Fortnight ending May 6

Week ending April 29

Mon 4/23  1 mile. Only the second time I’ve done this--run one mile and called it a run. It’s a little longer, about 11 minutes. Just had to do it, so I did.

Tue 4/24  3 miles. Again, did it. That’s about all.

Wed 4/25  5 miles on Cottonwood. Felt much better, and would have run farther, but I had ukulele. Still late, of course.

Thu 4/26  5 miles on Cottonwood. Again, I felt pretty peppy. I have a big weekend planned, with 43 miles or so over three days. 

Fri 4/27  9 miles at Croft.

from Dairy Ridge: Palmetto to Lake Johnson Loop back to Palmetto

Sat 4/28  5 miles at Croft with some crazy Greenville Trail Runners. Very muddy Rocky Ridge trail good for those folks.

Sun 4/29 0 miles. A nightmare of mis-timing. At the last minute, the timing fell completely apart.

Total 27 miles in six runs

Week ending May 6

Mon 4/30  4 miles on Cottonwood

April Total 150 miles in 24 runs

Year-to-date Total 681 miles in 106 runs

Tue 5/1  7 miles at Croft. Bonked like crazy in the middle of this run. What?

Wed 5/2  4 miles on Cottonwood. Bonked again? So I play ukulele with my buds on Wednesdays. There’s a scale there, and that generally marks the only time I weigh myself. Usually, with ukulele and all, I weigh about 163. Tonight, I weighed about 152. Yipes--what am I doing? I think I’ve just been neglecting my eating, and I still haven’t been to the chiropractor after saying I need to for two weeks. 

Thu 5/3  5 miles at Croft. Bonked! I’m trying to eat more, but today I even had a massive hamstring cramp that left me hurting for a couple of days. I have to get myself back to health.

Fri 5/4 Due to a major event at work (can you say 10,000 spectators at the Downtown Criterium?) I did not run.

Sat 5/5 4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. Feeling better. Focusing on calories. According to calorie-per-day calculators, I should be eating about 3100 calories a day. I may actually start to count so I can get up that high.

Sun 5/6  6 miles on Cottonwood. I did not feel at all motivated today.

Total 30 miles in 6 runs

This has been a rough couple of weeks for my training. I remember other times when this has happened, and know that it will pass. Plenty of time for two long runs before Highlands Sky.

Week ending March 18

Mon 3/12  3 miles easy

Tue 3/13  5 miles easy on Cottonwood. The first two runs of this week turned out to feel good after my head agreed with my body about pace. I felt pretty tired from Sunday, but when I slowed down enough the miles dropped smoothly.

Wed 3/14  8 1/2 miles at Croft. The Chapters run “backwards,” as we say. I still felt a little tired, but again got comfortable with an easy pace. All of my training has been faster than what I’ll average at Terrapin, where long and sometimes steep climbs slow the pace. And oh yeah, it’s 31 miles.

from Dairy Ridge: Palmetto to Chapters to Palmetto

Thu 3/15  3 miles easy. Another early morning run to start a long day.

Fri 3/16  4 miles easy on Cottonwood

Guest spot by Christy: My Edgar

I met a man who said he was Ned. I said, What is that short for, I have never met anyone named Ned before. He responded, Nothing, it's  not even my name. 

My Edgar shares his name with many of the past. Tonight I listened to two of them share many laughs and the intimacy that can only be that of father and son.  I am  blessed to know them both. 

Ned ran his 68th day straight today; his father is in the hospital going through rehab, turning 81 today. The goal to beat Parkinsons high on each list. Ned is running for a cause, EO is living with struggles that are affected and effected by this disease on a daily basis. 

One can't run from the other without running closer together. As we all participate in life we are all in for the same fate. Wouldn't you want to better yourself by bettering someone else? 

Happy birthday, EO!

Karen Russ, ©2007 HGIC, Clemson Extension

Sat 3/17  14 miles at Croft. Beautiful day, though warm, especially for March. I wore short shorts, and ran most of the time with no shirt, mostly because of, um, some chafing issues. I took my time, stopping a few times just to look around at the emerging spring. The Carolina jessamine was blooming high in tree tops. Blooms fell scattered on the trail, but to find the source of the blooms I had to stop. The purple-pink of the redbuds dapples the woods; the beech trees still hold on to last year’s leaves. 

from Dairy Ridge: Palmetto to TC’s to the little lake trail to the Lake Trail to New Edition

Sun 3/18  3 miles, including one mile barefoot. After a long day of Snidely music in Angelo’s recording studio in Asheville, this one came at 8 pm. 

Total: 41 1/2 miles in seven runs


I should clarify my barefoot running: all of these barefoot miles come running around a couple of practice fields at the local high school. Though the Montrail Rogue Racers I wear are lightweight, they have a relatively normal 9 millimeter drop from the heel to the toe; in other words, not very minimalist at all. They are also pretty well cushioned. It’s the lightweight (about 8.8 ounces for men’s size 9 according to the Montrail website) and the super-flexible last that make it my favorite shoe in a long time.

Week ending February 19

Monday 2/13  4 miles on Cottonwood. Recovery

Tuesday 2/14  4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. There have only been a few days during my streak when I haven’t felt like running. Today was one of them. but out the door I finally went, having changed my plan from a hard 7 or so to an easy jog to the fields, and then my usual 2+ miles barefoot. As soon as I was outside I was fine: lately when I’ve been hitting the recovery runs, I tell myself that I’ve added another day as soon as I’m out on the street.

Wednesday 2/15  7 miles around the neighborhood, same as last Thursday. Once again, the miles did not roll off like before, but the time was the same. I’d been worried about not feeling like running, worrying that I was overtraining. Today felt good, though.

Thursday 2/16  4 miles easy on Cottonwood.

Fri 2/17  4 miles, including 2 miles barefoot. Felt great, but eased back in  anticipation of 20+ tomorrow. This was my 40 straight day running--thought about rain, frogs, temptation in the desert. Even though I’m not religious, the religious quality of 40 days made me laugh.

Sat 2/18  21 miles at Croft. Ten minutes in and on the first climb, my legs felt tired. I never felt great, but carried on. I fell today for the first time in a year or two: I was checking out ways around a mud puddle, and hit one of the stumplets (the technical term) that are scattered around the trails here in the floodplain forests. Down I went; fortunately, I was more than a body-length from the puddle, or I would have gone face first into it. Bristol took the opportunity to drink some water from said puddle.

The B-Dog

Bristol was again amazing. Though I was fading pretty hard at the end, he skipped away from me in the last mile up Centerline. 

at Southside: Southside Loop to Lizard to Rock Creek to High and Dry to Southside to Fern Gully for the first loop. Southside to High and Dry back to Southside, then out by Centerline for the second.

  

Sun 2/19  6 miles at Croft with Seth and John G. Lots of rain, slippery trails, and water. Fairly quick, and I was glad it ended when it did. When was the last time you went stomping in mud puddles?

at Southside: Southside Loop to Centerline.

Total: 50 miles in seven runs

Week ending December 4

I haven’t run on a Monday in several years. Tuesday was Dickens of a Christmas, a community festival downtown. Snidely Sidewinder’s all up in that.

Wednesday November 30  5 miles on cottonwood

Thursday December 1 7 miles at Croft

Saturday December 3  18 miles at Croft, including 10 x 120 yards barefoot at football field. Never felt great, but kept adding miles. Could have run more.

Sunday December 4  4 miles at Croft: could not have run more.

Total: 34 miles

I didn’t run Friday because I felt a little tired in my legs, and thought that I should save for the Saturday planned long run. Didn’t feel great during that run, either. Chiropractor visit in order. This summer I had an adrenal problem, and took a supplement made of cow and pig endocrine system parts--on the disgusting side, but it helped. I wonder if that’s what I need--and what will determine which voodoo doctor I go to.

I decided to register for the Harbison 50k on January 7 because I have several friends who will be there, and because it’s less likely than Tsali to have a gnarly weather component. I still am not as excited to see the trails, though Seth tells me it’s pretty. I’ll add that there is the matter of the finisher’s award.

from the Harbison 50K website