Sun, Sept 21-Sat, Sept 27

Sun Sept 21: AM. A 75 min run with MSRC on residential and city streets and in Maple Bluff. Dogged most of it with Alex and Tyler. It was partly cloudy and in the upper 60s. PM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was mostly cloudy and in the upper 70s.

Mon Sept 22: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. Darkness giving way to mostly cloudy skies, temp of 58°.

Tues Sept 23: AM. A 45 min run over residential streets and on the Capital City Trail. Darkness giving way to mostly clear skies, temp around 60°. PM. A 50 min run on the Capital City Trail and over trails in Olin Park. It was partly cloudy and 74°.

Wed Sept 24: AM. On the Deerfield track, did a 1600, 1200, 800, 400 (5:18, 3:56, 2:32, 71). It was partly cloudy and 55°. PM. A 50 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Mix of sun and clouds, temp of 68°.

Thurs Sept 25: AM. In Deerfield, A 78 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Darkness giving way to sunny skies with a temp around 50°.

Fri Sept 26: AM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was sunny and in the upper 50s. PM. In Deerfield, A 30 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and 80°.

Sat Sept 27: AM. In Fitchburg, ran the 3 Sheeps Beer Run 5k in 16:36 (~5:21/mi). I led from the start, but had Samuel Dean dogging me while joggling for most of it. Pulled away a little on the last mile and won by about 12 seconds. Weather was beautiful as usual- sunny skies, no wind and temp around 60°.

I eased back a bit on the miles this week to let my legs recover. Tomorrow I start the Big Push.

Pics from the 3 Sheeps 5K:

Sun, Sept 14-Sat, Sept 20

Sun Sept 14: AM. In Blanchardville, ran about 60 mins over trails in Yellowstone Lake State Park till a bee stung my right upper calf—ouch! Limped to the car, iced the leg, then kayaked in the lake for an hour and a half. The sun was trying to shine thru the fog. Temp in the 60s. PM. A 90 min run over trails in Gov. Nelson State Park and on the streets of Bishops Bay. Leg was still hurting from bee sting earlier but seemed to get better as run progressed. Kayaked about an hour in Lake Mendota after run. It was sunny and around 80°.

Mon Sept 15: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was sunny and 59°. PM. A 35 min run in Tenney Park and over residential streets. It was mostly sunny and around 80°.

Tues Sept 16: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was sunny and 58°. PM. In Deerfield, A 45 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and 82°.

Wed Sept 17: AM. On the Deerfield track, did 5x1600m (5:35, 5:33, 5:36, 5:34, 5:34). It was sunny and 58°. PM. In Deerfield, A 60 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and around 80°.

Thurs Sept 18: AM. A 78 min run on the Capital City Trail. Mostly clear skies, temp around 60°. PM. In Deerfield, A 78 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. The sun was setting over mostly clear skies with a temp in the 70s.

Fri Sept 19: AM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was mostly cloudy and 64°. PM. In Deerfield, A 40 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was cloudy with a couple raindrops midway thru. Temp of 77°.

Sat Sept 20: AM. Ran four loops around Lake Wingra in 2:49:55 (44:02, 42:54, 43:07, 39:51). It rained for most of it then cleared up some on the third loop. Temp in the 60s. I really wanted to throw in some fast 10,000m reps on the Edgewood track but blast and damn the gate was locked. Would’ve climbed over the top as I’ve done several times before, but the metal fence was wet and slippery from the rain and with all the lightning in the sky, it seemed a bit too risky.

Another solid week of mileage, this time capped off with an up-beat 40k. My right leg recovered sooner than I thought it might after Sunday’s bee sting.

Sun, Sept 7-Sat, Sept 13

Sun Sept 7: AM. In Marshfield, A 78 min run, most of it with the old man, on the bike path, over trails in Weber Park, and on residential streets. It was 41° and a little foggy.

Mon Sept 8: AM. A 45 min early morning run on the Veterans PKWY Trail. It was dark and around 40°. PM. A 60 min run around Lake Wingra and over trails in the UW Arboretum. It was sunny and 70°.

Tues Sept 9: AM. On the Cannonball Path with the Velo UnderRound Group, did a 1200, 1200, 1000, 1000, 800, 800 each around 5:20 pace with half the distance recoveries. Darkness giving way to mostly sunny skies, temp in the mid 50s. PM. In Deerfield, A 60 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was partly sunny and 72°.

Wed Sept 10: AM. A 75 min run on the Capital City Trail, over trails in Olin Park, and over residential streets. It was mostly cloudy with a few sprinkles towards the end. Temp of 55°. PM. In Deerfield, A 75 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was mostly cloudy and in the low 70s.

Thurs Sept 11: AM. A 90 min run around Lake Monona. Darkness giving way to partly cloudy skies with a temp of 58°. PM. In Deerfield, A 45 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and 76°.

Fri Sept 12: AM. A 60 min run on the Capital City Trail and over trails in Olin Park. It was foggy and 54°. PM. In Cottage Grove, A 75 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and 80°.

Sat Sept 13: AM. A 90 min run on the Capital City Trail, the Wingra Creek Path, the SW Path, and around Monona Bay. It was partly sunny and 65°. PM. A 60 min run on the Mendota Lakeshore Path to Picnic Pt. It was sunny and 78°.

No races and no real long runs this week, but got in some decent mileage.

Sun, Aug 31-Sat, Sept 6

Sun Aug 31: AM. A 2 hour 45 min run on the Capital City Trail, the SW Path and the Military Ridge State Trail. It was sunny with a temp in the upper 40s at the start and around 60° at the end.

Mon Sept 1: AM. A 30 min run on the Capital City Trail. It was sunny and around 50°. PM. In Deerfield, A 30 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was sunny and in the mid 70s.

Tues Sept 2: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was sunny and 52°. PM. In Deerfield, A 45 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. Cloudy early, then sunny. Temp of 76°.

Wed Sept 3: AM. On the track, did 6x400m, 4x200m (76, 74, 74, 74, 74,74, 35, 34, 34, 34). It was cloudy and 61°. PM. A 30 min run on the Glacial Drumlin Trail. It was mostly cloudy and 65°.

Thurs Sept 4: AM. A 75 min run on the Capital City Trail and the SW Path. Darkness giving way to clear sunny skies, temp in the mid 40s.

Fri Sept 5: AM. A 45 min run on the Capital City Trail and around Monona Bay. It was partly cloudy, breezy and in the mid 50s.

Sat Sept 6: AM. Ran the Apple Dumpling Half Marathon (Hustler to Elroy, WI). I led from the start and won the race comfortably in 1:14:52 (~5:43/mi). Felt pretty good! I know I could’ve run a little faster had there been someone in front of me to chase after, though it was kind of fun to lead the way. Weather was great - temp around 50°, partly cloudy skies and a slight headwind.

I was busy with work this week so didn’t get as much running or sleep as I would’ve liked, but felt sharp doing 400s and 200s on Wednesday and very fluent when racing a half marathon on Saturday. It was nice to win a race.

Pencils

I like pencils. I like to write in a book with a pencil, then I can carry the book around, I can take it to bed—whatever. Writing with a pencil is so much easier than typing on a computer. I hate typing on a computer. And I’m not a fast typist—I’m a couple-of-words-a-minute typist. If it wasn’t for the typing part of this blogging thing, I would put out a lot more posts. Plus, I like the smell and feel of paper, and I like pencils.

I used to love the smell of pencils at school. The teacher had on her desk a big pencil sharpener, and just the thought of going up to that desk and smelling all that shaved-up pencil—fantastic. Pencils are very sexy. I just love pencils. Pencils and hard-backed books of plain paper.

So, if any woman out there really wants to attract me, she just needs to get some pencil shavings, shave off her underarm hair and stick on pencil shavings instead! Dress like a teacher—with her hair up and glasses. And have a pencil sharpener. A large one.