Memorial Day 16

Hmm, such an auspicious day to revisit my old blog. You see, I buried it a long time ago...a lifetime really. And to even consider it again was very strange; like wanting to speak to your parent that passed years ago, or your ex-spouse in terms that only they would actually get.

Yet, here I am, and I am once again starting out running. Starting over for the Nth time. Remembering the joys that came from the run, not just the "runner's high" but just the childlike joy in movement. In finding one's stride and breath, knowing that for a while there is only you and the earth...no others around--I run alone most of the time very early in the morning. I miss the feeling of finally getting "warmed up" at about a mile or two in, and feeling like I could run all day from about miles 4 to 12. I miss long runs, I miss ice baths. Sick and wrong though they may be.

I did not run today. I ran yesterday. I missed my morning run and put in the time in the afternoon. I am supposed to run tomorrow, but it might wait until Wednesday. I will have to wait and see. Work beckons at 5:00 am and that means I am out the door in a vehicle by 4:30....I'm still awake, so no chance of a 3:00 am run. I would rather miss the run than fall asleep during my three hour drive to where I am working tomorrow.  I will likely put in the miles on Wednesday. That is fine. I am starting over, so it is run-walk for me for now.

I miss this. All of this. And, yet, part of me is fearful of it as well.

Until next time....

Fin

So, I started this blog back in 9. And it has been two years since I have really consistently run. Since then I have met some of the readers of this blog, and have wanted to meet a few others. There were a few that started following me here from the Loop on Runner's World, and those I will ultimately miss the most. But I feel like the reason I started running has been met.  Now that I have killed the six-fingered man, I don't know what to do. So I suppose I will close this account and move on. I hear there are positions available as a bandit. 

Farewell friends, I don't know when I'll actually kill this account, but likely June first. 

So long. 

Guess I need to start running.

So, I signed up for a race today.  I will need to get up to speed in the next 12 weeks.  I paid for it, so I have no choice.  I guess that was always why I felt the need to spend money on "the next race".  It was the fire under the back-side to get out the door when the lazies took over.

I lost my mojo a while ago.  The three of you that read this, can probably figure out where and when.  But, I have been putting the past behind me and coming to terms with my own failings and shortfalls, and learning from those mistakes and miscues.  So, now to begin anew and to get my days started before the dawn and to find new paths to run.  I have a whole new area to explore now, and I will begin going to a gym soon as well.  My new partner in crime is excited to see us get into shape, and to begin being healthy active folks again.  She wants to join me on my long runs (when the get to be long) by riding her bike next to me...so that is going to be interesting.  I am looking forward to that.

I have a few other ideas about the things I would like to do, but I will start with the running and the going to the gym, and see where that takes me.  I know that I am now back to the weight I was back in the dark ages of 2009...so, I know I need to run.  I can't wear my kilt right now, and that is NO GOOD.

I will be here more often as well.  I promise Keeley, you will have more blogs to comment on, and I in turn will try to read more blogs myself.  I do want to know how you guys are doing.

Cheers for now.

Fleas On My Dog!!!

I "wrote" new words for that song.  My girls love it.

     Fleas on my dog
     Fleas on my dog
     Fleas on my dog, they make him itch and bite and scratch.
     Fleas on my dog
     Fleas on my dog
     Fleas on my dog, they make him itch and bite and scratch.
     I want to give my dog a flea-bath
     I want to give my dog a flea-bath
     I want to give my dog a flea-bath; so that he won't itch and scratch.

Like I said, the girls love it.  I got in two runs in the last week, feeling studly...NOT!  But it is a start.  I am finished with my holiday, the girls and I celebrated the Yule on Saturday, and had a lovely stew and opened presents and in general made merry.  They are with their mum today and tomorrow, so this works out well for all of us.  I am beginning to make up my spreadsheet to track my beer and running, so look for weekly and monthly MPG reports soon.  Right now I'm at about 1 GPM.  I feel like an old Chevy.  I am looking at getting up to at least Versa mileage.  We'll see.

Keeping this one quick and fun, and I hope that all of you (all three) don't read this until Thursday and that you have spent the next 36 hours or more with your loved ones and are home -- at least in spirit--for the holiday.

Cheers!

Early New Year's Challenge!

Well, it has been a while...and with the new year rapidly approaching, I think that I have a great idea to both increase my running and perhaps even increase the traffic here.  Not that getting a lot of people checking me out is that important, but I have seen a little thing of Facebook and a couple of other places that intrigued me.  It is this:

So, this brings me to my thought….this is for AVERAGE Americans...but what about “us”?  I am going to track every beer I drink over the next year, and add that to the mileage tracking that I already do.  And to make the data even MORE fun, who would be willing to contribute their own data to the pool?  I think we could put together a large enough data pool to create a worthwhile picture of what runners get per gallon of beer.  We might need to add in wine as well for some of our more grape-based runners, but that would be up to them to decide that.

Who is in?  I am going to start on Jan. 1 2014 and track every beer until Dec. 31, 2014 and publish my results both within a week of that.  I will post weekly updates and hopefully get a picture of how things are going.  I would love for there to be some crazy ultra-runners and tri-ers involved as well.

Cheers!!!

PS.  With as much running as I have been doing, I would be happy with 1 mile per gallon.  Let’s see if I can’t get better than a Prius.

Been busy....but in a good way

So life took a small turn that was completely unexpected.  I won't go into the details yet, it is still new and I don't want to jinx it by talking too much about it.  But it is fantastic and wondrous.

I have found that running took a backseat to life for the last fortnight, but I will begin afresh and anew this week.  I have been happier the last two weeks than I have been in a long time, so much so that others have even noticed it.  So, the changes I have made, and continue to make, are clearly working.

I have been reading more, and that is a good thing too.  Nothing too cerebral, but it is nice to "escape" from the world for a couple of hours.

I will be back here more oft, I feel the need to write again...so while this post is particularly short and of little substance, know that I will be back boring you all three of you to tears again soon.

Cheers

First Day of Fall! And a new beginning.....

Well this kinda says it all....

Many look at this season as the END of things.  And I used to joke myself, that I liked Fall the best because "everything dies".  But the truth is quite the opposite.  When do the plants drop their seeds?  When you are out, look on the ground, the Fall is when all those acorns get gathered by the squirrels.  It is the time to gather up, take stock and begin planning for the winter.  For me, the Fall has always been the "start of the new year" with school and my birthday being relatively close together.  So, as the song says, it is time to turn the page on what was, and begin to take stock and start anew.

This place was once my solace and refuge, now I think I shall call this place my alchemists notebook.  The thing I am going to change from base to gold is not some cheap metal (though given the scarcity of hunting ammo, lead may actually be more valuable than gold) but, in fact, myself.  I have much work to do, and all the time in the world.  I need to tap into my patience and my perfectionist's spirit and keep in mind that even Rome wasn't sacked in a day.

Cheers, until tomorrow.  Oh, I suppose I should tell you I ran, 3 miles at a blistering 11:37 pace.

a long long day

This is gonna be a long day....I "stepped on a landmine" yesterday, and this is how I feel now......

A Tout Le Monde---Lyrics included at the end...with translations.

On September 9, 2009 I wrote the following:
"So, this is the first post to a new blog. What is the point of this blog, not much. I will post my daily workout and my progress towards getting into shape to run as a team member for the world-famous Hood-to-Coast relay in Oregon next year. It has been a long time since I ran, and it has been a year and a half since I had hernia surgery. We shall see how my 41 year old knees and shins do. I have been to the gym pretty solidly over the last few weeks on the eliptical trainers trying to get some cardio work in and some leg strengthening in before *actually* starting in on the running. That will begin next week along with some weight training.

I hope if you found this blog looking for inspiration or training advice, I can help. Well, we shall see how that goes. I have a few ideas about how to get from 0 to 3 miles in 9 weeks, we will have to take this one day at a time and see how we do."

As the Greatful Dead once said..."What a long strange trip it's been." 

Pack a lunch...this is gonna be one for the record books in length.

Seven days

In a mere seven days I will be a retired racer.  It doesn't look like I will hear positively from the Hood-to-Coast folks, so this is it. My final race.  And taking a page from my friend, I have already picked out my "outfit" for the race.  I ran my very first race in a kilt, and I see no reason to not run my very last race in one.  As for my shirt, well, that was actually very simple, this is the inaugural Pikermi in Portland for the Rock and Roll series, so I will be wearing my Charter Member Team Pikermi shirt.  That's it..there is my outfit. Socks and shoes, of course, but hey, I'm a dude and I don't need too much beyond that.  I am completely not ready for the distance, I am gonna be slower than molasses running uphill in January in Alaska, but I'm gonna do it.  I signed up for it back in May...May 1 at 1:45 am to be exact, well over a year ago.  Before all the wheels on my cart fell off, before all sorts of things happened.  Things that have helped bring me to here...the end.  I will have but one more post after this, unless the HtC thing comes to fruition...in seven days, I will fade into the recesses of your minds and become a distant memory.  I already have for many of the "34 followers" listed on the right.  Thanks to Google Analytics, I can honestly say, I am down to 14 people that read this site whenever I post anything new.  I appreciate your readership, and your support---even if none of the 15 people that read it liked my poem. 

seven days to the
end of my journey as a
running blogger.....peace

I wrote a song...now to find music.

If you know the poem from which I borrowed heavily the ideas from....you get bonus points...unless I have told you.  C2--I suspect you know this poem as well as I do.







Here it is in all its glory(?).  Be kind with your comments.



Uncertainty

I am uncertain
I have no clear path
No destination decided upon

The place I want to be is denied
The home I have is desolate and alone
The friends I have are far removed
They are in their homes and worlds away from me

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

My desired place is not for me to choose
It is left to someone else to decide
It is left to the person I desire most to pick
Life with me or life without me

I am lost at sea, and trying to stay afloat
The albatross around my neck was mine to pick
Chosen and borne until I solve my own riddle
And reach the shores of my homeland

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

My boat is small and my paddle lost
I am forced to propel the craft by hand
To push with cupped fingers the waters of my soul
To find the shores where I will be welcomed

How far away
How near the quay
I cannot tell for the fog too thick
The water still and silent
Night and day
Is there a homeland calling me
Is there a lighthouse to beckon me

How far away
How near the quay

Copywrite 4/19/2012  Nat Strickland

This page will be retired soon...mkII

I have been thinking about this for a while, and I have even told a few people I know that even though I have only been running races since December of 2009, I am going to retire after the Rock and Roll Portland Pikermi.  That race report will also be my last blog entry.  I will continue to write about my trials and tribulations of running (yeah, gonna keep on keeping on with that, just no more races) in a journal that will be kept by my bedside.  Another runner I know is working through some changes in his world, and I am as well.  I have re-opened comments for the next few posts, but you have until sometime in June before I close this thing down.  The only possible other race I might do, is the Hood to Coast, and that will be only if I can get on a team this year.  I am only giving myself this year to do it.  I will likely volunteer for races, as I think that is a great thing to do, but I am not going to lace up and run one after May 20th.  So to all of you that read my blog, I think that there are 7 of you left after the year I've had, I hope that your running goes well.  I will continue to read your blogs and comment from time to time, but blogging has become tied with some negative vibes in my world, and I need to end it.  And rather than do so with no explanation to the seven of you, I am posting this "goin' out of business" post.

Cheers.

editied to actually allow comments...oops.

Well that was fun?

Turns out, moving is bad for all of your activities.  Work, exercise, eating, sleeping, school, yeah, all of 'em.  I haven't run much in the last couple of months, and May 20 is not staying away, so I need to start back into the routine with vigor soon.  I have moved to a farm that has NO Internet access.




I'll wait while that sinks in.  NO INTERNET ACCESS.


Oh, and if you notice, there is a new activity up there...I'll let you find it.  I will need to work on getting access soon due to that new activity, but that will have to wait a little bit.  The move ate my meager reserves entirely.  I needed to get a heater for my room.  Sleeping in a hat is only fun for a couple of days.

Yoga kicks ass......mine

Damn. So I took a power yoga class last night. The last time I took yoga I was maybe 21.  It was taught by a hippy-yippy kinda teacher at the local community college.  It was fun, I guess. I remember taking it with a couple of people, women, I knew, and they were impressed that I could bend as far as I could.  Anyway, last night's class....yeah, not like that one.  The instructor is the owner of the studio, a cool hole-in-the-wall feeling place called, Yoga on Yamhill.  As Paul puts it, that is his apex of marketing genius.  "What do you do?" "Yoga." "Where are you?" "On Yamhill."  This was his class. We talked briefly before I headed to the changing rooms and emerged a few minutes later in sweats and a bamboo t-shirt.  This is important, because it was WAY too heavy for the class.

OK, so picking up from last night...sorry I fell asleep.  My clothes were definitely wrong for the class.  I will be wearing shorts with compression shorts under them next time.  They don't really have yoga pants for men, and I'm not that dedicated yet.  I am sold that this thing is a real workout though...man alive, my legs and back are still grumbling about it.  An hour of deep controlled breathing, with movements in sync with the breaths works for me, I do that when I am feeling out of sorts when running.  I even chuckled when he wanted us to "box our breathing"  In for a count of 4, hold for 4, out for 4, hold for 4, repeat.  This is hard to do when running, but, yeah, I do that too.  So this wasn't new to me.  What was was sitting in a squat position with my body twisting about for 3 minutes at a hit with each leg, or sitting in a lunge position while leaning backwards.  All in all, a definitely positive experience and one that I will be enjoying as life will allow.  Every Wednesdays looks like a doable trip for now.  My shirt at the end of class was dripping wet, and I was amazed and how wiped out I felt.  I was very glad for all the push-ups and crunches I have been doing.  I would have been toast going from a standing position down to a pushup position to the floor and then up to "cobra".  We did that about 100 times...arms are a little sore still.

Tuesday's Child

Mondays child is fair of face,
Tuesdays child is full of grace,
Wednesdays child is full of woe,
Thursdays child has far to go,
Fridays child is loving and giving,
Saturdays child works hard for his living,
And the child that is born on the Sabbath day
Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.

I was definitely NOT born on a Tuesday.  I know a marvelous person that was born on a Monday....and she certainly is.  Number 1 daughter WAS born on a Tuesday, and I am hoping that she fulfills that part of the poem. She is growing up rapidly--too rapidly for dad.  We really are like Steve Martin in "Father of the Bride".  Daughter number 2 was born on a Wednesday, and she is empathetic and feels everyone's pains and joys.  I adore that about her, she will be a gentle soul and an artist I am certain.  Number 3 daughter was also born on a Monday, and she too is as fair of face as one can hope a child of mine to be.  Fortunately, she got the looks from her mother, and her disposition is as sweet as her smile.  Number 4 daughter is a handful, and she and I share the day of the week.  Thursday.  Auspicious for a runner, and I can only hope that she is as busy as her nickname throughout her life and gets to where she is going.

I am feeling a little more like the Flogging Molly song below, than I am feeling bonny and gay.  It will be alright in the end.  I know I have a long road ahead, and I am working on finding the right shoes.

Well I know, I miss more than hit
With a face that was launched to sink
An' I seldom feel, the bright relief
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday

If there's one thing I have said
Is that the dreams I once had, now lay in bed
As the four winds blow, my wits through the door
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday

Fallin' down to you sweet ground
Where the flowers they bloom
It's there I'll be found

Hurry back to me, my wild calling,
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday

Though these wounds have seen no wars
Except for the scars I have ignored
And this endless crutch, well it's never enough
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday

Hell says hello, well it's time to I should go
To pastures green, that I've yet to see

Hurry back to me, my wild calling,
It's been the Worst Day Since Yesterday

Oh, I ran 4 miles this morning...I guess that is actually the point.  According to Nike, my 2011 stats show that I run on Tuesday mornings about 60% of the time, and almost always EARLY in the am.  Something about Tuesdays have always worked for me.  Guess I should just rename every day of the week Tuesday.

Sunday...

Wow, I can tell I spent a few weeks not running.  The six miles I was thinking I should be able to do; yeah, I got through four.  I was tired--staying up to 4:00am shouldn't have hurt, right? I am a little out of shape--I blame the barefoot fad.  And together they combined to beat me down.  I got to the corner where I could keep going and do 6.5 miles or turn and do 4, I was gassed and turned.  I had a mile left, and got through it and felt like I had just summited Mt. Washington.  We shall see what this week has in store, but I am going to add yoga to the mix on Wednesday.  Tonight is weights and crunches. I'll be sore tomorrow, but it is getting better.

Bag that barefoot stuff

For now anyway.  I looked at the calendar and kinda freaked.  I have only a little over 15 weeks to get ready for the inaugural Rock & Roll Portland Pikermi.  OK, so they don't call it that, they use the OLD term, HALF marathon...like a 5K is a HALF 10K.  Anyway, I realized that I need to just get back into my Pegs and get some real miles in, so I went out the door this crisp morning and knocked out a quick 4 miles.  I don't know how long it took, I ran with just the radio on, and didn't even check to see when I left or when I got back.  I don't care, it doesn't matter.  I think I might do the next 16 weeks just like today.  It doesn't matter. I get up at 4:00 and get out the door when I do, and get back in when I do.  This might be just what the doctor ordered. (No really, I'll ask her on Thursday) I'm betting she will be on board with this from a mental health stance.  It is funny that when I don't run, I don't feel like doing crunches, or push-ups or lifting weights, so this will be a very intense 16 weeks.

Zombie Survival Training Camp starts today.  Ask yourself, are you a "Zombie Killer"? Or are you Zombie Filler?  Rule number 1 is Cardio, so I have to get back to where I was a few months ago.  Along with that, I want to be lean and lithe, so the crunches and push-ups and dumb bell drills will all start in earnest.

Grumble grumble...hurt foot

Pretty much, that is all.  Dammit.

W3D2---Starting Over Barefoot

Ok, today my feet were not happy and that was after giving them a couple of days off.  Lazy buggers.  The tops of my feet were hurting, and, being the crazy runner that I am, did I stop?  NO, kept on keeping on, and ran through it.  Now that it has been about 5 hours since my run, the left foot still is complaining a bit.  I'll give it some TLC in the form of a lacrosse ball later today.  I'll rub the little doggie and see how it feels after that.  My legs feel pretty good, and I can knock out 30 push-ups pretty easily now.  I need to get a good time management set up for adding in the weights, but that is just a matter of getting used to the extra activity in the evenings.