2.73 miles in 25'02"

i walked my wife to work again this morning and started my run from the school. i intentionally slowed my pace and kept going the whole time. no walking today until it was time for the cool down. not much else to report.

take that, wind!

it made me mad when i read how the wind treated my friend janeen today. it beat her until she gave in to its relentless torture and stopped. that's not how you're supposed to greet guests on tran-continental journeys.

with malice coursing through my veins, i set out to teach the wind a lesson. i rode like a house a fire east to chicaskia road and turned around. the wind unleashed its fury and i pedaled on. "for janeen!" i shouted.

i rode back to town and kept going. i laughed at the gale. "stupid gale!" i yelled. i turned again at 120th avenue and raced back toward home. i was so fast i had time to ride another three miles to spite the wind. i turned around and dixon road and sped home. take that wind!

hopefully the evil beast has been tamed now and janeen will enjoy the rest of her trek through oz! (31.09 miles @ 17.4mph)

this is why i didn't ride this morning. i rode up pine street to the highway with no noticable problems, but as soon as i turned onto smoother tarmac, i felt the bump, bump, bump. i pulled to a stop and felt along my tire until i found the cause: a hernia. the tube was sticking out through the tire.

since everything was still sort of intact, i turned around and pedaled slowly and cautiously back home. i pulled into the garage and removed the wheel. i took it inside to take a picture of it and BAM! it exploded! sure glad that didn't happen out on the road at speed. i'd have crashed for sure.

2.44 miles in 20'49"

i wasn't all that happy with my earlier run, so i decided to try for another. i walked my wife to work and then put group1crew in my ears and started running. i ran north to the highway and then across to the elevator drive.

turning south i ran past the elevator and back into town. i turned on garfield and then turned again on plum. crossing the railroad tracks i did a short down and back into the south side.

returning up main, i ran past the city building and the furniture store before jogging east a block to high and continuing north. i looped back to the school and kept going. i turned south on elm, ran down to garfield, then finished up with an eastbound block on walnut.

ended up just a little slower than this morning, but made it a lot farther and i didn't feel quite so bad. at a time that i was losing confidence in my ability to actually run a 10K in two months, this was a small boost.

1.80 miles in 14'49"

i was supposed to be biking this morning, not running. i got up at 6:00, put on my bike shorts and jersey, pulled on my socks and cycling shoes, strapped on my roadID, slipped my hands into my gloves and put my helmet on.

dressed and ready, i threw my leg over my bike and rode north on pine street. i turned onto the highway and my bike started thumping, so i stopped. there was a huge bulge in the front tire. experience told me to turn around NOW!

i rode cautiously back home, pulled into the garage, pulled the wheel off, brought it inside to photograph it and BAM! it blew. i'm very glad it didn't happen while i was on the road. if i'd been at speed or cornering, it could've been rather painful for me and my bike.

since i couldn't ride right away and i had limited time before breakfast, i decided to make the best of it - or if you ask jeff l, the worst of it - and run. i had about a half hour to spare before breakfast. i could have run that entire time, but i wouldn't have had time to cool down, so i decided to just run around the north side of town.

i didn't feel all that great the entire time, but i ran the entire time and didn't stop. the cooler temps - 75 as compared to 89 - helped some. i'd have stopped early again if it had been warmer.

i sure am glad this isn't how i felt at my race saturday. i'd have been really mad!

3.88 miles in 39'16"

i fully intended to see how far i could run in an hour this afternoon. i started out feeling pretty good, but that changed soon enough. before i was even out of town headed south the heat and the wind conspired against me. i started to feel not so good.

i ran for about 11 minutes and then had to stop to walk for a bit. from that point on, it was run a little, walk a little, run a little, walk a little. i just couldn't sustain my run for very long. i kept trying to put together more than a half mile at a time, but i'm not sure i did it more than once or twice.

i made it to my turn around just short of two miles south of town and jogged over to the other side to come back. when i got to the river, a new song was starting up on my mp3 player, so i decided to see if i could run for the whole song. i did it, but then i had to walk for quite a while.

when i got back to town, there was no question about continuing. i ran up to vine, turned east and headed straight to the house to cool off. i'll have to try to run an hour some other time. today was not the day.