Ten Days Since The Last Run

I’ve had such a miserable cold that I haven’t even felt like running. Today, though, temperatures reached 60 degrees, with a warm sun, and we couldn’t resist going to the park, where I had one very nice 4.8-mile run on the grass trails, perhaps the last run there of the season. Time 50:00, pace 10:27, can’t expect better after 10 days off.

I do hope to get in a few more runs here before the snow covers the trails, though. The park doesn’t allow snowshoes on those trails - they are reserved and groomed for skiers who pay nice fees.

I’ve tried everything to kick this cold, now going on 20 days. Extra sleep (lots), chicken soup, menthol chest rub, extra warmth day and night, freshly washed pillows & cases, new toothbrush, some exercise, no exercise, intense exercise; so far it hasn’t changed much. Head and chest, slight fever in the evening. I’m open to ideas, thinking it might be time to call the doctor.

Hot Run

We three wanted to get in some warm-weather training, so we ran in the park for an hour in the evening. I had run the same 5.2-mile route a week or so before in 54 minutes plus change, and this time it took 59:33. The difference? Last time the temperature was 72 and this time it was 84. I found myself paying more attention to the flush of my face, and the sense of overheating, than to breathing or muscle fatigue. As a result, though, I enjoyed the run (with more walking than usual) and I know a little more about what I might expect of myself if I run a marathon in 80+ or 90+ temperatures this summer.

I didn’t take any water or food during this short run, but of course in a hot marathon I would have taken water at least twice by the five-mile point, salt at least once, and probably a gel too.

No pains, no problems. Sunday's little pain in the right upper shin bone did not reappear. That’s a relief. The right ankle mumbles a little now and then, but it’s no worse when running than when walking and doing normal yard work.

5.23 miles in 59:33 is 11:23 per mile, almost a minute per mile slower than the June 29 run.

Somebody mowed my lawn! The worst part of it, actually, the part that slopes enough that you have to mow across the hill rather than up or down. I don't even know when they did that, sometime over the weekend, but I think I know WHO did it - I owe them a sincere thanks!


Breakfast. This is a huge bowl, MAN-sized, so imagine how big those straberries are! Organic, of course.

Acorns on the Roof

Bumper crop this year: red, white, and burr oak acorns are peppering the roof, the driveway, cars, even the lawn. Friend Jim says it sounds like hail on his roof. This has little to do with running, except: after this morning’s run I hosed off my shoes and left them on the deck to dry, only to find acorns in them later.

Jim and I ran in the park this morning, slower than ever because I tried to take pictures of some of the late-summer flowers and the start of fall color. The picture-taking didn’t go too well, partly because I hadn’t properly checked the camera battery beforehand, but we enjoyed the cool morning and had a nice 6.5-mile run. Time 1:12:30, pace 11:09.

No pains, no problems. It's a masterpiece!

Fourteen Beautiful Miles

What a beautiful day and a wonderful run with friend Jim on the hilly grass, dirt, and sand trails in the park. I had thought to do seven miles in the park and another seven or eight on the dirt road along the railroad track adjoining the park, but Jim isn’t fond of that rock-strewn dirt road (who can blame him) so we did the lovely 7.1-mile park loop twice. And the weather was perfect, about 60 degrees with modest humidity and just enough wind to be refreshing. The grass was a little dewy at 7:00 am, but that didn’t bother much.

No pains! Nothing but a slight hint of calf cramps, because I had forgotten to take my salt. That hint disappeared when I took it. I was even able to run down a couple of hills so steep that I had always walked them before, no problem. I wore the Brooks Summon shoes on those trails all summer, but those are now well over 300 miles and mostly retired, so today I wore my last pair of Brooks Burn shoes instead (discontinued, none to be found anywhere). I believe that is the major reason why I felt comfortable charging down hills - the Burns are just the right shoes for me. Darn it.

I’ve ordered two pairs of new shoes, the Brooks Launch, supposedly the Burn replacement, and the Nike LunarGlide, both in transit right now. I don’t know enough about Nike shoes to be sure that these are a "Burn" equivalent, they probably aren’t, but we’ll see. I’ll blog about them both. And I may try them both on the indoor track first, where I can run a few miles without any wear showing on the shoes. Returnable.

First loop 1:12:31, second 1:16:27, total 2:28:46, pace 10:29. It’ll do.


That's a grapefruit next to ordinary-sized things. I ate it.

The Train Tooted

That’s such a trivial thing for a grown man of 68 to care about, but I love it. As I ran on my favorite dirt road beside the railroad tracks today a train approached, first seeming to peek around a distant corner, howling at each crossing, then growing in size until the engine looked enormous, magnificent, terrifying. I waved with both arms and the engineer tooted twice, just short toots mind you, nothing official, but we both knew who he was tooting at. Go ahead, make my day! I couldn’t see him inside the engine - the sun was wrong, but I suspect he was smiling - they usually are. The three-engine train thundered by for several minutes, traveling opposite my direction, car after car roaring and clickety-clacking, shaking the very earth that I was running on, until it finally ended with three more engines. The black diesel exhaust of those trailing engines implied that they were working too, pushing from behind. I wonder.

My two favorite running venues today, 7.1 miles on the hilly grass trails of the park and 6.0 miles on the dirt road by the tracks. Neither of those is easy running, but they certainly are free of motorized traffic. You might meet up with a horse and rider, or a hiker with his dogs, or the occasional mountain biker, and I met all of those, but no cars! Also three deer, a cottontail, a family of wild turkeys, a hen pheasant, several great egrets, canada geese in V formation, and lots more birds.

The 13.1 miles (accidentally the distance of a half marathon) went by in 2:25:00, for a pace of 11:04. I timed the railroad portion separately, and it came in just under 11:00. That part is flat, of course. I’m unable to run continuously these days, at least for that distance on dirt and hills, so the pace represents a combination of running and walking. I didn’t feel strong this morning, not like Tuesday when I ran after a 4-day respite, but this is the longest run in a month and I’m happy with it. We have a marathon coming up, and it’s time to build back up to a 20-mile distance. I’d like to run the marathon in less than 5 hours.

A slight pain in the right knee this morning - what else is new. No other problems, including and especially the left knee, which had acted up recently but is running smoothly again.



This guy (gal?) likes to hang around our watering buckets, especially when they have water in them. Is it a food thing? Do insects chance by, to become a quick lunch? Often we have seen his/her nose just peeking out of the spout.

Four Days Off

Grandchildren trump almost everything, including running, and ours has been in town. It might have been just as well, though, because during those days I had some pain in the front of my left knee, just below the kneecap, and I might have skipped running anyway. The pain started after some housecleaning, which included some kneeling. Sounds like the meniscus, but it could be nothing more than a ligament. Anyway it’s new, as far as I recall. Today I felt it a little at the beginning of the run, and then it went away. Hope it stays away.

I ran in the park again, on a grass trail with a bike-tire-and-hoof groove down the middle much of the way. No pavement except the parking lot. I expected wet grass this morning, but mostly it was dry, and my shoes remained dry inside. Temp 63 degrees, dew point 54, a runner couldn’t ask for much more.

But I got more. In a remote area I chanced across a family of wild turkeys feasting on horse droppings in the trail, mom with at least 10 middle-size chicks. As I approached, they moseyed off the trail, not in a particular hurry, just disappearing as I passed. I suspect they returned to their yummy breakfast immediately.

And four days off didn’t hurt my energy at all! 7.1 miles in 1:09:44, pace 9:49. That’s as well as I have run in those hilly grass trails all summer, except one run with Jim, who pulls me along whether he means to or not. Great run. Longer one coming up Thursday I hope. Enjoy this wonderful weather before it gets hot and humid, which is coming up next week.



Datura. The blossom lasts barely two days, but new ones keep coming.

Beautiful Morning

Thursday, July 16:

What a wonderful morning! These are the rare summer days that we treasure. Windows open at night, cool mornings, perfect afternoons. We sure need rain, but if it’s not coming then we might as well enjoy what we do have. Another romp in the park today, same route as yesterday, 8.2 miles, but this time with Jim. I was concerned that I’d be low on energy today, having run just yesterday, but my time was actually five minutes faster than yesterday’s. It pays to run with Jim, for whom this was a nice easy jog in preparation for an upcoming 8k race. Pace was 9:42, quite good for eight miles on grass and dirt. This run finished 28 miles this week, hopefully 30 next week and that will be the limit. Beyond that I seem to slide into some injury of some kind, always different.

We almost ran over a little line of tiny goslings (maybe ducklings) crossing the trail, as they left a lake to hustle into the woods. How cute can you get! No doubt they were following Mom, but we didn’t see her, so she must have reached the privacy of the low plants before we arrived.

No injury today. The left ankle yelled at the start but settled down - sometimes that’s just from being slept on crooked or whatever. The right knee hurt just a very little bit, as it often does, possibly from a floater in the meniscus. My diagnosis. Hips were fine and I tried to balance the slope of the trail half of the time toward each hip. Stretches are key here too, especially in avoiding ITB and bursa problems, and I must admit that I am not as consistent in doing my stretches every day as I should be.



Oatmeal breakfast with a few berries and such.

First Day of Fall?

I hope not, but it felt like fall this morning. Gray sky, very breezy, 64 degrees. Excellent running weather, actually, and I enjoyed a great 8.2-mile run before breakfast. Time 1:24:08, for a pace of 10:18, which is really quite a bit faster than I’ve been going lately on these grass trails. Don’t know why, but maybe two days off from running helped. Certainly the cool breeze did. I did stop the watch briefly to examine a waterfowl viewing blind built by the Boy Scouts. Nice place to bring a camera. And I stopped a couple of other times just to appreciate the view, but didn’t stop the watch.

No pains, that’s very good. Last week I had a little warning signal from the right hip, most likely the ITB but possibly a bursa. After realizing that the trail tends to lean more to the left than the right when I take the big loop clockwise, I’ve gone the other direction for the last two runs and the right hip has been quiet. I’ve also had a little trouble with the right knee, which I think is a floater in the meniscus, but nothing today. I wonder if the knee is also sensitive to the tilt of the trail. Why not?

I saw no one on the trail today except a father and son walking together. I ran up behind them, and unfortunately startled the father rather badly. He really jumped. He laughed as I passed by, saying he imagined I was a bear. But I learned a lesson - I should have alerted them before I got so close - all the more important in such a solitary location. Whistling a tune would do it, but I can’t whistle on the run. I’ll just have to yell.

Except for my little road along the railroad tracks, I’ve never been too interested in training on dirt or grass trails, preferring blacktop. But this summer I’m certainly enjoying the park trails. Not sure why the difference. Today I saw a fawn, rabbits, blue heron, great egrets, canada geese, ducks, red-winged blackbirds, and a bluebird. That’s part of the attraction. It’s a masterpiece.


Recent lunch: Gluten-free pasta with really good stuff in it (but I don't remember what), organic chard with a little shredded cheese and possibly a few cranberries under the cheese, organic pecans, organic red cherries.

Another Romp in the Park

We three all went to a park this morning, each running or walking a somewhat different route depending on our current injuries. I ran 6.6 miles in 1:13:00 for a pace of 11:01, though I spent a few extra minutes at the beginning figuring out the route, so the time is not too credible. I felt good the whole time, and probably actually ran about 10:00 or so. Lovely morning, 65 degrees and not too humid, slight breeze, beautiful summer wildflowers. All but about a mile of the run was on hilly grass trails. Nice.

It’s been a long time since I ran with my heart rate monitor, and I wanted to see what it would say. Average heart rate was 126 over the whole 6.6 miles. I charged up a few hills to try to push the HR up as far as it would go, and 142 was the highest reading I ever saw. In contrast, before I started taking the cancer medicines a year and a half ago, my heart rate could easily be pushed up to 150 and even 160.

I think the dexamethasone (DEX) makes it harder to go as fast as I used to go back then, because it has taken away muscle mass, and the pomalidomide keeps the heart from beating as fast as it should even if I do go as fast as before. But the cancer is stable and life is good, considering the alternative. It’s a masterpiece!


Dinner last night: Roasted organic chicken (I'm partial to the leg), organic sweet potato with pineapple slices (expertly seasoned by Sunshine), organic nectarine, tasty oatmeal stout.

We Didn't Go

Saturday, July 11:

We were all set to go run the Psycho Psummer 50k Trail Run in Kansas City, KS. But I learned a lesson at Grandma’s Marathon and didn’t want to run in temps and humidity that high again. The KC forecast for today was for a high of 90 and dew points in the low 70's. It seemed a poor choice for my first ultra. Furthermore, Sunshine has a bad knee and couldn’t run, and I seem to have a slightly sore hip, so we didn’t go.

Instead, we ran with the St Croix Valley runners Saturday morning, the usual five miles. The route was new, however. We’re looking for an alternative to the old route which travels along a heavily-traveled highway for a mile or so. This time Wayne took us on a nice 5-mile route through neighborhoods, along some trails, and across a lovely long wooden bridge in Stillwater. It’s a bit hilly but I like it, though it might not be plowed in the winter - we’ll see. I dropped behind the group to run a while with another guy who ultimately took a shortcut back to the finish. Then I couldn’t catch up and finished LAST, in 45:32, for a pace of 9:06. Good enough though. I’ll take it.

Friday, July 10:

Sweet Pea and I ran & walked a short distance today, in case we decide to go to Kansas City tomorrow. That’s not looking good - the weather looks seasonal, which is to say UGLY for a 50k trail race. She did 4 k and I did a little over 5k, all on local neighborhood roads, quite early in the morning. I didn’t take a watch and don’t really know how fast I ran. Fast enough.



Breakfast: Gluten-free oatmeal with raisins and cranberries, organic strawberries, blueberries, papaya. organic walnuts, organic nonfat milk.

Romp in the Park

Another nice run on grass trails in the park today, 6.3 miles in 1:05:53, for a pace of 10:27. Actually a little faster than Sunday with Jim, but I felt a little more rested today and didn’t run quite as far. It was HOT though - only 75 degrees on the thermometer, but it seemed a lot hotter when the sun shone, which was about half the time. Humid, too, I was sweating. I ran most of the time, but walked up a lot of the many short hills and even walked a little on the flat.

Wildflowers are in full bloom, it’s a beautiful time to run in a park. The route even included a short piece of my favorite dirt road along the railroad tracks. Enjoyable run, total of 23 miles this week. I need to ramp that up a bit, but maybe not next week. Might do a long race at the end of next week. We’ll see.


Big salad: Jim's organic lettuces, organic strawberries, organic grapes, olives, coconut, organic red-wine vinegar.

Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon, # 2

More about the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Marathon:

• Sign on a horse fence along the trail: "Please Do Not Feed Fingers To The Horses".
  
• Bridges: Dozens of them, all wooden, all in excellent condition. I felt totally safe at all times.
  
• Trail width: Enough for two to run and a third to pass easily. I had been concerned that passing and being passed would be an issue, but it wasn’t. The trail was also mostly flat from side to side, so no one has to run on a slope.
  
• Flowers: Along the trail. Spring wildflowers like wild irises and many other species that I’m only able to appreciate but not smart enough to recognize.
  
• Rural: One local told me that the trail is out in the sticks even to people who live out in the sticks.
  
• Ruins: In places one can see remnants of the mining industry which necessitated the narrow-gauge railroad bed upon which the trail is now built.
  
• Race Profile: The one on the website is a little misleading (i.e. wrong). And I was wrong about the altitude in the previous post, reckoning it 1000 feet lower than it is. The race starts at about 5200 feet, goes up to about 6200, and back down to about 4600. But the highest point is not at mile 12 as the profile indicates, it’s between 13 and 14, and there is a very significant mile-long uphill, in the middle of the downhill, which is not shown on the profile. Be ready for it.
  
• Shirt: Technical (wicking) fabric, nice enough design. I’ll wear this one.
  
• Caledonia Cabins: In Lead, about four miles from the bus loading area. We stayed there because they have a full kitchen. Great place, clean and complete. We had trouble with the WIFI at first, but eventually had excellent internet service.
  
• Speed limit: On I-90 in South Dakota is 75 mph. We put the cruise on 80 and were clocked at that speed at least twice by the Highway Patrol. 80 mph apparently is not enough to interest them. Maybe 90 would.

Trail Mix Team Race

This was the 18th running of the Trail Mix races in Hyland Park. The course is 12.5k, about 7.8 miles. The long race is 50k (four loops), the Grand Prix race is 25k (2 loops) and the team race is 50k, where each team has four members and each member runs one loop, with the times of all four members added together for the 50k team score.

Today I ran the team event with George, Wayne, and Dave, finishing the 12.5k in 1:20:04. That’s a pace of 10:20, not much to brag about but (1) It is a difficult course, and (2) I did run 16 miles just two days ago. It’s good enough, especially since it was about all I could do. In fact none of us was in top form today. Each of us was either recovering from an injury or insufficiently trained for the distance. So we went a little slower than usual and enjoyed the race and the wonderful Hyland Park. Roy showed up to cheer.

No pains! My sweeties came along and cheered as well, but did not race this time. They got pictures. :-)



Three of the four St Croix Valley Runners at the start line.