BANGLE

I'm missing my group runs. Sure I have run solo most of my life, but when it is forced, it does get sad after a while. I've noticed a change in how we react to each other too. A week ago runners were even more friendly than usual. More waves, smiles, nods, etc. Like, "Hey we are in this together - it's good to get out and run, isn't it?" Now I still get a few like that, but more and more people avert their eyes, turn their heads, or look at you like, "You're not going to come into my 6 foot circle are you?" It's more like they (we) are ashamed to even be out running, since we should be holed up at home. I come home feeling a little guilty. But, yeah, still glad I can get out there and work the body and make endorphins and de-stress and add numbers to my spreadsheet. The beach bike path is closing tomorrow. I'll be running mostly on the empty roads. I skip the sidewalk entirely so the dog walkers don't get freaked out. Today I saw a guy driving a convertible wearing a mask. Meanwhile we are finishing season two of Schitt's Creek (funny!). I binged all of Fleabag (funny!). Just watched JoJo Rabbit which was good. Parasite was odd but really interesting - recommended. Marriage Story was brutal but very well done. I'm watching BoJack Horseman which is amusing. I still recommend Black Mirror if you haven't seen it yet - some fantastic shows. Plus I read. This too shall pass. Eventually. In Love in the Time of Cholera, the guy did get his lover in the end. Keep at it.

Oh yes, not corona. Per my expertise anyway.

Here is a link to the awesome title song for background. It can also double as an aerobic video if you need a workout. So 2020 is going to be a year like none of us have ever experienced. Not since 1918 or maybe 1930 has American life changed so quickly. Every day has been a new development and what seemed crazy a week or two ago is now the new normal. We in California are now told to stay home unless necessary. I expect the rest of the country to follow suit soon. I expect it will be 6-8 weeks before any normalcy returns and who knows? Anyway, I just started reading The Splendid and the Vile, which is about Churchill and life in London in 1940, as they prepared for an apparently imminent German invasion and bombing. It made me think of certain parallels to us now. Mainly the "not knowing" what will happen. The shock of changing expectations and considering the unthinkable. The threat of potentially massive death tolls. Could we look like Italy looks now? I heard we are only 8 days behind Italy on the infection curve. I actually considered the possibility that this could actually kill me if hospitals get overwhelmed and I caught the bug. Scary stuff. But basically I remain positive. Trying to remain rational and taking it a day at a time. The wife is home with me. She works at a school so they are off for at least 5 weeks. Ubering is dead in the water with no demand, and I don't want to go out there anyway. Libraries are closed so I have to get e-books. Golf courses are closed. Hell, everything is closed except grocery stores and takeout dining. I sit around. I watch TV. I walk the dogs. I read. And I run. Thankful I have that as an outlet. My running groups are no longer meeting so I run alone. But I'm good with that. I skip the water fountains and don't press the pedestrian walk buttons. No races to train for, but I'll keep building a base and doing speed work because it's fun. Hopeful that Chicago will still be there in October. But if not, that's fine. I'm getting used to it now. This ain't no party. This ain't no disco. This ain't no fooling around. Be safe out there.

Better late than never, right? First a quick update. My four days a week plan worked for nine weeks, but then I got sick (during Atlanta weekend) and my lungs were just not functioning well enough to run, so I took 6 days off, only ran once last week (poorly) and I'm doing three runs this week as I am just getting healthy again. But back on schedule next week! I had a 5K tomorrow which got cancelled, but I was glad, because I was in no condition to run well anyway due to the illness. Next up is a Half on 5/3 which hasn't been cancelled yet, although I'm not optimistic. At least no one can stop me from training! And our group runs haven't been shut down yet. Although my gym closed. Boo hoo. Anyway, so two weeks ago I was excited to travel to Atlanta and see some running buddies and watch the trials. I flew in Thursday and met up at Carissa's Running Lodge with Caitlin, Roger and T.O. Carissa and Adam were wonderful hosts, along with their three furry friends. We had some long drives to Atlanta three days in a row. Friday was the expo, which was surprisingly lame. Almost no vendors. Lousy merchandise. For some reason they had an indoor high jump and shotput competition going on in the middle of the expo. But we did see some famous faces: Paula Radcliffe, Kara Goucher, Gail Devers. Also ran into Loopsters Dan Tian and Rebecca Trachsel. Earlier we had a little shakeout run in the chilly weather. Who knew you needed layers to run in Atlanta? And there was a Flying Tomato sighting! Saturday was the trials. We got down there early and got to see everybody warming up behind the start line. We were arms length from all the best runners in the country. It was fun to see them all up close just acting like normal runners - nervously going through their routines. Galen Rupp was all business, but most of the others had smiles. I got to say Hi to two guys I knew from my local running group, just as they lined up (in the back of the pack). As the race got underway, we walked a few blocks over to Peachtree, where the men and women did out and backs three times. So there was almost constant action going by. The crowds were loud and the excitement was palpable! Roger started chatting with a guy who was rooting for his son. It turned out his son was Jacob Riley who ended up getting 2nd! When the women came by at mile 21 and two women I never heard of were breaking away it was quite shocking! Where was Molly Huddle? And Jordan Hasay? And the other favorites? It was quite exciting. It was really windy and cold. I felt bad for the runners battling that wind. And the hills. But it wasn't too bad for spectating. Then we relaxed and got ready for our own race on Sunday. Tom and I were running the half and Carissa did the full while the others cheered. I worried about the cold, but the next day the wind had died to nothing, so the 33 degree temperature was much more bearable. I ditched all my extra clothes in the start corral. I was starting to feel sick and coughing up some junk, but it wasn't bad (yet). It didn't seem to bother me while running. I just coughed a lot after I finished and by the next day it really kicked in. But I'm getting ahead. So we all started together, which allowed us to get this cool photo right at the start. My race "plan" was very soft. I wanted to see if I could run sub-8 pace and break 1:45. But I was not real confident and I didn't care too much. The constant hills had me a little worried. As did my sickness. I figured to just run with the group for a while and see what happened. Have fun out there. I ran with Carissa the first mile and we lost Tom right away in the crowd. Pace felt easy as it was mostly downhill. 7:54. Good, OK. But then we found the rolling hills and my pace dragged. And Carissa slipped ahead in mile 2 and it was too much work to try and keep up so I let her go. I kept her in sight for 2-3 miles but then she was gone - on her way to another ho hum BQ. Never saw Tom, although he was within a minute or two of me the whole way. So I was on my own. I clicked along in a comfort zone that was just over 8 minute pace. 8:02, 8:10, 8:15, 8:05. Hard enough to be working without thinking I was going to die. Each little hill was its own challenge, but of course the downhills were lovely! Passed this strange restaurant which we ended up going to for lunch after the race. Excellent burgers at the Vortex! 7:58, 8:25, 7:52, 7:42, 8:16 through ten. Miles 8-9 were nice with long downhills and going through a park. I was starting to feel pretty decent. Started searching for Carissa's ponytail in case maybe I might catch her (nope). But then the last three miles were mostly up hill, and my adrenaline flagged. And then left entirely. 8:08 and 8:27 for mile 12 where I considered walking up a particularly long hill. 8:06 for mile 13 as I tried to give what I had left to get to the finish. I knew 1:45 was gone. I thought I had a shot at sub 1:46 until mile 12, and then I was just shooting for sub 1:47. I gave a little kick down to the finish - the same finish the trials people had just run down to punch their Olympic tickets. My watch showed 1:47:02, but officially I got 1:46:59. So 1:46 it is! I'll take that. Not close to where I want to be, but just fine for where I am now. And I loved the whole weekend with my buddies. Back to work. Life is good.

Medals for 1.5 miles? Hoo boy... Looks like a fun vacation! Good luck with the marathon training!

Finished High Castle. Season 4 definitely got better. Liked the finish except for the last 5 minutes - what the hell was that?

(to the tune of Eight Days a Week) I've had this bloop idea, and the accompanying earworm, for weeks now, so now I foist it upon you. When I started blogging I would run 3 times a week. At best. Only rarely would I get to four. I managed to run a few marathons on three days a week, but it was really only good enough to let me finish with a lot of walking. As the Loop motivated me to get serious, I got up to four days a week whenever I wanted to get serious. It has become the defining line between "fun-running" and actual training. If I was consistently doing 4 days a week I would improve. Sometimes I would even do 5, but not too often and only during peak marathon training. In January I was feeling healthy after newly recovering from the latest ailment, and in the spirit of New Year's resolutions, I decided to try and run at least four days a week for the whole year. I went back through the spreadsheet (which goes back to 2005) to see how often I manage to run 4 day weeks. I found my best year (2016) I ran 4 or more times a week in only 32 of 52 weeks. My longest streak of 4 or more runs a week was 14 weeks. So 52 is a pretty lofty goal. It really relies on me staying healthy. Well. so far so good. I just finished the 7th week in a row with 4 runs. I'm feeling healthy and getting back in shape after last year's downtime. My weekly mileages are ramping up. 25, 28, 30, 30, 25, 34, 34. I don't have a marathon until October, but I'm going to just get in the habit of running most days. I want to get up to 5 days a week for most weeks starting in March. Because four days a week, is not enough to show I care. Guess you know it's true. So my 2020 has been peachy so far. I did have a weekend golf trip to Scottsdale which meant I had to run M, T, W at home and then get a run in while staying in AZ. But I managed. My golf game is improving too as I play more. Shot a 100 in AZ which was my best ever. And I am really looking forward to going to Atlanta next week to meet up with some fabulous loopsters, watch the marathon trials and then run a hilly Half. My goal is really just to have fun. I'm hoping I can run sub-8 minute pace and break 1:45, but we'll see. I also signed up for the OC half in May in Orange County here. That one is fast and I'm hoping to be around 1:40 by then. In other news, the wife and I took in a brother and sister, 19 and 17, who needed a place to stay temporarily to keep from being homeless. So they are living with us for a while and it has worked out well so far. I'm also volunteering more as I now help two senior citizens weekly with groceries and stuff. So I'm piling up karma points. Seems to be working. Still plenty of time to read books, watch Netflix and enjoy retirement. Life is good.

It's February in the Midwest so I'll allow you to be depressing. But we both know better days are ahead. The spark will return (occasionally and briefly, sure). Plenty of life left in that aging carcass.

What's your Goodreads name?

1. Why not use their real names? It's not like anyone they know will read this. 2. Just finished season one of "Castle" and thought it was great! (after reading the book) I guess I will keep going...

Love this. And loved tracking your quest. A guy from my local group was there and ran 2:18:31 to get his OTQ and will be going to Atlanta.

Fantastic.

Welcome! Way to push your comfort zone! I find the pressure to update my "readers" here is a good motivator to get those runs in!

Yay!

Right? You have to plug in the Lazy-Boy just to recline it? Crazy. Glad Sammy is being a good boy.