My Thousand Mile Year

Today’s run: 5.62 miles, 1:03:32 minutes. Moist and gray. My old friend pink sweatsuit lady was out doing her kundalini isometrics. It’s like I never left.

Back in the Womb

30 May 2010

Today’s run: 5.04, 55:31 minutes. My first run after 5 days of being sick; three days of dizzy fever followed by 2 days of ultra-congestion; textbook case of me stomping on my immune system and paying for it. It was a good one – in LA sunshine – down the Venice Boardwalk and through Santa Monica.

Being back in LA is a little bit like the aftermath of really incredible sex after a long dry spell. I feel like I’ve dropped back into the womb. Familiar, sunny environs allow me to settle into my head and autopilot myself through space.

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Steamy Run

25 May 2010

Today’s run: 5.03 miles, 55:51 minutes. YT: 352.96.

First steamy hot run of the year. Usually only my hat gets wet-sweaty. Today I sweat through my shirt enough that I could feel it suctioning to my skin. But it was a good run nonetheless. I thought of sex. A lot. It was the only way I could keep my pace up.

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Intense Run

22 May 2010

Today’s run: 7.6 miles, 1:31:20. YT: 347.93 miles. Run mantra: Once you go forward, it’s hard to go back.

This run was intense. I left knowing I wasn’t in the best physical condition to set out for a 7-miler in the midday sun. But I decided I would anyway. I needed that cleanse of 90 minutes of motion. And I needed the miles.

In the first 20 minutes of the run, I was almost hit by a car, a 2-person bike, and a kid on roller blades.

At the Manhattan bridge, I started to feel nauseated. Not so good while crossing a gigantic bridge over moving water, with subway trains hurtling by every three minutes.

Run highlight: Getting to the water fountain in East River park after 3 miles of dry mouth that had me staring longingly at the puddles along the water front.

A bird shat on me at mile 7.

And now I feel pretty thrilled with myself for sticking it out. Also a little dizzy.

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Productive Run

20 May 2010

Today’s run: 5.9 miles, 1:03 minutes. Followed training plan to a T – 2 miles easy, 4 x 2 min aerobic intervals, plus 2 miles easy. It felt really great to push myself on those intervals – which was excellent, because it doesn’t always! I wrote a video script that I needed to write for work in my head on this run. Excellent use of the time. I had lots of crazy thoughts that i wanted to turn into a good blog post, but alas I had to get straight to work and forgot them all. Hoowa!

Training Tips for Running

Wall Street Heliport

17 May 2010

Today’s run: 6.26 miles, 1:10 minutes. YT: 334.43. Today I made it all the way down to the Wall Street heliport. It was nice to see some new scenery, including a load of people getting off the ferry. I think I’d love to ride the ferry every day to work!

I am so happy to be getting more long runs in again. They’re so much more fun! Mark my words, new runners, you’ll start to enjoy it when you train your way up into 5-8 mile runs. It takes a couple miles for your body to say, “OK, OK, we’re running!” Then it starts to get good.

Manhattan Bridge Adventure Run

15 May 2010

Today’s Run: 7.2, 1:19:24 minutes. YT: 328.17. Today I saw NY’s version of LA’s Kooky Groovy Lady. She was overall less kooky and groovy, but she was doing a kind of Spanish dance as part of her walk gait. It involved a lot of arm movement.

I was really excited about today’s run, and it didn’t disappoint me. The route plan was hatched with Scott of 430 or Bust fame over DM messaging: My apartment to the East River, up East River to Caroline Slip, up the slip through Chinatown to Bowery, which would put me right on the pedestrian path of the Manhattan Bridge.

So, let’s get started…. First, approaching the Bridge from the East River:

Then, Chinatown… not a single white person in site, so I guess the tourists go elsewhere:

Now, some pics from the bridge approach, looking down into Chinatown…

Now, getting out onto the real bridge…

And finally, get ready for it —

The bridge you see there is the Brooklyn Bridge. Another view…and you can click these photos if you want to see them bigger.

In summary, great run! Barely felt the 7 miles, what with all this picture taking. I didn’t go all the way across the bridge – I turned around at 3.5 miles, because I wanted a 7 mile round trip. I had three decent runs in a row this week; why push it?

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Two Down, One More to Go

15 May 2010

Today’s run: 4.6 miles. 54:50 minutes. YT: 320.97.

Total quintessential LES run this a.m. At Stuv Cove Park “gym” – a homeless man doing bicep curls with a beat up blue barbell. Two blocks from home, the thick smell of incense wafting from the Mary idol at the Hispanic Catholic Church. One block from home, a piece of trash blown around my leg and with me for 15 feet. Next door to my home, two men having a convo outside the dreds shop:

“She called me at 1 a.m…. Is that a booty call or what?”

“Hell, yeah, that a booty call.”

Five Milers Times Three

13 May 2010

Today’s run: 5.47 miles, 1 hour, 26 seconds. Training called for 4 miles easy plus 6x 90-sec aerobic intervals. I did them faithfully, although the last one was pretty slow because I was POOPED.

Tomorrow, thanks to a little help from Scott from DM, I’ve got a Manhattan Bridge run planned Saturday. Will it be 7 miles? 8? I can’t be sure! What important is that I run at least 5 miles both tomorrow and Saturday to keep above 20 for the week.