Guess I'll kick this thing off before I force myself to go work some. (Just not in the mood today, but too early in the year to burn vacation for no reason.)
Had a good 6-mile hill run in the snow this morning. Since kids have been sledding on our usual hill and have made it hard to run on, we stayed in the downtown area which is on a hill (as much as you can be in this part of Michigan.) We ran round & round and up & down for about an hour.Last week, a very fit guy (PhD at Dow Chemical) who is 5 months younger than me died running on the rail trail that I ran 11 miles on Saturday. I feel bad for his family that they lost him at such a young age. That kind of stuff tends to freak me out a little. I haven't heard any details of the cause of death. At least my diet will be better for the next couple weeks until the memory fades and I slide back into my old ways.
It's weird how your's was the first thing I read this morning Dave. I literally just finished a conversation where Jim Fixx, the author of "The Complete Book of Running" was brought up. He died at the age of 52 from a heart attack while running.
My Grandfather on my Dad's side died young. So did my Dad...I turn 50 this year. The 2nd question my doctor asked me when I had my physical last year was if my grandparents and parents were still alive. The 3rd was history of cancer. 2 of my Grandparents lived into thier 90's, and one other into her late 80's. I can only hope that this is the hereditary I inherited.
<<<<< That Man right there sitting on the tractor wheel was 94 in that photo. Had he not fallen and broke his hip I'm sure he would have seen 100.
So...I ran a joyful 7 miles on semi slick roads and pulled an upper back muscle trying to maintain my balance durning a slip. I can hardly take a deep breath right now. It truely was a enjoyable run. The slip happened at the very end as I was transitioning from a run to a walk. Stupid things.
King of PhotoShop
Having studied this heart business for so long, I still get upset when I hear these stories of people dying of heart attacks. Physicals don't find these weaknesses in the heart, but stress echoes do. I think if you are a runner over 50 you would like to know if you have some weakness or occlusion in the heart, or what is called the "widow maker." I thank my lucky stars all the time I can still do this and that my heart, while all banged up and with new parts, is quite stable.
Went to my buddy the chiro for ART treatment but what he found was a weakness in my entire right side and limited range of motion, so he worked on me and gave me some exercises to do.
I'll share a story about him with you. The Cowtown in February has 5 events over the weekend. On Saturday is the 5K and 10K and then on Sunday is the Half, the full Marathon and the 50K. Logan, who is my friend and a terrific chiro, won the first four of these in 4 consecutive years. So I was running with him a couple of weeks before the ultra and I asked him what he was going to do it in. He said he was going to run 6 minutes a mile, or 3:10.
I told him my plan was for 5:10 and he would beat me by two hours. Well he won it by 17 minutes, and I won my AG by almost 45 minutes. I texted him and told him I was the better runner because I won by a bigger margin. He immediately agreed and we have had fun with that ever since! I didn't hit my goal however, as I think my time was about 5:17.
No running today. Off to Cincinnati for a couple of days of freezing. Spareribs
Sayhey! MM#130
Good Morning!
Continuing in the same vein, we had a half marathon nearby Sunday (Naples) in which a man, 59, dropped dead near the end of the race but was brought back by EMTs. Needless to say, DH avidly followed that story on the TV news. The man is resting comfortably and DH is signed up for a half next weekend (his last one was Dec. 28.).
tw, I really like Kevin's variation on the Oscar Wilde quote. And while I've been called a socialist more than once, here's a sort of pro business quote [in the spirit of trying to find the common ground] from one of the participants in our local MLK, Jr. March, who led a 35 person contingent from Office Depot:
"The (civil rights) leaders have really paved the way for a young, black woman to be a store manager," she said. "I am blessed.
We're here to help bring the community together as well."
She said the company supports Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the values he espoused.
Y'all are truly inspiring, running in the nasty weather and being upbeat about it. Slo, really, hope you are ok. Karin, 15 wet ones--is this for Boston training?? Erika, roch, Holly, Carolyn, et. al, ...everyone slip sliding away, keep on keeping on.
Great running, Tselbs! And nice to hear from you. ]
Trackrat, Leslie congrats.
Sorry to all you cheeseheads. I watched the entire game and still can't believe it. I have to say, what a Seattle-ish team. At the end, half are in tears and another one is bicycling around the stadium. Was he going for lattes for the team??
I'm with everyone who would have ditched the clown.
Hi Mari!
MikeE, it was really frustrating to be so tantalizingly close to you when we were driving to Thunder Bay this past fall, and not be able to meet up with you. BTW, I agree with Jlynne; p'haps you are fighting the flu??
Notes from the rehab trail....I eschewed the local half to go north, with DH and Simon (he's a good traveling bird, except he doesn't really care for stop and go traffic--he prefers the freeway) to Clearwater, where I ran my first marathon since the ankle blow-out in Philly. It was slow, but I finished. It would have been really good if it had ended at mile 24, but I loped/ walked the end, and was heartened by all the lovely people passing me who stopped to be sure I was ok and encouraged me to finish. Feels greta!
grins,
https://agratefullifedotnet.wordpress.com/ (for a piece or two of my mind)
Trails are hard!
I thank my lucky stars all the time I can still do this and that my heart, while all banged up and with new parts, is quite stable.
I've got the same genealogy on my father's side. Also hoping the long lived genes came through. That's one of the main reasons I keep running. And because I had my a-fib corrected and followed up, I have a decent assurance that mine is also pretty stable. But, if all else fails, as the saying goes, there are worse ways to go.
Not a joyful run, but a satisfying 5.1 miles this morning. Right around 30F and a nice breeze. I hit the clothes just right, so I was chilly at the start and just getting to unzipping the over shirt right at the end. Small things matter, I guess. Maybe I also need to think joyful at the start and see how things go.
Hi Amy. what's the countdown to P&C reporting? one little game to get out of the way before I start thinking about that I guess.
Run joyful today. Enjoy the gift.
Need a fast half for late fall. Then I need to actually train for it.
A very interesting post today.
No running for me this morning, I was up early to go running, but the roads are pure ice, so I decided to run on the TM tonight.
Speaking of TM, I sure hope Twocat survived his TM run this morning.
Hi Aamos!
Tramps, how is TriBee doing with her recovery?
Ribs, you are so awesome.
Erika, how did your meatloaf turn out? It sounded interesting to me, yummie too.
Off to work now. Tonight is winter wellness. I am looking forward to my first session there. I heard we have a big crowd participating this years, which is just awesome.
Cheers!!!
"Champions are everywhere; all you need is to train them properly..." ~Arthur Lydiard
Good morning good people. Lot of great runs and inspiring stories by you folks today. Let me add one more "hope you're ok" Slo. While it's so great to get outside for winter running, when you live in the Midwest, the footing can get tricky sometimes. We got an inch or two of fresh snow last night so I erred on the side of caution and went to the Y for a couple of miles on the treadmill, a couple of miles on the elliptical, 10 minutes of rowing and 20 minutes of weights.
I LOVED Kevin's post today: "Run joyful today. Enjoy the gift." Thanks Kevin
Hi Amy. what's the countdown to P&C reporting? one little game to get out of the way before I start thinking about that I guess. Run joyful today. Enjoy the gift.
Funny you should ask....eggzackerly ONE MONTH from now!! Feb. 20th. You can multi-task, my chum. We have tickets for a March-play-hooky-from-work-day game at Jet Blue and then a night game when the Sox visit the Twins at Hammond Stadium, just before Opening Day, on April 2nd.
<There's an alligator in the pool outside of Hammond.....>
And underscore that last bit of advice. As we all know, all it takes is an injury to make you get back to basics and be happy just to be running again. I am so so so so grateful, indeed.
OH, and I have a ticket for DH at Fenway for April 20 on the first base side, infield grandstand, great view of Pedey, no posts! Shhh--haven't told him yet.
+1
Beautiful sunny, windy morning. I'm enjoying this winter since we've had so little snow and the sidewalks are bare. Did 2-first time this year I did 4 days in a row. I'm keeping up my once weekly yoga and it certainly helps prevent those nagging injuries.
Noted how much they're charging for flights from Boston to Phoenix for the Super Bowl. We're flying in on the 3rd (for our Tucson and Phoenix vacation) at a small fraction of the price-accommodation has been no problem.
what are you up to that he would have to go alone??
Erika, here's my workouts for the week. plus at least 4 days of core/stretching, which is what i'll be doing tonight.
Tammy
Slo - Hope the back feels better soon. Ouch!
Tammy - What's the Rogue River Run??
Podcasts - I love listening to podcasts when I run. My current favorites, in order, are: (1) Trail Runner Nation, (2) This American Life, (3) 60 Minutes, (4) Ultrarunnerpodcast, (5) Ted Talks, and (6) Radio Diaries. There are actually others I like listening to, but I'm so far behind on these that I had to delete the others. Ultrarunnerpodcast would be further of the list if it weren't for the fact that 95% of his interviews are with the upper echelon of ultra trail runners. While I like hearing from and about the elites, I like hearing the stories of the regular guys and gals with whom I can actually relate. Kind of hard to relate to someone who can finish a 50k in 3 or 4 hours, and I'm slogging it out in 7 to 8 hours.
6 miles this a.m. in very foggy conditions. I like running in the fog, but the dampness also messes with my asthma, which can be a pain the butt. It was a slow 6, which was how they were supposed to be run, but I also just felt totally sluggish. I think I'm ready for a cutback week.
Talked to my buddy, Karen, last night re Hawaii trip details. I am getting so excited! The Hub and I went to the Big Island probably 15+ years ago, and that's the only time we've been there. I'm also looking forward to just being able to spend time with Kate and Karen for some much needed girl time.
Today is The Hub's 54th birthday. I got him a book, and I think I'm going to go price muffin tins at lunch. He keeps wanting to make cupcakes, but we gave away our cupcake tins years ago when our lives were a mess. It especially sucks because they had belonged to my mom. But new ones will be part of our fresh start! I just hope they're not too expensive.
Leslie Living and Running Behind the Redwood Curtain -------------
Trail Runner Nation
Sally McCrae-Choose Strong
Bare Performance
Tammy, I love how he writes the dogs into your plan! Thanks for sharing, I'm loving this!
Amy, you sneaky grrl! Doesn't he usually go alone when you're otherwise engaged? You really take Simon on road trips? That just cracks me up...
Slo, you do need to watch those slips! Sometimes I'm not sure what's worse, the bruises and bangs from the fall, or the wrenched muscles from trying to avoid it. I also find that running on slippery surfaces long enough (even with the spikes) causes my hip flexors to get sore pretty quickly. Lots of stabilizing going on that we don't even realize. Another reason to keep your core strong though, something I have been neglecting.
Mariposai, that meatloaf turned out really well! We had leftovers last night. Make it with oatmeal instead of bread crumbs since DH's GF is gluten intolerant. Just need to let it sit and "rest" a bit in the bowl to let the oatmeal soak up the other liquid and binders. DH has the grilling technique just about perfect and it was yummy!
One thing I need to figure out is how to get the local PBS station to stream when I'm on the TM. Would love to go home early and run easy on the TM while listening to the SOTU address. Otherwise, it'll be a total rest day and I'll stay at work and have it on my PC. Then DH and I are going out for a date night, yes on a Tuesday!
LOL , yes, he makes sure the dogs get in there too. Yesterday I did take the dogs also. All 3 of us did a one mile run on the trails on our property. then I took each one out individually for a 3 mile leashed run, so I got in my 7 (albeit a broken up 7 mile run, not non stop running), and they each got in 4.
Leslie, the Rogue River Run: Every Saturday his XC coach has a group that meets in Rogue River (a little town next to GP), at a riverfront park, and goes out on a group run, distances/paces varying. it's a good venue because it's all on a bike path, out and back. At first David was going to have me do another hill workout until I reminded him that we haven't joined the RR group lately and his coach really wants him to show up for some LD runs, so we switched Saturday's workout to that. David will take off with the fast group and probably get in around 8-9 miles. I'll try and get in 6-7.
Thanks, Dave. You're now responsible if I get a 910XT and don't like it. On the GPS subject, the only thing I'm certain of is if I get the latest, trickest model available, a month later they'll announce a new, better one. And on the strapless HRMs, they work best where the skin is thin and there are lots of capillaries. The wrist is somewhat less than ideal, but the one that someone mentioned that is on the ears or otherwise around the face would be much better. I've heard of a device getting a heart rate just by sampling a view of a person's face at high speed.
Erika, if you have your 305 connected to your PC with a USB cable and the PC is powered down, it will drain the 305. It's a known issue that I also learned the hard way a couple of times.
Leslie, I think that TomTom makes a GPS watch with optical HRM, but I've been using Garmins for so long that I'm not sure I could switch. I even find the nav system in my car to work weirdly since it's got TomTom software in it vs. the Garmin that I'm familiar with.
The cardiologist that spoke with me following Friday's tests has recommended that I get a "calcium scoring CT scan" which is a way to estimate the degree of buildup, if any, in my coronary arteries. I'm a bit on the fence about this since my fitness level is high and I have no symptoms of a problem. I guess the issue is that if the tests show high levels, what would I do about it? Do I really want to know? It's not like I'm an overweight couch potato that needs a kick in the butt to do something about my health. Anyone else been in this situation? Ribs? It's a bit like the PSA test where a high level may cause undue stress and not mean anything.
Doug, runnin' cycling in Rochester, MI
"Think blue, count two, and look for a red shoe"