Six Miles, Three Noisy

North St Paul Community Center, six miles with the rude Jazzerciser leader shrieking into the mike at maximum amplified volume for the last half of the distance. How on earth can people exercise directly in front of the speakers and yet preserve their hearing? It’s bad enough way up above on the track where we run! We usually try to avoid running there while Jazzercise is making their noise, especially on weekends when the Community Center staff exercises no control at all, but because of today’s inclement weather we went early and overlapped some.

Anyway, six miles in 50:16, pace 8:23. I felt good today - the natural pace after the first warmup mile was about 8:20, a little faster than two days ago. Perhaps a day off is a good thing! Splits: 8:51, 8:22, 8:18, 8:21, 8:17, 8:06.



Today's breakfast: Organic oatmeal, organic nonfat milk, organic walnuts, dragon fruit, banana, Don's nut/berry/fruit mix, chopped cocoa beans.


Soups a few days ago: Curried organic squash/carrot/sweet potato soup, chicken soup with organic carrots and other veggies, shredded organic cheddar cheese.


Dinner a few days ago: Beans & brown rice, Sunshine's nutty dark bread with Danish dill havarti cheese, organic vegetable medley. No doubt a nice dark brew went with this ...

Rude Jazzercisers

Jazzercise classes are held at the North St Paul Community Center almost every morning. We usually manage to arrange our schedule to avoid those, because of the noise. The entire facility is really just one huge room and the Jazzerciser leaders seem to love loud music and, even more, love to hear their own voices shouting above that music. Today we had to be there during the din, or not go at all.

Normal conversation was almost impossible, even in the other end of the facility. It’s as if Jazzercise leaders are a slightly different breed of human, born or raised to have no consideration for others. Perhaps they are trained that way. I’ve watched them turn up the sound when the facility managers asked them to turn it down, and I’ve seen them mock people who were protecting their ears as they ran by on the overhead track.

Most of the people in the Jazzercise class are women. I’m the first to admit that women are as intelligent as men, or more so, and usually wiser than men. But if that’s true, then who are these women who pay money to stand directly in front of those high-decibel loudspeakers without ear protection? I hope they make better decisions in other areas of their lives.

Anyway I “ran” another 34 minutes on the elliptical machine, about the same amount of time as I would actually run at this point in the marathon taper if I were running. 450 calories expended, about 175 strides/minute, level 8. The good news is that I felt a little discomfort in the lisfranc ligament of the left foot, a chronic and ignorable problem, but nothing from the plantar fasciitis. Here’s hoping that I can finish Grandma’s on Saturday.