About 7 miles

Today I ran about 7 miles. I guess I forgot to push start on my GPS program as it never started. I probably should have figured that out after the first mile or two but was caught up in a This American Life podcast. Today's run was a bit slower than yesterday pace-wise. I seem to be on a small pattern of a good day followed by a not as good day.

6.4 miles

Today I ran 6.4 miles. I tried to go in slightly different directions today than I have in the past but that isn't very easy given the road choices around here for running. It was a better run pace wise than yesterday and my foot is no worse (but not better). *I actually did run the spikes on the map. I was trying to find new little foot paths connecting roads, with no luck today.

6.2 miles

I didn't run the last three days because for the first two it was raining/snowing/cold. Yesterday I was just out of energy. Anyway, today I ran 6.2 miles and took a new little path close to home (picture above). The weather should be good for the next few days and I hope to run for the next few days in a row. Foot is about the same, I'm ready to chop it off and see if that helps.

7.3 miles

Today was a low energy run. My legs were fine and my lungs were fine but I was just tired (not sleepy). Anyway, I went 7.3 miles. My foot is about the same, still a bit sore.

7.5 miles

Today I did a 7.5 miles run. It was the same 7.3 run with just a small extra detour. The current plan is to do this 7.3-7.5 mile run everyday for a few days to see what happens to my foot. I'm tired of resting it. Time to have it get better, stay the same or get worse. It must get stronger or die.

5 mile free run

Today I did the 5 mile to Starbucks and back. I didn't take water or my iphone, I just ran. It was a decent run, but downtown was under attack from 1000's of small black birds. It was rather odd.

Up tomorrow: A longer than 5 mile run.

A good 7.3

I have not run since Wednesday. A combination of work, lack of sleep, a bad head cold and a non-healing right foot kept me from running. I set out today worried I would have problems going 3-5. However, I felt fine and went 7.3 at a good clip for me. I still have a head cold that is no fun and my foot seems to stay between 90-95% but the run went much better than I expected.

Plans: No real plans for rest of December. I do plan to run but I'm just going to run whatever distance I go once I leave the door. I am going to write up a plan to stick to for the spring. It's a nice break just to go run and have no real goals for time/distance.

three miles around the complex

Today's run was a short one. There was a light freezing rain and so I just ran around the complex in case it got harder. I plan to run three tomorrow on the treadmill and then do a longer run on Friday.

9-10 miles

Quick note: yesterday's scheduled run did not happen. It was raining and cold. I can take either but put together with a foot that could use some rest, the run got delayed.

Today I ran about 9.5 miles(?). It was snowing, windy and cold (mid 20's). It was a fun run. I don't mind the cold or snow. The wind was a bit much at times when I was heading directly into it or the snow was blowing sideways. I didn't use the iphone GPS. I had it with me in a zip bag but didn't bother using it (figured the clouds and snow would block the signal). This was one of those fun run medium length runs. I may try to do this run on Wednesday and measure the distance.

5.1 miles: the Starbucks run

I did the normal downtown and back Starbucks run with just a few slight changes. The field next to the road near my house has been mowed so I was able to run in that for some of the way home. The foot didn't hurt at all during the run and hurts no more than it did before the run now.

Up next: A "long" run on Saturday. Distance to be determine by my right foot.

5 miles (Wednesday)

I set out Wednesday without a real mileage goal. My foot started to hurt a bit after 4 so I headed home. The interesting note about this run was I was on a path and got blocked by a huge dog. He didn't bark at me but also was not moving as I got closer. I did not push my luck and just slowly backed off and went back the way I came.

Up next: I'm about to find out. Headed out for a five mile run (or around that). Foot is about 90% right now before the run.

12.5-13 miles

I did a long run this morning. I set out not knowing exactly how far I would run (8-16 rough idea). It would depend on how I was feeling, traffic patterns and just where I felt like running once I started. It ended up depending a bit on water. (1.2 liters of water and 100 calories via 1 gel)

The GPS started having major problems around mile 9.5. The spikes in the map above reflects that as I did not run those spikes (that wasn't a 16.5 mile run). It was very cloudy and so I'm guessing that was the problem. I know it was good till about mile 9 and I know it is about 3-3.5 miles home from where the problems started. I'll run my path backwards later in the week and correct the mileage.

The other issues during this run was water. It looks like the town turned off some of the water fountains for winter. I ran out of water after thinking I could resupply at two different stops. I don't think I would have run much more (maybe just 2-3 miles more). I'll just need to carry more water for longer runs.

I felt fine and in shape during the run. My annoying right foot hurt a bit. I'm not sure what is going on. I don't think it's 100% running related. I've had foot problems ever since I tried to hike the AT trail. It's more like the pain I was having then. The pain plan now is to see how I feel tomorrow morning. If the pain is the same or less than this morning than I'll run 5. If the pain is worse I might take off till Wednesday. If this develops into a longer term problem, I might take off for a longer period of time off (2-3 weeks) and swim instead. I really don't want to do that as I like running so hopefully is this is something that will just heal or otherwise go away.

5 miles

A simple 5 mile run today to downtown and back. Lack of sleep has delayed the monthly update for now. The plan is to do the longer run tomorrow.

5.9 miles: Time stops for no man and not this one.

I ran 5.9 miles today. There was no real goal other than to run downtown and mail a Netflix movie out in today's mail. It's about 5 there and back and I just added a little bit extra.

It was a good fun run. I felt good and in shape. Unlike the 4 miles I ran a few days ago that felt like 20 afterward, this 5 mile run feels like it should at this point: no problem.

Quick word on timing: I figured out a slight problem with my timing system. It was stopping the clock if I was not moving. So if I stopped at a light or to get a drink the system just was not counting that time. I turned this feature off as clearly stopped time counts in any event.

Up next: Thursday: zero miles but monthly review. Friday: a long run of a to be determined distance (10-14?).

Foot update: very very slight pain in right foot still. I was thinking of taking off until it went anyway but was not sure how long that might take and didn't want to take that much time off. IF it's worse on Friday than it is today I might take the day off.