Stop! Recuperate and listen …

Stop! Recuperate and listen
My blog is back with a brand new edition

My left calf stiffened up tightly
Achin’ like a sumbitch daily and nightly

Took a week off, took it slow
Started hurtin’ today with four miles left to go

To the extreme, I walked like an old man will
Felt like a chump but kept a pace I could handle

If my body’s gotta problem, yo, I’ll solve it
Take it easy on myself til it learns to resolve it

For Karen King … be careful what you ask for, Coach!

Behold …. the Beast.

I could have bought a Kindle. I could have paid my Netflix subscription for a year. I could have made a downpayment to my 5-year-old daughter on all of the Caramel deLites I ate this past week.

Nope, instead I bought a new pair of running shoes.

Erik at The Run Around recommended the Brooks Beast because of their comfort and motion control.

My most recent purchase was a pair of Nikes, which I got because they were Nike+ compatible, meaning they had a slot in the sole of the shoe for the motion sensor. Nifty, yes, but they didn’t offer nearly the cushioning and shock absorption as my last pair of Brooks — which I had pretty much worn down. (Luckily, you can get a velcro thingamjig that lets you use the sensor with any brand of shoe.)

Picked up my size 15* Beasts this morning after an 8-mile run, during which I passed 150 miles for the year. I wore them briefly to make sure they fit, and I can say that a major focus is on comfort with these shoes.

Can’t wait to get them out on the road next week and start breaking them in!

Now, here’s some d-bag to tell you more about how awesome these shoes are …

*(You know what they say about guys with size 15 feet, don’t you? They pay a lot for shoes.)

Running with the wind

So I came in last place yesterday during the Run with the Wind 25k.

Came in 72nd, with a time of 3 hours and 23 minutes. I’m actually pretty pleased with this. I took several walk breaks so as not to overdo it while training for the St. Louis half marathon. Also, without properly training for the event, I covered close to 16 miles in three and a half hours. I’ll have six and a half to finish the Chicago Marathon.

It was a neat event, though some of those hills were on the evil side (especially the one after the 11-mile mark. I didn’t even think about trying to run it).

Felt great crossing the finish line in Carthage, though. A few people were even still there to see me do it! Thanks to Travis Keller for running the last stretch with me, and to Kim Endicott for the lift back to Sarcoxie to get my car.

This week: Taking another day off to rest my legs; going to The Run Around for some new running shoes.

Time until the Chicago Marathon: 223 days, 6 hours, 54 minutes.

Week 3: Tapering, gnat eating and listening to “The King of Limbs”

My plan was to bump my mileage up to 11 yesterday, but Super Coach Karen King recommended tapering off since I plan on pushing it up to 12 miles next week for the Run with the Wind 25k.

Ended up running a bit under 10 miles. The goal for RWTW is to run 3 miles, walk 1 mile, etc., so that I don’t overdo it and can pick right back up on the half-marathon training schedule the next week.

Of note yesterday: It was a gorgeous, spring-like morning, but you don’t expect clouds of gnats in February. I ended up inhaling a mouthful of them as we passed through McClelland Park. Not cool. (If I were more juvenile, I’d make a joke here about other things that might wind up in your mouth at McClelland Park. But that would just be wrong.)

Listened to Radiohead’s new album, “The King of Limbs,” during the early part of the run. On first listen, I really like it, though it’s not ideal running music. The music is beautiful but often shapeless, and songs like “Little By Little” often threaten to fall apart at the seams (though not in a bad way), making building up a steady pace to them nearly impossible.

Great album, though it probably won’t be added to my run playlist.

The dog days of running

Thursdays have become my favorite day to run.

It marks my last time to hit the pavement before Saturday morning’s long run (logged a little over 13 miles the last four days), but most importantly I’ve started ending it at the door to Instant Karma, 527 S. Main St.

I love the atmosphere in there almost as much as I love the hot dogs (veggie dog, with blue cheese slaw, avocados, onions and peppers, with a side of sweet-potato fries and chipotle dipping sauce, if you please).

I've got a story in the next issue of Joplin Metro Magazine about the hot dog-inspired works on display at Instant Karma. They're by local artist Dianne Cantrell and they're awesome. (Photo by T. Rob Brown)

And I especially love the feeling of rewarding myself for the miles I’ve put in.

Finished a 4.4 mile run today (sunny and 70 degrees!) and had my usual. Delicious, as always. Ran into Kelly Maddy and talked about the “runner’s high” and the recent report indicating that it’s caused by natural endocannabinoids.

Maddy seemed quite knowledgeable on the subject. Weird …

That’s another reason I love Instant Karma: I tend to run into people I know.

I recently even saw Preston Lacy of “Jackass” eating there. Started to go introduce myself, but then wondered if he remembered that I crapped on his movie “The Life of Lucky Cucumber” in a blog post when it hit DVD a few years ago.

I wrote a story about the movie when it filmed here, but the finished film was painful to watch.

Also, I worried that he’d beat Benji Tunnell’s home address out of me, as BT wrote a rather scathing review of it in the Globe.

Preston took that latter review kind of personally.

Which surprises me, as I would assume anyone who willingly allows himself to get a rim job from a pig on screen (and in 3D, no less!) would have a thicker skin.

So, I just left him alone.

Week 2: It’s melllllllllting!

I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to see slush. I’d get down on my knees in the driveway and take a gulp, if it weren’t for the fact that it’s black and nasty from my tire treads burning up trying to get in and out.

Nearly two weeks after Snowpocalypse 2011, temperatures are creeping into the 40s and 50s and starting to melt all the snow and ice that got dumped on top of us.

The day it started was the same day I registered for the Chicago Marathon, and my high from taking the plunge got buried as deep as any outdoor running surface.

Still, I put in 19 miles this week. On Monday, I did 2 miles on the track at the downtown Y. More snow was forecast for Tuesday, but it hadn’t started coming down at noon. It was bitterly cold, but I bundled up and decided to stick to the main roads and put in 3 miles. All was well until I reached my turnaround point and realized the run back would be straight into the wind. By the time I finished, I couldn’t feel my face. Wednesday and Thursday runs were indoors again.

On Saturday, most of the Common Grounds running group at the Y decided to run outside. Main roads were great and the temperature was on the rise — I put in 9 miles and felt great.

Well, mostly great anyway. That was the farthest I’ve hoofed it in a few months and my body let it be known that it was going to take a while to get used to it.

The warming trend is supposed to continue through the next week. Though it probably won’t last, I plan to take full advantage of it while I can.

Time until the Chicago Marathon: 237 days, 20 hours, 15 minutes.

Blast off! Half-marathon training begins

Technically, I guess it started Monday, but Mother Nature delivered us a royal butt kicking in the form of about 20 inches of snow. So I’m already a bit behind in my mileage. But with all the snow shoveling and car pushing I did in the last week, it’s not like I wasn’t getting in plenty of exercise.

Started with seven miles today at the South Y, but it was broken up a bit. Ran three miles on the treadmill, then ran some stairs. After some stretching exercises, did a mile on the track, then some strength-training exercises. Then finished with another three miles around the track.

I’m not a big fan of running inside. The track at the South Y is much better than the one downtown, but the frequent turns are hard on my knees — which were already good and banged up from taking a fall while helping a neighbor dislodge his car from the snow last night.

My body let me know its displeasure at not having run in six days. If the snow doesn’t start melting away soon, looks like I’ll be putting the miles in on the treadmill for a while.

Time until the Chicago Marathon: 245 days, 18 hours, 46 minutes, 50 seconds.

It’s official!

Weathergeddon: View from the front door this morning.

Weathergeddon — or Snowpocalypse, if you will — is upon us today. My car is stuck in the snow in front of a neighbor’s house (HHR’s get great gas mileage, but aren’t worth a damn in the snow). A co-worker is coming to pick me up, because even if it was raining fire and brimstone I’d still be expected to be at my desk. It may be days before I can go for a run.

Still, I’m in a great mood this morning.

Why?

I’m now officially registered for the Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

I figure that if I’m going to go for a full marathon, I want to go big: 26.2 miles with 44,999 other people. The registration fee was $145, and I paid $18 extra to have the Chicago Tribune’s marathon editions that weekend mailed home to me.

A year ago this would have seemed preposterous. It still kinda does, but I’m pretty confident that I’ll be able to do it.

Hurry up, spring! I’m ready to hit the streets. There’s only 249 days, 20 hours and 27 minutes until the marathon starts!

You’re supposed to sweat a cold, right?

Despite the fact that a mixture of sinus crud and Sudafed has left my head feeling a bit like a bowling ball, I got in just under 5 miles this afternoon to hit my goal of 60 miles for the month. Passed it actually, with a total of 60.48.

Saw this article in Runner’s World and decided to go ahead and run anyway. I don’t have a fever, and except for my head I don’t feel too terrible.

Besides, with the weather getting ready to take a turn for the worse (Mother Nature paying us back for two days of beautiful weather; rain, sleet and snow are in the forecast), don’t know if I’ll be able to hit the streets on Tuesday and Thursday as I normally do.

Just hope that the roads will be clear enough to run by next weekend. Half-marathon training is set to start on Saturday!

Harder, faster, nerdier

Tip for running faster:

Crank up Daft Punk’s “TRON: Legacy” soundtrack on the iPod. Pretend your body has been digitized and placed on the Games Grid, and that if your pace goes above 12 minutes per mile, the evil CLU will kill you.

DO NOT wonder why you have never been more popular with the ladies.