My Heart Was Beeping

I can barely type that title without laughing. The whole family went to see Hairspray this weekend and when it was done, Nephew #1 was quite wound up. My sister sent him outside to run around our house. It was way hot outside and he had just eaten and he stopped after only running one lap. He said his heart was beeping. J

Nike Minus—In Columbus there is a trail that runs along the Olentangy River that is marked every mile and runs approximate 13-15 miles one way. This is the course we do our long runs on and usually where I do my lactate threshold runs since it is marked. Since June there have been three attempted female abductions at one of the major parking lot areas and I decided and promised my mom I would no longer run on that course alone. This weekend I bought a Nike+ to use with my iPod and help me measure courses so I can do my LT runs. I used it yesterday on a course I’ve measured with my car and it was off by about 4 tenths. Not a huge deal, but there were other problems. The Nike+ uses stride length to measure distance instead of GPS. It assumes an “average” stride length so it can be used out of the box, although you can calibrate it too. My run yesterday was six miles with three at half marathon pace. My half marathon pace is around 7:50 per mile. I ran the first 1-1/2 slow and then picked it up. Here’s the problem…when I run slow I have a really small stride length. It’s almost shuffle-like. When I run fast, I take pretty sizable steps. Yesterday’s run was pretty hard (more on that in a minute) so I doubt I ever made it down to 7:50 miles, but I certainly wasn’t at the 9:27 pace my iPod was telling me. When I slowed down for the last mile and a half of the run my pace “quickened” to 9:09 even though I was running slower and easier. Guess I will need to calibrate it using an “average” pace.

It’s Getting Hot in Here—Unless you don’t ever leave your house or don’t watch the news you know there is a huge heat wave going on in the Midwest. Last week after running our nine miles on Wednesday afternoon/evening Dad and I swore to Mary that it would not get any hotter this summer. Ha! Yesterday’s run was miserable. Weather.com said it was 88 but felt like 96 and being out in that heat, it felt like the surface of the sun. The places I usually run have great trails, but no protection from the sun. I have been drinking gallons of water (no kidding, I had 10-8 oz glasses of water yesterday), which in turn has made me sweat like a faucet being turned on. I was dizzy, I thought I was going to throw up, I got chills, and I was still sweating so I know I was okay. I took more breaks in that run that should have been allowed. I should not even be allowed to call it a run. Tomorrow I am scheduled to run 11 miles and I’ve already had two of my regulars back out. Now it’s down to Dad and I (and maybe Dave), but I’m really thinking of doing the run at 5:30am. It may be the only time it can be done safely.

Celebrate Good Times, Come On—Maybe I haven’t mentioned this, but this is my 30th year. Next year at the Boston Marathon I will turn 30. Actually what’s funny is that I will have been able to run the same race in two separate years at the same age. Bet that doesn’t happen very often. I always thought 30 was old and I still think it’s old. But I don’t feel 30 and I certainly don’t feel old. I have 9 months left in this 30th year and I want it to be a grand year full of adventure. Mostly I am going to try to check things off my Life List this year, but certainly there will be things I’ll do that aren’t on that list. What would you do if this was your big year? How can you help me check things off my List? What is the next great adventure?