Since my last post I ran 21 miles – 6 on Wednesday, 3 on Thursday and for a new personal distance record I ran 12 miles on Friday. In case you are keeping track Friday was St. Paddy’s day so in honor of Ireland’s patron saint I listened to only Irish music during the run. This worked well while Flogging Molly or Dropkick Murphy’s were playing but not so well when it came time to hear The Dubliners or The Clancy Brothers. I will say that on a longer run the super-high-intensity music is not as essential as during a speedy short run.

Thankfully I ran my 12 miler outside on Friday morning. Since I took the day off I was able to run in relatively warm (25 degree) weather with only a little wind. I started at Equinox, ran around the baseball fields, over North Ave. Bridge and headed south (sound familiar?). I made it to Olive Park and out and back on that pier. Then I went out and back down Navy Pier and across the river. I made my halfway turn at Balbo Drive and retraced my steps back to the gym.

While running I thought to myself that the first mile of just about any run is not fun. Unless you are really feeling good (and I was slightly hung over from Thursday night) the first mile of a run is a lot of questioning … “Am I going too fast?” “Am I going fast enough” “Is my stride too short or long?” “How many footfalls am I making per minute?” “How does my cadence match my breathing?” … This is then followed by lots of conscience instructions from the brain to the rest of the body. That first mile is all about the nuts and bolts of running – getting comfortable with the trail for the many miles to go.

But then something great happened at around mile 2 – I did get comfortable. I was aware of my breathing and my strides but they became automatic. The best way to describe this is that at mile 2 I found my rhythm. I’d like to claim I kept my rhythm for the next 10 miles but it would come and go. I ran down Navy Pier too quickly being egged on by the groups of kids on field trips milling around. I tried to take it easy on the way out and still managed a negative split on the way back.

Following my long run I had a stretch, steam, and shower (again, sound familiar?) and made it back to my apartment. After a nap and some food I went out with some buddies in my neighborhood. I turned in early since I was fairly tired from the long run.

This week’s training runs are similar to last week’s. I have 3 Tuesday, 6 Wednesday, 3 Thursday and finally 13 on Saturday. I hope I can keep healthy and strong for the week ahead.


Also after 11 weeks and about 200 miles or so I have gone through my latest pair of running shoes. Notice the killer bald spot on the sole of the left shoe. A salesperson at Fleet Feet watched me run and informed me that I’m a foot-scraper. My right foot lands heel-first, I push off normally, my left foot lands heel-first, I push off but drag the foot forward and scrape the pavement in the process. The salesperson let me know that this foot scrape goes all the way back to the first humans who curled the toes and dug into the ground while running. She informed me that it’s sort of like having a vestigial tail or almost-opposable thumbs. It’s nice to know I have a bit of Cro-Magnon man left in me.


I replaced the bum shoes with a new pair of the same make/model. While I’m sure the Asics corporation and Fleet Feet are both ecstatic over this fact, I think I need to work on my stride to save shoe wear and cost and more importantly not waste valuable energy scraping (and therefore breaking) with every step I take. We will have to see how the next pair holds up.