I jinxed Andrea

I didn’t mess up my running mojo but I think I jinxed Andrea. Yesterday I wrote about how well running was going for me and how Andrea is training to walk the half marathon in Houston. At about the same time I pressed the button to post that entry on my blog Andrea started having some pain in her left heal. She took off this morning to rest and iced it last night. Hopefully she will be back at it soon. Like I said I am not superstitious but if it were possible, I would give some of my running mojo to my wife so that she could walk again.

Jakeb and I took to the track this morning. I only ran half of my workout but it felt good to run faster than normal.

Running mojo

Running has been fun lately. Usually this time of year I hit a spot where it is really hard to walk out of the door in the mornings and run. For some reason it has been different this year. Maybe it is because Jakeb is running with me some. Maybe it is because Andrea is training this year to walk the half-marathon and watching her leave for exercise before me motivates me to get out there too. Maybe it is because I am in better shape to train for a marathon. I don’t know what has made the difference but I have not hit a low spot yet this season. If I were superstitious I would cross my fingers and knock on wood and throw salt over my shoulder or something to keep it going.

This morning Jakeb and I ran three miles together and it was good, then I ran 2 more alone. I felt like I could run for a while longer but I had to come in and get ready for work.

Hopefully this post won’t mess up my good running mojo.

I rode alone on my bike to the track this morning. Jakeb decided to switch his 3 mile run to tomorrow because he had a full day yesterday.

I ran an 800 warm-up, 1 mile, 800, 2x400, all at 7:30 pace with 400 recovery and an 800 cool down.

There were a lot of people at the track this morning. A couple of guys were running laps and everyone else was walking. I am not used to having a crowd around when I run. I’m sure that a majority of the people at the track did not even care that I existed but it felt like I was in a fish bowl and people were watching me run. Weird.

Into the fishbowl

I make my stand

Among the red fish

That shake my hand

The left of never

The right of me

The yellow water

Eternity

I'm in a fishbowl

I'm a fishbowl man

Why ride when you can drive?

My 1994 Ford Explorer died on Saturday morning. Since my dad is a mechanic he has been working on it. We’ve done fine as a one car family for a couple of days but I wonder what it would be like to have only one car long term.

I ran four miles this morning, fed the dogs, did some crunches, and then took a shower and tried to cool down. Since the Explorer was fried I rode my bike to work. When I got here I was a bit sweaty so it was good that I brought another shirt.

Without cars we would have to live closer to work. We would be in better shape. We would have to endure one another’s odor from the human powered travel to the office. Life would definitely simplify.

Dad just called and said the Explorer is fixed. Tomorrow I go back to my self-absorbed, air-conditioned, gas powered journey to work.

Tired

I woke up at about ten after six this morning (late for me), put on my running stuff and went out of the door at a little after seven. I ran about ten steps and thought “forget this” and went back home and ate breakfast and got ready for church.

I slept terribly last night and I was tired all over. I’m glad I didn’t run. It would have just worn me out and tomorrow is my long run - long for this time of year.

It’s time for an afternoon nap.

I run at 6 ... A.M.

The student ministry at our church had a dodge ball night at a local pizza restaurant/indoor soccer field a couple of weeks ago. One of the guys there is a high school runner and knows I run.

He came up to me and said, “Hey I want to run with you sometime.”

“You’re faster than me”, I told him.

“I don’t care, you run farther than me.”

“I run at six in the morning.”

He gave me a funny look and just walked away. He didn’t say “never mind” or “no thanks, that’s too early”. He just wandered off.

A couple of days ago I saw him in the office and I said, “Every morning I stand at the end of my driveway and look at my watch. It says ‘6:00 a.m.’ and I look up both sides of the street and you are not there. What’s up?”

He said, “I’ll meet you in the morning…at the track. I’ll ride my bike and meet you there”

Jakeb and I rode our bikes to the track the next morning and I looked at my watch. It said ‘6:00 a.m.’ and no one but me, Jakeb and a couple of walkers were on the dark oval.

A morning runner waits for no one. I think it has to do with that red line.

Blog Redesign

I was tired of the old blog look so I started messing around with a new template. I like the new design because it gives me greater flexibility with the header graphic. I find that tinkering with the design of the blog is way too addictive so I will stop now.

A horrible seven

I ran seven this morning and it was horrible. The first two and a half were with Jakeb and then I finished on my own. It was incredibly hot and my legs were dead weight. My shoes were sloshing by the time I made it home. I walked some between mile 5 and 6.

Andrea said, “At least you did it.”