Progression

Today's run was 7 miles on the treadmill at the Y, putting me up to 535.3.  

Did I have to go to the Y?  Yes, but not because of the weather. Given how warm it is in the Y's cardio machine area, I would have rather been outside.  What led me inside on the treadmill was the type of workout.  A progression.  My first really intentional progression run as part of a training plan.  

The plan was 7 miles with paces starting at 8, working my way down to 6:30, and then cooling down with 8 again.  I am not yet able to do that easily on my own.  Even on the track.  So, I did it on the treadmill.  Challenging, but not impossible.

From my virtual pilgrimage point of view, it puts me continuing along Indiana route 46 running parallel with I-74 about 13 miles west of where it intersects with US 52.  Not much in the area.  

What was today about pondering?  A few things.

First, yesterday was a rest day.  I call it an "urban rest day."  Meaning what?  Well, while I live in the city and work in the city, in many ways I lead a suburban life.  But yesterday my car was in the shop for a coolant issue (which turned out to be inexpensive to fix and the repair place welcomed my dog when I brought my child and my dog to pick up the car at 7 this morning).  In any case, I had to take the bus to and from work with a walk at one end on the way in (the bus stop was right next to the car repair place) and then both ways on the way home.  The walk is just under a mile.  It was nice to get my legs moving a little even on a rest day.

It was also a day to notice how long it had been since I'd awakened with a charley horse in either calf.  If nothing else, this suggests that I had been hydrating better.  

So, even my rest day involved noticing a few things.

On this running day, it was my first even progression run.  The cumulative time for the 7 miles was 51:15.  I nearly decided to run 51:50 (thinking back to some old Van Halen vinyl that I think I still have somewhere in the basement).  Would there have been any reason to do that other than the number?  No.  And as someone who is particular about trying to get workouts "just right", I decided to stick with the plan rather than to add 35 seconds to get to a specific number that reminded me of something else.

Anyone who has known me since my first marathon, knows that I am a complete numbers person when it comes to running.  Not just my paces.  Not just my times.  Not just PR's.  But looking for meaning in the numbers I find.  Ever since my bib number for the first marathon was 1313.  

The meaning in 2000 miles.  The meaning in putting that on a map.  The meaning in finding a Catholic church exactly that far away.  

It suggests to me why I like listening to baseball on the radio so much as a kid and when I do "consume" a baseball game these days I'd rather have it on the radio than on the TV or even in person.  Great radio broadcasts involve two things--telling stories and sharing numbers.  The numbers can be pretty obscure.  I saw that the current shortstop for the team where I grew up just started the opening day game for the 14th season.  Tied for the major league record for the position.  Two ahead of the shortstop I grew up watching.  Two years behind the 3rd baseman I grew up watching.  I love numbers.  Even in baseball the most obscure number has meaning to someone.   

And finally, I thought about music.  51:15 to 5150 to Van Halen.  I thought about how exploring Van Halen for me as a teen was something new.  I thought about fact that when I come upon new music I often listen a lot and then pull back.  Kind of like a progression run--pushing harder and harder and then pulling back.

I thought about the fact that there is a "new country" station in the area and I have taken to it.  Surprising to many, including my wife who had tried to convince me that country music was good.  Why do I like it?  Because the stories (as my 18 year old said) are "real".  Not always.  And country has recently been accused of telling the same story over and over again.  But the music actually reminds me not of the country I heard growing up but of the type of music with lyrics that I can understand that I liked growing up.  And one change--if we accept the premise that it is more stories of real lives and real people, my job is more about that these days.  Business schools are about real people doing real things in a real economy.  Yes, there are some fancy finance things that don't seem very real.  But business is relationships and motivation.  And country music talks about relationships and motivations in very direct ways.  

So, starting from a challenging 7 mile workout that took me along Indiana 46 in my path to New Mexico with a cumulative time of 51:15, I have ended up pondering my musical tastes and my interest in baseball and my life in a city.  I don't know what that says about me other than that I have a mind that likes to wander and find ways to pull things together. 

Flight Paths

This morning I put in another 7 miles.  Putting me up to 528.3--nicely ahead of the 40 miles per week I had as a goal at the start of the year.  In fact 8.3 miles over for 13 weeks--so, a little less than an extra mile a week on average.  

This morning's workout was a 3200 meter warmup, 8x400 with 200 meter active rest between each, and 3400 cool down.  I think I kept the 400's under 90.  The intensity felt similar as I went through 4-8.  The first three were definitely under 90.  Watch on the fritz for the last five.

The distance puts me on Indiana route 46 headed west.  Leaving the Cincinnati metro area at this point.

What stood out during my run this morning?  

Well, the stars were such that I could see the Big Dipper, what looked like Mars, and Venus.

And even more interesting while I was running on the track at Gilman, the area must have been on the flight path for many of the early morning flights coming into BWI.

I think I saw at least a half dozen planes with their bright headlights approaching and then low enough to see the underside of the plane lit up.

Time after time.

Just like the workout.  Lap after lap.

A certain sense of constancy.

Constancy of effort.

Constancy of distance.

Developing familiarity with the pace.

Just like the flight path is probably a  familiar one.  Not just for those of us on the ground watching plane after plane come in.

But also for the pilots who must fly the same path over and over again.

A reminder of how many things in life either are constant or require constant attention or require constant and consistent effort.  From the biggest things where many others might be depending on us to the smallest things like one lap around the track.

Over and over.

Guided by the ticking of the clock.

Guided by the effort.

With one goal in mind--execute against the plan.

And make it work.  

Reaching Indiana

So, today I ran 6 miles at an 8:31 pace.  Pretty easy for me.  (As I always point out, I realize how much it is a gift to be able to say that.)  That puts me up to 521.3 miles total.  That puts me just over the Ohio/Indian border just a little north and west of Harrison, Ohio.

Not much to say about the run other than that I spent a lot of mental energy and effort looking at my watch to make sure I did not run too fast.  (Again, a gift and something I should grow used to over time.)

Course?  A nice one.  Lake, Bellona, York, Belvedere, Loch Raven (honked at by taxi that was over a block away), Northern, around Mars, Loch Raven, Northern, Alameda, Walker, Northwood, Cedarcroft, Yorkshire, and home.

On my virtual pilgrimage, in Harrison, Ohio, I would have run right past St. John the Baptist Church.  What do I think of when I think of John the Baptist?

Dressed oddly.  (Or perhaps camel hair wasn't so odd at the time.)  Still, I feel some camaraderie as a result.

Ate oddly.  Love the honey.  Not so much the locusts.  Bible doesn't say he was much of a cook.  But certainly didn't eat typical things.  Like that too.

Prepared the way.  That is an interesting contrast with Peter who implemented after Jesus taught him.  I chose Peter for my confirmation name.  I am in a job in which I am largely implementing.  Although occasionally the role of the person who is in a second tier management job is to pave the way.  Still, I think about the mix of paving the way and implementing and think that my confirmation name was a better choice to represent what I do now.  It will be interesting to me to see just how much my job transitions over time to one of paving the way.  Either for the Dean.  Or for the Assistant Deans I work with to do their jobs.  

In any case, in my spiritual musings today, it is interesting to think about those who symbolize different roles in the life of the church and for me to think about how these fit in with my own life now and over time.  This virtual pilgrimage has led to a lot of interesting things for me to ponder and I am only 1/4 of the way to my goal.  

More miles to run in the morning.  

All Are Welcome

Today’s run began at 6 AM. I had planned to start just a little earlier, around 5:50 so that I could get in my 10 miles without having to push quite so hard.  Do I like pushing?  Yes.  For years now when I run with my main running partner, we run 7:45-8:00/mile and call it a conversational pace.  It truly can be for us.  But just because we can carry on a conversation at that pace does not mean that I should necessarily be running that pace all the time.  As I found in Sydney, 9 minute miles beat up my body a lot less when I have the time for them.  Nevertheless, I run about 1:21 (just over 8 minutes per mile) for the 10 miles.  Today it was down the hill to Cedarcroft, Northwood, Northern, Alameda, Overbook, Loch Hill, Loch Raven, around the Mars shopping center and back to Northern, Loch Raven, Belvedere, Northern, Springlake, Homeland, Charles, Stevenson, Bellona, Gittings, York, Lake, and home (with a tiny extra bit to get the full 10).  It felt great.  It was drizzling the whole tie.  Raining hard occasionally.  Windy sometimes.  Tough but not impossible combination.  And it felt refreshing.  I may have been a little overdressed—tights, tight long-sleeved shirt, windbreaker, gloves, baseball cap.  May not have needed anything other than the tights and shirt most of the time.  But it worked.

Total?  515.3 miles.  That puts me on Harrison Ave.  West of Springdale Rd.  Moving toward Indiana.

When I think of spirituality and Cincinnati, I think of an experience between my junior and senior years at Penn State.  I spent a week in Appalachia with the Glenmary Home Missionaries.  A group of missionaries that works exclusively in the United States.  For the past two weeks in Sunday school at our parish, I have worked with the children to introduce them to the activities of Catholic Relief Services.  One-fourth of their resources stay in the United States.  For the Glenmary missionaries, it is all of the resources.  They do a lot of work in Appalachia.  I remember spending the week in Kentucky.

This was shortly after a somewhat serious relationship with someone who was not Catholic had ended.  And before my relationship with my wife (almost one year of dating, just over one year of being engaged, and now almost 22 years of marriage) began. 

I remember coming to the conclusion that for my lifelong relationship I was looking for someone who shared my faith.  My faith that is important to me.  My faith that has wavered sometimes.  But my faith nevertheless. 

It was a great week for both finding out about a part of the country I’d never been to (Kentucky) and for pondering why I was making certain choices.

Today’s opening song at church has a chorus that goes, “All are welcome/All are welcome/All are welcome in this place.”  The priest pointed this out and talking about how it tied in with the readings.  I never did quite follow his logic about the tie in, but as my virtual pilgrimage starts to pull away from Cincinnati, the hone base of the missionaries where I spent a week pondering among other things with whom I wanted to spend my life, it is worth thinking about the statement “all are welcome” and my life.

Sometimes, the people in my life now think I am being critical and not always welcoming of them.  But I try to be.

In fact, I try to be welcoming of everyone in my life.  I try not to exclude.  I try to at least be polite and make people feel welcome.  Life in general.  In my Sunday School classroom.  In my management role.  When I run.  Does it mean I have to be best friends with everyone?  Of course, not.  It just means I have to treat everyone fairly and not make the feel unwelcome by what I do. 

Am I perfect?  No.  Not even close. 

But welcoming people.   Paying things forward to people.  Communicating with people.  Learning from people.  It is all part of what makes life very interesting.  It is a challenge.  Jesus welcomed all—until they gave him reason not to welcome them.  Even then, he prayed for those who were not welcoming. 

It is a high standard to achieve.  It is definitely worth the try. 

Repeating the Same Thing and Expecting Different Results--Insanity

So, I very much enjoy the fact that on any given Saturday I can go out and run a half marathon distance whether on the trail at NCR, at the Loch Raven Reservoir (where I have not been in ages but this is a great time of year to go and run at sunrise), or even just around my "neighborhood" (although I have to run a big version of a neighborhood to get a half marathon distance) and hit a time that is equal to or better than the first race I ran in 2009.  I am lucky to claim that.  Not sure how many more years I'll be able to say that.

In any case, this morning, I ran across Lake to Bellona, to Northern, Springlake Way, Homeland, Charles, Cold Spring, Roland, Northern, Charles, Stevenson, Osler, Towsontown, Burke, York, Hatherleigh, Rich Hill, Copeleigh, Regester, Beverly, Arran, Sherwood, Northern, Chinquapin, Lake, Parkway, Cedarcroft, Northwood, Woodson, and home.  

In any case, I ran negative splits.

It took me up to 505.3 total.  That puts me on Springdale Rd still inside the Cincinnati beltway.

The reason I made the reference to repeating the same thing and expecting something different is that I knew this morning was warmer and drizzling.  That is a recipe for having my shirt be relatively heavy and relatively clingy.  You combine those two things when running for 1:43:52 and you quickly remember bad lessons from the past about chafing.  (Some may consider this TMI, but it is a risk of running for guys.)  Yes, guys get chafed nipples when they run sometimes.  There are some pictures of guys with shirts that look gruesome after runs.  

I've done it before.

I have stuff that prevents that outcome.

I even thought about using it.

But I didn't want to risk waking my wife after already thinking I had everything I needed.  So, I didn't apply anything beforehand.

All I can say is big mistake.

And sign of insanity.

I could have predicted the outcome.

In fact, I did predict the outcome.

But for some reason I assumed the outcome would somehow be different.

How wrong I was.

I should not let it happen again.

And if it happens in such a simple case, then this is a lesson to beware of such things in the rest of my life--whether personal relationships or work.  If a poor outcome is easily predicted, and I have what I need to avoid it, and I fail to use what I need to avoid it, then that is a sign of insanity and I have no one to blame but myself.  

Executing on a Goal

This week the management group at the business school had a day long planning session and talked about how well we had executed against last year's goals and then planned a new set of goals toe execute against in the 2014-15 academic year.  

Yesterday's run was all about executing against a plan.

I have been getting a little more sleep recently.  With 6-8 hours of sleep a night, it is amazing how much easier it is to make it through the day.  Two days this week without a single issue with feeling drowsy during meetings.  Now to work on getting that to 5 and then doing the same over the weekend so that I can make it through things like mass, concerts, children's performances, etc.

But anyway, I slept a little longer than usual, worked from 4:35-5:25 after doing some dishes.  I realize that starting work at 4:35 after doing some dishes doesn't sound like a "late" start but when I had a chance to go to bed before 10 and then sleep till after 4 that gets me my 6+ hours of sleep rather than just 4-5.  The 4-5 has to stop.

In any case, I didn't get out the door until just past 5:45 and then had to wait for my watch to connect to satellites.  I started my run at 5:49.  ANd I had one goal--finish by 6:45 so that I could get to my office as close to 8 as possible.

So, I ran my 7.2 miles and got back at about 6:47.  That was a nice run.  It took me over to Charles, out to Stevenson, over to Sherwood, and back across Overbrook to York before coming home.  And I held 8 minute miles. So it was good.

Where did the 7.2 miles put me?  At 492.2 miles total.  Running along Kemper Rd.  inside the I-275 beltway around Cincinnati. In Sharonville.  Nearest church--St. Michael the Archangel.  I've learned more about some traditions around St. Michael from my kids non-religious school that makes liberal use of secularized versions of both Jewish and Christian traditions in its curriculum than I ever did growing up.  It is interesting how it all fits together.  

Evolving

Yesterday's workout was a workout on the track.  My training partner of the day wanted to do 5x1600.  Having arrived a little late (despite only doing 800M of warmup), I could not manage 5x1600, so we decided to do 2x3200 + 1600 with a quarter mile between each.  Combine that with a half mile to start and a half to finish, and I did 6.5 miles.  (She did another half as she'd arrived a bit earlier and ran two extra warmup laps with the rest of our Tuesday morning group.)  In any case, we ran a slow 7:03 to start but then ran just under 7 (ending around 6:48 for the 1600) for the other intervals.  That was the most under control track workout I had done in a long time.  Yes, a challenge to my system to speed back up to 7 minute miles after a week of long mileage at 8:30-9 min/mile.  But not so much of a challenge as when I had been doing 6:20's or 6:30's.  And it was amazing, as always, to watch one guy who ran 3x3200 with each mile being at sub-6 pace.

So, this puts me another 6.5 miles west on US 22/Ohio 3 and I am approaching Cincinnati proper.  This has been a really long way on US 22--similar to spending a lot of time on US 40 earlier in this virtual trip.  It would be fascinating to run it in reality to see the ways a road changes and evolves as it moves west across the country.

That sense of evolution is what I want to write about today. Sunday's entry was written before mass.  And I have run only once since mass on Sunday, so I will go back to the reading.  At St Pius X at the 10:30 mass, they did the long version of the reading.  It was from the Gospel of John, Chapter 4, verses 5-42.  It was a long reading.  I don't recall the church ever doing an "interactive multi--person reading" except on Palm Sunday in the past.  But this reading used a narrator, one reader for the woman from Samaria whom Jesus asked to get a drink, and the priest reading Jesus's part.  I mostly remember from the homily the priest talking about how the woman evolved in her relationship with Jesus in this brief interaction from first referring to him simply as a Jew (fear of the unknown), to then calling him sir (recognizing his humanity as a person worthy of interaction), to then recognizing him as a prophet, and finally recognizing that he is the Messiah.  Quite an evolution in a short time.

There are so many things in life that start as unknown and evolve to higher levels of interaction over varying periods of time.

So, I thought about my relationship with running, my fellow runners, and the community of running.

I remember when I started running in high school that it was an unknown.  I had run as a part of soccer.  I had run to play basketball but running was new.  Then, I loved track and cross country was just a necessary bridge during the fall season.  Finally, running has become what I look to each day for fitness and spiritual sustenance.

I remember that I did not know other runners when I began.  Throughout high school there were very few other distance runners in my grade.  Then I went away from running for years.  When I came back, I first saw running as simply a solitary activity to improve fitness.  Then, I joined a training group.  Then, I joined a group to run with others to help them with self-improvement.  Now, I run with friends as often as I can.  Sometimes I lift them up.  Sometimes they life me up.  The individuals with whom I run show gratitude for the company all the time.

Finally, there is the running community.  Four years ago, I just thought I'd train and occasionally show up for a race.  Now, I am still a part of the training group community even though it has been three years since the last time I formally participated with the Charm City Run training group.  I have kept most of my business with their stores.  Then, I joined Back on My Feet.  That provided a different, but equally valuable running experience.  My ties are weaker than they once were as life has taken over.  but they are still there.  More recently, I have become a part of the running/blogger community.  I have been a running blogger since 2010.  At that time, I wrote and ran and trained and raised money to honor Gerry Paradiso.  I turned that first series of blog entries into The Radical Transformation of Runner 1313--a fictional autobiographic tale of my experience.  Then I continued writing.  And finally, I settled on the idea of Connecting the Dots & Nourishing the Soul.  And I have stuck with that.  For two Lenten seasons, I wrote every day.  Then, I wrote three things last year that I linked together--Mile 27 (a series of 26 post-Boston Marathon healing essays), 40 Days to Better in the early fall leading up to the Baltimore Running Festival, and then The Spirituality of Advent.  This year, I am pursuing my virtual pilgrimage and writing and reflecting along the way.  And in the process of following another runner who writes So What? I Run, I have now been introduced to a whole community of running bloggers or runners with interesting social media pages who support each other.

What an interesting evolution.  I think it makes me a better person.  I try to continue to use my running to motivate other growth.  And I hope I succeed.