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

Back to it and still at it

And yet a little further. Up Gay to Thach, east to Brookwood down to Samford and back down via Wright's Mill to Loftin. Feeling pretty good.

Playlist -More of that same genre as yesterday plus some others
The Day I Tried To Live -Soundgarden
Say It Ain't So -Weezer
Mutilated Lips -Ween
Speaking In Tongues -Eagles of Death Metal
Seven Nation Army -White Stripes
I'll Stick Around -Foo Fighters
Ego Tripping At The Gates of Hell -Flaming Lips
Watching The Detectives -Elvis Costello
It's Summertime -Flaming Lips
I Gotcha Back -Genius/GZA
Going On -Gnarls Barkley
Our Lips Are Sealed -the Go-gos
Purple Haze -Jimi Hendrix
(I Love It When You) Call Me Names -Joan Armatradding


Times
L1 12:20
L2 5:56
L3 (Top of Gay Thach Brookwood Samford) 19:14
L4 (Wright's Mill Loftin) 10:52
L5 6:17
Total 54:40

Distance 6.0 miles

Friday is 10K Day/ My 20 Day Challenge

Back onto the old 10K route, the Shel Toomer bike path and back. Fifth day in a row. W00T! So I confess that my goal for this month is 20 days of running. That should be 20 blog entries. I've been reluctant to post about it, in case of failure. But I blog to set goals and prevent failure. So here it is: my challenge to myself, 20 runs in March.

Playlist
Rastafari Is -Peter Tosh
Show Some Emotion -Joan Armatradding
Wow and Flutter -Stereolab
1999 -Prince
Let Forever Be -Chemical Brothers
Love Gun -Kiss
Sissyneck -Beck
Pork Roll Egg and Cheese -Ween
In This House That I Call Home -X
Jeepster -T. Rex
Seven Nation Army -White Stripes
Buddy Holly -Weezer
Under The Gun -Circle Jerks
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised -Gil Scott-Heron
Atomic Dog -George Clinton
Loser -Beck


Times
L1 7:54
L2 6:44
L3 13:26
L4 13:27
L5 7:11
L6 7:48
Total 56:30 a new PB, yay!

Sweet Virginia

I didn't listen to this song today, but there's a line in the song that struck a chord with me. And my shoes. Last night I was wearing the recently cleaned old New Balance shoes and misstepped in the dark. I thought, perhaps rather than scrape, I could run to get the mashed excreta off my shoes. Another reason this song resonated today was my route. Apparently I've been running the wrong course for this Saturday's Race to Help Haiti. I've been running all the way up Wright's Mill Rd to Samford and back to Gay Street, but the proper route cuts back over to Gay St. via Virginia St. I don't think it's much of a difference distance wise, but it does add an extra dip and climb. So I ran the proper course today, out of sequence since I wanted to try for a decent time but not end up doubling the route. Theoretically, this is an easy day. It's pretty cold out there (count my blessings, most of the rest of the country is deep under snow right now), and I wasn't feeling fantastically great out there, but my time was OK.

Playlist (more eclectic on-the-go)
Sissyneck -Beck
Tougher Than It Is -Cake
The W.A.N.D. -Flaming Lips
Walk On By -Cake
The Book I Read -Talking Heads
Buddy Holly -Weezer
Clampdown -The Clash
Cold Sweat -James Brown
Crazy -Gnarls Barkley
Fish, Chips and Sweat -Funkadelic
Guns of Brixton -The Clash
Hot Pink -Meat Puppets

Times
L1 (to Loftin) 6:57
L2 (the proper 5k, out of order) 26:47
L3 (back home) 6:34
Total 40:18.

Not quite as long

I had a heavier dinner than I should have, and was feeling rather lethargic starting out. Truth be told, I felt unmotivated and was close to bagging on the run tonight. The weather is supposed to turn ugly here soon, so I figured I'd go anyway. It didn't take long to get into the spirit of the thing, although I didn't feel up to crossing the Interstate, so I just went on a couple of loops around the neighborhood.

Playlist, another "alternative" mix:
Cellphone's Dead -Beck
Dashboard -Modest Mouse
Going On -Gnarls Barkley
Buddy Holly -Weezer
The W.A.N.D. -Flaming Lips
Confusion Fog -Meat Puppets
I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend -Ramones

Time out, 26:09

Dirty Whistling

Yes, I've gone out again! Third time is indeed a charm. Now that I've finally defended, hopefully I can keep my feet on the concrete. Tonight's theme started out dirty, then started whistling, and ended up somewhere else entirely.

Dirty Water -The Standells. You should know why by now.
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap -AC/DC
Big Chief -Professor Longhair
The Whistling Song -Meat Puppets
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
Roadhouse Blues -The Doors
Calling Dr. Love -KISS

Total time: I forgot to stop the clock, but about 30:00 or so.

Easter Greetings

Easter's here which means a few things to my running. 1. Lent is over, so I've chosen to return to those things which I've given up for 40 days, namely coffee, beer, and sugar. This last one has had several of my scientist colleagues challenging me on what I define as sugar. For the purposes of the my fast, I defined sugar as any of several listed ingredients including: sugar, dextrose, sucrose, high fructose corn syrup. I did eat honey and maple syrup, which are course full of 'sugar', at least in terms of simple carbohydrates. Anyway, the purpose of the fast (besides the spiritual challenge) was not attained. I did not lose any weight. I haven't been running as much as I'd wanted due to illness, so that didn't help. Also, I did not abstain from other sources of caffeine (tea, diet soda) or alcohol (wine, liquor), so that couldn't have helped either.
2. Today was a feast, including doughnuts (of the Krispy Kreme fundraiser variety, not my favorite but there they were), cheesy grits, chocolate, but a modest dinner after all that.
3. We went to an Easter egg hunt at a friend's house on bicycles, with me lugging the Burley trailer. Our friends do not live far away, maybe a mile and a half, but I felt shamefully winded by the experience. I haven't ridden my bike at all for a while, and clearly I should.
4. The Easter Bunny brought a new yoga ball into our lives, along with an exercise DVD, so perhaps I'll be doing some stretching, cardio toning kinds of things to help with the whole fitness adventure.

And finally, after all that, I did get out on a jog. I went faster than normal, maybe due to the lighter dinner. I jogged up to the Museum and back, with an extra quarter mile or so around Town Creek Park, and still made it back in under 40 minutes.

The Playlist.
Turn It On -The Flaming Lips
Oh, Me -Meat Puppets
Pork Roll Egg and Cheese -Ween
Tried and True -Ween
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
I'm Gonna Put Some Hurt On You -The Meters
Cold Blood -Peter Tosh
Mother Popcorn -James Brown
Get Off My Cloud -The Rolling Stones
Get On Down -Meat Puppets.

Time 39:56 Considering this is the same route as last Sunday, and a bit longer, I'm happy with the time.

Inspired and all over the place

I decided to do something I haven't really done since I was in South Africa; run in broad daylight. It's been unseasonably cold the last couple of days, but today it warmed back up. I was working from home, and I just felt the need to get out. I wasn't exactly planning on going so far, but then I did. I headed out towards the State Park, then down the bike path. I think it was a new long, at least since South Africa. The musical theme was inspirational and springy, from all over the place.

Playlist
Dirty Water -The Standells. Baseball season again! Woot! Beckett pitched a gem last night!
Sexx Laws -Beck
Magic Toy Missing -Meat Puppets
Maiden's Milk -Meat Puppets
Buddy Holly -Weezer
Nite Klub -The Specials
Nitemare Hippy Girl -Beck
Moonage Daydream -David Bowie
Nappy Dugout -Funkadelic
Tougher Than It Is -Cake
Zombie -Fela. I love Fela, but I rarely listen to him while running because it can be uninspiring to be listening to the same song for 15:00, and realize that I have to keep running that whole time. But today, I knew I'd be at gone for at least another Fela song.
Marie Jose -Ryco Jazz
The W.A.N.D. -The Flaming Lips
Hey Ya! -Outkast
A Little Better -Gnarls Barkley
Novacane -Beck

Time 1:07:06. Yup, that's a new long

Songs in the Key of W

Good gravy, I've been slacking again. My excuse this time? I've been working on my dissertation. I'm almost done with that. Anyway. I did manage to get out again. Tonight, all W artists.

Playlist
Undone (The Sweater Song) -Weezer
Death Letter -White Stripes
Roses are Free -Ween
The Wurlitzer Prize (I Don't Want to Get Over You) -Waylon Jennings

Time -17:48