By way of introduction...

Thank you, Kristina, for inviting me along! I hope that by writing a little about my running, I can keep from boring my non-running friends, as well as be inspired by (or an inspiration to) you and James and anyone who reads this blog.

As for today, I did a run/walk for three miles around my neighborhood. I hadn’t intended to walk at all, and wanted to go a full five, but the humidity was oppressive come mid-afternoon. Now, normally I would have run around 7:00 this morning. Lately, though, without NEEDING to get up for anything, I’ve become a big fan of the snooze button. I probably should have just run on my treadmill to stay in the air-conditioning, but I wanted to be outside. And for the most part, it felt really good: light on my feet, quick pace, joints and form solid.

I got to test out my running mix, which I’ve been rebuilding since I got a new computer last week. Using beaTunes, I analyzed my library to ascertain each song’s BPM, aiming to add only those from the high 140s-160 to my running mix. It’s an imprecise science, but I now have a little red shuffle loaded with ten hours of run-worthy music that’s mostly of the right speed (“Hey Ya!” hits the BPM sweet spot and clocks in at 159, which should have me running something around a 9-minute mile, depending on stride. I tend not to time myself beyond checking the clock when I leave and come back. As long as I have an idea of where I’m at, speed-wise, I feel comfortable just logging the miles and building up endurance). Standout track of the day: “Always Something There to Remind Me,” Naked Eyes (149 BPM).

The rest of the week will go ideally a bit like this: four to five miles of play-list “intervals” tomorrow (i.e., I set the treadmill pace to whatever speed gets my feet pounding in time to whatever song pops up, so I only have to keep up any pace for about three minutes), a pre-dawn eight-miler on the towpath on Wednesday, yoga and relaxation on Thursday, and five-miler through my neighborhood early on Friday. Weekend will be off as I will be out of town (though I’m not flying, so I should have the extra cargo space to take my shoes, just in case…).

Okay, and so you know where I’m headed long-term, my goals for the next few months are thus: bump my mileage up from around 20 to around 30 miles a week (this may be optimistic) and get my half-marathon time to two hours or under (I did the Cleveland half in May in 2:13) for a as-yet-to-be-determined half-marathon in October. Suggestions, anyone?

shaking up the playlist

I am pondering a Harvard stadium run (provided that no teams are practicing there) tomorrow...and a more vicious playlist to inspire the breaking of more running goals and generally being a fierce panda.

Debuting this 3 hour playlist on the iPod tomorrow. I'm trying to get psyched for 18-20 mile runs now!

1. "Sorry" - Madonna
2. "The Hand That Feeds" - Nine Inch Nails
3. "Enter Sandman" - Metallica
4. "Come As You Are" - Nirvana
5. "Voodoo People" - The Prodigy
6. "You Shook Me All Night Long" - AC/DC
7. "Dani California" - Red Hot Chili Peppers
8. "Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen
9. "Seven Nation Army" - White Stripes
10. "Bring Me To Life" - Evanescence
11. "Sexual" - Amber
12. "Evenflow" - Pearl Jam
13. "Banquet" - Bloc Party
14. "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
15. "We Will Rock You" - Queen
16. "The Bad Touch" - Bloodhoung Gang
17. "Comfort Eagle" - Cake
18. "Rock and Roll" - Led Zeppelin
19. "Girls" - Beastie Boys
20. "Cherub Rock" - Smashing Pumpkins
21. "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morrissette
22. "Beware Of The Boys" - Panjabi MC feat. Jay-Z
23. "Basket Case" - Green Day
24. "American Girl" - Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
25. "Intergalactic" - Beastie Boys
26. "Somnambulist" - BT
27. "Laid" - James
28. "Remember The Name" - Fort Minor
29. "The Way You Wear Your Head" - Nada Surf
30. "Don't Stop The Music" - Rihanna
31. "Dancing With Myself" - Billy Idol
32. "You Really Got Me" - Van Halen
33. "Hella Good" - No Doubt
34. "Get It Together" - Beastie Boys
35. "Only" - Nine Inch Nails
36. "Shut Up and Drive" - Rihanna
37. "Crazy" - Gnarls Barkley
38. "Get By" - Talib Kweli
39. "Used To Love U" - John Legend
40. "Lucifer" - Jay-Z
41. "Superstar" - Jamelia
42. "Breathe" - The Prodigy
43. "Self-Esteem" - Offspring
44. "U + Ur Hand" - Pink
45. "Tambourine" - Eve
46. "Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey
47. "fhqwhgads" - Strong Bad

I am also getting the following on Amazon once I'm employed again:
"Take California" - The Propellerheads
"Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor
"Superhero" - Jane's Addiction
"Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake
"I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - Dropkick Murphys
"Pour Some Sugar on Me" - Def Leppard
"Rebel Yell" - Billy Idol
"I Kissed a Girl" - Katy Perry

Thanks to Sahan for providing me with Rocky and girl-on-girl songs.

long run today

Distance: 14.66 miles
Time: 2:35:56
Pace: 10:39/mile
Temperature: 76 degrees
Time of Day: 7:17 a.m.

I tried to make it to 15.5 miles today but only got to 2:35. The humidity was worse than on my last long run and I took a bottle of water instead of Propel. I thought that eating a lot of pasta might have canceled out my lack of sleep, but it did not. I'll try for 15.5 miles again next week.

trying to be a faster pony

In San Francisco I ran on treadmills three times:

2 miles 16:33
2 miles 16:27
2.8 miles 23:37

Treadmill running has gotten a lot easier! Now I'm inspired to buy a tutu and register for a 5K.

long run today

Distance: 14.32 miles
Time: 2:25:30
Pace: 10:10/mile
Time of Day: 7:34 a.m.
Temperature: 70 degrees

MapMyRun continues to enrage me. I mapped out my 14.32 miles (about 4 miles plus the Eliot Bridge to Museum of Science to River Street to Pleasant Street) but the site crashed while "saving to blog." The nice weather helped immensely during the run. I thought I'd be out of shape after not having done a run longer than seven miles during vacation, but I was able to keep up the same pace that I had been running for about fifteen more minutes. That might have been attributable to my urge for a Spicy Start sandwich at Hot off the Press though...sometimes I'm tempted to stop at the Mass Ave bridge and just run up to Inman Street. Next week I will try to make it to the JFK bridge (or 2:35, whichever comes first).

run in portland

Distance: 7.09 miles
Time: 1:13:34
Pace: 10:13/mile
Time of Day: 7:30 a.m.
Temperature: 57 degrees

Ran in Portland today. Felt really dehydrated, and stupidly did not take a bottle of water with me or buy one along the way. I also didn't feel as motivated as usual--having a buddy for runs longer than an hour helps a lot more than I thought.

long run today

Distance: 12.51 miles
Time: 2:05:19
Pace: 10:02/mile
Temperature: ~79 degrees
Time of Day: 7:45 a.m.

MapMyRun was being finicky today so there is no picture to accompany this blog entry :( Today's run was much better than last week's long run. The weather was probably 5-10 degrees cooler, and I hydrated and ate properly last night. I had a cup of coffee with an espresso gu and headed out with my new geisha water bottle. I went down to the Western Ave bridge and started on the Boston side rather than heading toward the Eliot bridge.

It's so much better than when it was under construction last year--no more stinky gravel path! The shade from the trees was quite pleasant. I wish I'd run on this side more during previous long runs. I'm going to miss having the luxury of doing long runs on weekday mornings. The Esplanade is much less crowded, and the catcallers aren't out in full force (except for one that yelled "Mmm! Calm my soul!" from his bike).

I'm still a bit confused about how to pick up the Cambridge side of the path after crossing the Museum of Science bridge. I ended up running through East Cambridge and picking it up at Wadsworth Street, where I usually come off the path to Broadway. The second half of the run wasn't as pleasant as the first because of lack of shade. I felt better after hydrating at the Eliot boat house water fountain. I decided to stop at Whole Foods for some sparkling water after the run--I suppose I could have gone another half mile to make it to 13 miles, but I'm still happy with the run!