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.

Two Runs Today

St Croix Valley Runners:

Twelve of us ran this morning. Gauss is back - that’s very nice. Everyone likes Gauss. I ran most of the way with Paul, though he was able to forge ahead in the last half mile.

Warm and a little humid, it was actually not a bad day to run. Time 45:45 for 5 miles, pace 9:09. Good enough. After running 14 miles in my 5-year-old Nike Pegasus shoes on Thursday, it felt SO good to be in my Brooks Burn shoes today. Last pair - when they’re gone I won’t know what to do - no good replacement yet. The Brooks Summon is OK but not as good as the Burn. Is the Brooks Launch available yet? I’ll have to check. I have some Nikes on order; we'll see if those feel right. 5k race in another hour.

North St Paul District 622 Education Foundation 5k Race:

This turned out to be a small, local race with wonderful door prizes! Sunshine didn’t run, because of her knee injury, but Sweet Pea and I both won door prizes (by drawing), a nice cotton shirt and a travel kit.

I started with Sweet Pea, discovered that she would be OK running alone, and moved off ahead. Finish time 30:33, pace 9:51, not good for a 5k but I have plenty of excuses today, not the least being the 5 miles I ran an hour before.

Happily, the knee problem that appeared after Thursday’s run (ITB maybe?) was no problem today. Better shoes? Perhaps, and also today I was mostly able to avoid running on a slope. I think I'll just toss those old Pegasus shoes.

Splits: 10:38, 19:00 (2 mi), 0:56 (0.1 mi), total 30:33. Humpf.



Today's post-run breakfast. Until recently I have eaten my oatmeal with fruit and milk. Lately I've put organic yogurt on top instead of the milk underneath, for the flavor and especially for the live cultures that are thought to be good for us.

Gateway Trail 14 Miles

Thursday, Aug 13:

Gateway trail, 14 miles, the "long" run of the week. Yesterday was a warm, humid one, threatening high 80's, so I started the run before 7 am, and ran the Gateway Trail because it is dry and shaded.

Also, I don’t seem to be able to run continuously for very many miles anymore, so I deliberately ran two minutes and walked one, keeping to that sequence rather carefully. It worked better than I expected, producing a very nice average pace that would result in a marathon time of about 4:26 if it could be continued that far.

Some minor pain in the right knee, at the bottom of the kneecap - nothing that bothered much, in fact I felt great after the run. Today, however, the day afterward, the right knee has pain on the very outside of the knee joint. I suspect an irritation of the illiotibial band (ITB). Two possible causes: (1) I ran all 14 miles on the right side of the crown of the trail, because the trail was fairly busy with skaters and bikers, and (2) I used a pair of Nike Pegasus shoes that I have had for several years but have probably never used for a run this long. The treatment for minor ITB problems like this is stretching. I do the ITB stretch every time I do my stretches, but perhaps I don’t do my stretches often enough. Time to get serious about them.

Splits: 10:00, 9:39, 10:29, 9:34, 9:35, 10:26, 9:55, 11:01, 10:14, 20:48 (2 mi), 20:19 (2 mi), 9:52, total 2:21:52, overall pace 10:08. Huh - I’m really quite happy about that pace, considering.

Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009:

4.2 miles on local streets, watching road construction and dodging Bobcats. This was a humid morning, so grass was wet and streets were actually a pretty good idea. I didn’t write down the time, but I was pleased when I finished so the pace must have been in the 9's. I felt good afterward.



Yesterday's breakfast: Gluten-free oatmeal with organic raisins and cranberries, blueberries, organic strawberries, organic plum, organic walnuts, organic yogurt. CUB's "Wild Harvest" organic yogurt contains corn starch and carob bean gum, but nevertheless is thin and a bit runny. Trader Joe's organic yogurt has neither of those, but does have vitamin D3 plus four specific active cultures, and is quite a bit thicker. Which would you choose? In the photo is the CUB brand - I'm using it up.

MDRA 15k Race

I’ve never run the MDRA 15k before. It’s a long way from our home, and if I recall right, until lately it hasn’t been a certified race. I like races that are the right distance. MDRA means Minnesota Distance Running Association, which is the largest running organization in Minnesota. I support MDRA, so perhaps it’s time to pay the fee and do this run, which is one of several races sponsored by MDRA throughout the running season. Besides, I needed a semi-long run of some sort today.

The course is entirely on public streets, but most of them are closed to traffic and we encountered very few cars. It’s a bit hilly, but somehow the runners in this race broke or set nine (9) new Minnesota age records anyway. Nice! What that tells you is that some of the very best runners in the state showed up, and that applies to all age groups. In fact, one of the new records was for a 67-year-old male. Weather was OK - 72 degrees with a light wind, and the sun didn’t show until the last 5k. There is also a 5k race, in which Sweet Pea ran and did well.

Splits: 8:38, 8:46, 9:20, 9:21, 9:44, 9:40, 12:34 (potty stop), 20:06 (2 mi), 2:30. Total 1:30:38, pace 9:45. I slowed a bit toward the end - walking some of the time - my face was getting flushed and I didn’t want to overheat. I finished 5th of 7 in age group 60-69 (I'm 68). I did run about as fast as I could today, given the conditions, so it looks like my 15k pace is about 9:45 these days. No pains! That’s 27.4 miles in the last 4 days. I’ll take tomorrow off, and probably not do another longish run until Thursday - no sense pressing my luck.


Yes, there is oatmeal under there somewhere.

Thunder & Lightning

St Croix Valley Runners regular 5-mile run. Lots of people this morning, despite the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon, which always attracts several of our runners. We even had a new runner, Lisa, who ran way out in front with New Dave. Hope she keeps coming - I’m sure that several of our speediest runners can keep up with her or at least challenge her.

I ran a modest pace, intending to run a 1/4 marathon race (6.55 mi) less than an hour later. It was an enjoyable run, with breath enough to chat a bit with other runners. Time was 46:10, pace 9:14.

A half hour later we three showed up for the Huff & Puff 5k and 1/4 Marathon, just as the thunder and lightning also showed up. Believing that it’s about as smart to run in lightning as it is to golf in lightning, we just collected our shirts and drove home. As far as we know, no one was hurt. We certainly weren’t.


Post-run breakfast: Oatmeal and fruit. I do so love this season, when organic fruit and berries are so plentiful and fresh and delicious.

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.