The Ultimate Question

Today was day 42 of my streak.  Naturally I assumed when I went out for my run this afternoon I would return knowing the the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.  Well, not the answer, everybody knows that, what I hoped to learn was what was the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything.  Things went well.  It was a lovely afternoon today, clear, calm, and about 4°F when I headed out with a co-worker, a fellow streaker.  We headed out for the "Feather Ridge 2.5" mile route, decided to veer off on the "pi" route, a 3.14 mile route, and then again took another turn to run the "Bernice 4" route (now known as the "6 X 9" route).  Running a bit faster than normal in the chill air the small talk slowly gave way to a wonderful transcendence I didn't want to end.  Unfortunately time didn't permit another detour and we returned to the plant site and back to our normal plane of existence. We were stronger, a little colder, and wiser.  I'd tell you what we discovered, what the question is, but then you would have no reason to start you own streak, would you?  

Long Live The Streak

November Ramblings

  I just logged my miles for today's run and tallied up the month of November.  I ran 10 more miles in November than I did in October, and September, combined.  Long live the streak.  Really just long live the recommittment to running, as that was half the reason for the Streak.

  The Streak really is the story for November.  I finished November at 37 days straight, 187.5 miles over those 37 days, just over 5 miles a day average.  My previous longest streak was 6, maybe 7 days, but then I never tried to streak before.  At 1525 miles I am already past my 2010 mileage total and am 43 miles ahead of pace to meet my 50K/week goal of 1620 miles in 2011.  Most importantly I have looked forward to my run every day, I haven't yet had a dread run.  I'm also feeling good, sure I have little aches and pains here and there, but nothing major, nothing lingering.

  I ran 2 races in November, a T&H 5K and the Thanksgiving Day 4M.  Both were a bit disappointing, neither close to a PB, neither close to what I was running like last spring.  The 35:30 in the 4M was almost a minute faster than my 5K time from 3 weeks earlier would predict, but I was shooting for 35:00.  This year my time was 1:59 slower than 2010 and 8 seconds slower than 2009 when I running with a seriously pissed off IT Band.  Ugh.

  It's frustrating to be slower than I was only 6 months ago and getting harder and harder to ignore a factor bigger than my September and October slacking on the running front, and that is the 15 lbs that I've let creep on since Big Horn.  I'll be damned if it doesn't make it more difficult to run fast.  Who knew?  Well I did, I do, and another part of starting the streak was gaining some momentum to start eating better.  I think it's time.

  December brings on another T&H race, 10K this time.  McMillian says I can run a 56:23, seeding off the Thanksgiving Race, so I guess that's a good goal.  Ugh, that's a far cry from my 51:39 PR.  Run like the runner you are, not the runner you want to be, right?  Must.  Banish.  Negative.  Thoughts.  On the positive front, this will by my second T&H time of the season and after that my handicap will be based on this season's results, not last seasons.  It will be more fun to start further up in the field, where I should be, in the January race and not have to worry about being DFL (as I was in Nov).  The T&H format really is fun if you're seeded right and are in the thick of things come finish time.

  Well, that's enough rambling for now.  Long live the streak!


 

Bonus Snow

Sandis got up this morning, looked outside at the fresh snow, and immediately asked if she could go outside to play.  No surprise there, that's what kids do.  I remember how exciting it was to wake up to fresh snow as a kid, how I couldn't wait to go sledding down the hill beside our house.  And it was extra exciting when you weren't anticipating any snow, when it was a total surprise.  As a kid, it seemed most anticipated snow stormswouldn't live up to what I imagined, but the surprise snows, they were pure bonus.

So I woke up this morning, planning on a boring 5-6 miles on the roads before Shawn headed to work.  When I looked out side though, Bonus!, snow on the ground, and it was still falling.  It was time for a change of plans.  I put on my running gear, grabbed some coffee, and headed out to Coyote Ridge.  Running snowy trails, instead of the roads, was surely going to mean fewer miles in my limited time but you can't pass up a chance to lay some fresh tracks.  The trail was very peaceful today.  Other than some rabbit and coyote tracks, and a couple mole trails, the snow was a beautiful undisturbed white blanket.  There was a slight breeze, not enough to make it cold, and birds chirping as the only sounds other than the inimitable squeaky crunch of running shoes on fresh snow.  This morning's run was so much more than I thought of when I went to bed last night.  It was fun to act like a kid again.

After the track Tuesday and Towers Thursday (and 26 days of streaking I suppose) I'm still feeling a little tired.  The legs were a bit heavy this morning.  Tomorrow I'm heading out with some fellow FCTR folk for some good vert on part of the Chubby Cheeks course.  After that I think I'll take it easy for a few days so I can give the Thanksgiving Day run a good go.  I think something around 35 minutes is within reach, maybe 34 if the stars align.  At one time I was hoping this would be the year I finally break 32, but I'm just not there right now.  I'll run hard and be happy with that, whatever it is.  

Dear Towers

Dear Towers, 
 While you technically still have the upper hand, I'm gaining ground on you. Tonight's time was not a Personal Best, not even close, but it was over 5 minutes faster than my last trip up. And it felt good. Yes, I enjoyed every uphill step. I'm getting my running Mojo back. If I were you, I'd be scared. 


 Love, 
 Brian 


 P.S. I'm already thinking about 24 HoT. The side of your building is going to be sore after I'm done slapping it.

Habit?

So it takes 21 days to create a habit? Yesterday was day 21 of streaking for me. Streaking would be a new habit I suppose, but running is not a new habit. I don't yet feel I've taken on anything new, more just re-dedicated myself to running the way I want to. I look forward to the remaining 47 days of the year (and beyond?) to see if my perspective on this might change.