Friday night, I decided I needed to put some miles under my feet, so I headed out into the late spring swelter.  It was well over 90° — despite what Garmin says! — and was miserable.  I chose a flat neighborhood course that was right around 5km, with a little extra to get my distance in.

Did I mention it was hot?

As I’ve mentioned many times, I melt in the heat, and when it’s above 90°, the chances of me doing anything closely resembling “running” quickly approach zero.  I walked.  Slowly.  But I got out there, and put some miles in the books.

As this was a virtual race, there’s not much to say about it.  So let’s talk headphones.  

For years, I have used Bose earbuds for my runs.  I love the feel and the sound… but not the cord.  I’ve tried a variety of wireless earbuds, trying to find something that works well with my gear, and can stand up to my sweaty self.  I’m sure some of those sounded amazing, but I had all kinds of trouble getting anything to fit in my ear as well as my trusty corded Bose.

A couple of months ago, I broke down and put some Beats Powerbeats2, and was pretty well blown away by the fit.  They actually fit in my ear holes, and stayed in place.  In fairness, they have hooks that go over the ear, which is a little interesting as those compete with the earpieces of my glasses.  Not a huge thing.

I do wish the sound was a little better with them, though.  I know that earbuds are gonna struggle with good sound reproduction — there’s just not enough room in them to make “big sound” possible.  It’s a trade off, and for the convenience of cordless sound, I’m cool with that.

Last week, after years of my lamenting Bose not having wireless earbuds, Bose announced a set.  Grrrr.

I’d love to try a nice cordless set of Bose for my travels, but in reality, the Beats are doing the job, aren’t too uncomfortable, and will likely last me for at least a few seasons.  When they die, Bose will have their chance!

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A few days ago was Star Wars Day.  May the Fourth be with you.  And also with you.

I’d had great intentions to run a ton last week.  We’d originally been slated to drive to Michigan for the Bernese Mountain Dog Specialty, with Bailey signed up to try to complete her herding title.  Unfortunately, she re-injured her back, and we were a no-go.  She’s better, although not quite herself, but definitely headed in the right direction.

With us mired in Da Lou, I wanted to run.  Bunches.  It was a great opportunity to catch up on some virtual races that I’d been piling up, and to finish off a Spring Challenge from the Moon Jogger folks.  So run I did… back and forth to Home Depot!  

I ended up spending the first part of the week building a new desk for my home office.  It’s a impressive piece of redneck engineering, and has plenty of room for all my computerized toys and their attachments.  By the time the week had closed, I hadn’t run a single mile.

Today, I fixed that.

Ideally, a run celebrating Star Wars Day probably should be run on Star Wars Days, but I’m a bit of a maverick, and ran it fashionably late.  I returned to the Greenway, and put my feet to work.  Unfortunately, with the week escaping, so did the cool weather, and I ended up running in temps near 80° — far above my melting point.  It was hot and uncomfortable, and before I got to my turnaround point, it was obvious that I was growing a blister on the back of my right heel.  That really slowed me up, and put me in the “just ok” range of my finishing times.

Looking at the blister, I think I figured out what happened.  I was running with these really cool Swiftwick socks that I picked up in Chattanooga.  I’ve run with them a bunch.  They’re mid calf, and have the circle and stars from the Tennessee state flag on the back.  However, they also have a small logo on them that I think got sucked down into my shoe, and the knitting on that logo rubbed me the wrong way.

Tomorrow, I’d like to run again, but it’s gonna take a little bit of work to get me on the trail… lance the blister, and bandage it well.  Blecch!

This event benefitted the Make a Wish Foundation.

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Hi.  My name is Colin.  It’s been ten days since I’ve run.  And boy did it show.

My intent was to do 10k last night.  I mean, how hard could it be?  I’ve done it before, the weather was perfect, and I had a boatload of time available after work.  Easy-peasey.

I started out, with a mission to “go long”, and hit a trail that’s about 3km from the house.  It’s a short trail, but it’s kinda like a victory lap for me — I’ve only done that one a few times, and there’s loads of hills getting there and back, but the payoff is beautiful wooded scenery — and yesterday seemed like the day to tackle it again.

But in truth, I wasn’t really feeling it as I laced up my shoes.  I haven’t been sleeping well, and it’s really sucked the life out of me.  I spied David Johndrow’s book, ICU to Marathon, on my desk, however, and knew I needed to get out, and put my feet on the street.

I set out, and the first 3-4km were great.  The body parts were in motion, and working well.  However, around the time I got to my happy trail, things started to fall apart.  My pace fell way off, my feet were beginning to bother me (just tired and sore — no blisters!), and I knew the return home was gonna be miserable.

I exited the trail, and returned to the sidewalk that would carry me home, knowing that I had a tough 2-3km ahead of me.  I climbed the hills, and slowly made my way home.  At one point, Darla passed me on her way home from work, and I was so done, I tried to flag her down for a ride back, but she didn’t see me.

Along the way, I met this beautiful Landseer, Mr. Jibs.  He’s barked at me a gazillion times on one of the back trails through the neighborhood, and it was great to finally meet him.  He’d been sheared for the summer, leaving only that monstrous head and fluffy tail looking like they’re supposed to.  And, his owner drives a Wrangler.  Good taste.

I waddled home, short of my 10k distance, and felt like I’d been hit by a truck.  My body was beaten, my brain was questioning why I’d ever chosen to engage in running, and I began this awful death spiral of “what ifs” and “whys”.  I went to bed early, feeling considerably better this morning, and having some welcome clarity of thought.

At the end of the day, running is a couple of things for me.  One is consistency.  If I keep myself regularly moving, and not allowing myself to have excuses not to go out, it’ll come easier than it did last night.

It’s also mass across a distance.  The less mass I have to carry through a distance, the easier that’ll come.  And again, that’s just commitment, dedication and keeping my eye on the prize.

I don’t know that I’d say last night was any kind of epiphany for me — there’s nothing there I didn’t already know.  However, I do believe I got a dope slap of reality concerning my commitment to this, and to my future self.  I wanna still be doing this ten, twenty, maybe thirty years from now, and the changes I make now are critical to ensuring that’s possible.

This event benefitted the Testicular Cancer Society.

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This morning, I’d intended to take on ten kilometers, but I also wanted to take on a new route.  The route won, and the 10k will have to wait for another day.

The city (county?) has been working to extend the Greenway eastward, with a connection between the Wildwood end of the trail all the way to Hutchinson Road.  I only ran on about half of the new extension, but it seems to be nice, and doesn’t feel as hilly as it looks.  There’s still work going on to clean up the trail, get signage in place, etc., but it seems like a terrific extension.  In fact, I think this will allow me to run from the house to the Greenway.  My only complaint is that there are a *lot* of traffic crossings, with the trail crossing back-and-forth across the access road that parallels Highway 100.  I’m sure this is done for safety, but it really hinders getting into a nice rhythm.

There’s no question as November comes to a close that this year has been transformative for me.  When this year began, a cold, cloudy day like today would’ve kicked my butt, and I would’ve struggled, walked, huffed and puffed through the distance.  Today, I ran almost the whole route at a comfortable pace, enjoying the time out on the trail, and not feeling like I was gonna fall over.  Running — at least at a 5k distance — has become enjoyable, and something I look forward to.

What a difference 2015 has made in my life!

This race benefitted WaterAid.Org, an organization that provides clean water and toilets that are essential for life. 

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Yesterday, I returned to the Greenway for my first run since the half marathon in Tulsa on Sunday.  I’ve been taking it a little easy, as I could feel that the effort on Sunday in the cold had really exhausted me — although my body wasn’t sore, which was great news.  The only fallout from Sunday seems to be the beginning of a “black toenail” on the third toe of my right foot.  This seems to be a real rite of passage for the longer runs, so that’s not unexpected, although I’d rather I didn’t have one.  It feels weird.  

The weather yesterday was dreadful.  It was cold, and rained the whole time.  I know I’ve said that I love running in the rain — and I do — but there’s a huge difference to doing that at 50-60° than in the low 40s.  I dolled up in my Zippy’s, my new bright orange CEP calf sleeves, my freshly won Route 66 running shirt, and my running jacket.

I’m really finding that I enjoy running in my calf sleeves, rather than my compression socks.  It feels as though I have more choices that way, as I can vary my sock (thin or thick), while still getting the benefit of compression in my calves.  That may be the new path for me!

I’ve been wanting to run the Mustache Dache for a while, but only just noticed this year that they had a virtual option.  With that, I signed up, and finally picked a day to run.

Once I arrived at the Greenway, I stretched out, and began to run.  And run I did.  In fact, this became the first 5K I’ve run where I ran the whole distance.  Yep, the whole thing.

I didn’t have great speed, as I was taking it slow due to the wet conditions, but also because I didn’t know what my body was gonna do.  Would it give up?  Would my goofy black toenail start causing trouble?  Fortunately, neither happened, and I just kept chugging.  Looking at my cadence data, I was really up and down on steps-per-minute, but I was never as slow as my walking pace.  The was cool to see.

I really think the half on Sunday gets the credit for my success yesterday.  I kept chugging, hill after hill — none as big or long as the ones in Tulsa — and I could just put the distance in a little box in my mind, knowing what I’d just done a few days earlier.  Every hill was “just” a hill, every kilometer was “just” another.  And at the end of the slog, I’d run my race, and heck of a good race at that.

This race benefitted ZERO — The End of Prostate Cancer.

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I love it when things come together.

Tomorrow will be 47 months since I was declared NED (no evidence of disease) after surgery to remove a two-inch tumor and about a third of my colon.  Definitely something to be thankful for!

When I saw that the medal for this virtual race was coming today from Agent Outerwear, I knew this was the race to run today.  Carpe diem!

Today, the weather was so much different than yesterday.  The deluge — almost 4″ of rain — was gone, and made way for sunshine and very windy conditions.  Keeping a hat on my head was a real tough gig.  The wind was blowing across the trail, so every time I’d run next to a pasture or highspot, I got blown all over the place.

I’d intended to take it kinda slow today, using this as my last run before the fun times to come at Tulsa this weekend.  With that in mind, I started out a little slower on the Greenway than I did yesterday, chugging through the first part of the trail.  And once again, I found myself a third of the way through in what seemed like no time.

I switched back to Sport Beans today, and started munching on those at my turnaround point.  Ya know, I still haven’t decided if they really help or not, but I firmly believe that half of running lies between the hips and feet, and the other half is between the ears.  So, if I believe Sports Beans are helping, that’s nothing but good!

I ended up finishing strong, running most of the last half.  It’s amazing to look at how I run now compared to even earlier this year.  I’m so comfy taking on the 5K distance, and have no anxiety about getting through the course, even if it’s a course I don’t know — like Philly last weekend.  That confidence has probably been the biggest thing I’ve built this year, and something that is helping me, no matter what kind of run I’m on.

In preparation for the on-again-off-again rain/snow for Tulsa this weekend, I picked up some CEP calf compression sleeves — bright orange! — so I could still wear wicking socks if it rained.  I gave ’em a trial run today, and I love ’em.  I think I even like them better than the compression socks I usually use.  It’s nice to bump into something new that seems to help.

Oh, and an update on the new Hoka One One’s.  These things totally rock.  I’ve had much less knee pain, shin splints and fatigue in my legs when running since switching to the Hoka’s.  These things are just great, and are sooooo comfy!

So, I’m thankful to still be here almost four years after my diagnosis.  I’m thankful that I’m living in a country where I can run (among other things), and I’m ecstatic that I can seize the day, just about any day, and strive to make my little corner of the world a little better.

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Yesterday, I went back to the future.  Well, I guess technically, I ran a virtual race that celebrated the arrival of a fictional character to the future from a real film from thirty years ago.  Or something like that.  

I’d signed up for this race from Virtual Nerd Runs quite a while ago, and pocketed the medal, with plans to run it on the day Marty McFly was to visit 2015.  Well, he didn’t show up on October 21st, and neither did I.  Nursing a re-aggravated minor foot injury suffered at the Go! Halloween race two weeks ago, I’d taken it easy for these last two weeks, only breaking my rest to run in the Rock ‘n’ Roll 5K last weekend.  After two weeks, it was time to hit the road again.

And I had a carrot in front of me to get me out… new shoes.

In one of the Facebook running groups I belong to, someone mentioned getting new shoes from Hoka One One.  I asked what made them so special, and got some answers I liked.  I hit their website, and started looking at men’s road shoes.  They had selection criteria on the website, to help narrow the field.  I selected my weight (and yep, they had a category for big guys — good for them!), a plush ride and a wide fit.  The listing was narrowed to two shoes, and from that I dug into the Bondi 4 Wide.  I started looking at reviews in print and on YouTube, and folks just raved about this shoe, especially if you “carry some weight on your frame.”  This suited me perfectly, and I ordered a pair.

They arrived on Wednesday, but I couldn’t carve out time until yesterday at lunch to try them.  I went up to the Greenway, and jogged a little bit in them followed by some walking.  I really like the comfort of them, but man, they are tall!  Part of that really comfortable fit is a tremendously thick sole, well over an inch high from heel to toe.  I was a little nervous that extra height might feel unstable, but surprisingly, I never noticed it.  Despite being wide, these shoes were snug, but in a good way, kinda like a really good glove.  I felt sure-footed throughout both walking and running, and found that my knees, calves and shins were really comfortable after five kilometers.  I think part of that is the way the sole is shaped.  It has a upturn at both the front and the back, so you land on a flat surface under the heel, rather than the edge of the sole, and then roll through the step until you come off the toes.  I think other shoes probably do this to some degree, but this is a pronounced shape, and I believe it really helped.

So, another virtual race is in the books, on a rather cool day (finally!), and with what appears to be a wonderful new pair of kicks to keep me on the trail!

This race benefitted the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

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