Still sick

Seriously.  Not cool.  I was sick for a few days, felt better for a couple, and then a new cold decided to piggyback itself onto the old cold.  The second one is definitely worse than the first.  The first time it was basically just a chest cold, this time it was a full blown fever/congestion cold.  Basically what it boils down to is that I haven't been for a REAL run in over a week now.  I went for a short one last week, on one of the two days that I was feeling better, but I didn't want to over-do it, so I only went about a mile.  Looks like it didn't matter how far I went though, as I got sick anyways.
Yesterday I was feeling completely miserable and I didn't know how I was going to make it through the day today.  Luckily, we had ANOTHER snow day.  This time though, I was actually looking forward to it, because I really wanted to just sleep.  I actually got up at 6 and found out that school was cancelled.  I did a mini-dance inside my head, put on my humidifier, brushed my teeth, and went back to bed.  Jealous? I bet.  Then I woke up around 10:30 and felt 10x better, but not great. Took a ridiculously long shower to absorb the steam into my membranes, took some medicine, went grocery shopping, and then shoveled.  Later, I even walked the dogs.  I think the sleeping until 10 really did it.  I was able to sleep off that extra bit of fever that was hanging around.  Hopefully I'll be able to run again this weekend.  I never thought I would say this, but I miss it!  I was just about to start interval training, and I was pretty excited about it, so I really want to get back at it.
Since I don't have any Charity Miles to share with you, I'll share this lovely picture I drew instead.  I thought it might be fun to put The Outsiders into comic book/graphic novel form, so I've been (sort of) working on that.  It's only chapter 1, and I'm not sure I really like the way my faces are coming out, but it's something, I guess.

Oh, and one more thing.  Remember those zip-ups I got?  Well, the other day on the T, I noticed that only the left side was working.  Seems to be a loose wire connection in the right side, because it comes and goes, depending on which way the wire is turned.  I have to say that I'm fairly disappointed in that.  This is supposed to be a great product and yet they're broken on me already.  I'm not sure how the company is going to handle this, but I imagine it's going to be tough to get a replacement without it costing me an exorbitant amount of money, considering it's an overseas company.....

Training day

There is one week left until the 15K.  That's 7 days to be able to run 9 miles in under 1:45, according to the site.  As you saw, last week, I was able to do 6 in 1:01.  Today I decided to try a new route.  Instead of driving to the woods or the lake, and then running the 6 miles, I ran from my house to the woods and back.  According to Google Maps, the distance from my house to the entrance of the woods is only 1.5 miles, so it was easily doable.  That's 3 miles right there, just to go to the entrance and back home after all.  Of course I wanted to try and get at least 6 miles in, so my plan was simple.  Run through to Stone Tower, then loop back around and go back home.  Unfortunately, Stone Tower is on the top of a giant hill.  No joke.  If you happen to run Lynn woods and go through the Pennybrook Road entrance, down Jackson Path, towards Dungeon rock, you will encounter a series of hills.  Pretty much as soon as you enter, going down Jackson Path towards Dungeon Rock, you come upon some man-made wooden trail stairs.  (I don't really have a better way to describe them.)  These stairs are like mini jumps, they're just wide enough apart that you have to step in between to run up them, or jump.  Luckily, they head right back down on the other side.  However, after crossing through Jackson path you can either go straight and head up another set of man-made stairs to Dungeon rock, or loop around by Breeds Pond and come up behind the rock.
 I chose the loop because I wanted to add more miles to my run, but there's really no good choice here.  If you go straight, you run up the giant stairs and it sucks.  If you loop around, you run up a giant hill that never seems to end, and it sucks.  It's a Sophie's Choice here, except there's far less on the line.  Either way, you're running uphill though.  After that uphill, you can go straight across and down around Walden Pond (not the Emerson one) or go to the right and head up to Stone Tower.  The Walden Pond road will eventually take you to Stone Tower, should you choose to go that way, but it's almost like running a roller coaster track of up and downs. At least the road to the right just goes flat and then pretty much straight uphill until you reach Stone Tower.  The nice part is that you know when the big hill is coming because you can see the tower seconds before you actually hit the hill.  Not only is this hill steep, but it's covered in loose rocks and gravel, so take caution if you're running up it.
Once I got to Stone Tower, I went against every ounce of good sense I had and decided to stop for a minute to snap a picture.  It's a really nice view if you're not opposed to climbing a few stairs.  And let's face it, if you've just run up here, you can handle a few stairs.  The view is not as awesome as the one you get if you run up to Steel Tower, but I've only been able to find that one once, and it was by mistake, so I didn't want to go looking for it today.  Maybe someday I'll find my way back there and show you the view. Until then, google it.   I wore my zip-ups for the run today and they were everything I hoped for.  Having the second, loose, earphone zipped up with the one in my ear, I was able to keep the cable from bouncing all over the place and I didn't have to worry about that second earphone.  When I stopped for the picture, I put both earphones in, just for good measure.  I think I scared a guy and his dog who happened to walk by while I was up there, and were resting on the ledge when I came down.  Pretty sure he didn't realize there was anyone else around. I got a chuckle out of that.  Here's the view from Stone Tower.  Check out the zip-ups too.  Then go buy a pair.  If you look real close, you can see Boston in the background.  That's what all those buildings are too the left, behind the scraggly looking no-leaved tree.

Once I got through with my photo sesh,  I turned and went back down the giant hill.  I'll say this, it was definitely a more enjoyable run on the way down.  There was a slight uphill, but almost everything else was downhill.  I think I made up a lot of time there.  When I got to the tower, I was clocked at 2.5 miles in 30 minutes.  By the end of the run, I was at 5.5 miles in 1 hour.  So, maybe I didn't make up so much time after all.....Actually though, once I left the tower, the entire route was basically downhill.  I didn't think too much of it as I was running up, but I definitely noticed it on the way back down.  Noticing the downhill run back makes me more likely to run that path again, though I'm not sure it will become a routine for me.  Those rocky hills and stairs in the woods are really a lot of effort.  

Even after all of this though, I'm not sure I am ready for a 15K.  The 5.5 miles seemed a lot longer than the 6 miles I ran last week, and it was a lot of effort to force myself to even go the long way home.  (Full disclosure, this may have had something to do with the donut I ate earlier today; I can't be sure.)  Though I do believe that part of it was because I was running alone. Everything seems to take longer when you're alone.  Maybe with other runners around me, it won't seem so long.  Of course, if I'm dead last, it may still be that bad.  I just keep telling myself to remember that back when I started, I didn't think I could ever make anything more than 3 miles, and now here I am at 6, so 9 maybe isn't too far out of the realm of possibility.  Now I'm stuck though.  Should I try to get to 7 or 8 by mid-week or stay at 6 and hope for the best next Sunday?  I'm sure there's no good answer here, but I think I might try for 7.5 on Wednesday.  We'll see. As a parting note, here's a Charity Miles/Google Earth shot of my run from today.  Enjoy.

Running buddies

The other day I went for a 4 mile run through Lynn Woods.  Here's a shot of my route, thanks to Charity Miles.  If you've never used Charity Miles, it's a free app that tracks your run and donates to the charity of your choice.  I recommend it.  I also use Map My Run as a back up just to make sure I'm keeping track.

Trail running isn't something I do very often because I'm a bit nervous about tripping over the rocks, tumbling down the hill, and breaking a leg or worse. But I do love the beauty of the woods and it is a nice 4 mile loop at the same time.  The worst part of it all, without a doubt, is the hills.  They're not necessarily steep, but there are quite a few. Generally I don't mind hills.  I hate hills, but I do them, because I know that if I can make it up, it's easy running back down.  Of course, this mind set sort of goes out the window when you're heading down and you can see the next hill in the distance, but that's neither here nor there.  

Now usually if I work out, I want to do it alone.  I hate looking like a fool in front of tons of other people, and I know that if I'm paying attention to the people around me, the same is probably true for them.  The only time my alone while working out rule comes out of play is when I go running.  I have found that it is so much easier to run and keep pace with a buddy than alone.  That's not to say that I can't do it alone, I just prefer not too. Usually I'll try to go running with a friend or a group of friends, but that isn't always possible.  We all work different schedules and we all have busy lives, so it can be hard to find a time and a day that works for more than one person.  I also can't see my friends joining me on the trails or on the beach; that type of terrain doesn't seem to be their thing.  I like it because I feel like it helps with my speed on flat pavement, but I'm not sure if that's actually true. But when we can go together, it is nice to have someone there.  We don't usually talk save a few minutes at the beginning and we almost all have earphones in too.  I think it's just the solidarity in having someone else beside you, so you're not suffering having a great time by yourself. It really helps me to have that someone there to keep up with as well. Running alongside a partner pushes me through the cramps and forces me to keep going even if I want to quit.  I can't be left behind after all!

Since I was out on my own the other day though, I had ample time to think, while I was trying to ignore the fact that my knees were killing me and that there was a large hill looming in the distance.  As it were, I happened to be thinking about running buddies; more importantly, a running buddy I would choose if I could pick any one person in the world.  (Well, first I would choose Ryan, but he never wants to go running, so I guess this would be my 2nd choice.)  I know there are tons of people in the world and plenty of professional sports stars that I'm sure would be great running buddies.  Not for me, because I could never keep up, but for someone out there.  After much deliberation, because after all, what else is there to do when running alone, I have settled on my choice.  If I had the opportunity to pick one person in the world to do a training run with (Ryan aside), I would choose Oliver Phelps. I've read his Triathlon diary and I feel like he would be a great running buddy.  Sure he's got some tendinitis, but that would probably be better for me, as I might actually be able to keep up. Of course he lives halfway around the world and he's quite famous, so it would most probably never happen, but a person can dream right?  If you have no idea who or what I'm talking about, take a trip back to JOP World and check out the Triathlon diaries.  And if you feel like getting crazy, you can tell me who would be your top choice as a workout buddy.