Snowy run...

I woke up to snow this morning. Tiny flakes were coming down quickly. The grass was blanketed with the stuff. The sidewalks were covered, but the streets were mostly clear.

I decided to try to write "snow" with my Garmin without looking at a map ahead of time. I didn't realize how difficult that would be. There aren't any straight streets around my in-laws' house.

I ran up a couple of blocks from the corner of 31st and Osage, doubled back and then ran toward Seneca. That's when I discovered that there are no northbound streets between Osage and Seneca. I had to make the middle of my "w" in a church parking lot.

When I got to Seneca, I took it north a few blocks, crossed the street and ran my "o". It turned out much smaller than the "w" since the streets that made it didn't go back down to 31st.

I ran the "n" and then the "s" which was easy since the street I found to run it on curved naturally. When I was done, I ran the route backward, skipping the back half of the "o" and messing up a bit on where I needed to cross the street to head back down the "w" toward 31st.

When I got to the end of the "w", I thought about adding a "y" to make it snowy, but I stopped. Looking at the map now, I'm glad I didn't try it. There wasn't another northbound street between Osage and McLean. There wasn't any way to make a "y" for blocks! (garmin data)

Slo Poke 10K...

I started out this morning with a plan to run along the river trail, but changed my mind and ran the streets in my in-laws' area of town instead. It was cold enough without adding in the cold coming off the river.

I ran first toward Seneca planning to run up to Maple, but as I approached Seneca, I changed my mind. I crossed over 31st and ran to the west side of Seneca, then turned south. I thought I would run down to Macarthur and across to West, then return via 31st. That plan changed too.

When I got to 35th, I decided there would be too much traffic on Macarthur, so I turned west. I ran along 35th, not knowing exactly where it went. At Elizabeth, I discovered the street took a very slight jog south and then continued on as a sandy dirt road over to Glenn Street. There was no street to take me across the drainage ditch that blocked my path at that point, so I just ran down into the bottom of it and up the other side. From there I continued on down 35th.

I continued on 35th until it stopped at St. Clair. At that point, I ran around the barriers and across the barren field to Meridian which I turned and took north, through a couple of traffic lights to 27th. My plan had now evolved into an attempt to draw a candy slo poke.

I turned east and ran 27th Street back to Seneca and then ran south back to 31st. I turned east and ran back toward my in-laws' house. I was at about 4.5 miles at that point, so I had to continue on. The shoes I'm running in now have never stopped before five miles in their lives.

I ran down 31st, past that stupid junk yard dog - he barked at me again - and then turned around at Water. I ran back to Seneca, did a loop around the entire intersection and ran back east. I crossed the road at Springleaf Financial, the same place I'd crossed earlier going the other way and ran back down 31st until I hit the 10K mark. I stopped my Garmin and walked a half block back to my in-laws' house.

I stepped inside, rested a bit and marveled that someone could sweat as much as I do when it's only 23F out. Looking at my map, it appears that I didn't run as far out as I thought I did, so my slo poke is more square than slo poke shaped. Still, not bad for drawing on the fly. (garmin data)

Late morning 15K...

All I've been doing for the past couple of days is eating and sitting around. It was time for a run.

I woke up a little before 8:30 this morning, dressed for the cold and headed out. The wind was out of the south, but there isn't a lot of area to run south of my in-laws' house, so I ran east on 31st Street and then turned north on McLean.

I ran up to O.J. Watson Park, turned in and ran through the park. I took the yellow brick road to the covered bridge, ran across the bridge and then ran along the abandoned-for-the-winter railroad tracks over to the north side of the park.

I slipped through the gate onto the river bike path and ran on north to Pawnee. I jumped off the path and ran across the river and over to Broadway where I turned south into the wind. I ran down Broadway past all the used car dealerships then turned west onto 31st.

When I got to Wichita Street, I turned south. Less than a block into my jaunt down Wichita, I was greeted by a junk yard dog. He was a shaggy German shepherd who was clearly not happy that I was near his domain. He ran along the chain link until I was gone. I stayed clear of him and ran on.

About three or four blocks down Wichita, the street changes from pavement to sand. It remains sandy the rest of the way south past the stone quarry and around the corner onto 35th. The total distance on sand going the way I did was almost a half mile.

When I got to Gold, I turned north and ran up to 33rd where I ran west. I thought about turning on Oak and running back to the house, but I kept going, turning south on Osage and running down to 35th again.

I took 35th a couple of blocks, jogged north one block on Southwood, and kept going on 35th to Seneca which I took north to 31st.

Turning east on 31st, I ran past the six mile mark around my starting point and covered the next two blocks or so to make my run a 10K. I was done for the day, or so I thought. It was just too cold at 20 to stay out any longer. (garmin data)


I stepped in the door after my 10K and found my brother-in-law getting ready to go out for a run. I asked how far he was planning to go. "3 miles" was his reply. "I'll go with you," I said.

So a few minutes later, I was out the door again, running at a pace far faster than my previous 10K.

We ran up Oak, jogged over to Osage and took it north. At 27th, we jogged a half block over and continued up Osage to Oak. We turned left onto Oak and ran a block back to Savannah, turned left and followed Savannah till it turned into Exchange Place and took us back south to 27th.

We turned right on 27th to avoid having to run on McLean and followed the street all the way back to Seneca which we took south to 31st. Our plan was to run down Seneca to 33rd, but traffic changed our plan slightly. We turned left and ran east to Handley, crossed the street and headed south.

We finished our run by running down Handley to 33rd, turning left and running over to Oak which we took north back toward home. I stopped my Garmin at 5K and pulled to a stop.

We walked the rest of the way back to the house, cooled off a bit and ate breakfast. (garmin data)

Santa Hat Run...

I really enjoyed running this morning. It was a cool 19F with very little wind. Beautiful!

Ryan and me post run

I started out with a 2.7 mile warm up, running from my house to the church following the Santa Hat Run route in the reverse direction. I wanted to see how the sidewalks and streets were and what to warn people about. I noted where the cracks in the sidewalks were and the smell of donuts at the donut shop. When you're running, that might prove too much of temptation.

I got to the church, opened the doors and turned up the heat. A few minutes later, the first of the group showed up. Over the next ten to fifteen minutes, seventeen runners and a few onlookers walked through the door.

My daughter finishing up

Mom and daughter just about done

At 7:30, we stepped outside, took a quick group photo and started running. The pace was a bit quicker than last year's. I ran along Maple with Jason and his son Erik with a few people ahead of us and a few behind. Ryan, my friend from Haviland, caught up with us just before we turned south onto Main Street.

Running down Main, we were still mostly in a clump. We had to run by twos because the sidewalks just didn't allow for more than that abreast. I ran with my brother-in-law and my daughter for short periods and then ended up with Ryan.

After crossing Highway 54, we ran on toward the donut shop. Just before getting there, I moved to the front of the pack and challenged one of the girls to go catch the two boys who were ahead of us. She took off like a house-a-fire! I shouted at her, "We don't have to catch them in a block!" She kept running and a block or two later, died.

Sister chasing brother

Ryan had gone with me when I increased my pace, so he and I ran on slowly reeling in the teens ahead of us. We turned on to Sixth Street still trailing them, but making up ground. We caught them around Thompson and ran with them for a little while.

Just before Howard, Ryan and I ran on ahead, taking the lead in this non-race. We turned onto Howard, ran up the hill and headed back toward the highway.

There was a pause in the traffic when we got to the highway, so we ran across without hesitation. We ran up to School, took the only right on the course, ran over to Welton and continued north with a couple of other old guys about a half block behind us. We ran to Maple, turned west and covered the final two blocks to the church.

Hot chocolate all around

We rested for a bit, then got a picture or two before Ryan headed back to Haviland. Four or five runners came in while we were still breathing heavily. After a bit, I ran back out onto the course. I ran the reverse direction to get some pictures and check on people. I saw four other runners as I ran.

When I got to Sixth Street,I looked west, saw no one coming, so turned around. I ran back to the church by a slightly different route and found the rest of the runners.

We drank hot chocolate and talked for fifteen minutes or so and then everyone left. I ran back home to finish up my cool down. (garmin data)

Pre-EMS run...

I really wanted to run longer this morning, but oversleeping and having to be on call for EMS at 10:00 didn't leave me enough time for that. Instead I opted to run up to the Friends Church, run the Santa Hat Run route from there, then return home. I wanted to see how many miles that was so I'd know if I needed to run more on Monday to get my five miles in. It turns out, I do have to loop around a bit more for five miles. If I stopped at home, I'd only have 3.7.

The only semi-interesting thing that happened on my run was being yelled at by crazy Donnie. He yelled something like "Don't you know it's winter?" and laughed. He's a nut...and a nice guy! (garmin data)

Not the en...

I woke up this morning. The world was still in one piece. I decided to go for a run. What else do you do when you're given another day to live?

I started out with a plan in mind to spell out the truth. It's not the end. I ran the "not" just fine. I ran the "the" right as well. The problem came when I got to the "end" of my drawing. I guess I just kind of spaced out or something. Instead of making a nice "d" at the end of my "end", I kind of spiraled off into oblivion. I was disappointed while I was running, but now that I'm back and looking at it, I think it's kind of funny. It's not the end of the world after all. (garmin data)