Marie W. Wooten Memorial 5K

I ran the second annual Marie Wooten Memorial 5K this morning.  The route was the same, so it seemed a little more familiar this time.  I saw a lot of my colleagues from the College of Science and Math out there, and I finished in a reasonable time.  I was trying to go fast and keep up.

Playlist
Crawl	Kings of Leon
Fok Julle Naiers	Die Antwoord
Jump Around	House of Pain
El Microfono	Mexican Institute of Sound
Born Free	MIA
How Many More Times	Led Zeppelin

Time 22:21.  Reckon that's a PB, though maybe a slightly shorter route
Distance 3.1 (3.02 according to Map My Run)
Cumulative 22.63 miles
Pace 7:41 min/mi

Start of April

Due to business, I've had to skip getting up to 50 miles last month, and gotten a late start on April. Today, I opted to go up and into Grove Hill, out towards University, up Moore's Mill to Dean, and back down to University and home. Turns out it's not quite five miles. One more good run will have me back on track for my monthly goal, though. Hopefully I can find the inspiration for those eight nine ten mile runs again.

Playlist
All Apologies	Nirvana
Jump Around	House of Pain
The Jean Genie	David Bowie
Walk On By	Cake
Strange Apparition	Beck
Draw the Line	Aerosmith
Manic Depression	Jimi Hendrix
Tougher Than It Is	Cake
A Little Better	Gnarls Barkley
Notion	Kings of Leon
Heart of Glass	Blondie
Epistle to Dippy	Donovan

Distance 4.95 mi

Cumulative 4.95 mi

Time 42:42

Pace 8:38 min/mi

After the Half

A lovely morning it is this morning. And with a relative lull in my teaching duties, I decided to go out on a run. I went up out of the neighborhood and into Grove Hill, then left on Moore's Mill, and up to Dean Road. Then back down Dean to University and home. I felt pretty good. After a half marathon and a couple of days' rest, five miles is feeling like not very much. I feel like a key to getting my speed up is using my thighs more and my calves less. Since I started running again a few years ago, my main goal has been aerobic exercise to improve cardio health. I had read that speed wasn't important, and was in fact counterproductive, as it puts more stress on joints and muscles, etc. So I adopted a technique of running with mostly just lower legs.
But I like trying to improve upon my speed as well, and I think to do that a good start would be using my thighs more. After all, they are bigger muscles and have more swing in them. We'll see how this goes. I don't want to hurt myself.

Playlist- leftovers from the Half Marathon playlist plus

Cool It Down	Velvet Underground
Monkey	Matthew Dear
Driving South	Jimi Hendrix
Evil Urges	My Morning Jacket
Sex On Fire	Kings of Leon
Pop Muzik	M
Tougher Than It Is	Cake
Search and Destroy	Iggy and the Stooges
Once In A Lifetime	Talking Heads
Fat Bottomed Girls	Queen
Smile	Lily Allen

Times
L1 23:35 (home to end of Grove Hill)
L2 18:16
L3 0:43 (sprinting with my thighs, not my calves)

Distance 5.0 miles
Cumulative distance 32.9 miles. 6.1 to go for October's goal.

Warm Friday

Having finished my lecturing for the week, I knew it was time for another run. I set out shortly after 8 AM, which was, of course, the coolest it was going to be on this run. I went over the Interstate and west on University, up Donahue to College, and past the Art Museum back to Gay and home (not turning down Briarwood). Looking at my time, I didn't think I'd gone 4, but measuring the route showed that I went 4.1 miles. Yay. My BRAND NEW headphones have started going all wonky again. I think that when they get sweat in the microphone they start trying to activate Voice Control, and making the music play oddly. Boo. Otherwise, they're nice headphones.

Playlist
Turn It On -Flaming Lips
Novacane -Beck
Safe European Home -The Clash
The Width of a Circle -David Bowie
E-Pro -Beck
Crazy -Gnarls Barkley
Purple Haze -Jimi Hendrix
Notion -Kings of Leon
For Your Life -Led Zeppelin

Times
L1 15:06
L2 6:27
L3 3:26
L4 11:53
L5 0:50
Total 37:42

Distance 4.1 miles
Cumulative 35.2 miles

Night moves

No, I'm not suddenly down with Bob Seger. I just went on another nighttime run; a variation on the GWCToomer's route, tacking on enough to make it just over 6 miles. I turned on Samford and went up Armstrong, which I haven't done in a long while, and at the end I went around the block a bit to add the last 0.37. It's just warm enough out there, hopefully Fall will be upon us soon.

Playlist -Grungey
Les Yper-Sound -Stereolab
Breed -Nirvana
Devil's Haircut -Beck
On A Plain -Nirvana
Nothing -Meat Puppets
Scum -Meat Puppets
Use Somebody -Kings of Leon
Blanket of Weeds -Meat Puppets
The Sky Is Fallin' -Queens of the Stone Age
Good Thoughts, Bad Thoughts -Funkadelic
Superunknown -Soundgarden
Flaming Heart -Meat Puppets

Times
L1 13:00
L2 6:26
L3 7:20
L4 6:18
L5 6:45
L6 3:33
L7 12:15
L8 1:50
L9 0:59
Total 58:27

Distance 6.0 miles
Cumulative 31.1 miles. Getting close again.

Postscript: I think blogger is running some kind of cuckoo clock, it's actually 11pm, not 8:47

Still Catching Up

Somehow I thought this route would be a bit longer than 4 miles, but according to gmaps, it's not. I'm trying to play catchup and haven't quite caught up yet. But, being summer in Alabama, it's hot out there and I didn' want to go too far or too fast. I got a new pair of shoes yesterday, the Five Fingers variety, but I'm hesitant to go running in them until I get used to them a bit. My daughter wants to go running with me, so maybe we'll take a short one out to give them a try later today or tomorrow. I'm reluctant to take her out while I'm in catchup mode, seeing as she's a noobie and all.

Playlist
What New York Used to Be -the Kills
Buckingham Green -Ween
Use Somebody -Kings of Leon
Search and Destroy -Iggy and the Stooges
Birds in the Treetop -Ras Michael and the Sons of Negus
Mind -Talking Heads
Clap Hands -Tom Waits
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
Manhattan -Kings of Leon
Shout It Out Loud -Kiss

Times
L1 12:45
L2 6:39
L3 18:12
L4 0:54
Total 38:30

Route. Wright's Mill Univ. Gay Samford WM Univ. Home.
Distance 4.0 miles
Cumulative 7.1 miles

Hot Lazy Saturday Morning

I knew I had to get out there today. I'm slipping behind in my challenge, and I don't think I should try to backend all my miles at the end of the month. Another newish route, left on University and up to Donahue, then back down Kimberly and down University to Town Creek. At the restrooms, I stopped and rested, both my bladder and the rest of my body, and had a little sip of water from the fountain, then back out to Gay and home.

Playlist
Use Somebody -Kings of Leon
Lucifer Sam -Pink Floyd
Spoonman -Soundgarden
Notion -Kings of Leon
Blanket of Weeds -Meat Puppets
Transdermal Celebration -Ween
Mexican Radio -Wall of Voodoo
Turn it On -Flaming Lips
Heroes -David Bowie
Benzi Box -Danger Doom
Manic Depression -Jimi Hendrix
Say It Ain't So -Weezer

Times
L1 15:24
L2 3:12
L3 7:12
L4 2:11
L5 3:17
(Break 3:26)
L7 9:13
L8 0:56
Total 44:53 -3:26 =41:27

Distance 4.3 miles
Cumulative distance 15.2 miles

Stinky Hat

A route with lots of new terra incognita today. I ran up over the interstate and went left down University, then up into Town Creek Park and around the pond to the left. Out to Gay Street and up to Woodfield, up to the Art Museum and left to Kimberly. Straight down Kimberly back to University and down to Town Creek again. Around the pond to the right this time, and back home via Gay Street, University, Wright's Mill, etc. I was a bit worried about my condition, as a canoe trip on the Tallapoosa River on Saturday left my torso skin fried and my feet cut up with lots of little cuts. When I started out today, my left knee was a little tender, and I felt like I was a bit wobbly. After the first half mile or so, I was feeling loose and well oiled, but my knee was bothering me again a bit at about mile 3. On top of all that, my running favorite running hat stinks. I've tried washing it twice, but it still smells pretty horrific. Maybe I'll try washing it again.

Playlist
Notion -Kings of Leon
Profanity Prayers -Beck
Rock & Roll -Lou Reed
Where It's At -Beck
Superunknown -Soundgarden
Moonage Daydream -David Bowie
The Stallion Part 3 -Ween
Crosseyed and Painless -Talking Heads
Mustache Man (Wasted) -CAKE
Party in the USA -Miley Cyrus
Fireflies -Owl City

Times
L1 18:23 (Home to Woodfield)
L2 3:36 (Woodfield to Museum)
L3 6:56 (Museum to end of Kimberly)
L4 2:12 (Kimberly to Town Creek?)
L5 4:26 (Through Town Creek)
L6 8:14 (Gay Street to Home)
Total 43.47

Distance 4.7 miles
Cumulative distance 7.8 miles

Welcome, Kings of Leon

Newish route today. There was a big event at Town Creek Park, so both sides of Gay Street had cars parked along them, making it less appealing as a return route. I've done most of the bits and pieces except the sidewalk between the museum and Donahue along College. Also discovered that Kimberly Road cuts through between University and College, which is news to me. I didn't run it, I just saw it on the map. I also nearly got smooshed by a car that wasn't expecting to see me in the bike lane. Fortunately, a stern "HO!" was the only necessary action to avoid any unpleasantness.

It's starting to get a bit warmer out there, so I'm glad I got out just a wee bit earlier. Pretty soon I'll have to be up ridiculously early to avoid melting in the sun.

I made a recent deposit into the Bank of Tunes-O-Matic, which was burning a hole in my digital pocket, so I decided to invest in some new tunes. Under the influence of WEGL, and the stamp of approval of Mr. Vince Noir, I decided to buy some Kings of Leon, namely the album Only By The Night

Playlist
(Only By the Night, Kings of Leon)

Times
L1 13:14 (Home to Woodfield)
L2 3:44 (Stop sign to Museum)
L3 6:52 (Museum to Donahue/University)
L4 14:18 (D/U to last stop sign)
L5 0:47 (home stretch)
Total 38:55

Distance 4.1 miles
Cumulative distance 32.6 miles.