My name is David. I am a runner.

If memory serves, today is the longest daylight day of the year. Conversely, it was the shortest night of the year. Which is why it didn’t cool down last night and was an awfully humid 84 degrees when I drove up to Park Avenue today. That’s about 10 degrees higher than usual and it felt like it.

An old familiar face was on hand this morning after a few months absence: Dave. He still had a quick step in his pace on the road. Early church has been his excuse for staying away. Today was open because his daughter is performing at the later service.

Jack was there. Ed. A few others. I started fine and went two-plus miles talking marathon miscellanea with a new guy and gal. She got in to NY Marathon and starts training soon. It’ll be her first. The guy only does 5Ks but was out to do six or seven miles today.

At 2 miles I told Ed I felt like walking so we stopped. My legs were like lead. Breathing was hard in the heat. I was sweating profusely. It was an all around kick-ass running condition. We walked and commiserated on the heat. We then made a wise decision to save ourselves for another day. Instead of running 9 or 10, I opted to return to the start. Ed and I had a good visit walking and jogging quarter mile stretches now and then.

It’s unbelievably hot in Florida. Should top 100 before the day is done, just like yesterday. Of course, yesterday I went to Playalinda Beach where the breeze off the ocean was perfect. The water was refreshing; and I had a good beach book to read. That is how to spend a 100 degree day.

Happy Fathers Day to all. I got a phone call from #1 in Quantico and a six pack of Red Stripe from #2 in the refrigerator with a note this morning.  That’s as good as it gets. Fine by me.

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I have used the FIRST plan to train for the last four or five marathons. It serves me well insofar as it has me doing the essentials: speedwork, tempos, hills and long runs.  I had plotted a Hartford M plan into my Dead Runners Society spreadsheet, which controls my running life, and started ramping up to the start of training the week after next.  Then Runner’s World arrived and they have the “Challenge” all splashed around in there with Bart Yasso’s intermediate marathon runners training plan.

In the spirit of always willing to try something new, I am changing plans and will give Yasso a chance to make Hartford a PR success for me. The something new parts are comprised of running the serious stuff on Wednesdays and Fridays instead of Tuesday and Thursdays; and running hills, hills and hills in the early training weeks and putting the speedwork in about halfway through. There are definitely more miles in the plan when you take into account the “easy” run days which I consider desirable but optional, especially if work gets in the way.

When I spend two weeks in Rhode Island in August I will give the plan my full attention since I have some very testy hills to practice on.

ORC Sunday Run

I arrived downtown this morning to find several surprises. Jack was back after two weeks away; and, of all people, John L. was back after a five month hiatus, consumed by lethargy and a YMCA treadmill. Also, there were five new people who I had never seen before. I hope they’ll be back. Among the regulars, Non-stop Bob has gone north (VT) for the summer; Ed, Christy, Lytle, Liz, Cheryl, Seth and Chris were all absent.

Jack reported that Chris has taken his chassis to the garage for a month. Chris is one of those guys who runs every every every day, at least nine miles. He has a lot of miles on that body and he’s been hurting lately. We’ve nagged him for months about taking some time off or cutting back to a five or six day routine but he wouldn’t hear any of that … until his body told him so in no uncertain terms. So we’ll look for his return around the Fourth of July.

I couldn’t get my Garmin satellites to sync this morning so the crowd took off without me. They were about a quarter mile ahead when I got going. I eventually caught Jack at Mile 2 and ran with him to hear the account of his time away with his wife at her college reunion. As the spouse attending such occasions, you are best suited to go with zero expectations. Jack did just that and had a great time.

I took the Seniors Only shortcut with Jack along mile 3 and got slightly ahead of the rest of the crowd.  when they caught up, it was necessary to give the newbies directions since they didn’t know the route. I cut a few of them off on turns a time or two, not remembering my manners.

At the mile 4 water stop we compared distance plans. Most were good for six or seven. I said I was going for 10 and John took the challenge and we took our slow, hot, humid, sweaty and satisfying time getting around the lake, catching up on all the events and details of the months between our last run.  We both agreed we would not have done as well as we did this morning without the other to push us along.  It took a long time to cover the course but I felt good to have done it; and good to have John back on the Sunday team.

Breakfast.

In the tradition of giving my boys the opportunity to prove their skills at wait service, I went over to the Briar Patch after I stretched and changed into dry clothes (in Central Park using a towel as my cabana). I had a hankering for some waffles again. Younger son C. is now on staff and I was impressed by his service and table-side manner with other guests. He’s the charmer. His older brother is the tactical officer on a mission. Order. Serve. Clear. Pay. Clean. C. wants to make sure you’re having a pleasant time. I gave him a good tip.

Speaking of NOS, T. is in Quantico for 1o weeks at Marine Corps Officer Candidate School, enduring another drill sergeant ear drum-breaking spittle-spitting warm and fuzzy “filtering” program, much like Army boot camp and West Point plebe summer … but done the Marines’ way. He’s probably grinning from ear to ear. Of course, there is no communication when one is subjected to such regimens. We’re waiting on a letter to hear how Oooh-ah his summer is going.

Birthday Shout Outs.

Another of my favorite Susans is having her birthday today. She was better known for Finally Running but stopped blogging there and is now Just Running 3-4 times a week. I hope to catch up with her in Rhode Island, come August.

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My crackberry alerted me this morning that it was Runner Susan’s birthday today. After my run I gave her a call to catch her standing in line with Runner Sister Amy at a theme park with the kids. I allowed as that was cross-training for all intents and purposes.

Nevertheless, I did nine miles this morning in her honor as well as my own well being. It’d been five weeks since I ran that far and it was a mental challenge. 

The start began at its usual site, on Park Avenue, but without Father Jack to start us up. He was off with Mrs. Jack celebrating her class reunion somewhere. Liz had apparently been deputized by Jack to cut off the yacking and start running. She did fine by that and a pack of 17 started off together. The bulk of the runners were the BQ fasties who always start just around the corner from us. A fellow from Des Moines had shown up and when he said he’d run yesterday and already this morning and something about 8-minute miles, we left him in the good company of the larger pack that went ahead of us.

My group boiled down to Liz, Chris and Ed. Ed is returning from foot injury so he cut out at three miles. Chris went with is as far as the water spigot at four miles. That left me with Liz who took it another mile before turning towards the barn.

I found myself listening this morning. I filtered out human nosies as much as I could and tuned in to the bird sounds, my own breathing and footfalls. It was useful to get separation that way.

While my first five miles were rather saggy it seems the Shot Blok at mile four and the ZippFizz at mile six revved me up. It’d been some time since I’d enjoyed a ZippFizz and, dang, if I didn’t turn on my cruise control and stamina for the last two miles. Funny, how the body can have all its tumblers fall into better places and unlock a run that is a satisfying experience.

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Mrs. T stopped me for a moment at Mile 12

Nobody has a weight problem standing next to an elephant

Tommy the Cheetah

April Anne-Thin Trader-Mrs T at Flying Pig Expo

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I did 3×1200 repeats on Tuesday, plus 3×100s to add some sprint; and I had that tingle in my legs and a clear mind in my head. I had forgotten, amid all the slacking, how good that feels.

I was going to run this morning after sleeping in but Mrs. T was already up and ambushed my good intentions. After an extra hour of sleep, the distinct and hypnotizing smell of cooked waffles wafted through the house and into my brain. I bolted out of bed without waking and sat down to pour maple syrup over those suckers with sliced fresh Georgia peaches and dug in. Ahhhh.

So, for cardio, I mowed the meadow that was my lawn and will push to run nine tomorrow.

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May ended with a whopping 58 miles in the books. That included the marathon on the 2nd which says a lot for how little has gone on since.

I have a list here of excuses. Want to hear them?

• NBA play-offs are played too late and I wake up late the next day. They’ve been showing a game every night on TV you know. Orlando Magic-Lakers Finals start Thursday so more back-sliding is probable.
• I needed a break.
• Nobody has been pushing me. Runner Susan has wandered off my screens. The blog is quiet. I have no regular training partner (not that I ever had one). Nobody holds me accountable for whatever it is I should be doing.

So today I went up to Park Avenue for the Sunday run with several of my favorite people: Jack, Liz, Lytle, Chris, Ed and Seth. After skipping last week I was determined - for a change - to make another effort.

Last time I was there I ended up running/jogging/walking with Liz for all of 5.75 miles. It was about all I could muster. Today was much the same in distance but about a minute per mile faster. That was encouraging.

Plus Seth, the Marathon maniac 50-state bidder, was there and telling everybody about how he and I will be running the Hartford Marathon on October 10.  Well that put some accountability back in my head.

When I came home I finally sat down and loaded the month’s running data into my spreadsheets and then plotted out the next marathon training schedule.  It begins in three weeks so I better start ramping up the long runs again so I can be on track. Lord knows, it’ll be plenty hot in late June and all of July in Orlando. I’ll be sweating bullets and hopefully some pounds and systolic pressure at the same time.

Rhode Island training kicks in the first two weeks of August which may include the Ocean Beach 11.6 miler on August 1. I hope I might be joined by several of my all-time favorite Running Blog Family members - Diana and the Running Chicks, Beth and Jank.

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I haven’t run since last Sunday morning when I ran with Liz and Chris for no more than six miles. I was tired. I am still tired.
All except my fingers. They’ve been busy working the keys on my new Blackberry with all my personal connections except Twitter. (There’s only so much connection I can stand). I have to say I have become addicted to Facebook post reading. There are certainly more opportunities to post witty little comments and keep up with more people who do not run or read about my running. That it’s mobile makes it way too accessible.

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Driving home from Sanford - with a cool breeze refreshing us on a dry, top down evening - I commented to Mrs. T that I’ve taken her out of town four of the last five weekends. That is a proven formula for clearing out the work week’s stresses and whatever else ails you. Two beach trips and the Pig in Cincinnati  preceded todays jaunt to our neighboring county. It was their first ever downtown road race.

How did I do? It started at 6 p.m., promoted as a sunset run along the shores of Lake Monroe. All sounded good except that sunset isn’t until 8 p.m. these days; and everybody finished running by 7 p.m. Nevertheless, it was 88 degrees and sunny when I parked the car 15 minutes before the start. I know you all relish those kinds of race conditions.

I jogged ever so briefly to warm up then realized I needed a loo visit. That was fortuitous, I can say with certainty. No Jeanne exhibitions in Sanford.

When the gun went off I was strolling along the sidewalk looking for a gap to get into the road. I heard three hearty hails from other runners who recognized me, including Dan and his wife who ran the Pig two weeks ago.

I was near the back of the pack and crossed the mats and found the going slow. Traffic, including one group of walkers who were kind enough to bear right. We were running on several brick streets in the old and restored downtown, doing a weaving snake route that went three streets parallel to the lake, then cut up to the lake road before doubling back again to the middle street with all the restaurants and bars.

Inland, Mrs. T saw me and waved excitedly. Further on, I found the sun to be pretty darn hot as we approached the first mile clock. I passed it in 8:47. I also passed quite a few folks including Sunday morning running colleague Cheryl, who made a point to ask if I was coming to run tomorrow. Check.

Soon the route turned north and headed towards the breezy banks of Lake Monroe, a very large body of water than made Sanford a vital port in the early days of Westernized Florida.  Lots of shipping and logging went through it to reach the St. Johns River and north to Jacksonville and the Atlantic. The wind was in our face but the view was very scenic with a marina, park space and historic buildings along the way.  I grabbed a cup of water at the one water stop since I was truly parched. I picked up my pace and eventually caught and passed Dan, feeling pretty good. I noted to myself that my breathing was too shallow. I fixed that and kept my hips forward too. Halfway along the lakefront we passed mile 2. My split time was 8:23.

In front of a big early 20th century “resort” hotel - now a religious enclave - the course turned inland again. We were heading to the finish line. I was passing everybody and not feeling too whipped by the heat like so many others seemed to be. I kept reeling in the clock I saw in the distance and tapped my watch at Mile 3. It was an 8:27 mile. It took me 50 seconds to do the last tenth.

Result: My time was 26:26. I finished fourth in my age group, missing hardware by seven seconds.

Across the line, I grabbed water to rehydrate and then a banana. I wandered around to see other folks I know, then found Mrs. T sitting on a sidewalk bench taking it all in. I went off again to find that touted pretzel and beer. Check.

Once cooled down enough, I went back to the car and changed out of the wets and into some drys. Mrs. T was very hungry so we went across the street from her bench and were seated at a table in the Two Blonds and a Shrimp Restaurant and Wine Bar. Catchy name. Historically preserved interior. Old wood bar. High pressed tin ceiling. Nice atmosphere. We both had shrimp entrees that were delicious. I made a point of telling the manager we were dining there because of the race. I wanted to make sure he appreciated what having the race was worth to their business. It was a race worth the investment, despite the heat. We had a good time and isn’t that what it’s all about?

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After a take-it-easy week after the Pig I signed up for a 5K race Saturday night up in Sanford on Lake Monroe. It’s an evening race which guarantees a chance of drenching thunderstorms, high humidity and temps in the 80s. It could also be very nice weather but still hot.
What drew me to sign up was the promise of beer and hand made pretzels afterwards. Who could resist? I also look forward to chowing down in the downdown area.
Needless to say, I had to find some speed. Endurance is not so vital so I did 6×400s and 5×600s this week and will do some 800s tomorrow morning. It’s amazing how hard it is after being such a marathoner.

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