Of course, if I look carefully at the differences between yesterday's 12-mile run and the last couple of long runs there are a lot of things that helped contribute to my success. Or rather, a lot of things that made the others much harder. Like running at 1pm when it's 85 degrees and humid on a trail that has very little shade. Or staying out too late the night before, with a bit of drinking, so that I'm already dehydrated and tired. So perhaps being smarter about things is really the key. I'm just glad for the result. Next weekend is a fall-back week so only 6 miles (piece of cake!). Then up to 14. Let's hope I have an equally satisfying experience then.

Overly polite in PA

Some of the roads I run on have very little shoulder. Some of them have no shoulder whatsoever. This means that I have to watch out for cars and they have to watch out for me. It's to be expected that the cars would move over a bit to give me some clearance. However I'm convinced that only here in Pennsylvania, where the drivers are all overly polite and you can end up waiting at a 4-way stop with folks waving each other through saying "No, you go first. I insist." like in some sort of strange Chip & Dale cartoon, would you find drivers who actually move all the way over into the other lane of traffic to go around me. I mean, I know I'm not as thin as I used to be but I don't think I need that wide of a berth. Or perhaps they're afraid I'm going to panic and dart out into traffic like a confused squirrel. I guess I should just be glad they're giving me space.

Bugs

Do you think bugs multi-task? Do you think they talk on little tiny cell phones while flying? Do they put on their make-up while stopped at the intersection? Do they turn around to yell at the kids when they get crazy? I think they do and here's why. I have no other explanation as to why an insect the size of a pea (or smaller), with the ability to fly much faster than I can run, would otherwise crash into me pretty much head on as I run down the street. It's not as though they can't see me and I'm certainly not making any sudden changes of direction so it has to be that they simply aren't paying attention. Right? I'm going to assume the result of the collision is much worse for them than it is for me so it really behooves them to put down the phone and just fly. Besides, I'm tired of getting pelted by these little guys.

Almost time for training

So I had a couple of good weeks of putting in 15 miles or so. Then the elementary schools got out for the summer and my oldest daughter was home all day with me. Then I went to Hawaii. So I haven't run as much as I had hoped but I'm still running. I did run in Hawaii. In fact, my last day there happened to be the day of the Kona marathon. That was kind of cool. I thought to myself "Wow, if I had known I could have planned to run!" but then I realized that there was no way I could have ramped up my distance to do it so soon after Broad Street. But that's OK. Maybe another time.

Next Monday is my first official day of training for the Philly marathon. I'm feeling good about it but then it's easy to feel good when you haven't started yet. I guess mostly I just don't feel as worn out as I have in the past. We'll see how things go for the rest of the summer.

What 2.5 miles between friends?

I went running with a couple of friends the other day... something I haven't done in a long time. I started out ahead of them with the intention of meeting up along the way. There were some last minute changes on their end which resulted in my not hooking up with them until I was 1 mile from my finish point. I decided to turn around and continue to run with them, figuring a little extra distance wouldn't hurt especially since they keep a slightly slower pace than I do. By the time I got back to my car I had logged an extra 2.5 miles. Sweet! I haven't run much more than 4 miles at any one time since the Broad Street at the start of May so to just go out and cover 7.5 miles was nice. A good kick in the pants, really. Official training for the marathon starts in less than a month. I needed a good kick in the pants.

I'm not dead yet!

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted here. It's not that I haven't been running. I could say that I haven't had much to share but then it's questionable as to whether I ever have anything worth sharing. But really the reason is that I forgot the darn password for the account and I only now bothered to go about resetting it and gaining access to the blog again. Sad, I know.

So where am I now, running-wise, anyway? Well, About a month ago I completed the Broad Street Run (my fourth time, I think) and in about a month I'll start training for the Philly Marathon. This means that I'm just running for fun at the moment - no set times or distances. Which also means there's very little to report. I suppose the most important thing is that I'm injury free, I have all 10 toenails (not having lost any in the Broad Street this year... yea!), and I'm enjoying my runs.

I'll try to be better about posting once training officially starts. Last year I had to bail in the marathon and completed the half instead. I was very disappointed and I vowed not to let that happen again. I think posting here helps keep me on track so that's what I plan to do. For better or worse!

Now that's something you don't see every day

Today while out for my run I encountered a most unusual scene. As I ran through a typical suburban neighborhood I came upon a groundhog sitting in the road. He wasn't in the middle of the road but rather off to one side. I soon noticed that there was a cat crouched there as well and quickly came to the conclusion that the groundhog had been in the yard and the cat (whose yard this was) probably chased him into the street and now there was a bit of a stand off. I gave them both a wide berth as I had no interest in getting involved in the skirmish. However, as I passed them I noticed that while the cat was crouched in attack position the groundhog didn't seem tense in the least. In fact, he was slowly going around and around in circles in one spot in the street. I continued to watch the animals as I ran along and realized that the cat wasn't so much in defense mode as I originally assumed but rather had more of a "what the hell" kind of look on his face as I'm sure I did, too, at this point as the groundhog's behavior was rather mystifying... just going around and around. Since I didn't want to stop running I had to focus on watching the pavement so as to avoid falling in my face (been there, done that). As I left the animals behind I decided that perhaps the groundhog had been in the street, gotten clipped by a car, and was a bit loopy as a result.

Now you might think all of that is bizarre enough but wait, there's more! I returned to the same intersection 20 minutes or so later in my run to find the groundhog still in the same spot, still going around and around in circles. Only this time he was accompanied by two police officers instead of the house cat. Yes, TWO police officers and one squad car. The officers were just standing there, one on each side of him, watching him spin in circles. The groundhog seemed oblivious to the officers. Once again, I didn't stop to investigate further but I can guess that they probably weren't there to arrest him. I surmised that someone probably thought that the groundhog might be rabid, given his strange behavior. Or perhaps they were simply worried that he was going to eventually go after the cat. After hypnotizing him with the spinning. Regardless, it was reassuring to know that the local police can be counted on to keep the eccentric groundhog population under control.