I will be migrating from blogger to my new website

I've decided to move away from blogger and build my own website with my own domain.  It's live now at www.rundiggerrun.com and I believe it'll be a much better experience for my visitors and for me.  I'll try to notify people who follow this blog and leave this post at the top.  I'm not sure if I will pull all the posts from blogger into my new site, but may get it accomplished over time.

A great weekend and new beginnings

My wife and I enjoyed a fantastic weekend on the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Friday night we drove south after work and stayed in New Bern, NC, a wonderful town full of boats, maritime history, friendly people, and an historic downtown which includes Tryon Castle, former residence of the British governor.  We spent Saturday morning taking all this in an then drove to Cedar Island where we caught the 2 hr ferry ride to Ocracoke, drove North up the island, then hopped the short 30 minute ferry to Hatteras where we stayed in a wonderful inn called the "Inn on Pamlico Sound" which was fantastic.  On Sunday we drove home with scores of wonderful good memories and experiences of our trip.

Soon I will migrate this blog and my podcast to my own website which will be www.rundiggerrun.com.  I'm excited to be able to have a more flexible approach to this blog and I've grown dissatisfied with Bloggers' somewhat clunky interface. 

Run Digger Run Episode 5

Is up!

In this episode, I give a training update, talk about the "lost memorial" in DC, and share a bit about the hardware and software I use to record and archive my running activities.

Feel free to contact me with any feedback at runpodcast@gmail.com or leave a comment on itunes.  Thanks for downloading and listening!

Also thanks to Krister for the great email, make sure you listen to his podcast!

weekend plans

Tomorrow I'll get my 10 miler in during the afternoon and intend to follow a nice route across the Memorial Bridge, then East along the mall and then back West down around the Kennedy Center, thru Georgetown and then back across the Potomac on the Key Bridge.  I'll take some pics along the way on put them up on twitter. Then its off to the Outer Banks for a weekend jaunt we've been looking forward to for a long time.  On the drive down, since I've recorded almost everything I need for RDR episode 5, I'll work at editing with an eye toward getting it uploaded and on to Itunes  when we get back Sunday night.  We're really looking forward to the trip!

A new week

Yesterday I had the day off.  I went to visit a friends boat that is having some propellor/hull interaction issues so it gave me an ideal opportunity to do a little survey and analysis.  It's a great school related project for me that I'm having fun with.  It was also a complete rest day which felt pretty good.

Today I ran what I suppose you could call a tempo run as I did 4 miles at a "comfortably hard" pace that ended being 9 min per mile.  That's pretty speedy for me.

Tomorrow I will run again on the mall and pick a landmark to talk about in RDR episode 5. 

weekly long run complete

I had a great long run today of 10 miles.  It feels good to break into double digits on one run, and that puts me over 23 miles for the week.  All is on track for the half marathon next month, and I can't help but think about the marathon coming in October.  Granted it's a long ways away but it'll be my first and I am really excited to keep the base miles up and be ready to bump up the miles into the summer.  

So far my flat as a board feet are doing fine.  The Superfeet blue insole and New Balance 1224 shoe is a winning combo for me.  And, if we get in a flood, I can use the size 14 freakishly humongous shoes as a raft for my wife and I. 

Gut Check

My friend Sean in CO posted a great summary of his recent climbing experience.  He does a great job of describing the dynamics involved of doing something that has perilous ramifications.  Perilous but not reckless. Free climbing an exposed area with his buddy Chad, Sean describes the thought process the team goes through. What may look in the pictures to be a carefree lark at high altitudes is in fact a calculated, disciplined, and courageous process most definitely not for the faint of heart.  In a situation where a lack of mental discipline and mis-step may mean a fatal fall, it is a testament to how a person can challenge himself and still end the day safely. Notice they didn't summit that day but instead had to turn back, and that is part of the discipline.  The clear headed thinking required to not allow the adrenalin and "summit fever" to take over is part of the art of self preservation and is well described in this piece.  

He also refers to the art of body temperature regulation which is a piece of advice from which all cold weather runners may surely benefit.

Read this great piece and see the breathtaking photos here.

RDR episode 4 is up

I had fun with this episode.  In it I talk about my training, the Arlington Memorial Bridge, do some general philosophizing, and respond to some emails.

links:

Ashland Dave

The Extra Mile Podcast

Arlington Memorial Bridge

thanks to those who left comments and emails about the podcast:

Jeff from Lithia, FL

Mark from Kent, UK

"The Jackal"

Stuart from SoCal at quadrathon

thanks for listening!

The week in review

If I said "this week was busy" I would be right.  Work was jumping with all kinds of ankle biting taskers and some crisis reaction here and there.  I was able to run three days during the week.  I'll do a short run tomorrow morning and my long run on Sunday of ten miles and that will put me on pace with where I should be for week 7 of the training plan.

I recorded a segment for RDR episode 4 earlier in the week but part of it was so bad with slap slap slap noise coming from some poorly placed bit of recording kit that I had to erase it rather than subject anyone who wants to listen to my podcast to that infernal repetitive racket.  So, I will record some more tomorrow and then get it processed and uploaded on Sunday.

There are so many new podcasts coming out and I feel bad because between doing my own and listening to the regular "cant miss" ones I am not getting to listen to all of them.  Part of the problem is I don't have a very long commute so on my way to and from work I only have about 20 minutes.  I know, that is a great problem to have, and I don't take for granted how wonderful it is to not have a life force sucking, horrifyingly long commute.  However, it doesn't leave me a bunch of time to listen to podcasts.  When I am at home I like to spend quality time with my wife.  I can't listen to podcasts at work, or anything else for that matter, because I am usually on the phone or talking with someone who has entered the puka or I'm headed to or from some meeting.  I do listen to podcasts some on my runs, but usually only on my long run.  On shorter runs I am typically recording for my own little podcast. 

I am also "behind" on catching up on all the blogs I would like to read.  Even with the use of an RSS reader that handily captures everything I want to read about in one handy page, there are more updates than I can keep up with.

Ahh, the information age.  It's a double edged sword.  Whatever you want is at your fingertips, but it can easily become too much.

I'm glad the weekend is here!

Another taste of Spring

Today I had a nice run across the Potomac and it almost felt like Spring.  It was in the high 40's F maybe 50 F and the sun was out.  If it wasn't for the strong SE wind it would have seemed a great deal warmer.  I decided that for the next podcast episode I would talk about some local landmarks as well as the usual training update and general philosophizing.  Being able to run around the monuments of DC is quite a privilege and it might be interesting for me to pick a few of them, research a bit of their history and interesting trivia, and then talk about it in future podcasts.

RunDiggerRun episode 3

RDR episode 3 has been uploaded and should be available in ITunes shortly.  In this episode, I talk about my training, adjustments to my recording rig, do some general philosophizing about fueling, and share my recent experience with Apple products.

stuff I talk about: 

“mobile me”: http://www.apple.com/mobileme/ 

Nigels’ podcast: http://runningfromthereaper.blogspot.com/

please feel free to contact me with any feedback at runpodcast@gmail.com, or you can catch me on twitter as “rundigger”, or thru my blog at rundiggerrun.blogspot.com

thanks for listening!

Saturday long run

I ran 9 miles yesterday for my weekly long run.  That's the farthest I have run in some time; I think it was probably last year at this time that I went that far in preparation for last years Shamrock half marathon.  I didn't have any arch pain and that was a great relief.  It's been a bit of a "niggling" issue for me of late but I believe the active stretching and strengthening exercises i am doing are helping.  

The weather yesterday was perfect for a run.  It was in the high 50's F, sunny, with a bit of breeze. I ran in shorts and a tank top and was perfectly comfortable.  I supplemented with some gel and electrolyte in capsule form which I find very convenient.  I used a fuel belt with one 8 oz bottle with a mixture of 4 oz gel and 4 oz water.  There is a water fountain about three miles into the run which is very convenient so when I run that route I don't have to carry much water. That's one of the things I really enjoy about the Mt Vernon Trail.  I do find that, in agreement with most of the fueling literature I have come across, that any run I do that lasts longer than one hour is helped significantly by moderate use of supplemental fuel and electrolyte.  I use and am a big fan of Hammer products which can be found here.  

I ran a very steady 11:00 pace for much of the run and is spite of some large heart rate spikes at the beginning of the run it steadied out to average about 144 bpm. I felt a surge of inspiration at the 8.25 mile mark and ended up cruising the last 3/4 mile at a sub 8 minute mile pace and it felt really good.  I actually felt so good I was grinning ear to ear and felt pure joy as I came to a walk at the end of the run.

very chilly on the mall today

from "Spring" back to Winter

From 60 deg F on Sunday to 37 deg F today with snow flying, the past few days have been a real roller coaster.  I thoroughly enjoyed running in shorts the other day, but today it was back to full length tights, compression base layer top, and technical shell.  And hat.  So much for the Spring teaser we had.

I did some recording for RDR episode 3 on Sundays run and through the initial editing I've done I'm pleased with the audio quality.  I think it has improved over earlier episodes due to a few adjustments I've made.  I will probably get episode 3 out this weekend since I have recorded more than enough blather for one episode.

My training is going well and I'm pleased to report that after another 20+ mile week I have no arch issues.  I believe the stretch regimen and foot strengthening exercises I'm doing have plenty to do with that.

What a great day. 54 deg!

RunDiggerRun episode 2

Episode 2 is up.  In this episode I talk about my training, running tights, and the motivation to run.  I also ramble aimlessly quite a bit but usually get back to my point.  I still think I need to adjust my recording rig somehow to try to reduce the footstrike sound which seems too much in the forefront.

The winner of episode 1's movie quote of the week contest was Sean from Colorado.  This weeks movie quote might be a bit more obscure but I bet we'll have a winner soon.

Several people took the time to either write me a note or plug me on their podcast or "twitter" me, which I really appreciate:

Nigel

Jan from Yorkshire, UK

Kelownagurl

Ashland Dave 

Mangorunner

Mickdo100

thank you all very much for the encouraging words!

Beautiful day on the mall

Brighter and brighter each morning

Ugly commute

Thought for a Saturday: "wasted" miles

Steve Chopper just posted an interesting question over at Runcast.tv.  He asks "what do you find annoying about running?"  Here's my thought. 

The concept of "wasted miles". I've read this term more than once and heard it discussed as well and it bothers me. Unless kept in the appropriate context, professing the idea that any running miles are wasted is at best misleading and at worst, arrogant. All runners should keep in mind how many people in this world would love to run but will never be able to.

The ability to run at all is a gift; a precious gift indeed. And it should be fun, too.

For elite athletes, professionals and the like, and for the hyper-competitive, I understand the concept; when you are trying to squeeze every possible gain from your limited training time in order to achieve a very specific goal, I get it. But the vast majority of us are middle of the pack weekend warriors, juggling family obligations, commitments, other hobbies, and running. We train for races, share our experiences, and live better lives because of the incredible gift of running. We shouldn't ever take ourselves too seriously, because life is too short to stress ourselves out wondering if we just ran a "wasted" mile. Every now and then I leave the Garmin at home and go for a run just for the fun of it. I highly recommend it.

God help me if I ever get to the point that my training is so scripted that I ever truly believe that I have wasted my time by running.

A short week

I didn't get in all the runs I had planned for this week due to some flu like symptoms I've been enjoying.  I ran anyway on Thursday but I'm not sure that did me a lot of good based on how I'm feeling today.  I'm glad the weekend is here so I can rest up and get better.  The big development this week is my podcast is now up on itunes. I must admit that if I didn't have Nigel's help I would have been loster than last years easter egg.  His guide and tips available on his website are great.  I'm using Audacity for editing and it took awhile to get a handle on that but I'm making progress.  I don't think that with everything else going on in my life that I will be able to do more than one episode every two weeks.  Between a full time job, pursuing an education in boat design, running, and spending quality time with my wife there isn't a whole lot left.  I'm also sure, though, that the next episode won't take as long in "post production".

On my run today: icy Potomac

It's a good day to be alive

but I wish my throat didn't hurt and I didn't have that congested "in the tunnel" feeling.  No pt for me today but will instead look to tomorrow.  I'm glad to have my podcast up and running.  This first introductory episode was all over the map as I rambled a bit.  I expect I'll go on tangents every now and then but that's alright.  I will have a plan for each episode for what I will talk about but it will likely be a plan to deviate from.  My overall goal for the podcast is to be involved with the running community at large; to participate in a way that gives back to and engages in the conversation made possible in this transparent electronic age.  I think that primarily it will serve as a diary in the same way as this blog, just in a different format.  

we have a winnah!!

Well that sure didn't take long.  My good friend Sean out in Colorado correctly identified the inaugural "movie quote" contest from RUN episode 1.  The movie is "Outlaw Josey Wales" and the character who said the quote was the river ferry boat operator.  Sean is an avid cyclist and hard corps mountain bike rider.  You can check out his new blog here.  Congrats Sean!

first podcast is up

Well my first podcast episode is up on podbean and I will try to get it into Itunes as well.  It can be found here

Run Episode 1

In this episode I'm basically just introducing myself and talking a bit about my running background and what some of my future plans are.  I have some work to do on getting my rig right to reduce some of the ambient noises, so please bear with me as I work on that.

Any feedback is of course welcome and you can email me at runpodcast@gmail.com with any comments. 

the music is by Nick Murray and can be found at http://music.podshow.com

Another day, another run

I got passed by a blind woman on my run today.  She and her guide went by me with a nice "good morning!" and it looked to me like they were going a long way.  They both had fuel belts on and both had very efficient looking strides.  I felt privileged to see them.

I also recorded some on the run, trying out my new digital recorder and mike.  I'm not very pleased with the quality of the audio and think I may need to put a larger piece of foam around the mike.  There is a bit of wind noise present and some other spurious sounds that I would like to avoid.  We'll see how it comes together when I finish editing in Audacity.

When will summer get here?

Of course it is supposed to be cold.  It's January.  Be that as it may I am really looking forward to summer.  I got very excited the other day on my commute home because as the subway car I was riding came out from underground near Reagan National airport the sun was still over the horizon!  That means the "dark ages" are over and summer, warm weather, and boating can't be far behind!

I got my new digital recorder and mike in the mail yesterday and am excited to try them out.  I need to get a little piece of foam for the mike and I should be ready to record on the run.  I downloaded the mac version of audacity and will begin to play around with it.  All I really have left to do is get a hosting site set up and I think I will use podbean for that.  Once that's done I'll be ready to start podcasting.

The Extra Mile

I really enjoy The Extra Mile podcast.  Hearing from other runners about their experiences is such a huge motivator.  Episode 34 just came out and I was able to listen to it on the way to work this AM.  What struck me about this episode most was Gordon who left a couple voice messages as he was running the Walt Disney World marathon.  This was his first marathon and the raw unfiltered emotion that came through right at the end of the podcast was so genuine and so heartfelt it ran a chill down my spine.  Congratulations to Gordon and the rest of the WDW runners!

The other highlight for me from this podcast was Kevin's mini profile of Krister from the Running the Narrow Path podcast.  Kevin remarked about how far Krister has come with his command of the English language.  It's really quite good, I must say.  I noticed he said "um" or "uh" or "you know" or my favorite "I was like" exactly zero times.  Thanks to Kevin I'll now be subscribing to Krister's podcast.

I did some intervals today along the Potomac by the Memorial bridge which felt good in a weird twisted sort of way and then after I got home kept up with my 200 sit up challenge program.

Intervals along the Potomac

The train to Podcastville is leaving the station

Today I got a step closer to launching a podcast.  I ordered a digital recorder and a microphone and they should be here Friday.  Next I need the software to edit and a site to host it.  I've made use of a couple of great sources for helpful info, namely the forum at runningpodcasts.org as well as Nigel's great new website for podcasting tips. Thanks Nigel!  But wait, there's more! Act now and receive FREE Nigel's new e-book about how to podcast!  Armed with this kind of information I'm sure I'll be up and running soon.  

Thought for a Saturday

I was going to sign up for the Cherry Blossom ten miler in Washington DC, but I was too late. In fact, the race filled up in three or four hours.  Think about that for a moment.  In a couple hours, 12,000 people signed up online for the event.  Holy cow!  I've been thinking that over for awhile and it helped me sort out another internal discussion I've been having.  I and others have mused out loud about whether or not to start a blog or a podcast, and for some of us, our collective voice has said in one way or another, why bother?  There are so many other very good blogs, podcasts and other vehicles out there that describe runners' activities, thoughts, plans, goals, and experiences.  My "A-hah!" moment came when I realized that isn't the point. What if somebody thought about signing up for a race and then said 'why bother? there are already lots of others doing it'.  Ridiculous, right?  So the real reason, the real point of blogging or podcasting, is to be involved and to contribute.  To experience, to share, to learn, and maybe even to teach.  Everybody has something to contribute, and everybody's participation is important.  That's what a community, in our case a community of runners, is all about.

rest day

Since I had to drive roughly 12 hrs of the last 20, this'll be my rest and stretch day

On my run today. Mem brdg, Lincoln mem, and cold geese

Rainy day in DC

We didn't get the wintry mix today which was a relief.  I take the metro to work but my wife has to drive a bit of the beltway on her commute, so I'm very glad there wasn't any icy road buffoonery going on.  I got a good run in during lunch along the Potomac.  I ran North along the Mt Vernon Trail past Roosevelt Island a ways and back.  It rained steadily and was a bit cool at 34 deg F.  I'm pleased to report my new Mountain Hardware jacket performed perfectly and kept my core warm and dry.  I should put together a "stuff I use and believe in" list and put it in a widget; this jacket would certainly be on the list.

wintry mix!

The Northern VA area is calling for a possible wintry mix tomorrow.  With any luck, it will be absolutely nothing like what happened last year about this time, namely the formation of a sheet of ice over the DC area which left people stranded for up to 8(!) hours on stretches of 395 and other parts of the beltway.  It really caught VDOT with their pants down and they caught a great deal of flack for not having pre-salted the roads.  Of course now they put salt down if ice is mentioned at all by the weather folks, so that's good.  No workout today save for a stretching routine; so pretty much a rest day.  Tomorrow I'll head out for a run during lunch at work.

Beautiful day for a run on the Potomac

A stone bridge and more cold birds

From my run today

There are birds in the distance. Do they know their feet are cold? Do they care? Or are they just uncannily stoic?

2009!

Where did 2008 go?  we've had a busy year punctuated by a week of cross country travel to see family over the holidays.  After we got back from Prairie City OR on 28 Dec I had a quick turnaround and headed to Boston on the 29th to see the rest of the family.  As hectic as the travel was I feel grateful to have been able to see everyone.  Along the way I had some great runs and was able to put some new clothes to some pretty severe tests thanks to cold, wind, snow an slush.  There is something very satisfying about heading out in to miserable conditions but being warm and dry at the same time.  Something very gratifying...

Jeff Galloway just posted to his blog on the satisfaction and reward of completing a marathon. Good words.  I was thinking on a recent run about another reason why running is so personally satisfying.  Whether it be finishing a race or just a challenging training run, part of the reason why it is so satisfying is because it is a pure, refreshing and positive manifestation of responsibility and personal accountability.  What do I mean by that?  And why is it so special, rare even, to feel that way?  It is in part because today's dumbed down, courage lacking society would have us believe that we are not truly responsible for our actions (person sues McDonald's for burning their mouth with hot coffee and wins) and that there really is no accountability for bad, selfish, greedy, undisciplined, and reckless decisions that adversely effect countless other people. (government bailout of mortgage and auto industry).  There are countless other examples of the weakening personal responsibility and eroded sense of self determination permeating our collective conscience and social fabric. (eat all you want and lose weight as long as you take our pill!)

Enter the runner going out for a run.  What purer way is their to demonstrate that we are, in fact, responsible for the decisions we make?  That anything worthwhile takes hard work and personal accountability? We run, we get in shape.  Voila.  So, in a pure athletic sense there is reward in finishing a marathon or any other challenging run just for the thrill of the accomplishment.  But it is my sense that there is more to it than that.  We work hard at a goal and achieve or fail, but either way we give it our best.  We refresh ourselves knowing that the mind numbing, constant hammering we get from a society that tells us expecting immediate gratification is OK and that we can be as ignorant as we please because somebody will bail us out is a silly, selfish, and unconscionable way to live.