A looong break...

Has it really been a week? It's amazing how time gets away! The dissertation is worse, but I wouldn't have expected to have gone a week since running. I have to say, of all the times I've taken up running, this start has been far more beset with obstacles. My ankle/foot is still bothering me. Having never truly followed through on my pt when I had my tib-fib fracture many years ago, I've never gotten the full mobility back, but that seems not to be the whole issue here, since that was also the case last time. Maybe I simply need to start with walking and hope that it's mostly the impact.

And now I'm feeling old, but I've also developed a testicular/abdomen pain on my right side. At first, I thought perhaps it was appendicitis, but it hasn't gotten any worse since last Thursday when it appeared. My non-doctoral pet theory now is that it is related to the height of my daughter, or rather where her foot now tends to kick me. Ow!

Grouchy. I was sad to see that the theater that had been opened up the street to benefit the women's shelter has closed. Another in a string of failed businesses in this little area. It's a nice little jog of .7 miles or so and finding out what was playing was a great motivator.

OK.. running late. My thoughts are with you today, bro., and tomorrow. Natalie's, too. Let us know if there is anything we can do to be of help. Love you.

Back again then off again

I did 8 min run/2 min walk x3, even though it was hard today.  This running stuff is hard!  :)

I will be off for 3 days, most likely, because my 2-year old daughter will be in the hospital for a heart procedure.

My first setback

Yesterday I did 8min run/2 min walk x3 and it felt hard.  I decided to run today, and at first it was challenging, but then didn't feel hard.  I made an off-the-schedule decision to see how far I could run in one length, thinking I could do 15 minutes or possibly 20.  I made it to 13 and couldn't go any further. 

Then, I decided to do 8 minutes x2 after that, but made it to 4 and then 2, with my legs shaking.  I guess I pushed them too hard!  I'm going to take tomorrow off, and go back to 8 min on Monday. 

A day off and a bit more

I took a day off, and then did 8 min run/2 min walk x 3 today.  At the end, I didn't feel like I was on my last legs like I did the other day.  I think I may try 2 days of running, and then a day off, so I get 4-5 days in a week, and I still get to sleep in occasionally.  :)

I saw another runner today, running around the park green.  That might be nice for a change sometime, but I think I might not like running in big circles.  

Rabbits and no Asthma

So I did another 7 min run/2 min walk x 3 today.  It felt really hard today, but I made it through.  My stamina, however, is definitely improving.  I noticed it the other day climbing stairs at the train station, where I wasn't winded at all at the top.

I saw Mr Rabbit today (just one).  He ran off, showing off his fluffy white tail.  

One thing I was thinking about today is all the reasons I didn't do running before.  I convinced myself that it was too hard, both in terms of challenge and on the knees and ankles.  Not that I have ever really had knee problems (except in middle school), but it was a reason nonetheless.  Growing up my excuse was always my asthma, which kept me out of the fall leaves, and kept me out of gym a number of times.  When I went to college it completely disappeared, only to come back again for the semester I was back at home, and then disappeared again after that.

In this whole running experience, I have not had even a hint of asthma.  In fact, I haven't had a hint of asthma for 15 years now.  It is nice to see that I have put that behind me, finally, and can move on.  Sometimes I wonder what my life would have been like without this constant issue in my childhood.  It's just nice to not have it anymore!

Trip to the Library

I've gotten in the habit of waking up around 3 and taking some ibuprofen. It's hard to know what to even think of a habit like this. One thing to be said for it is that when I wake up at 5 or so to run, I'm more likely to get up to do so. This morning, I had the added incentive of having a few library items to return: Copying Beethoven, which I haven't had a chance to watch, but which I ironically copied, and some VHS tapes which I mysteriously signed out for Hazel not recalling that we don't have a working VHS player anymore.

I took a variety of interesting little back alleys. So many of the little hills around here are steep enough that until you're actually on them, you can't see what's down them. I remember that being the same characteristic that made driving in San Francisco interesting, but when it comes to running, my ankle anticipates them coming up.

In addition to the rabbits which are ubiquitous at this time of the morning, I saw a bird which ran along the ground in front of me. A robin, I think, although it was too dark to clearly see it. Injured, I supposed, and the rest of the way back home, I was questioning whether I should have picked it up, brought it back to the house to nurse it back to health... Unclear if these considerations are a kind of fantasy nourished by watching too many Disney films as a child, or more of a compassionate impulse that is squelched by thoughts of incompetence and hurriedness that are so part of my experience.

A bit of a jump

So, I got to the 4 minute mark today on my first leg, and didn't feel like stopping, so I continued.  I made it until 7 minutes before I felt I needed to stop, so I switched to a 7 minute run - 2 minute walk x 3.  This increases my running time by 5 minutes, and doesn't change the overall workout time by very much.  By the 3rd leg, I was feeling pretty tired, but it seems like my cardiovascular is catching up to my legs.   Felt good to get to the finish line today!

Back from the conference...Back to running

So I took 3 days off, when I intended to do 2.   This week I was back and forth to Boston for a conference, and yesterday I decided to sleep in as much as I could (and it was raining).  Today I decided not to backslide, and to repeat the 4 min run/3 min walk x 4, and was able to do it, but it was tough.  I'll do at least 1 more day of that before advancing.

From a Runners World article, I saw an interesting quote.  "The difference between walking and running isn't speed or biomechanics.  It's determination."  Sometimes that's all that keeps me going.  :)

Balancing Fortitude and Prudence

I imagine that at some point, my right foot will be doing better. Actually, I thought this morning was going to be it. :) New shoes on my feet, I headed out in the wee hours and tried to minimize the hills. After about a a third of a mile, though, my foot started throbbing again. I stopped a couple of times, stretched it, moved on. Ended up walking quickly back, in the end.
Getting up early turned out to be helpful. A colleague from work had sent out an email requesting help with an early morning task due to illness. Nice to be able to help out and even though the run was far from really vigorous, I still feel a bit of the energy that getting up this way seems to impart.
Makes me want to buy an iPod, though. I have a big old mp3/cd player that I use in the car. (Recently, I've been making my way through Practicing Peace in Times of War by Pema Chodron on my way into work.) But that's not really going to work for a run. I wonder if the hard disk based iPods are any good when running....

A brisk run

It was a little brisk this morning for my run.  Again, I did 4 min run/3 min walk x 4.  After tomorrow, I will take a couple days off to give my muscles time to recoup.  

There was a nice layer of fog on the field in the park I run through, but I didn't see the bunnies this morning.  I can tell that the running is a getting a bit easier, although by the end I am pretty tired.

More running than walking

For the first time I am doing more running than walking, 4 min run/3 min walk x 4.  My foot is feeling a bit better today than it has been.

I have noticed all the uses of the word "run" in the random music I put on my mp3 player.  I also get flashbacks to the 500 yard run/walk as part of the presidential fitness award program I did in elementary school.  I was really good at situps at that time, but to even get through the 500 yards was a huge task for me.  I remember once, in 5th grade, measuring my heart rate well into the 200s.  It was part of an ongoing project to measure heart rate before and after exercise, and one day it went off the chart! (I had to tack on 2 extra sheets of graph paper).  In hindsight, the teacher probably should have brought me to the nurse, but I imagine he chalked it up to bad measurement.

The weather has been cooperating perfectly for the runs.

Mother's Day and Beyond

I took a break from the morning run for Mothers Day, to cook my wife breakfast in bed with the kids.  Today, I was back on the trail.  Again 4 min walk/3 min run x 4.  Sometimes my watch feels like Frodo and the ring...I feel a great urge to look at it to...an urge I try to ignore, as my body gets heavier and heavier.  :)  

Actually, the amount of time that I run before looking at my watch has steadily increased.  I know when to increase the run time when I miss my stop-deadline.  

I also found today that I was looking up (meaning forward) a lot more, as opposed to at the ground or my feet.  I think this is a good sign that my body is getting used to all of this.

Bunnies!

I saw the 2 little brown bunnies this morning on my run.  Too cute!

The new shoes felt good, but the top of my foot still hurt a bit.  However, it only did while walking!  When running, the pain disappeared.  I did notice that even a day off made running more challenging, but I still did 4 min walk/3 min run x 4.  

I'm determined to make it to the 5k in September!

New shoes all 'round

In light of my foot pain, I went out and bought some new running shoes, the first I have ever had.  My pain has decreased a lot today, so I am going to try to run tomorrow morning and get back into the swing of things.  

Had never heard of "Vitamin I" before, but it is very appropriate.  :)

I, too, have found the mornings to be the best time.  Nothing creeps into that time except the lack of motivation.  You're guaranteed to have no meetings or phone calls at that time to deal with, and it starts the day off very well.  I find that my energy level is higher all day when I exercise in the morning.

Day off!

Yesterday was great. Since I didn't have to be up early, I slept in (until 5:45.) It was one of those great dripping grey mornings. Kept me nice and cool and I think encouraged me to run a bit further, perhaps. (Although it also plagued me a bit with nagging concerns about one of the brick columns in the front of the house which is slowly dissolving in the rain.) I have to say that this early morning running is ideal. It's much better than the last time I took running up, mostly in mid-day. It feels like it provides a stiller foundation for the day ahead.

By mid-day yesterday, I was limping around. I foolishly felt that the shoes I had, and have been intermittently running with since the early 90s, were fine. Well, they were. Nice Saucony's. The foot attached to the let that I broke a few years back really started causing me some pain. Even this morning, (Friday), it was enough for me not to go out. But it didn't stop me from driving out to REI to take advantage of the sale and get a new pair. Older brother, Bob, has since told me that the new ones are a little dicey, although they came really highly rated and my general sense is that they are going to be worlds better than what I've been using. In the meanwhile, loading up on "Vitamin I" and looking forward to the new shoes!

Pain is a pain

I have developed a pain on the top of my right foot, so I am taking tomorrow off.  I hope to buy some nicer shoes soon, making sure that I can run without these problems cropping up.  It is a drag to break my momentum, but if I don't I will probably break something more serious than momentum.

The rain falls mainly on the pain

I woke up at 4:15am this morning to the sound of pouring rain.  I drifted in and out until the alarm at 5am, and crawled out of bed.  By the time I got out, it was a light sprinkle.  I did 4 min walk/3 min run for 4 times.  This was the hardest run so far, and the rain increased over the course of the run.  By the end, it actually felt nice to be rained on!

I started feeling this cramp in my right side and right shoulder.  It reminded me of childhood, when I would run and get these same cramps.  I also tried running early in college, and was always stopped by the pain involved in running.  The difference here is the goal: 5k by September, plus a bit of experience pushing myself.

I'll stay at 4/3 walk/run for a couple of days, and hopefully I will get better.  I have already noticed that the time that I look at my watch to see if my cycle is done has been increasing on its own by about 20-25 seconds each day.

I saw the brown bunny this morning.  :)

Some pictures of my running route

So I start off at home, in the dark at 5am, looking back over the pond at the back of my house.  I then walk for 5 minutes, which takes me around my neighborhood, toward the park.  I begin my run/walk through the park to the neighborhood on the other side.

The park has baseball and soccer fields, and at the end I usually find a couple of cute little brown bunnies (but not today).  

After going through the park and a bit beyond, I turn around and come back home.

By the time I get back home, it is light again.  I finish up with some stretches outside, and go in for a shower.

Nice weather

It's a beautiful day today, and a nice morning for a run.  I did 5 min walk/2 min run x 3.5.   I didn't see the two little bunnies I often see at the other end of the park, and thankfully I did not see Mr Skunk.  Although I like the bird sounds in the morning, I find that I need a proper soundtrack to exercise to at 5am.  Mostly loud and obnoxious music.  :)

Later, I'll try to post some pictures from my run this morning.  I took my cell, and paused for an occasional 10 seconds during the walk phase to take a picture.  

I am finding that I am getting less patient with my walk-phases, so I might go to 4/3 tomorrow.  I don't want to push myself to much, however.  3 minutes is a long time for me to run at this point.  I look at my watch at about 1 minute and 50 seconds.   I'm sure I'll look back on this, and be amazed at my progress!

(First run) '

It's been toooo long. Although I'm often up in the wee hours, to be up and out at this time of the morning... years. The trees around the house are silly with song birds. I can hear them from up the street, from the yards of all of those houses that don't have song birds. I can't quite decide if they're better off for it at this time of the morning, when I'm still in bed. But hearing them from the outside is different. It's still dark, and I can just see their dark outlines on the wire. I can identify only the cardinal by sound, thanks to one of Hazel's toys from the Audobon Society, although a number of the other birds are equally persistent.
Running was nice, too. The first day is, I know. I ran something around 25 minutes, stopping to struggle up the hills, then running down the hills. It's an early work day, and the clock just chimed, so I'm off to prepare now , thinking about Brian doing the same thing 10 hrs. to the East. (Longer if one were to run.)

First post

I am starting from scratch, and have been training now for 3 days.  :)

I started with 5 minutes walking warmup, followed by a 1 minute run and 6 minutes walking, repeated 3 times.  Today I did 2 minute runs with 5 minutes walking.  I feel sore, but generally good.  I actually feel better, after 3 days, than I have for quite some time.