5.8 miles - What is there to think about for all these miles?

2 laps at Memorial this evening. Nice evening. The cooler weather allows me to sleep late and be lazy. Lazy lazy lazy.

With so many miles, there's a lot of time to think. Here's something I read recently, that I find to be somewhat inspirational. It's from that Joseph Campbell book I talked about a while back, from a chapter titled Refusal of the Call.

Often in actual life, and not infrequently in the myths and popular tales, we encounter the dull case of the call unanswered; for it is always possible to turn the ear to other interests. Refusal of the summons converts the adventure into its negative. Walled in boredom, hard work, or "culture," the subject loses the power of significant affirmative action and becomes a victim to be saved. His flowering world becomes a wasteland of dry stones and his life feels meaningless--even though, like King Minos, he may through titanic effort succeed in building an empire of renown. Whatever house he builds, it will be a house of death: a labyrinth of cyclopean walls to hide from him his Minotaur. All he can do is create new problems for himself and await the gradual approach of his disintegration.

There's that. That's been on my mind recently. Also, some lyrics from a song I was stuck on for a couple days that goes a little something like this:

There's never gonna be a moment of truth for you
While the world is watching
Ohh, all you need is the thing you've forgotten
And that's to learn to live with what you are

Although, I've decided to interpret that song a little differently than it was intended. I'm not quite ready to live with what I am, but I'll try to be satisfied with you with all your flaws. :)

Listening to: Ben Folds - Learn to Live With What You Are

I'm so introspective today! What gives?
Keith.

Sometimes I behave strangely ...

... just for the sake of behaving strangely. Somebody's gotta do it.

No run today.

Listening to: The Strokes - Trying Your Luck (I hope it's you who set this trap)

More running...

I think I ran yesterday, 5 miles. I don't quite remember, I think I ran my usual route, and it was hot. Yes, I'm sure of it, I ran. The alternative is unthinkable. I must have run. It's Tuesday right? Yes, I must have run Monday, of course I must have, I run everyday. Just because I don't remember it doesn't mean it didn't happen. If I didn't run, I'd remember it.

I ran 5.4 miles this evening with some peeps from my club that run on Tuesday nights. It was a nice route through some very upscale neighborhoods and a private country club golf course. It was quite complicated though, I think if I gmapped it, it would look something like a funnel cake.

Blog blog blog blog blog. What to blog, what to blog. Hmmm.

Listening to: Ben Folds - Learn to Live With What You Are (All you need is the thing you've forgotten.)

Keith tired.

2 day streak!

I ran a 10 miler yesterday and 5 more today.

You might be wondering "What's up with my foot?" It's been feeling okay. Yesterday's run was a shortened version of what I should have been running, and I had 3 days off this week, so I guess it's helping. I think it stems from the RTW5K a couple weeks ago. I can run lots of miles, but when I try to run fast, I get beat up pretty bad. I talked to some dude from Koala about it yesterday after the group run, and he said to stretch it and ice it and elevate it, which is what my friend Tonia has been saying for weeks. I'm not quite sure how to stretch that part of my foot, those bones don't move that much. It's like stretching my skull, how do I do that?

Today, I ran 5 miles down on the Seabrook trails, and I ran into Coach Rick of the CLFC, who was just setting out on his 3rd loop. We ran together for about a mile and apparently at one time, he had his own running streak going, which was about 3 years long!

We'll see if I get another streak going. It does seem to me that it's not as conducive to this phase of marathon training, when I'm doing some very long runs. It served me well to keep me focused for the base-building phase. More importantly it allows me to sidestep some weaknesses of mine. On that issue, I'm considering posting my theories about exactly what is wrong with my brain. Would anyone like to read that one? I could post my theory on what's wrong with my brain, and maybe I could get some of my friends to give their own theories. That would be fun.

Listening to: Faith No More - Zombie Eaters (I'm helpless; I'm flawless; I'm a machine)

Keith out!

Quick Update.

Thanks everybody for your encouragement and your sympathy. I didn't cry like I thought I would. I like streaking, it keeps me focused, which I find difficult at times if the goal is months and months away.

I was back in action this morning for two laps on the bridge. My foot doesn't hurt that bad, but there's obviously something wierd going on in there.

Tomorrow (Friday) may be another missed day. My car's broke, and I'll probably be peddling my butt to work and back (12 miles each way, which seems like a lot for me) so I don't know if I'll get a run in too.

Listening to: Plant & Page - Gallows Pole (I brought a little silver. I brought a little gold. I brought a little everything, to keep you from the gallows pole.)

Keith.

No running today. My 183 day streak is over.

I'm a little worn out, and my foot is worrying me greatly. It's the same problem that happened before the NYCM last year, and it totally ruined my day. So, no running today, and probably not tomorrow either. I'll pick back up again on my bridge on Thursday morning, and maybe I'll start a new streak. Furthurmore, I might only run 10 miles this weekend, and rejoin the scheduled mileage next weekend with 16.

I could still go run a couple miles, or even just one mile, without doing any damage, and that would satisfy the criteria for the streaking committee, but the streak was never really the point. The streak is the means to the end, not the end itself, at least that's what monkey told me (sometimes that monkey isn't too bad, another time, I asked him if I should have a burger or have a salad, and he told me to watch the damn road, which made sense at the time because I was trying to blog and drive at the same time).

And yesterday was day 183, which made it just over 6 months long.

But I don't feel like I deserve the streak anymore. Sure I've been running everyday, but the last couple of weeks, I have only followed the letter of the law, and violated the spirit behind it. I started this because the consistency of the schedule is good for me. Getting up early, running while the sun rises, fresh fruit and yogurt, some Limp Bizkit playing in the background... that was how I'd start my day. But now, I sleep in, and I struggle through my run well after the sun is up, and I have no time for relaxing, and contemplating the larger issues, like "what is my purpose in life?" "what will I do today that will get me closer to my goals?" and "who in hollywood is gay?" (colin farell) "who is a racist drunk?" (mel gibson)

Time to refocus.

Listening to: Infectious Grooves - I'm Gonna Be My King

Ketih.
Oh, that's just wonderful. I can't even spell my own name now.

Write in zombies.

Write something for yourself.

Listening to: The Police - Don't Stand So Close to Me (Strong words in the staff room; The accusations fly)

Upcoming HRB meeting

It recently occurred to me that we have a club meeting coming up next week! I don't know if there are plans already, but I'd like to renew my suggestion to take a spin around Rice, and then hit Two Rows in the Village. Burgers, fish tacos, microbrewed beer, and of course Steaks! ;) I guess there's a lot to talk about with the Kid's run, and the road trip coming up.

Anyway, that's my vote.

Listening to: Flyleaf - I'm So Sick (So you'll shut up; And stay sleeping; With my screaming in your itching ears)

itching ears?
Keith.

Joe Rocks!

Joe ran a 10+ minute PR in his half marathon this morning. Rock on Joe!

Listening to: Gnarles Barkley - Crazy (Come on now who do you, who do you, who do you, who do you think you are, ha ha ha, bless your soul; you really think you're in control)

Go find a new hero.

My friend and I ran 10 of our 18 miler and hung out at a coffeeshop for the rest of the time.

Right now, this is just one factor contributing to my overall bad mood. Every song on my playlist seems to be only two steps removed from some disappointment in my life.

Listening to: Elvis Costello - The Other Side of Summer (Despite the contradiction and confusion; Felt tragic without reason; Theres malice and theres magic in every season)

Don't comment. Just F-off.
Keith.








- added later

Okay, maybe not everything in the world sucks. Today at the coffeeshop, we got to spend some time with one of our club's prime sources of inspiriation, Marcie, 82 year olds and still gets herself and her coffee to the marathon finish several times a year.

She told us a story about when she was in the hospital, and one of the nurses, who herself was already 50+ years old, remembered being taught in 6th grade by Marcie when she was a girl. Marcie asked her, "when you were in my class, did you ever think that there'd be a time in the future when you'd see my boobs?"

I think I'll be okay in a couple days. I had only 2 hours of sleep yesterday, although I did have fun on Friday, with some nice Chinese food, and kicking some peoples' asses in mini-golf.

Sorry about the F-off thing.
Keith.

Kemah Bridge

6 miles from 3 laps on the old bridge.

I just updated my other running log, the one I got from davidhays.net, and I've already got 322 miles on my new shoes. This is getting expensive.

Can't think of any clever crap this morning. I think my air conditioner is dying. The temp in here is 82 and climbing.

Listening to: Johnny Cash - I Walk the Line (For you I know I'd even try to turn the tides.)

Keith out.

Who will cover?

I've got 10 dollars that says Broadway Joe breaks 2:00:00 in his half this weekend.

Listening to: Neil Young - Long May You Run (Rollin' down that empty ocean road; Gettin' to the surf on time.)

My neighborhood

I run around my home a lot, and I see a lot of familiar faces around this place, and very few of them are running. There is one other runner, an old guy, who wears a whole brightly colored workout outfit. I see him on days when I don't get up very early, and have to run in the sun. He's practically the only one in Pasadena, except when you run around the parks at Crenshaw Park, or at Strawberry Park, there are lots of runners there.

One person I see a lot is another old guy that walks with some kind of a walker/wheelchair thing, and he goes up to the corner store, and walks all the way back to his complex with just a couple of beers. I guess he gets tired, and stops and sits in the chair thing, and sometimes drinks his beer then. One time, another guy was trying to help him, and was pushing him along in his chair, going backwards, and they hit a small crack in the sidewalk and the guy spilled over backwards. I stopped my car, and got out to help, and as we were lifting him up, he was yelling, "chair now! chair now!" and nobody that was helping him had any idea what "chair now" meant. This guy walks back and forth to the store, at least 3 times a day, and only seems to get two tallboys at a time. By the time he gets home, it's almost time to go back to the store.

There is another guy, a young guy, that's probably about 20 or 25. He sometimes runs around here, but I hesitate to call him a runner. I don't think he trains for anything, and actually, I think he has some other issues. He always runs a bit, and stops and turns around, and runs again, and stops and looks at every car that drives by. The first time I saw him, I saw a group of other youngsters playing, and I thought he was being chased or something. Now I see him frequently, with the same paranoid look, but nobody else is playing in his game. I even see him at crazy hours, running at 3 or 4 in the morning, or in the middle of the day, always running like he's being chased.

Then, there's a red haired guy, who I think is homeless. Several times, I've run towards him, as he was talking to himself, and when he'd see me, he'd say, "Oh, you caught me talking to myself." And sometimes he says something about how he doesn't usually do that.

One time, there was a guy with a leg in a cast, who was just sitting outside in a wheelchair by the side of the road, with a whole case of beer, and several empty cans strewn about. I was walking my dog at the time, and we stopped and chatted a bit, and he seemed friendly enough, and we shook hands. I got the feeling he wanted to shake my hand just to see if I was too good to shake his hand. The red haired homeless guy does that too. At the end of our walk, I saw this guy out of his wheelchair sitting on the ground, just looking around. I had no idea what he was doing, until he spun around and got on his knees and peed in the bushes.

These are the people I don't really know. Lots of people in my complex know me through my dog. Everybody loves him, and always ask how he's doing, if he's not with me. He's fine, by the way.

Anyway, who's in your neighborhood?

Listening to: The Rolling Stones - I Am Waiting (Well, it happens all the time; It's censored from our minds )

5 miles yesterday, 5 today.

Keith out.

17 miler and a 5K PR

As you've probably heard already, I ran a 5K PR yesterday at Run the Woodlands #159. I ran it in 23:09, which is 38 seconds better than my PR at the Astros run in May. So, doing a few quick calculations, I've determined that the world record will be mine on February 12, 2010, and just because I'm a hopeless romantic, I might just do it on Valentines Day, and I'll dedicate my race to all the chicks that broke my heart, and I can tell them all to "stick it!" But these calculations also mean, unfortunately, I won't be elite in time for Beijing, but there will be a good buffer before London, so if I have a setback, like getting the flu or getting real fat or something, I'll still be okay for London.

It was good to see many of my HRB friends yesterday, you rock!

I was a little worried going into the race, because I've been feeling a little slow, and because I guaranteed a PR on the messageboard, and that's kind of a stupid thing to do in August in Texas. But I pulled it off, so I'm pleased. It's pretty clear that I've never been in better shape than right now. I did partake in one ice cream sandwich yesterday, so I reset the ice cream counter. But then, I figured I might as well have a second one, because if I have to reset it, I should reset the hell out of it! So I had two.

The only problem, and it could be a big problem, is that I could feel some familiar pain in the bone we do not speak of, starting at about the 1.5 mile mark yesterday. So, I'm a pretty worried about that, as I know it has the ability to trash my crazy marathon plans. This morning, it was okay, for the whole 17 miles, and it seems to hurt most when I'm walking around barefoot. Perhaps my running shoes support me too well, and allow my feets to become weak. Perhaps I should do something to strengthen my feets so my feets don't fail me at an inopportune time.

Joe carried me through some of the difficult miles late in the run today. Thanks Joe!

On a different topic, this morning, right before I started out on the trails, one shooting star reminded me that yesterday was the peak of the Perseid meteor shower, and I kicked myself for forgetting all about it. Unfortunately, it was mostly washed out by the 73.3% full moon, and I didn't conclusively see any more. I think there were several more, but if they're too dim and too fast its difficult to say for sure.

Lastly, for no reason, here is a video of a monkey and a dog.

Listening to: Beck - High Five (High 5! More dead than alive! Rocking the plastic like a man from the Catskills!)

Rocking the plastic like a man from the Catskills.
Keith.

Beat the drums.

I'm excited about the 5K!
I love all the references to Miracle, and to Saint Blogger's Day. It should be fun, and I'm not settling for the moral victory just yet. We'll see how many people actually show up, and on the right day, which of course is Sunday Saturday (I'm worried somebody might actually fall for that little joke ;) ).

Just to catch up, my streak was in jeapordy, but I did manage to keep it alive. I ran 3 rubbery miles on Wednesday night at around 10 PM. I felt horrible the whole time, I don't know if it was the change in schedule, or the pinchos de carne, or the pinchos de pollo, or the rapé con miel, or the serrano and manchego, or the goat cheese thing, or maybe it was the b'stilla, or perhaps the flan or the chocolate flan or maybe even the tres leches, I'm not sure, but whatever it was I felt real bad that night.

Then I got back into the morning schedule yesterday morning with 5 miles and this morning with 4 miles.

We'll see how well I can do tomorrow. I haven't been doing any speedwork, but I wasn't doing any speedwork when I set my PR, so, you know, maybe I can do it. And it will be pretty warm out there, but it was pretty warm back in May when I set my PR, so, you know, maybe I can do it. I haven't been feeling very fast lately, though, so, you know, maybe I can't do it, but then again, maybe I can.

Listening to: Masaharu Sato - War Drums from Seven Samurai

See you all tomorrow.
Keith.

What movie kiss are you?

Your Famous Movie Kiss is from Harold and Maude

What Famous Movie Kiss Are You?

Listening to: The Strokes - Sagganuts (Run Run Run!! as fast as you can run or you can walk; she give you oh so much because your outta luck)

Keith out.
Di-di mao!

What I'm gonna do?

I had a power outage last night, which screwed up my alarm clock, and I had no time to run this morning.

And there's not a lot of time tonight to run, because we're supposed to go to dinner with the lab because somebody's leaving forever.

And if I did run this evening, it would be pretty late, and I'm supposed to be on the bridge tomorrow morning at 4:45 AM!

Should I ditch the streak, and rest up for a quality run tomorrow morning? I asked monkey, and monkey says I should check the batteries in my smoke alarm. Good advice. Thank you, monkey.

I'm almost at the 6 month mark. I can't stop now. I'll run tonight, and tomorrow morning with like 6 hours rest. I can do that.

Listening to: Weezer - Say it Ain't So (This way is-a-waterslide-away-from-you-that-takes-you-futher-everyday. Be cool.)

Keith.

5 good miles, 5 okay miles

I had 5 good miles yesterday morning. It was one of those runs where I wished I had brought my watch, because I think I was going pretty fast. 5 miles this morning was less fun, still fun, but less so.

I asked my friend monkeybuddha to help out and give people advice on my blog. And the very first day he started he told my friend to send an email to everybody, with a rather inappropriate heading in the subject line! And I recently asked him about my future and stuff, and he told me to "put some ointment on it."

I think I'll give him a chance to improve. He's supposed to be enlightened, but I guess he's still a monkey. He is able to use the internet, so that's pretty good.

Listening to: Ella Fitzgerald - Dream a Little Dream (Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you; Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you)

Keith.

How about a steak dinner?

Oy Vey!

My friend from Japan asked me to check his english on something he was writing for a job application, so I said "sure." He didn't tell me it was 10 pages long! I think I'm going to get a steak dinner out of the deal, though, so that's good. That goes for any of you out there, if you need your english checked, one steak dinner will cover it.

What else would I do for a steak dinner?

Call in sick for you.

Care for your dog or cat for a few days.

Ambush the person of your choice with a pie in the face. And I can yell something crazy like, "LIVE IN THE NOW, MAN!"

Buy you a steak dinner.

Pace you through a marathon for half way or something, provided I can keep up.

Write a custom blog template for you.

... and lots of other things. Make me an offer.

BTW, I ran 5.5 in La Porte this morning. I felt better after I finished than before. I was a little stiff and achey from yesterday's long run. 47.5 miles this week, not bad for being a little burnt out. :)

Listening to: Seal - Crazy (In a world full of people, only some want to fly, Isn't that crazy?)

Keith.

17 miles

Our club started from the Seabrook trails today for a change of pace. The main group was going 6 miles for the first time, and our little TMC group was going 17, so we started a couple hours earlier, and ran down and over the bridge, and then one extra loop on the trails.

It was still completely dark when we got back to the trails for the first loop, so we ran with flashlights, and a couple peepul had the kind that strap on to their heads. It's a lot of fun, running in the dark, when you can only see what the little spot of light in front of you allows you to see. The miles seem to go by faster and easier.

I was struggling early on, with rubbery legs and everything, but somehow it passed, and around 8-10 miles I started feeling pretty good, and it lasted the rest of the run. I think the reason I felt so good was that I was staying better hydrated because the trails have water fountains every couple of miles, and I didn't have to conserve like I usually do. I had also refilled with gatorade a couple times, when usually I run with plain old water.

I got back to the trails in time to see the main pack of runners running the Maribelle's 5K at their turnaround point, and caught a glimpse of several familiar faces, including a fellow charter member of HRB, and former star of You Can't Do That On Television, Sarah.

Afterwards, I tried to go to work, but was only mildly productive. I stared into space for quite a while, and I experimented with different positions where I might be able to sit at my desk and sleep. However, I did manage to re-familiarize myself with the binomial distribution, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Next week is the Blogger Challenge at the Run the Woodlands, so I guess I'll be doing my 17 miler alone on Sunday. I would consider running a bunch of early miles and then running the 5K, but apparently, one day when I was loopy with Vodka and Cheez-its, I said something on the message board about possibly being able to maybe tie my PR or something.

I might change my mind, maybe I will run 14 early and then the 5K, it's not like we have any chance of winning or anything.

Listening to: Beck - Nobody's Fault But My Own (When the moon is a counterfeit; Better find the one that fits; Better find the one that lights; The way for you.
)

Keith.

Absolution?

So, I ran a five miler yesterday. And I made up that mile I lost on Tuesday, when I quit at 4 miles. I ran 3 loops of the bridge instead of the regular 2 loops.

So am I back in your good book?

Listening to: Björk - Show Me Forgiveness (Show me forgiveness; For having less faith in myself.)

Keith.

4 / 5

I quit at four miles today. Too late and sunny. Too hot.

I've been slackrunning. Sleeping late. Running after the sun comes up. Eating poorly. Still running, but not doing much else right.

JD: Thanks for asking about my left foot. It's been okay, and doesn't really hurt when I'm running. Sometimes, when I bend it the right way, I can feel it hurting, and for some reason, I can't stop doing that. Every couple of hours I bend it just to see if it still hurts, and if it doesn't, I go farther and farther until it does, and then I feel stupid.

Listening to: Sugarcubes - Birthday (Keeps spiders in her pocket; Collects fly wings in a jar.)

bleh.