Today is one of the days where I asked myself: Why? Why am I doing this? It’s 90 degrees and humid. I logged 44 miles already this week. I’m away from Dana for four hours on a Saturday. And, it’s really hot. Just being outside is uncomfortable; running is crazy. In asking myself why, I’m now asking myself: Why am I asking why so soon? I’m 6 months away from race day. Continue reading “5/19/18”
Toilet with ferns and flamingo. I love Florida.
I had a good run today. I want to say that first because I’ve been talking about other stuff before I get to what this journal is really about. Making too big a deal of the photo I’m posting and trying to tie everything together. That’s fun and it’s a good writing exercise, I guess, but sitting down as soon as I’m out of the shower and getting my thoughts down about the run should be first and foremost. Continue reading “5/18/18”
This mural is called Little Miss Sisyphus and it was painted by Carrie Jadus a few years ago. I have passed this mural verging on a hundred times and I’m a little inspired by it every time. One, because it astounds me that someone can paint an image like this. Two, because it’s almost unfathomable to think about painting an image on this large of a scale. Third, it’s inspiring because of what it is. Often, I feel like I’m working hard for incremental gain. Often, I’m discouraged because it feels like I’m starting again from scratch. And often, I feel like giving up. All these “oftens” apply to my current job search and running, so I can relate to the Sisyphus story. Also, it is super cool that the man is replaced by a young girl. That fits the historic, and current state of things. Continue reading “5/17/18”
I am exhausted. I waited until 11:30 to go running today because I had to wait for the maintenance guy to get here. He’s still not here, but that’s another story. I’m so tired because I went hard yesterday and today it was just gross outside. It was sprinkling at first so it was easy to feel like I wouldn’t overheat. It stopped, though, and it got sticky, gross and hot. I ran the first 6 miles and had to run/walk the last 4. Overall, 10 miles at 9:50 pace. Continue reading “5/16/18”
Gear: Lunartempo 2s, Apple watch, that’s it
Excellent effort today. 8 miles at 8:16 pace, with the first mile at 8:32, and the seven subsequent miles all around 8:10 – 8:20. Since it’s been raining off and on, it’s slightly cooler than it has been, but the humidity is high, and the air feels like a soggy blanket. The flowers are blooming all over the place.
From the first step of the run, my legs felt super heavy, which tells me I didn’t fully recover from the weekend. Continue reading “5/15/18”
Today is a good day to not have a job and be a writer. It might not be the best day to run. The forecast for the rest of the day, and the week for that matter, looks like a lot of rain. I will run this week, however. If anything, it makes it cooler and maybe even refreshing to run in the rain. A few of my most memorable runs happened while it was raining.
I remember one about two years ago. Continue reading “5/14/18”
The photo is from under the bridge by Tyrone Mall. There are multiple murals down there but this one stands out, for me. Maybe because today I felt like smiling. I didn’t experience any of the mind-body separation I so enjoy, but I just had a great time, and after all, that’s why I run. Continue reading “5/12/18”
I’m posting this photo to remind myself of the benefits of hard work, and a bad haircut. If you’re not too worried about your hair, you have time to focus on other things, like actually finishing your run. Continue reading “5/11/18”
I got out somewhat early this morning so I was able to avoid the worst of the heat again. However, this was only because Dana woke me up getting ready for work. So I didn’t really get to sleep as long as I like to. I guess you can’t have it both ways. Continue reading “5/10/18”
Continuing from yesterday’s entry, I did indeed purchase a personal ($4/month) WordPress site plan. It came with a domain name that doesn’t include .wordpress, which was the only selling point, honestly. I’ll probably be messing around trying to figure out how to use it for a while. I’d like to create something that looks halfway decent, as I’m not trying to showcase my design skills, or lack thereof, but when I look at this site, I want to be invited in by something visually appealing at least. It’s something to work towards for sure. And it’ll get me taking more photos.
Today’s run was good. I usually do what I call a tempo run on Wednesdays. Maybe other people have different definitions of tempo run, but mine is a half mile warm-up of just easy running, not super slow, but a pace I’m able to talk through easily, then at least half an hour of slightly uncomfortable pace. I’ve been doing 8 miles on Wednesdays for the past month and today was no exception. Overall, I went 8 miles at 8:21 pace, negative splitting. I probably could have pushed more in the beginning of the run, but after this past weekend, I wanted to finish strong rather than burn out. I wore Lunartempo 2s. No water bottle. No dehydration today, most likely because I got out before the sun was really baking. Continue reading “5/9/18”
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