Today Karyn and I ran long around the lakes again (it was a really nice day, sunshine and I thought I saw a high of 37, yea, spring is on the way), she ran 18 miles and I added one more mile for 19. When we got done with 18 miles, I felt ok and I knew she would stretch out a bit and well, I don't. So I told her I was going to do a cool down mile. One day, I will get into stretching but thus far, I wait until injuries force me to do it and since I am healthy, I don't need to stretch, no comments are necessary on this :-). I did end up un-retiring my VST's as I had them on and they seemed comfortable and I knew I was wearing different socks so I didn't want to change two things at once. Granted I did have other shoes but they felt like they had another run (or maybe 2) left in them.
On Tuesday, I will be hosting the Runners Round Table again. This is a continuation of the last time I was on the show when we interviewed Jan and Joe from Marathon & Beyond. We decided we should have Joe back and he agreed, so join Albert, Lesley and myself at the round table as we interview Joe Henderson at 7:00 PM CST.
For the week, I hope to start getting balance in my running routine. I only ran 3 days last week and need to get to 5 if I am going to have any chance to improve this year. I posted weeks back about getting my act together in this domain and I have not succeeded thus far. It is a new week, so now is the time to begin.
I did set an all time high for mileage in February with 114 miles, outside of December (91) and January (113) this is one of my lowest mileage months. Do you see a trend for my lower mileage months? I think it is still safe to say that after 29 years in Minnesota, I am still adapting to winter. I can add a bit to that and say that no matter how long I live here, I doubt I will ever adapt as I still very strongly dislike cold, snow and the darkness of winter.
I have decided that FANS, Afton 50k, Turtle Trot Triathlon, Superior 50, TCM and Surf the Murph are givens. The only one that concerns me is Superior as I might not be able to complete 50 miles on that trail within their time limit, guess which one I am looking the most forward to. FANs will also be extremely hard on me mentally, I am doing it so that if I am struggling at Superior, I will think back to myself and say at least you aren't circling Nokomis. The only question about FANs is how many miles can I do, the 12 hours shouldn't be a problem. So I will be signing up for those, now I just need to finalize Chippewa, please start melting snow. I also asked my wife about Journey's as although I would enjoy it, we could also run Lincoln or Rockford which would get me a state. She is planning on running the marathon so it will be her choice for which one to do.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
2010 events - final decisions
I just saw that two races I am planning on doing have opened their registration so if you want to run Afton or Superior (fall events) sign up now.
So it is decision time, Wayne and Karen have been telling me I should join them in Illinois for McNaughton, I would love to do it but I am leaning towards doing Chippewa. Here is my current thinking for both,
Reasons to run Chippewa
1. Streak - I have done Chippewa the first two years, this will make 3 in a row.
2. Cost - Chippewa $55 and no hotel required. McNaughton - $80, could pitch a tent
3. Last year - I made a wrong turn, injured a foot and basically got my butt kicked, I want revenge or at least another crack at the course.
4. Surely the snow will be gone and my wife can run the 10k
Reasons to run McNaughton
1. It would click off Illinois as a state
2. Would be my 2nd 50 miler and I would have 30 some hours to complete it
3. It would mean I wouldn't hear about it from Wayne or Karen any longer
4. There shouldn't be snow at McNaughton, there might be at Chippewa
Other than the debate about Chippewa and McNaughton, the rest of the schedule is pretty locked in so I may as well get moving on it.
So time to finalize the decisions and start sending out the cash.
So it is decision time, Wayne and Karen have been telling me I should join them in Illinois for McNaughton, I would love to do it but I am leaning towards doing Chippewa. Here is my current thinking for both,
Reasons to run Chippewa
1. Streak - I have done Chippewa the first two years, this will make 3 in a row.
2. Cost - Chippewa $55 and no hotel required. McNaughton - $80, could pitch a tent
3. Last year - I made a wrong turn, injured a foot and basically got my butt kicked, I want revenge or at least another crack at the course.
4. Surely the snow will be gone and my wife can run the 10k
Reasons to run McNaughton
1. It would click off Illinois as a state
2. Would be my 2nd 50 miler and I would have 30 some hours to complete it
3. It would mean I wouldn't hear about it from Wayne or Karen any longer
4. There shouldn't be snow at McNaughton, there might be at Chippewa
Other than the debate about Chippewa and McNaughton, the rest of the schedule is pretty locked in so I may as well get moving on it.
- Chippewa 50k or McNaughton 50
- Journeys Marathon
- FANS 12 hour
- Afton 50k
- Turtle Trot Triathlon
- Superior 50
- Twin Cities Marathon
- Surf the Murph 50
So time to finalize the decisions and start sending out the cash.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Minneapolis, the city of lakes
On Sunday Karyn and I went for a long run together and we decided to run the lakes of Minneapolis as our local bike trails are still fairly icy and snow packed and my beloved trails are snow packed and not conducive to a long run at least together. I should mention that we both plan to run the Journey's marathon together so we are working to ramp up the mileage. It will be her first marathon in 10 years. Now if I could just completely convert her to trail races then all would be perfect that said, an occasional road marathon can still be fun (she is thinking she will run the 10k at Chippewa (assuming no snow), then I just need to get her to sign up for Afton and Surf the Murph and maybe a few more and possibly run just a little bit longer :-) .
For those not familiar with the lakes, the map below gives you a feel for the area we were running in. It is about 3 miles around Lake Harriet, 3 miles around Calhoun and another 3 miles around Lake of the Isles (at least on the bike path, the pedestrian paths are a little bit less).
Our plan was to start at Harriet, run around it then over to Calhoun and up to Lake of the Isles and then back around Calhoun and once more around Harriet. This is pretty much what we did except we went up to the cut over to Lake of the Isles and instead looped back around Calhoun and then back to Lake of the Isles, back around Calhoun and then Harriet. It was a pleasant sunny day and with hydration packs for fluids we had no issues on the run. The one problem we did have was my Garmin, I turned it on and it didn't turn on. Somehow my battery was dead, I thought I had just charged it, wrong again. That was an irritation that I didn't need but we were there so I got over it after an hour or so.
Along the way, I decided to try and take a few pictures but I had issues unlocking the phone to get to the camera so I only took a couple of pictures (the problem was I couldn't see the screen, I guess I need to keep reading glasses available at all times, ouch). Here is a picture from Lake Calhoun looking toward Minneapolis, I should've zoomed in a bit but you can still see the city off in the distance (again, I couldn't see the screen, for this one I blame the sun) .
What did we encounter, the best the city can offer - a lot of people, a few clueless people, dogs, walkers/runners. We saw hundreds of folks out for a run or a walk, we saw cross country skiers who were skiiing across the frozen lakes. We saw a kite snowboarder propelling himself across the lake, we saw ice rinks with free skating, hockey and broomball. Broomball looks like an interesting game if you aren't familiar with it think hockey except no skates, sticks or a puck, instead shoes, brooms and a ball. Yet another Minnesota thing I have yet to experience (you can add Lutefisk and Curling and probably a few more to that list) .
I mentioned a few clueless folks, what constitutes clueless you might ask? The first instance was a man and a women walking along the path and then stopping in the middle of the path and looking off to the side of the road except they were blocking almost the entire path forcing people to veer around them. Then there were 3 folks walking side by side taking up the path, throw in a few dogs that weren't under complete control and some more folks who seemed like they own the entire path and it all adds up to a dozen or so clueless folks among hundreds. The best clueless event we saw was when a runner was coming towards us as we came up behind two people and their dog. They were taking most of the path and as the runner got closer to them they even moved towards him, forcing him off the path into the snow. The look on his face was priceless, it was like did you see that? We did and suffice to say those folks constitute clueless.
Heading back from Lake of the Isles to Lake Calhoun.
I do need to say that if you are ever in the twin cities these trails are great and the Grand Rounds set of trails are phenomenal (think 50+ miles of paved trails in the city of Minneapolis) especially compared to what many other cities offer. In the summer there are separate trails for runners/walkers and bikers and in the winter they plow one for all to share. For those that like running around people with easy access to water, restrooms and not too many hills (none around the chain of lakes) this is a nice place to come for a run.
Here is a map of the Grand Rounds to give you a feel for the extent of this system. Check it out when you have a free day to go for a run.
For those not familiar with the lakes, the map below gives you a feel for the area we were running in. It is about 3 miles around Lake Harriet, 3 miles around Calhoun and another 3 miles around Lake of the Isles (at least on the bike path, the pedestrian paths are a little bit less).
Our plan was to start at Harriet, run around it then over to Calhoun and up to Lake of the Isles and then back around Calhoun and once more around Harriet. This is pretty much what we did except we went up to the cut over to Lake of the Isles and instead looped back around Calhoun and then back to Lake of the Isles, back around Calhoun and then Harriet. It was a pleasant sunny day and with hydration packs for fluids we had no issues on the run. The one problem we did have was my Garmin, I turned it on and it didn't turn on. Somehow my battery was dead, I thought I had just charged it, wrong again. That was an irritation that I didn't need but we were there so I got over it after an hour or so.Along the way, I decided to try and take a few pictures but I had issues unlocking the phone to get to the camera so I only took a couple of pictures (the problem was I couldn't see the screen, I guess I need to keep reading glasses available at all times, ouch). Here is a picture from Lake Calhoun looking toward Minneapolis, I should've zoomed in a bit but you can still see the city off in the distance (again, I couldn't see the screen, for this one I blame the sun) .
What did we encounter, the best the city can offer - a lot of people, a few clueless people, dogs, walkers/runners. We saw hundreds of folks out for a run or a walk, we saw cross country skiers who were skiiing across the frozen lakes. We saw a kite snowboarder propelling himself across the lake, we saw ice rinks with free skating, hockey and broomball. Broomball looks like an interesting game if you aren't familiar with it think hockey except no skates, sticks or a puck, instead shoes, brooms and a ball. Yet another Minnesota thing I have yet to experience (you can add Lutefisk and Curling and probably a few more to that list) .
I mentioned a few clueless folks, what constitutes clueless you might ask? The first instance was a man and a women walking along the path and then stopping in the middle of the path and looking off to the side of the road except they were blocking almost the entire path forcing people to veer around them. Then there were 3 folks walking side by side taking up the path, throw in a few dogs that weren't under complete control and some more folks who seemed like they own the entire path and it all adds up to a dozen or so clueless folks among hundreds. The best clueless event we saw was when a runner was coming towards us as we came up behind two people and their dog. They were taking most of the path and as the runner got closer to them they even moved towards him, forcing him off the path into the snow. The look on his face was priceless, it was like did you see that? We did and suffice to say those folks constitute clueless.
Heading back from Lake of the Isles to Lake Calhoun.
I do need to say that if you are ever in the twin cities these trails are great and the Grand Rounds set of trails are phenomenal (think 50+ miles of paved trails in the city of Minneapolis) especially compared to what many other cities offer. In the summer there are separate trails for runners/walkers and bikers and in the winter they plow one for all to share. For those that like running around people with easy access to water, restrooms and not too many hills (none around the chain of lakes) this is a nice place to come for a run.Here is a map of the Grand Rounds to give you a feel for the extent of this system. Check it out when you have a free day to go for a run.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Running trails, winter
It appears that I have a camera that works for taking pictures so I decided to take a couple while on a run in Lebanon Hills yesterday. I think they turned out ok, so I will plan on carrying my phone when I run and if something interesting pops up, I will have no excuse not to stop and take a picture.
Not sure if the pictures give you a feel or not of what it's like to run the trails in Minnesota this time of year but hopefully they do at least a little bit. These are great running trails in the summer and tolerable for winter running after the snowshoers/runners/hikers get it nice and packed down, otherwise they require a bit of work in the wintertime. Of course when the snow is fresh the trails are great for snowshoeing even though I enjoy running a whole lot more.
Not sure if the pictures give you a feel or not of what it's like to run the trails in Minnesota this time of year but hopefully they do at least a little bit. These are great running trails in the summer and tolerable for winter running after the snowshoers/runners/hikers get it nice and packed down, otherwise they require a bit of work in the wintertime. Of course when the snow is fresh the trails are great for snowshoeing even though I enjoy running a whole lot more.
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