Four Miles Around the 'Hood

'm sitting out on the porch again and having a hard time typing because my eyes are itching. Not sure if it is allergies or from sweat, but it's driving me crazy.

Ok, so, today the schedule says four miles. i got a later start than yesterday and I think it's even hotter and muggier. For sure, its muggier. They're saying we might have a thunderstorm soon.

Anyway, I would normally start out by running up the street, but the neighbors' landscapers had arrived and I didn't want to have to run by them. had thought about going on the trails agin but that would also involve having to run by the landscapers.

So instead I went out the patios door and down the trail to Pape Ave. and then out to Erie. i went down Erie, up and around the Broadviewsubdivision, back up Erie and around the Chestnut Hill subdivision, and then back up Erie and around the neighborhood. I had to cross the street early after Broadview to avoid some construction, so it wouldn't quite work out to four until I did a loop around the block at the end.

I had forgotten how steep the hills are in Chestnut Hill. Steeper than I remembered. Wow.

I wore the Newtons. They are still feeling okay. One odd thing about thtem is that they feel fine when you're running but a little weird when you first put them on. A bit snug when I put them on, for example, but it doesn't bother me when I am running. At least on these 4-6 mile runs I've been doing.

A bad thing I am noticing about them is how quick the tread seems to wear out. Kinda surprising on shoes that cost $175 retail. Glad I only paid $55 for them!

I ordered a pair of Brooks Ghosts from RRS yesterday (along with a couple of pairs of shots and bras and socks, and a pair of shoes for Tommy).

My friend Charlene was wearing them at the agility trial last weekend, and we tend to like the same model of shoes. i had considered them before, but I've been in Nikes and doing so well the past few years that I was just sticking with those. I stuck with the Nike also because I like the ability to put the little shoe pod right inside the sole of the shoe rather than having to stick it in a velcro attachment outside. But with the new Pegasus not coming out until August and no guarantee that I will even like it...well, I needed something now, couldn't wait any longer. i don't think the Newtons are going to cut it as marathon shoes for me.

Which reminds me I guess I need to order a new shoe pod holder for the Ghosts.

Its nice out here, except for the allergy part.

In other news, I am corresponding with Cheryl K. at the FCR Foundation about my idea to run my four fall marathons as a fundraiser for the Foundation. It sounds like it will work out and not be very complicated to do. If it doesn't work out, I guess I will look around for another charity but honestly there is nothing that i am feeling all that passionate about or connected to right now.

Longish Trail Run

Today I was supposed to do five miles. It's even hotter than yesterday, and I'm getting a little worried about how much time I am sending out in the sun during the peak times, so I opted for a trail run.

Hasn't rained for a few days so I figured the trails should be pretty dry. My shoes are dry now, too, but they were pretty mud-caked from the last trail race. I managed to get them on without having to clean them off. I'm so lazy.

I have a trail route that I figured would work out to about 2.5 miles, so i decided to just do that twice. While I was out there, I decided a good way to do it would be to run it in reverse for the second half. i don't know why I never thought of that before for the trail runs. It's what I always do when I am out running multiple laps of Lunken.

The first lap worked out to be 2.44 miles, which was not bad. I did not see a soul in the park. The trails were very dry. Just a tiny bit of mud in a couple of spots. Not like you'd even notice. Even the creek was bone dry.

I'm sitting out on the porch now icing my knee and hip, and I forgot to turn my stopwatch on. Oh well. 

I liked going in reverse for the second lap. I don't know if I would prefer that way over my normal route. it did mean downhill on the gravel trail, which is nice, and also uphill on the switchbacks, which is also preferable. I should like it better but I am such a creature of habit.

I saw a couple of old guys with a couple of fairly mellow Viszlas near the end of the second lap. The total distance worked out to be 4.88 miles. Trail running is so hard for me and it takes so much time that I am satisfied with that number.

There's a pic of my trail shoes on the floor of the side porch, where I guess they are just going to have to live from now on most of the time. Today's run did manage to shake most of the mud off them. I should have taken a before picture. These are great shoes, by the way. I wish I could get another pair when they wear out but this model is from two years ago.

That reminds me, I was maybe going to do some shoe shopping today..

 

Today's 4 miler

Gonna get back to writing about my daily run and rambling a bit.

Today there was a 4-miler on the schedule. It is going to be hot and humid, with temperatures climbing into the 80s, which is a bit warmer than we're used to after this cool spring. I walked the dogs a little earlier than usual. We did the Observatory walk, adjusted a little to avoid the rabbit on the stairs. Survived the walk with just one chipmunk and lizard encounter when we made the turn on Brentwood near the end.

I was out for the run a bit after 9. I decided to do the Park + Kilgour route, and I was even able to start out by going up the street because the new neighbor and her many landscapers and contractors were not out there yet. I think she's overdoing things but that is just me.

There was still plenty of shade going up the hill into the park, so I tried to relax and enjoy it. I don't care right now how slow I am. I do feel kind of like a bloated water buffalo, though. I really need to cut back on the beer and the ice cream and the chocolate.

Near the top of the hill, I saw David Dallas out with their dog, Pushkin. I said hello and told him I liked the new color of their house. I didn't stop to chat because I wanted to get the run over with before it got any hotter, and I hadn't even gone a mile yet. Plus i was embarrassed to be seen by someone I knew in this relatively small amount of clothes  (lightweight Sugoi running shorts and Skirtsports bra top) in my current water buffalo condition. That's the problemw ith running in the neighborhood---you are likely to run into people you know.

My knee had been bothering me a bit before I started out but it was okay during the run. I'm icing it now. i wore the Vomeros today even though I swore I was done with them. Didn't want to wear the Newtons two days in a row. I need some new shoes but I don't know what I'm going to get. Not sure I an wait for the Pegasus 30 to come out in August.

The rest of the run proceeded uneventfully even thought it was godawful slow. I didn't try to push it at all so even though it was slow, it was relatively comfortable.   

The Running Curmudgeon Back Again!

Today I saw a FB post from a local running shoe store that asked a question---they called it a poll---about whether customers would prefer shoes that fit great but are not so good looking vs. shoes that looked really cool but didn't fit as well. For reals. They were asking this. A few people responded basically that fit was more important (duh) or maybe that they used to be more into fashion but now that they were buying shoes to actually run in they had decided they cared more about fit.

I could not believe this was a serious question from a RUNNING SHOE STORE so I asked them if this was a serious question and said I had a question for them: do you want to be a fashion store or a running store?

And they answered back that of course it was a serious question and they really care what their customers think and blah, blah, blah.

This is the same store in which the last time I was in there shopping, I forget what for, maybe just picking up a race packet, the clerk had somehow engaged me in conversation enough that I was mentioning the marathon that I had run the week before and he tried to get me to sign up for their couch to 5k program.

So anyway, it seemed like it was time to unlike them on Facebook. The only time I shop there is when they are having a big sale and/or I happen to go there to pick up a race packet. Or if they host a special event in the store that interests me, like a seminar or clinic. And it's one time less often now since they have stopped putting on that Lady Distance Classic 5k/10k event each year.

If they want to be more about fashion that's fine with me. I can get everything I need online. I don't have a reason to shop at their store.

How can that be a serious question? If they got a bunch of people saying they cared more about fashion than how the shoes fit, would they switch their merchandising to focus on that?

I heard a statistic recently that the vast majority of running shoes are purchased by consumers in department stores for non-running purposes. A very small percentage of shoes are actually purchased at specialty running shoe stores, and these are mostly to new runners just starting out who have been told they need to be fitted for shoes by "experts." People who have been running regularly for years tend to make their purchases from catalogs or online.

So I'm wondering what they are thinking at this little running shoe store. Do they think they should be competing with the department stores? 

The Running Curmudgeon

I am turning into the running curmudgeon. I mean to say, when I encounter or am forced to interact with, "newbies," I find it hard to resist reminiscing about the good old days. For me, that is just prior to the invention of GoreTex and polar fleece. When $100 was an unheard of amount to spend  on a pair of running shoes. When people who wanted to listen to music during their runs had to carry a CD player or even a cassette player. When malt Power Bars and lemon lime Gatorade was all there was.

And today, confronted by an irritating post on the Women's Running Community Facebook page, I responded in a perhaps unbecoming and curmudgeonly way.

The person said she had been running for 2 years ( what I would consider a newbie) and had done a couple of 5ks and a 10k, and wanted to train for a half-marathon. But she had a friend who wanted her to sign up for a 5k with her, and she felt like that was a waste of time, with her vast experience and big goal and all (this last part is me interpolating a bit). So she was asking if it was wrong to feel this way. And if she was being a running snob.

My reply was that I thought it was sad she felt that way about the 5k, and if she thought 5k was too easy, maybe she wasn't running fast enough. I thought about asking if she won those 5ks she had entered before, or even placed in her age group, and if so.were there other people in her age group?

So who is the real running snob?

In fact, I might have to unsubscribe from those posts, because a lot of them are just too stupid and irritating. And I am just a curmudgeon.

Flying Pig 10k

 You know, I rely do try to keep up with the blogging about my running and racing, but the dogs are making it pretty damn near impossible. And the ipad is actually harder to write on than the damn netbook. Who would have thought? Even with the bluetooth keyboard, it is hard.

One of the things I am really not liking is what a pain it is to switch between the blogging app and the web. And I need to go to the web to look up thing like what the route was like and what actually are the names f those bridges that we ran across.

Anyway, I ran the Flying Pig 10k on the day before the Pig. After a couple weeks of therapy with Dr. Donna, I thought I was up to it.

I have to admit, I was more than a little jealous of all the people doing the Four Way. That's what they call it when you do the 10k, the 5k (an hour later!) and then the marathon the next day. I seriously want to do it next year. Heck, it will be good training for the double I want to do next summer.

Anyway, I got down there about an hour before the race. I parked in the lot under the Westin. It was just a couple blocks to the start down in The Banks area. The weather was pleasant enough. Geez, I don't even really remember any more what it was like. Not as hot as it is today, that's for sure

I went for a little warmup jog part way across the pedestrian bridge. Not too many people warming up, considering the size of the crowd. I don't recognize anybody! I don't know exactly how many people but there were a couple thousand maybe.

The race starts on Pete Rose Way (and can I just say that I love that Second St. is still called that?) and finishes in Yeatman's Cove.

I was kind of hoping for some pace signs but didn't see any so I just tried to put myself with people who looked about my speed. I guessed right because a few of those people were right there with me at the end.

It took me about 33 seconds to cross the start line. I wanted to run 9s, but my pace was up and down with the hills. There were a few walkers to maneuver around in the early going but really not too bad. The first mile took us around the corner and pretty quickly headed over the Taylor Southgate Bridge to Newport. Mile 1 is near the bottom of the bridge. Then you do a loop of Newport before heading across the Licking River to Covington, a bit past the two mile marker.

Just past the three mile mark, from Covington, you cross back over the Ohio River via the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. Mile 4 is around the corner on the other side of the bridge. You run up Third St., , then there is about another mile around downtown----mostly a tour of the Eggleston parking lots this time--- before coming back down Pete Rose Way to the finish.

Here's a link to the race map.

So it was not a super hilly race. There were a few little inclines in the downtown section moving away from the river, and then there were the two bridge crossings which are also not very steep.

I can't remember a whole lot about this race. I felt okay and there was nothing too remarkable about it. I was glad to be out there doing it, but wishing I could do more.

My splits were 9:22, 8:55, 9:25 9:14, 9:13, 8:46 and 1:38 for the last .2, for a finish time of 56:34/9:08 average pace. This was significantly slower than what I was able to run back in March, but the hip held up and that was the main thing. I was 11 of 196 in my age group, 248 of 2184 women, and 641 of I do not know how many people in the race.

I did not linger too long at the finish, because I needed to get home for breakfast with Tommy and the Chesteks. Next year when I do the 4-Way (notice how I say that as if it were a certainty) I will have about an hour to kill in between the 10k and the 5k. I guess the strategy will be to refuel with food that is very easy to digest, and then truly just jog the 5k. Probably won't push it too hard in the 10k either, if I want to recover for the marathon the next day!

Still Trying the Newtons

Today called for 5 miles, so to continue with my gradual tryout of the Newtons, I split the run in half, more or less. First I went around the park in the Newtons for about 2.7 miles. Then I came home and switched to the old Nike trail shoes for a loop on the trails, about 2.5 miles.

It got hot today all of a sudden, so it was good to do the second half of the run on the trails. Even though it was still morning when I finished, it's heating up pretty quick.

Am wondering what this weekend's racing will feel like. Will I be ready to try the Newtons in the 5k race on Friday night? I think not. Will I be able to run the trail race on Sunday as fast as I did last year? Also doubtful.

Trail Run in the Woods

Did one this afternoon. Found a way to get i over 4 miles without repeating too much of it. Go down the Burr Oak Trail, up the Valley Trail, up the Cliff Trail to the Overlook, up and around behind the playground to the Kid's Trail, across the street through the Friendship Park and across the soccer field to the hole in the woods and the trail that leads back down to Valley Trail, up the switchbacks to the small trail that connects to the Ridge Trail, down the Ridge Trail, and back up the Burr Oak Trail to home.

Had kind of an unpleasant morning and a not especially productive early afternoon, so I really needed this to clear out my head.