Greetings from Auburn, AL! Before coming up to Auburn for the Spring Career Fair, I spent the weekend (and Monday) in Skipperville with the family. Something terribly exciting happened .... I received a text message while there! Though I was generally without a signal, perhaps Verizon is indeed conqueoring the last areas of the known 48 in which they've previously lacked a signal?!?
Anyway, I ran on Sunday (five mile easy, about 9:30/mile for the first four with a 8:45 for the last) and Mondy (three mile tempo, 8:02 for the middle mile) at Dale County Lake. The temperature was very supportive of global warming, but despite the warmth, the runs went well; maybe I run better when well rested? No time to run at Auburn (too much to do, too much rain). As I was walking the campus today, I wondered to myself, "Where do people run around here?" Auburn isn't big, but at it's core it's riddled with streets and no shortage of pedestrian and automative inhabitants. I would think you'd spend most of your time dodging people or waiting for a crossing signal, though I'll admit my bias against running in dense areas. I did notice a green paw print on the ground (what did you expext other than a tiger paw print?) with "1/4 Mi" printed on top; perhaps there's an effort afoot to lay out a running trail on campus? The center of the campus is pretty well devoid of cars (though not people and construction!), so I suppose you might be able to make a run happen. Perhaps I'll snoop about auburn.edu and see if I can find the meaning of these pawed mile markers.
Speaking of paws, I'm still happy to report that my left one is quiet enough to allow me to run, but concerned enough about the pain to go ahead an see Dr. Sokolow. Perhaps on Friday, or early next week, I can go see the good doctor and get some advice. With your feet, when it comes to pain the fear is that your body will build a bone spur at the site of the irritation. Once that happens, you're up the proverbial creek, paddle-less, adrift, and with little medical recourse! So I hope I've made a smart decision; though I can tolerate this, I want to make sure I'm not setting myself up for a major issue down the line.
It looks like my boon-doggle, errr, work trip to London isn't going to happen (I had already found a 10k over there to run and everything!). That would free me up to run the ConocoPhillips 10k at the start of March. I've never ran a 10k with malice in my heart (i.e., never for time), so the race is my chance to set a personal record for 2008 (I've managed to set one at some distance for the past several years, so I'm more than happy to back door my way into one for 2008!).
I ran with my iPod shuffle for the first time while at home. Unlike my previous MP3 player, I hardly noticed this one while a ran; a good thing! If you're looking for a nonobtrussive way to get some tunes while being active, the shuffle is certainly the way to go.
I'm on a new kick of "quality miles and variety" when I run; I want every run to be for some purpose. My last four runs were: four mile tempo, speed, five mile easy, three mile tempo. This should provide the most benefit to my body for the time I put in. I think the downside of marathon training is that the long runs, though they serve a purpose, can become an exercise of just getting in mileage. Though there may really be no "junk miles", unless you're running for the sure pleasure of the activity, there needs to be a purpose behind what you're doing. Plus, most "purpose" equates to short runs ... after all the long runs and races during the Fall, I'm a fan of short right now!
That concludes this brain dump. War Eagle!
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That's funny because the other day I was thinking the exact same thing. After running 3 miles hard on Saturday and doing speed work on Tuesday I realized that I was actually tired. Except for races, I can't remember the last long run where I felt like I did a serious workout. I think there may be some benefit in running long runs hard occasionally.
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